Statement by President Obama on the 15th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

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For Immediate Release March 28, 2013 Statement by President Obama on the 15th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

As Easter approaches, we mark the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.  The people of Northern Ireland and their leaders have traveled a great distance over the past fifteen years.  Step by step, they have traded bullets for ballots, destruction and division for dialogue and institutions, and pointed the way toward a shared future for all.  There is urgent work still to be done – and there will be more tests to come.  There are still those few who prefer to look backward rather than forward – who prefer to inspire hate rather than hope.  The many who have brought Northern Ireland this far must keep rejecting their call.  From building cross-community trust to bringing opportunity to hard-to-reach communities in Belfast and beyond, every citizen and every political party needs to work together in service of true and lasting peace and prosperity.   And at every step of the way, the United States will be there as a friend and partner.  That is the message I will carry with me when I visit Northern Ireland and attend the G-8 Summit in June.  

On behalf of the American people, I salute the people and leaders of Northern Ireland and the model they have given to others struggling toward peace and reconciliation around the world.  I pledge our continued support for their efforts to build a strong society, a vibrant economy, and an enduring peace.

Blog posts on this issue March 29, 2013 5:47 PM EDTWeekly Wrap Up: ‘The Promise of America”

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

March 29, 2013 4:11 PM EDTIn Miami, President Obama Talks About his Plan to Put People to Work Rebuilding America

Despite strong efforts to fix our broken national infrastructure over the past four years, much work needs to be done if we are to prove to the world that there is no better place to do business than in the United States.

March 29, 2013 3:02 PM EDTOpen Government: A Time for Self-Assessment

The Obama Administration has harnessed new technology to engage the public, worked to disclose information more quickly, and given citizens a greater voice in decision-making. There is more work to do, and we remain committed to continuing this in the second term.

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On Faith This Good Friday

There have been a number of times throughout my life that I have encountered God’s blessings, his mercy, and his discipline.

When I was little, I sat in my grandmother’s lap hearing stories of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

When I was a teenager, I could see God working in my life.

When I was in college, I could feel his call.

When I got married and and had kids and was told my wife would die (she did not), I could feel his peace.

I am convinced the Big Guy Upstairs is real, not that I’d ever doubted. There was no doubting in my mind that He was both very real and very involved — not an abstract or detached Creator. This pattern has repeated itself throughout my life, sometimes to my liking and sometimes definitely not to my liking. But still, it played out.

A few years ago, my wife decided to leave her job to stay home with our children. We could not make ends meet if she did it, so we prayed fervently about what to do. We decided God would provide. She left her job, our insurance, and our safety net. Within three days I received a pay raise for the first time in three years equal to my wife’s salary. Within a week, CNN came calling. WIthin a year, WSB Radio needed someone to replace Herman Cain on the radio. None of this would have been possible had my wife not felt compelled to be a stay at home mom.

Some will look at all this and chalk it up to coincidence or luck or even my own skill. But I know I am not that lucky and I am not that skillful.

At this time of year we are confronted with the question of whether He is real. C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

We see the hostility of this world to Christ and must often remind ourselves that this world does hate Christ and those things of Christ and people of Christ. The Media Research Center brings word this morning about Queer Christ, the Christ who really is not for the people who really are not. I used that line on twitter and there has been an outpouring of condemnation.

I get that many want to wrap themselves up in Christ and feel the right wants a monopoly on Christ, but as much as those of us on the right need to do more to show we realize we don’t have a monopoly on Christ, the left needs to understand that it has obligations too. Anything goes does not go with Christ. We are not to judge, but we are to apply the standards Christ and his Apostles set forth as we live our live. We are to know right from wrong and to recognize there really is a right and a wrong and a moral and an immoral and a good and an evil.

Christ is not political. He is righteous.

The funniest comment about my link to the MRC story on Queer Christ was from a kid on Facebook who said, “(I don’t actually believe in your Jesus, but I do enjoy stuff like this as it proves none of you have learned anything from the Gospels.” It is always humorous to see one who does not believe claiming we know nothing from the Gospels.

Christ is for everyone, but not everyone wants him as he truly is. They want their Christ. Everyone, all of us, fall into that trap. But some refuse to recognize it and get out of it. They want their sin and their Jesus.

Over the next three days we remember the three days that have had a bigger impact on the history of mankind than any other. You can deny that Christ was crucified, despite historic, secular sources that confirm the event. You can deny that Christ rose again from the dead.

What you cannot deny is that what so many treat as fact and others scorn as cheap, recycled myth has shaped art, science, culture, literature, and government more profoundly than any other event.

I personally have a hard time believing that any myth would be so powerful and so lasting. Today we remember Christ’s death. On Sunday, we remember He lives.

View the original article here

An Invitation to Tune In on Good Friday

As regular readers know, I have a political talk show on WSB Radio out of Atlanta each weeknight from 6pm to 9pm. It’s the nation’s largest talk radio station and I figure if I have to work on Good Friday, I might as well use the platform well.

So each Good Friday night, we play the music a bit longer, actually play the words, and throw in some Johnny Cash. We talk about higher order topics, matters of faith, matters of good and evil, and personal stuff. It’s the one show i dread doing each year and the one I feel most compelled to do.

You are invited to tune in tonight and, if you feel like it, join in.

The WSB signal is so strong, you may be able to pick it up in your car. It is out of Atlanta, but I know people in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Virginia pick it up pretty well on the AM band. The signal comes from 750 AM and 95.5 FM. Online works well too. There’s also an iPhone app and you can get the Erick Erickson Show podcast via iTunes.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream starting at 6:00 p.m. ET tonight going until 9:00 p.m. You can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread and this post will float up the site throughout the day.

View the original article here

Good Friday 2012

And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  And sitting down they watched him there;  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

. . . .

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.  And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

The Gospel of Matthew 27:35-37, 45-53

View the original article here

Good Friday 2012

And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  And sitting down they watched him there;  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

. . . .

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.  And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

The Gospel of Matthew 27:35-37, 45-53

View the original article here

On Faith This Good Friday

There have been a number of times throughout my life that I have encountered God’s blessings, his mercy, and his discipline.

When I was little, I sat in my grandmother’s lap hearing stories of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

When I was a teenager, I could see God working in my life.

When I was in college, I could feel his call.

When I got married and and had kids and was told my wife would die (she did not), I could feel his peace.

I am convinced the Big Guy Upstairs is real, not that I’d ever doubted. There was no doubting in my mind that He was both very real and very involved — not an abstract or detached Creator. This pattern has repeated itself throughout my life, sometimes to my liking and sometimes definitely not to my liking. But still, it played out.

A few years ago, my wife decided to leave her job to stay home with our children. We could not make ends meet if she did it, so we prayed fervently about what to do. We decided God would provide. She left her job, our insurance, and our safety net. Within three days I received a pay raise for the first time in three years equal to my wife’s salary. Within a week, CNN came calling. WIthin a year, WSB Radio needed someone to replace Herman Cain on the radio. None of this would have been possible had my wife not felt compelled to be a stay at home mom.

Some will look at all this and chalk it up to coincidence or luck or even my own skill. But I know I am not that lucky and I am not that skillful.

At this time of year we are confronted with the question of whether He is real. C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

We see the hostility of this world to Christ and must often remind ourselves that this world does hate Christ and those things of Christ and people of Christ. The Media Research Center brings word this morning about Queer Christ, the Christ who really is not for the people who really are not. I used that line on twitter and there has been an outpouring of condemnation.

I get that many want to wrap themselves up in Christ and feel the right wants a monopoly on Christ, but as much as those of us on the right need to do more to show we realize we don’t have a monopoly on Christ, the left needs to understand that it has obligations too. Anything goes does not go with Christ. We are not to judge, but we are to apply the standards Christ and his Apostles set forth as we live our live. We are to know right from wrong and to recognize there really is a right and a wrong and a moral and an immoral and a good and an evil.

Christ is not political. He is righteous.

The funniest comment about my link to the MRC story on Queer Christ was from a kid on Facebook who said, “(I don’t actually believe in your Jesus, but I do enjoy stuff like this as it proves none of you have learned anything from the Gospels.” It is always humorous to see one who does not believe claiming we know nothing from the Gospels.

Christ is for everyone, but not everyone wants him as he truly is. They want their Christ. Everyone, all of us, fall into that trap. But some refuse to recognize it and get out of it. They want their sin and their Jesus.

Over the next three days we remember the three days that have had a bigger impact on the history of mankind than any other. You can deny that Christ was crucified, despite historic, secular sources that confirm the event. You can deny that Christ rose again from the dead.

What you cannot deny is that what so many treat as fact and others scorn as cheap, recycled myth has shaped art, science, culture, literature, and government more profoundly than any other event.

I personally have a hard time believing that any myth would be so powerful and so lasting. Today we remember Christ’s death. On Sunday, we remember He lives.

View the original article here

An Invitation to Tune In on Good Friday

As regular readers know, I have a political talk show on WSB Radio out of Atlanta each weeknight from 6pm to 9pm. It’s the nation’s largest talk radio station and I figure if I have to work on Good Friday, I might as well use the platform well.

So each Good Friday night, we play the music a bit longer, actually play the words, and throw in some Johnny Cash. We talk about higher order topics, matters of faith, matters of good and evil, and personal stuff. It’s the one show i dread doing each year and the one I feel most compelled to do.

You are invited to tune in tonight and, if you feel like it, join in.

The WSB signal is so strong, you may be able to pick it up in your car. It is out of Atlanta, but I know people in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Virginia pick it up pretty well on the AM band. The signal comes from 750 AM and 95.5 FM. Online works well too. There’s also an iPhone app and you can get the Erick Erickson Show podcast via iTunes.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream starting at 6:00 p.m. ET tonight going until 9:00 p.m. You can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread and this post will float up the site throughout the day.

View the original article here

The "Don't You Love the citizens United case?" Friday Open thread.

I mean, I personally love the citizens United case. Aside from greeting free speech it seems a positive stimulus for creativity. Check out these latest Spy spoof of American crossroads, with Barack Obama starring as the almost-urban secret agent trying to fumble-finger the rest of us in giving our missile defense plans:

For the record: no, really, Vladimir Putin really does go parade around shirtless, and on a horse. (Bolero) Apparently it plays well in Russia.  As well as planning to give away the store on missile defense; that should cheer the President.  At least the notion is popular somewhere...

Open thread.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

View the original article here