{"id":520,"date":"2009-05-17T10:28:33","date_gmt":"2009-05-17T10:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/05\/obamas-notre-dame-victory.html"},"modified":"2009-05-17T10:28:33","modified_gmt":"2009-05-17T10:28:33","slug":"obamas-notre-dame-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/05\/obamas-notre-dame-victory.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s (and America’s) Notre Dame Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Barack Obama’s graduation address<\/a> at Notre Dame was a victory for the President and for the United States. \u00a0From the moment he walked onto the platform, to when he was conferred the honorary doctorate, to during and after his speech, the applause for President Obama were overwhelming and continuous – apparently making up for the months of hype which gave much too much prime-time\u00a0press to the most radical elements of anti-abortion movement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the\u00a0announcement\u00a0of Obama’s address three months ago I guessed three interuptions of his speech,<\/a>\u00a0and I think I got it right. \u00a0But those who did the\u00a0interrupting\u00a0were\u00a0completely\u00a0diminished by the spirit of reconciliation and respect exhibited by the President and the graduating class of Notre Dame.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0President Obama confirmed his approach which is sincerely
\naimed a creating a middle way for this most divisive of issues.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In surrounding himself with both
\npro-life and pro-choice voices, the president is at least aware of the
\ncompelling arguments on both sides and he approaches them with respect. \u00a0 The President did not shy away from the difficult questions at hand but addressed them head on<\/a>, reminding all of us (including Catholic voters) how fortunate we are as a nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The anti-abortion protesters who dominated the news running up to Notre Dame’s graduation
\nremind me of similar anti-abortion activists who came to Princeton University last
\nyear.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>They set up their
\nmassive photos of aborted fetus and began to scream invectives at students as they went to
\nand from classes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This
\ndid not go over well.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>At
\none point the student president of the Princeton Pro-Life group went over to speak with them to tell them that their tactics were counter productive – he was, in turn, called something akin to satanic.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While I am pro-choice, because I am at a
\nUniversity that values the free exchange of ideas and difference of views I
\nhave had the opportunity to have the anti-abortion position clearly laid out
\nfor me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This openness of debate has added to
\nthe subtlety\u00a0of my thinking about the issue of abortion and made me more sympathetic
\nto the passion exhibited by those on the other side. \u00a0As President Obama said at Notre Dame, the pro-life movement is no longer filled with\u00a0caricatures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the biggest winner today was Notre Dame. I watched their entire graduation<\/a> which showcased talented students, an exciting faculty, and the University President Rev. John l. Jenkins, C.S.C. whose speech equaled President Obama’s and showed that he is\u00a0encouraging\u00a0an environment of academic and intellectual freedom rooted in a Catholic social\u00a0conscience. \u00a0Well done President Obama, well done Notre Dame, well done America. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barack Obama’s graduation address at Notre Dame was a victory for the President and for the United States. \u00a0From the moment he walked onto the platform, to when he was conferred the honorary doctorate, to during and after his speech, the applause for President Obama were overwhelming and continuous – apparently making up for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-catholics"],"yoast_head":"\nObama's (and America's) Notre Dame Victory - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/05\/obamas-notre-dame-victory.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama's (and America's) Notre Dame Victory - 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Paul B. Raushenbush is the moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University. .An ordained American Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush speaks and preaches at colleges, churches and institutes around the country including the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., The Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York, and the New America Foundation. Rev. Raushenbush has served at Seattle First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Columbia University and as College and Young Adult Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight and is a repeated guest on CNN. He has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a contributing editor for Beliefnet.com. His first book, Teen Spirit: One World, Many Faiths (HCI) was released in the Fall of 2004. He is the editor of the 100th Anniversary edition of Walter Rauschenbusch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s book Christianity and the Social Crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the 21st Century (HarperOne). His work at Princeton includes strengthening the interfaith community on campus. He is the Co-Director of the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at The Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at Princeton University. Rev. Raushenbush studied religion at Macalester College before attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he graduated with distinction.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/praushenbush"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}