I got the link to this Obama speech over on Derek James's journal from Philip in the comments section. I hadn't seen it before and it's just so freakin' awesome. The original speech is about 45 minutes long, the version on the page below is just over 5 minutes. It's focused on the section of the speech about what role religion can/should play in government. It's edited a bunch, I think mostly to cut out the small pauses he makes when speaking.

Please take 5 minutes to watch this:

Obama speaks candidly and intelligently about religion and government

A lot of people I've talked to throughout time believe that the US is a "Christian Nation" but who, really, are the Christians? Obama puts forward a theoretical situation in which all non-Christians are expelled from the US so that the US can truly be a Christian Nation.... but which version of Christianity? Protestants, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, hell... even Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians... so which set of beliefs are you going to follow?

I appreciate that in this speech (and on his website and other speeches and such) that when he's discussing religion and the different faiths of people in the US he doesn't forget Atheism. So many other people and politicians completely ignore the option of non-belief. This is a breath of fresh air.

One final thing that I'll mention that I absolutely adore about this speech is his explanation of the decision making process as a member of the government. He explains that he can't legislate or make decisions based on his religious views because not everyone in the US shares his views. He explicitly says that if he wants to make a change in laws or government that he has to provide reasons that are a-religious, that he can't just point to "God's Will" and say "That's why."

I love this guy. :)