"Obama was quoting from the New International Version," Ben Dimiero of Media Matters for America wrote Friday, "while Fox Nation was pointing to the King James Version to 'debunk' him."
Fox Nation blasted Obama's reading of Isaiah 40:31, stating that the passage is, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Obama's version stated, "Those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint."
Dimiero said that this volley was the latest attack aimed to discredit Obama's Christian upbringing and identity. "This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic," he said.
However, the overall smear campaign has worked. A Pew polling report last year showed that only 34 percent of Americans think Obama is Christian, while roughly 18 percent think he is Muslim.
The stage for this latest smear -- the annual National Prayer Breakfast -- is steeped in controversy. The breakfast's organizer, The Family, is a group of secretive right-wing evangelical Christian politicians that aims to spread its strict beliefs abroad, as noted by church-state separation advocates.
"Unlike other Christian right groups, they don’t really believe that you’re in power because you’re a good person," Jeff Starlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Powertold Democracy Now of The Family's members in 2009.
This video is from the White House, broadcast Feb. 3, 2011.
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