Theologian in Chief

A favorite line of President Obama's is that we are all supposed to be "our brother's keepers."  The effectual truth of this logic seems to imply that government in some capacity should be stepping in and taking on parental duties (remember, for some government is just another word for the things that we all do together).  Quin Hillyer, noting the phrase again in Obama's latest Thanksgiving Day proclamation, takes Obama to task on the constantly repeated but logically and historically fallacy that for Obama goes for high theology.  

For one, it's interesting to note who in the Bible actually says the words Obama seems to hold up as the zenith of all biblical principles:

The phrase comes from the story of Cain and Abel, after Cain has murdered his brother, when God asked him where Abel was. Cain dismissed the Lord, asking rhetorically, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

And:

In not a single place in the Bible is it ever written that we are indeed our brothers' keepers. (Look it up!) And for good reason: To be a "keeper" of another person is not necessarily to help the other but instead to control him. An Internet site called "Cup of Wrath" explains it well: "No one is their brother's or sister's keeper, unless that person is incapable of taking care of him or herself . . . Loving thy neighbor as thyself doesn't mean being your neighbor's keeper or overseer. Instead it means taking his or her best interests to heart."

The true teaching:

Again, the command from Christ is not to act for others, but to serve others - to love the brother as an equal, not in loco parentis. To assert parental responsibility for a brother is to assume a role - to wrongly assume it - that God has reserved for Himself. Even if undertaken with the best intentions, to be a brother's keeper is to commit a sin akin to vainglory by putting oneself above one's proper station.