11/2/2008 - Day's events

Slept in this morning, finally got up and around to church at 10:15. Visiting a friends church, one that has a reputation for appealing to young people and families. Lot's of energy and activity and programs. Meaningful worship and a youngish with-it pastor. Lots of things to recommend it for people who are seeking a more relevant church home.

Except....

Message this morning was entitled "Letters to a New President" and was almost pure regurgitation of standard evangelical talking points. It was the single most offensive sermon I have heard in person. His main points, with a short summary and my response.

1) Belief in a Sovereign God.
United States was founded with Christian principles guiding the founders, and functions best today if operating by Judeo-Christian principles.

Uh. No. Founding was done by a bunch of theists who didn't agree on everything but did feel that freedom to practice any religion was important to preserve. Their stance was that government should be separate from religion. To suggest that they intended government to be run by any specific religion is to invalidate their overall approach to freedom.

2) Marraige and Family Values
It's perverted for homosexual, lesbian, or gay people to love each other. Allowing gay marriage will destroy the very fabric of society.

Uh, love is love. Why is it a good thing for the government to get involved with telling who we can and can't love. Instead let's look for ways to encourage healthy relationships, loving families, and commitments that can make our society stronger. Isn't that better than demonizing people just because they see things differently than us.

3) Sanctity of Human Life
49 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. exponentially more than all the deaths by americans in war. This proves that abortion is the greatest moral threat of all time and must be countered at all cost.

Uh. While I am no fan of abortion and what it represents, I do recognize it as a choice that comes into play, particularly when the mother is poor and downtrodden to the point that she doesn't have any other recourse. I don't think the government should outlaw it. Rather they should do everything in their power to minimize abortion make it possible and advantageous for the mother to choose life.

4) Personal Responsibility
People shouldn't approach life with an entitlement attitude, and should instead focus on earning what they get. Free handouts only encourage people's sloth and greediness.

Uh, besides being the very antithesis of Jesus's work on earth, I find that this idea of Personal Responsibility is used most often as a way for the conservative, and especially the religious, crowd to absolve themselves from any responsibility in helping people. People want to help, but only on their terms. They want to only help people they deem worthy of receiving that help. This whole aspect of judging people and interacting only based on our morals or value judgements is odious to me.

The input from the pulpit was to pray (fine with that) and vote according to those four criteria (A little too formulaic for my tastes.)

So I sat and smiled, and carefully avoided indicating approval, or as is actually the case, massive disapproval of what was shared. In the same way that I don't want to accept political positions just because the powers that be say so, I recognize that it would be pretty self involved to expect every church to come out exactly where I do.

I respect each person's ability to decide for themselves. But not so much my idea of a good time this morning...

We left for home after lunch and are now on our way home. It's been a good weekend all around.


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Now playing: Coldplay - Politik
via FoxyTunes

Election Fatigue

The election is mere days away. Both candidates are dashing through swing states, repeating their stump speeches and talking points ad nauseum as the election cycle winds down. While the debate may rage as to who ran the "dirtier" campaign, there has been a palpable undercurrent of nasty smears running throughout the political interchange this fall.

I love politics. The pageantry, the posturing, the idealistic speeches that over-commit, all for the sake of specific voting blocs. But I don't like this aspect of American politics. It seems that neither the candidates, nor their spokespeople, nor even our friends and neighbors can interact with this dialogue and maintain their civility to each other.

It is ok for people to hold differing views. So often, those opposing views are held by people who have thought long and hard about them. People have weighed where they stand and developed a view of the world and a view of issues that works for them. This is not wrong. These are not ignorant simpletons who must be chastised and brought to task because their opinions don't match our own. These are our friends, and often our family. They happen to see things differently than we do, but that's ok.

So what I'm trying to say is that I don't think there is empirical evidence that the Democrats are better people, or the Republicans are God's party, or the Independents and people boycotting the election are the only ones who really get it. It is better to walk arm in arm with our fellow travelers than it is to spend our time beating each other down. Recognizing companionship doesn't mean we have to share the same opinions or politics, but it seems to me that a certain amount of respect and acceptance of our differences is in order.

I'm ready for this election to be over. But I wish we would learn how to better love each other despite our differences.