Indeed it is a scary election.
Indeed it is a scary election. Never in American history has there been the level of political ignorance and hypocrisy among people of the Christian faith as there is today. We have allowed ourselves to stray from the core teachings of Christ, and instead put our faith in the hands of politicians and Evangelical preachers who would lead us to believe that somehow, Jesus was a Republican.
Christianity is not partisan and faith is independent of political parties. The world may be a scary place, but it is no more so than it has ever been. Our leaders would have us believe that the world is at an end, but the majority of us have failed to see their rhetoric for what it is: a clever ruse to cast our ballots in their favor.
We would be wise to remember that both parties have failed to pass laws that would shape our nation into a more Christian state. While few of faith could argue that abortion is no thing less murder, we must remember that it is a Supreme Court decision that allows women to seek an abortion if they so choose, not a presidential one. In fact, there is little a
president can do to alter the precedent of Roe vs Wade. Both McCain and Obama have clearly stated that they are personally against abortion as a means of birth control. To cast a ballot for one or the other based on this issue alone would be foolish. No president will ever overturn that ruling.
We would also be wise to remember that only three times in our nation's history have foreign terrorists managed to attack us on our own soil (Pearl Harbor, the first attack on the World Trade Center, and September 11th). In fact, nearly all of the attacks upon Americans that could be considered acts of terrorism have been committed by Americans upon Americans. Though no one would argue that, given the chance, foreign terrorist cells would relish the chance to attack us where we live, we must maintain some perspective in the matter. Not all terrorists are Muslim. Not all Muslims are terrorists. And nobody in Washington DC would ever do anything to put us at risk of attack from either foreign nor national evil doers.
Sadly, few Christians today seem to realize this and have for years voted based solely on those two principals. Thusly, they have voted Republican as it is the party that has done the best job of promoting themselves as the anti-abortion, anti-foreign terrorist party. But isn't there more to being a Christian than protecting unborn life and defending ourselves against foreign terrorists?
Of course there is.
Jesus' main message was one of love. Time and time again the New Testament tells of Jesus' lessons in charity and kindness towards those who are less fortunate in life. Jesus was an advocate for the poor and the weak. When we look at our government, we find that the Republican party has turned a blind eye towards the social and constitutional obligation we have to the weakest among us. Republicans have fought tooth and nail to cut taxes and in turn, the social programs funded by those taxes. Republican tax cutters have done away with funding for homeless shelters, health insurance for the poor, public education, community education, public safety (budgets for county and independent fire and medic services), student loans, environmental
protection (did God not make us stewards of our planets resources?), access to affordable energy, food access and more. To add insult to injury in this matter, the tax cuts Republican law makers have made in the past 10 years have almost exclusively been in favor of wealthy corporate interests and have come at the expensive of the average American worker.
Christians also seem to have forgotten their American history. While several of the original English colonies that later became the original 13 states were founded upon Christian ideals, our nation as a whole WAS NOT! It was the Enlightenment that inspired the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin (an atheist), John Adams, John Hancock (a smuggler and a pirate), and the others we regarding as our founding fathers. The Enlightenment (for those of you who don't remember) was a philosophical movement based upon the idea that science, reason, and education forms the foundation of a great society. Those who think that our country was destined to be a Christian state are seriously mistaken. It was meant, as evidenced by the Constitution itself (reference the first amendment), to be a place of absolute freedom in all respects. Religion, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or otherwise, is NOT and SHOULD NOT be the rational for law making in the United States. If you have a problem with that, then you have a problem with the United States Constitution.
Neither the Democratic nor Republican candidate has a monopoly on faith. The fact that so few Christians realize this is the true crisis in our nation this election season. Please, vote for whomever you believe will best serve the interests of the people of this great nation but please, DO NOT vote under the assumption the Jesus was a Republican.
Let us pray. Let us break bread together. Let us also be educated. Let us also separate church and state as were the desires of those who wrote the immortal words of the Constitution (which by the way says "to provide for the common welfare." Something many Republican lawmakers want to do away with.).
Travis
