A Different Perspective

“If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.” - Albert Einstein

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

It’s the time again where the Christian political machine is revving up for another presidential election. This is a time, as a Christian, I truly dread.

This is the time where human sexuality, abortion, gay marriage, etc., rule the voting consciences of many Christians. It comes down to a simple principle:

The religious right believes you should legislate morality.

For many voters, this principle goes unquestioned. But is this compatible with the Christian faith? I personally don’t think so.

One simple question states my case pretty clearly. If over night, we were able to pass every single law the religious right would have enacted, would that make our country Christian?

Here are a few more questions to get your minds going: Would it change one single heart? Would it make one single person a follower of Jesus by the enactment of these laws of morality?

Or how about this different set of questions: Would it make those who do not follow Jesus hate his followers even more? Would it close the minds of those already hardened to the message of Christ? Could it possibly increase sin all the more?

Since Christians cannot simply enact all the laws they want over night, these questions could be written off as unnecessary fantasy. But if those questions apply to my fictitious scenario, they could also apply at varying levels to the actual situation.

When one “legal victory” is gained by the religious right, does it draw people closer to Christ or repel them for being forced to follow a morality they do not understand? Does it instill Christian grace in this country, or does it bolster a sense of legalism which both those in and outside of the church strongly sense in today’s evangelicalism?

The attention on legislating morality also hinders Christians from positive political activity which would be in line with their faith. Helping shape the government of the most powerful nation in the world in to a grace-giving, compassionate, force for good would be a real possibility if the religious right were not so obsessed with keeping gays from being married.

Assisting those in need and helping women most at risk for unwanted pregnancies would practically reduce the numbers of abortions. But instead, a war is waged which may never be won. It’s all or nothing for the religious right. How does this match up with what we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus? It doesn’t.

And what about ending corruption in our government? Why aren’t prominent Christians asking the difficult questions about why our civil liberties are vanishing before our very eyes and no one seems to be doing anything about it? Why aren’t our religious leaders questioning how oil companies have made record profits while the country is lead by an oil baron president? That fact isn’t enough to convict George W. Bush of any wrongdoing, but why aren’t they even asking the questions?

How is it I can cross the border and pay $2.83 a gallon for gas, but the cheapest station in my area has gas for $4.49? How does a company once run by the Vice President make billions off of a war most of the country no longer wants us to be in (and if we weren’t told it was unpatriotic wouldn’t have wanted us in in the first place)?

By now, you’ve already resonated with my questions and comments, or you probably aren’t reading any more. Let me just say, for the record, I am not a Democrat. I am no longer a Republican. I will most likely vote Democrat for the first time in my life for President (I voted Green Party last time because I could not respect either candidate from the major political parties), because Obama’s political concerns line up more closely (not anywhere close to perfectly) with my religious beliefs than John McCain’s. A part of my religious beliefs are that you should vote for the person who will do the most good for our country and our world. I am not interested in McCain’s stance on gay marriage, abortion, or any other moral issue a politician could seek to legislate. I am interested in both candidate’s ability to help those in need, respond compassionately to a world filled with strife, and to pursue the best path for the most powerful nation in the world.

Last weekend, I had a most excellent time in San Diego. My girlfriend grew up there, and she has a regular appointment once a month in the area. Since we just hit our one year dating anniversary, I decided to look for hotels in downtown San Diego and see what kind of deals I could get.

San Diego Downtown Gaslamp District Hotels

Hotels in the gaslamp district can be a bit pricey, but the area makes up for it. When you can find a good deal, you want to jump at it. We had dinner plans at Candela’s, which was (according to my girlfriend) voted the #1 romantic restaurant in San Diego. The ambiance was pretty good, and the food was amazing! So to go back to our hotel and relax, maybe watch a movie, would have been ideal.

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But the new generation of evangelicals is sick of being labeled as backward rednecks because of their association with fossils like Dobson. There are many evangelicals like Cizik too who are not all about homophobia, nationalism, war-without-end and American exceptionalism or the Republican Party. Like Cizik they believe that the America has a responsibility to do something about global warming, poverty, AIDS, human trafficking and other issues. They see through Dobson and the other so-called pro-life leaders, who have actually done nothing to reduce abortion. In fact Dobson has increased abortions because of his “abstinence only” crusade.

From “Dr. Dobson Has Just Handed Obama Victory” by Frank Schaeffer.

I don’t know much about Frank Schaeffer, honestly, but I do know he’s had quite a reversal of opinion about a great many things, particularly religious things. I wonder if Dobson actually is at a point where his endorsement or criticism affects voters with the opposite reaction he intends.

I just don’t think the type of evangelicals Schaeffer writes about listen to Dobson in the first place. Sure, he gets some news time when he makes a statement, but I’m just not sure those who disagree with Dobson are all that affected by his opinions. I guess if he came out endorsing Obama, then maybe they’d take a second look at whether Obama is worthy of their vote… Uh oh, I might have just given the GOP a strategy!

Firefox 3 was released today. Download now and help Firefox get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads on a single day!

I once contemplated reading nothing from the Bible except the Gospels for an entire year. I didn’t do it, but I did read the Gospels much more often than any other books that year. That experience was probably the forerunner to my exodus from the establishment and seeking out ways to be the church outside of institutional religion.

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It dawned on me (with a friend’s help) that “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” when translated completely to English is: The The Angels Angels of Anaheim”

Couldn’t we just call them Los Angeles of Anaheim?

Or better yet, why not.. the Anaheim Angels. Gee, why didn’t they think of that one?

Yep. I took the plunge. Again.
Proposed on a secluded beach outside of Malibu last night.

More details to come… No date set, yet, but it could be as early as the end of summer.

Edited: Sorry, this was an April Fool’s joke. I posted a comment saying “read the date” when my friend Mike fell for the ruse, but I realized if you don’t read the comments, you’d still think it’s legit. This was posted on April 1, originally.

Sorry to be a pain

I’ve seen Zito pitch twice. Once he threw a complete game shutout against the Angels in Anaheim (and I was in the city of Anaheim’s box… and I invited an A’s fan who happened to be wearing his A’s stuff when I called about an extra ticket…). This time, it was the Giants who got shut out and got beat 5-0 with Zito giving up four runs. I don’t think his fastball ever clocked over 85 mph the whole game.