Christian politics

The political season kicks off a bit early this time around, with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson having just entered the fray, or about to.

In the past few days I have received numerous slanderous and malicious mailings regrading Sen. Obama's background. The funny thing is, most of the people I see sending them out claim to be Christians. These people confuse me.

The current regime in Washington confuses me. Christians don't wage war. It is against primary teachings of Jesus Christ. If you want to be a Christian, you either lay down your arms or quit the faith until such times as you can follow the teachings without setting a truly poor example of a witness. I hate having to explain you to those who see your hypocrisy.

I'll keep it simple. You can follow along in your Bible, whatever translation you prefer.

Romans I, 28-30:

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

These are the words of Saul of Tarsus, known as St. Paul. The Christian martyr who did not go to Rome with a sword in his plan and a black-ops escape route, but to die for his faith. You dishonor him when you do not heed his words and still wear the tag of "Christian". When you boast of going to see a movie about the death of Jesus, but wouldn't spend the same as the ticket cost you to give a scarf to a homeless man or a hot meal to a hungry family.

I keep hearing people say that if we do not send more people's sons and daughters and wives and husbands and brothers and sisters to die for a false and failed policy in Iraq, ordained by leaders who would not put their own children or spouses in harms way, we are not honoring them. I grieve for those who have lost loved ones over there, and I understand their sense of justification, their need to believe that their sacrifice was not in vain.

But neither was Jesus' or Paul's, or the tens of thousands of Christian martyrs put to death because they believed differently than the mainstream at the time and would not rise up, would not violate their faith in their Saviour, in the name of a violent expediency. The Christian faith is not practical to this life, it is evidence of our worthiness for the next, if you believe the words of Jesus and his followers, not the guys on television with the suits and the Mercedes collections.

We have lost our way. Our hatespeak, our willingness to lie and propagate lies, merely shows us for what we are.

Senator Obama is not my first choice for President, but I believe him to be a good man and someone who can certainly do better at the job than those who have destroyed our economy and sacrificed our children, neighbors and friends for political and financial gain.

Hillary Clinton is not my first choice, but I believe her to be an able and intelligent person, fully capable of running this country with a strong hand and a clear vision.

Bill Richardson, I do not yet know him well enough to speak of him, and I am sure we'll hear all sorts of half-truths and lies in the next few weeks about him, sent out by people we thought we knew, we thought we trusted, we thought were Christians.

We were wrong.