But the Church, if it does not recognize how it mixes it’s loyalties to a system under judgement with a veneer–a whitewashing–an appearnce–of loyalty to the eternal Gospel and the Eternal God, had better watch out.

That is what i fear is real about us a people MORE than any passing political season.

I don’t see abortion as the defining issue for Obama…

based on your argument the flipside was probably true.

Bush had “correct” (maybe) views on hotbutton issues and he promoted tragically wrong policies in other areas.

I just wonder if that bothered people who are so “anti-Obama” and have to cast his understanding of economics and race in “moral terms”. And on that point we see yet another example of the problem. Vigorous disagreement is one thing, casting those with whom you disagree about economics or race as “immoral”, “evil”, etc. polarizes discourse and pragmatically shuts down any sort of process politically. It’s unfruitful.

From a faith standpoint, it’s un-christlike.

I’m more worried about Christians unreflectively buying in to the voices of talk-radio et.al. way more than the 4-8 year effects of a president who has checks and balances during his term(s).

as far as Fox News goes…i don’t watch it. But it does dominate information delivery and has other like-minded corollaries.

It has influence and gives traction to crazy ideas that get reported on by other news outlets.

the pastor thing i saw on another outlet.

Besides Copenhagen, which I agree was overblown, I have no idea what those other incidents were. I would suggest watching less Fox News.

I don’t really care about the stupid insipid political ranting on either side… what matters are the issues, and therein lies Obama’s problems. His Marxist understanding of economics, his completely disregard for innocent prenatal life, and his stunningly misguided comprehension of race issues… he can be the most intellectual person in the world and still he’d be promoting evil policies.

if you don’t have the same level of concern and frustration (anger, maybe?) over the fact that people tried to make political hay out of Obama going to Copenhagen for the Olympic bid, OR the “terrorist fist bump” comment, OR the crazy prayer by a pastor at a McCain rally about how the god “Hindu” is being prayed to by “millions of people watching the election” to help Obama win, then it’s all just hypocrisy and demonstrates how incompatible with the Spirit of Christ this pervasive attitude/mind-set is.

Unfair is unfair for whoever is on the receiving end.

Unkind is unkind for whoever is on the receiving end.

If that visceral response doesn’t cut both ways then you’re just a sell-out to what actually does matter.

“he just doesn’t come up with the classic misstatements Bush was known for.”

Except yesterday, when he misprounced “corpsman” as “corpseman”. If that had been Bush, Jon Stewart would be all over it.

I’ve seen it remarked that Bush was intellectually lazy. I think that’s true. He would glom onto a position and not use the brain God gave him to really think it through.

But sometimes Obama also appears intellectually lazy. A prime example is his Nobel speech. He used old cursory dismissals to say that peace was naive and impractical. If he had bothered to actually research the facts, he would have found that there were countries in Europe under Nazi occupation where most Jews were saved primarily through nonviolent resistance, and that there have been dozens of successful nonviolent mass movement since WW II, overturning many governments, while most of the violent efforts have had obviously bad results.

His remarks on Constitutional matters have generally been quite poor, despite the fact that his field of study is Constitutional law. He’s very bright, but seems to use his brain (like Bush did) mostly for political purposes and not really apply it to some of the major issues which face a President.

And when he speaks without a Teleprompter, he often stumbles all around as badly as Bush – he just doesn’t come up with the classic misstatements Bush was known for.

furthermore, when we define political governance aptitude around the criteria of a person’s speaking style or if we disagree with their policies then we’ve got no hope for any discourse.

it’s patently dishonest to say someone is incapable of governing/holding office simply because i don’t like their policies.

it was unfair to Bush and it’s unfair to Obama.

the persistence of people on either side to make things personal in politics is incompatible with genuine Christian witness.

it is one thing to disagree vigorously–something this President acknowledges is part of the process–it is another to claim the Name of Christ and start calling names, being unkind and disrespectful to those with whom we disagree.

I am consistently disappointed by Christians who act this way and persist in unreflectively allowing themselves to be spiritually formed by the liturgies of right wing and left wing media.

and, yes, you read that correctly…these behaviors indicate that many of us have been spiritually formed by drinking from these toilets without really considering what is being said.

if you have to harp on the petty to undergird your political positions you are not cooperating with the Spirit of Christ.

if your gut clenches, pulse quickens and you get all bent out of shape then we’ve missed the opportunity to take up the particular role of the people of God to NOT be litigants in the controversies of our day, but to be agents of reconciliation, compassion and kindness that proclaims a BETTER WAY AND A BETTER DAY IS COME AND WILL COME AND WILL BE THE FINAL WORD that will rebuke all human endeavors and sweep away all human systems…

even democracy and free market capitalism….

furthermore, when we define political governance aptitude around the criteria of a person’s speaking style or if we disagree with their policies then we’ve got no hope for any discourse.

it’s patently dishonest to say someone is incapable of governing/holding office simply because i don’t like their policies.

it was unfair to Bush and it’s unfair to Obama.

the persistence of people on either side to make things personal in politics is incompatible with genuine Christian witness.

it is one thing to disagree vigorously–something this President acknowledges is part of the process–it is another to claim the Name of Christ and start calling names, being unkind and disrespectful to those with whom we disagree.

I am consistently disappointed by Christians who act this way and persist in unreflectively allowing themselves to be spiritually formed by the liturgies of right wing and left wing media.

and, yes, you read that correctly…these behaviors indicate that many of us have been spiritually formed by drinking from these toilets without really considering what is being said.

if you have to harp on the petty to undergird your political positions you are not cooperating with the Spirit of Christ.

if your gut clenches, pulse quickens and you get all bent out of shape then we’ve missed the opportunity to take up the particular role of the people of God to NOT be litigants in the controversies of our day, but to be agents of reconciliation, compassion and kindness that proclaims a BETTER WAY AND A BETTER DAY IS COME AND WILL COME AND WILL BE THE FINAL WORD that will rebuke all human endeavors and sweep away all human systems…

even democracy and free market capitalism….