alexis in the city

Separation of Church and Self: why we need to keep personal political agendas out of our churches

Let me preface this by saying: I’m Christian. I emphasize this fact because what I’m about to espouse (like many of my beliefs) is not the predominant thinking within mainstream Christianity. So here’s the crux of my argument ~ I’ve stated it before but it bears repeating: America is not a Christian nation, therefore it is not the Church’s responsibility to foist its beliefs upon the nation’s citizenry, nor is it one church’s responsibility to foist its individual political convictions (should it have any) on its members. This is a commonly-held sentiment OUTSIDE of the religious community, yet for some reason too many people within it want to equate America with Israel: the chosen nation, a theocracy, a place where the laws of the Bible (or more correctly, someone’s INTERPRETATION of the laws of the Bible) should be the law of the land.

Of course, this is all common knowledge ~ one has to look no further than the nomenclature “the religious right” to see that we’ve accepted this religious infiltration into our politics and policy. (Check out “The Family” if you want a chilling look into just how inter-connected Evangelical leaders like Dr. Dobson and Pat Robertson are with the political underground.) I grew up in churches where it was no more strange to sign an anti-abortion petition in the foyer of the building than it was to sing choruses at the start of each service. And to many people within Christian circles, I would guess this idea is somewhat innocuous. But here’s the thing: IT’S NOT. By veritably preaching politics from the pulpit, the church is alienating anyone who might believe differently by essentially saying: “We are the authority on this subject, this is the correct thing to believe, and here is the correct way to vote.”

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What’s the deal with DOMA?

massachusetts filed a lawsuit wednesday against the federal government that calls into question the constitutionality of the defense of marriage act (DOMA).

i’ve tackled this subject before as i believe the federal government should leave itself out of the marriage thing altogether. in my version of an ideal world, there would be two different rules governing marriage - the legal side of things which would allow for equal treatment of all people (what we would now consider civil unions), and the religious side of things which would allow for what we now term “marriage.” however, this is not the way things are, nor do i think we’re heading in that direction so what should be done given the way things are now?

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“jesus for president” and a reconstruction of faith

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

~mahatma gandhi

i mentioned earlier that my computer meltdown ate the lengthy post i was composing on my latest read, “jesus for president” by shane claiborne and chris haw. while that quelled my desire to re-hash my thoughts for quite a while, it may have had a beneficial effect in that it gave me more time to mull things over, think about my opinions, talk with people, and dissect the book. in the comments of my last related post, my friend curtis pointed out that it seems that shane supposes the premise that christians should be pacificsts. and he does in a way, but the book is also devoted in large part to investigating the reasons WHY this should be our conclusion. but let me start at the beginning, in as much as i’m able. i knew i was going to like the book - at least a little! - when it started like this:

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a pro-gay marriage stance on the federal government’s involvement

some of you may have seen this huffington post article i posted on facebook. basically, gay rights groups are upset that the supreme court last week overturned a gay marriage case at the federal level. the couple was challenging 1996’s defense of marriage act which “prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes and other federal rights of marriage.” part of the frustration is that obama has pledged to try to repeal this act, and many see the ruling as inconsistent with this promise.

i am a gay marriage supporter. i am staunchly (STAUNCHLY) opposed to DOMA. i want equal rights for all people. and i support the supreme court’s decision last week. here’s why:

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the outcry over obama’s muslim miscalculation is missing the point

Be conscious of God and speak always the truth

~ the koran

president obama used this statement in his speech in cairo last week - but then he also said in an interview prior to the speech that america was home to around 8 million muslims, making it one of the countries with the highest muslim populations.

truth: these numbers are hard to pin down. i found an interesting round-up of stats on politifact.com which states:

The Islamic Information Center, a group that educates people in the United States about Islam, says there are upwards of 8 million. And NationMaster.com, a Web site that allows users to compare different countries based on demographics, pegs the number at 6 million. … By the [CIA] World Factbook’s count, Muslims in the United States make up about .6 percent of the population. That’s around 1.8 million.

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