Carol Hunter long ago recognized that I was outside the mainstream: I hated the summer Olympics and preferred the Winter Games. I was bored to tears by America's sport (baseball) and March Madness mean't nothing more than a chance to catch up on old movies. So, it's not surprising that I am probably out of touch now.
Nonetheless, I really am perplexed by the fact that the two leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination are actually having a "compassion forum". I can understand why evangelical groups press their values and look at the candidates through a particular set of glasses - just as unions, teachers and every other special interest group does. But for a CNN sponsored debate to focus on the faith and moral values of the candidates and to imply that someone who is not actively religious does not have a moral center is pure unadulterated crap.
Most people - whether they go to church on sunday or not - have some sort of moral compass that we consult (probably without realizing it) in our decision making. Yet, do we really want to so blur the lines of church and state that we need a president who must fall on his/her knees and consult the Bible before making a critical decision? Should public money fund relgious projects and organizations? And what if the "good book" that I heard one evangelical today say that the president must consult before making a decision is the Koran? Remember when Rep. Keith Ellison, newly elected to Congress in November 2006 caused a monumental flap when he declared his intention to use the Koran to take his oath of office?
I think it's time we put things in their place and recognized that the attributes we need in a president may not always mesh with the dictates from the pulpit. We should not expect pastors to be able to run countries (or even businesses, for that matter), nor should we expect politicians to be pastoral.
Many people will say that this is a biased opinion because I am not actively relgious, so I don't understand what 99% of the population will. So I found it interesting that agnostics, atheists and non-religious people make up 16% of the world population. The third largest group behind Christians (33%) and Islamics (21%). In the US, according to a study conducted in 2001 by City University of New York Graduate School and based on 113,000 interviews, 76% of the US population self-identifies as Christian. The second largest? 13.2% who self identify as agnostic/atheist/non-religious. Falling far behind that group are 1.3% Jewish and .5% Islamic.
And of the 76% of the country who call themselves Christian, there are a lot of criminals, liars, cheats, adulterers, theives, bullies, bigots and brats who I would not want to be president of the chamber of commerce, much less the United States, simply because they put on a suit and march the family to church each Sunday to appropriately genuflect - both to God and the electorate!
So I'm curious what ya'll think. Is it just me or is something wrong here?
1 comment:
I am intrigued by your comments. I agree with you about much of it and I will post my thoughts when I have a few minutes to compose them! Provocative and interesting. I look forward to the dialog to follow!
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