I was doing my daily stalking on facebook when I came across a note left by someone who grew up in the same small town as I did. He has decided on an honorable path of serving his church.
"I'm sitting here at my computer, the tv is tuned to the 2008 election results, my binder is opened. I am supposed to be studying for a "Spiritual Life & Evangelism" exam that I have in less than 12 hours. I'm supposed to be memorizing Scripture and yet I'm finding myself strangely distracted. I just read "Obama Elected President" on the tv and I have to be honest with you, my stomach sank. But then I was reminded that my first allegiance is to a King and a Kingdom; it's not to a country or a flag. Don't get me wrong, I love the USA, and am so thankful to have been born here. But, now more than ever I am realizing that long after the U.S. is ash and dust God's Kingdom will be as strong as it's ever been. To those who pulled for McCain don't lose hope. Our country is strong, and our God is even stronger. Before you lay your head down tonight thank God for the United States, and thank Him for making a place for you in His Kingdom."
While I cannot argue with his reaction, I must say that my heart sank reading this almost as much as his stomach did when he learned Obama was our President-Elect.
Perhaps a victory has been notched this year for civil rights and the black community. But lurking in the wake of progress is dissent and disdain. A country changed? Not entirely.
The fact that Obama had won not only meant acceptance of the black race in America, but I was hopeful it also meant that the so called religious right had lost a foothold in American politics. Either that, or the religious right was now the religious center.
If we were able to move beyond race, the larger question is whether or not people were looking at their vote and their government as something larger than themselves and larger than their belief system? Were they indeed putting 'country first' or their beliefs first?
While my old friend was correct in that every thing happens for a reason, I was disheartened that people were looking to God to console them for having a President that was not preaching the doctrine. Separation of Church and State lives as a governing principle, but dissipates in the minds of the electorate.
Racial relations have been improving, at least for the short time I have been alive and kicking. What this means is that in today's time, was voting for America's first black president a question of when and not if? And if it was a question of when, were some of those votes cast in the novelty of it all?
The point is that the religious right is alive and well. And America is not voting for the good of the country, but voting in an attempt to conform America to each voter's belief system. Maybe it's not the religious right anymore, but just religious influence in American politics. Sure the church has perhaps been able to move beyond the issue of race, but not gays and other doctrines such as abortions.
One of the larger reasons the Christian religion strays from the Democratic party is on one single issue-- abortion. Without opening a can of worms here, the point being made is that the Church is influencing it's congregations stance on abortion rights, and that is how they are in turn voting. It's that last step that's dangerous, where people make a religious truth a universal truth.
This statement is backed by the anti-gay vote and the battering the gay community took in this years election while the black population flourished. Florida voted to ban gay marriage. California voted to ban gay marriage. Arizona voted to ban gay marriage. Arkansas voted to ban gay couples from adopting. Gay is the new black.
This post is not to say that we have not achieved something great in this election, or to argue the stance religion takes on issues is wrong. This is to merely point out that people are voting for themselves, not for their country.
People have every right to vote as they chose, and believe what they want. But, I was just hopeful we were finally voting in a way that had every one's beliefs in mind, in a way that incorporated the diverse people who live in this country. People who considered others before they cast their ballot or fervently wanted someone to win because their platform aligned with their religious and personal views.
We may have hit a milestone, but underpinning this election lurk the same issues that have always existed in American society.
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2 comments:
People use the "separation of church and state" to push ethics of all sorts from our government. The true meaning of separation of church and state never meant this. The fact that Obama is black is great for the minority of people who are black. I am a woman and I am part of the MAJORITY of women who live in this nation and remain under-represented.
Thanks in large part to the liberal media the one female who might have made it to the White House to represent the women of this nation was ambushed,bashed and trashed by the media until the better ticket was tanked. So great for the minority, but not so great for the majority of us who remain....unrepresented. Palin was more qualified to be VP than Biden. McCain was more qualified to be POTUS than Obama was. This election was driven and subverted by the liberal media who FAILED to do the job of reporting the news instead of creating it. The media only reported half the facts, the facts they wanted to report and not those that needed to be reported. Now we shall see the continued death of free press with the so called Fairness Doctrine and Obama's continued manipulation of the media just as he did during the election. My trust in the media has reached an all new low with the "coverage" of this campaign. Not surprising it was a topic of discussion at the National Press Club meeting immediately following the election.
Check it out at press.org
Listen carefully to what Mike Duncan said..."motive words, coverage and airtime". Clearly there was NO equality in these factors in the campaign coverage of this election. People who didn't know better were totally bamboozled by the press and the entertainment industry. Since when did actors the entertainment industry become experts in the political arena? The tone and depth of interviews with the McCain and Palin didn't even begin to compare with the warm, fuzzy emotive type interviews with Obama. Where was the Gibson ambush for Biden? The press needs to do a good hard look at themselves in regards to fairness. They are alienating more and more of their educated consumers to the point that previously respected news media now seems to be nothing more than another People Magazine and Entertainment Tonight with political figures instead of actors and actresses.
The media, as long as I have been paying attention to it, has always had some sort of biased slant. And it probably always will.
However, the nice thing is that there are more and more media outlets than ever thanks to the internet and expanding cable-based news shows. Each one of them slanting in every direction possible. Compare Fox News to CNN. They are all reporting the same thing, just from a different perspective.
But, what your post fails to recognize is that if anyone voted for Obama, or really had a differing view from your own, they must have been quote "bamboozled" by the liberal media.
I agree that woman are underrepresented, and I agree that the media can be biased. But my original post speaks to your mentality that you think your vote should be pushing your own agenda rather than the agenda of the country as a whole. And when that doesn't happen, you turned to blame it on a liberal media than actually consider that the rest of the country might think something else.
I am registered republican, and believe in most of its tenants. However, I voted for Obama this year, and it had nothing to do with the media coverage. And it nothing to do with whether or not there was an African American or a woman on the ticket. And it had nothing to do with my personal beliefs. Rather my vote was cast for the rest of the country. Who was better for the United States as a whole, rather than who would advocate my personal stance.
While I think we have a long way to go, the social fabric of this country is changing. And I think that includes bringing woman along and giving them the fairness they deserve. But rather than placing blame on others and calling out the media, you should perhaps realize that others can have an opinion other than your own, and that opinion might be right.
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