Is God a Liberal or a Conservative?
Welcome to the new reality of politics. Barack Obama has just introduced us to the Christian Left. This other side of evangelism in America seems to have a sizeable following that is against the war and believes in tolerance over judgment. In speeches to groups of late Senator Obama has discussed extending funding programs for faith based charities and community organizations and openly discussed his own faith. This once almost exclusive territory of the GOP has become part of the Obama agenda of inclusion and coalition building to win the White House.
So how can the Republicans respond to this incursion into their once secure Christian base? It seems that the Christian Right has decided to let James Dobson pick up their banner and accuse Senator Obama of twisting the Bible to his own ends. Referring to a speech from years ago the Reverend Dobson pulled and excerpt and pointed to it as a proof of the unsuitability of Obama to lead a Christian nation. Brought into question were both Obama’s interpretation of the Bible and the Constitution. Long known for his Focus on the Family group Dobson has never shied away from commenting on politics publicly. In 2008 it seems that he will be keeping that tradition of commentary alive.
Now to the question at hand, is God a liberal or a conservative? It depends on who you might ask. For the Muslim Imam in the fundamentalist mosque God is an ultra-conservative who will not tolerate even the slightest wavering from the true path of belief. For the Unitarian, God must be a liberal and more than likely a woman. Since God created the universe and man it makes sense that She would be a woman. For many years it was believed that to the evangelical, God is a conservative. But it seems that may have been an overly simplistic view of evangelical people in America.
If God is different things to different people even within the same groups then perhaps we need to look at evaluating groups as monolithic bodies that all act in the same manner. Following that logic it seems like we should probably look at other assumptions too. Could it be that not all blacks are liberals and not all white Christians are conservative? Could it possibly be true that the one constant in any large society is diversity in thoughts and beliefs?
Before we begin to label any group as being a lock-step blind flock of sheep we should look at the person in the pew next to us on Sunday and ask ourselves if that person would agree with us about every issue facing our nation and how to solve it. If the answer is yes, you might want to go talk to a psychotherapist about deprogramming therapy. People aren’t supposed to be driven by conformity to one point of view on every subject. It is our diversity that makes us special and unique. If we give that up or assume it missing in others we are denying our own humanity for the comfort of perceived knowledge and understanding where none truly exists.
Troy Wilson-Ripsom - Staff Writer | Give your feedback on this article. | Click icon to Digg this article
Is Friendship Worth War?
For several years now we Americans have contributed billions of dollars to Israel in the form of federal tax dollars that are allocated to giving aid to Israel. There is also a large number of private philanthropists that focus their giving to Israel and annually raise millions of dollars to forward the causes and agendas of the Israeli government in the region. While there is no problem with philanthropy or even governmental aid to friendly governments, it seems that the American relationship with Israel brings with it a substantial amount of animosity from most of the other governments in the region and is one of the rallying cries for terrorist groups in their calls for the destruction of the United States.
It has been reported recently by CNN and other news agencies worldwide that Israel may be planning a preemptive military strike against Iran before the November election or shortly after the elections have determined the identity of the next U.S. president. With the U.S. military engaged in wars in two countries we do not have the military capacity to support an Israeli aggression against Iran without reinstating the involuntary drafting of soldiers to serve in the war. Knowing this, the question must be raised; “Do we need our relationship with Israel enough to risk supporting actions that might lead to an escalation of hostilities on a scale comparable to World War II when Iran’s allies such as China and Russia are pulled into the conflict to protect their countries’ interests?”
To examine that question we have to really weigh the costs and benefits of our relationship with Israel. We don’t have a level of trade with them that would merit putting national security at risk to protect it. They are located in a good strategic location for conducting military operations in parts of the region but we don’t use their bases for our current operations in the region. We operate out of the Persian Gulf because of its proximity to both Iraq and Iran. If Israel were to attack Iran it would actually increase the danger level for our forces in the region. So, there’s not strong case for trade relations and none for military benefits that merit risking American troops’ lives to support a preemptive strike without provocation other than rhetoric from the leaders of the country.
Why then do we pledge undying support for a nation that has a long history, in fact its entire history, of taking aggressive action against its neighbors when those actions work to the detriment of the United States? The holocaust was undoubtedly a horrible period in human history and something that nobody should ever forget but that was over sixty years ago. The actions of Israel today need to be judged without regard for the events of sixty years ago. When they respond to protesters throwing rocks with rockets and glass bottles with grenades to subjugate a segment of their population we must stop and take stock of our relationship with them. Do we want to be associated with the herding of Palestinians into the outskirts of Israel and keeping them behind locked gates like the ghettos of Nazi Germany? Do we want to be associated with the promotion of second class citizen status for Palestinians in Israel? Has the time come to cut our ties to a clearly misguided government policy of oppression and once again make America stand for equality and human rights over all else?
While nobody can in good conscience condone the acts of a terrorist, it should also follow that one cannot support institutional terrorism toward a segment of a nation’s population by its government. For the same reasons we should not support the governments in Africa supporting genocide and human rights abuses within their borders, we should be at the very least putting enormous pressure on Israel to refrain from taking any preemptive military actions that might destabilize the region further. If they are taking actions that put us at risk without regard for our input, how good of a friend can they be? Maybe we don’t need friends like that.
The Realist - Patriot at Large | E-mail Comments on this article. | Click icon to Digg this article
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