In My Opinion
By L.N.P.

POLITICS & RELIGION-STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
or
Should they be in bed together at all?

When I look at the two candidates, it's obvious that each has some serious flaws as well as some remarkable virtues. Both are men of faith, although one is trying to separate his personal morality from that of the state, while the other is attempting to legislate morality for the state's good. Which, exactly, is more Christian? If you'd asked me a few months ago, the answer would have come more easily. The country is morally bankrupt, moral relativism rules the day, and we must do whatever it takes to elect godly leaders to bring morality back to our country, men with strong moral values, like the ones upon which this country was founded.

And it's true; this country WAS founded on Biblical principles and a common belief in God. On Christian values in fact. But that still begs the question; what are Christian values? Love, if I understand it correctly, is number one; love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Then there's compassion and integrity, forgiveness and humility. Kindness, patience and self-control. Charity, service, and mercy. Being a good steward of the magnificent land and resources entrusted to our care during our time on this earth. Those are the values this country was founded on, because our founding fathers knew that for a country to truly be a repository of freedom, with liberty and justice for all, that it needed to have as its foundation good strong moral values. But, they also knew something that some of us modern-day Christians tend to forget. They knew that when those religious values get confused with politics, the result has often been the very opposite. They'd come from countries ruled by church-sponsored states, and what resulted was condemnation conquering compassion, power prevailing over integrity, greed defeating stewardship and intolerance overcoming mercy.

Two hundred years has done nothing to change that. So I no longer believe that morality is something that can be forced upon a nation, because then it's no longer moral. It’s something different. It’s power. Whether from the right OR the left (as was proven in the Soviet Union) it’s only power that can force, which leaves little room for freedom, compassion or mercy. That’s why the founding fathers added the Establishment Clause to the Constitution, to prohibit the federal government from declaring and funding a national religion. NOT to disparage or disassociate themselves from religion. And certainly not to dissuade the people from freely practicing their religion or from instilling moral values in their children-far from it. Most were deeply religious men, men of God. It’s simply that they understood that while it must serve as the foundation, religion must never sit on the throne. When religion wields power, that power often corrupts. When religion governs, it tends to judge. Governing requires that.

It's no coincidence that the most influential leader to ever walk the earth avoided politics and had no power. He rendered unto Caesar what was his, and rendered what was God's to God. He never confused the two. Although sins similar to homosexuality and abortion were rampant in Rome, surprisingly, he never mentioned them, preferring to speak against hypocrisy, legalism, and the failure to live a life filled with faith, grace and love. This man, Jesus, embraced those who were the most judged of his time: the sinners, the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised. He never used his heavenly power to bring about earthly reform; he used his earthly example to transform lives. This is the very same Jesus we Christians profess to follow.

Which brings me back to the election and to politics. To George Bush and to John Kerry. I wrote before that I believed that each is a man of faith. In fact, on a personal level, my impression is that neither is in favor of abortion or gay marriage. So if I vote based on religious values, I'm at a complete loss (despite what many of my friends believe) because I want my religious values to be those of Christ. From what I can see, his moral values don't seem to have ANYTHING to do with politics.

Tell me, if you can, which is the bigger sin..,lying to the people about your military record or lying to the people about weapons of mass destruction? Nominating yourself for a Purple Heart or failing to serve your required time in the National Guard? Sending our soldiers to die in Iraq under false pretenses, or supporting the right to choose at the expense of unborn children? In God's eyes, the question is moot; all sins are equal. Both Bush and Kerry are extremely wealthy, yet neither seems to be known for using their personal fortunes to feed the homeless. And both are politicians! You can't BE a politician without lying; it's like being a preacher without praying.

I think it's obvious by now that I'm not telling anyone whom to vote for. I'm not making my decision based on moral values, because I no longer believe that's possible. My decision on the election will be based on whether I wind up believing that we need four more years of the same leadership, or four more years of a change in leadership. It will be based on things political, like who has the best plan to steer this country in the right direction for the good of the most people. Who will tax us most equitably, who will be the most effective leader, who will command the most respect?

But don't ever confuse that with moral values and religion. It's a mistake we ought not make.

Send me your opinions at LParis@netlistings.com