It is OK to be a Christian and to support Barack Obama
Now is our moment! Now is our time! We are the people we have been waiting for! Yes We Can!
It amazes me how much these phrases scare so many people these days, especially church leaders. We are told that these thoughts are arrogant, impossible, and filled with false hopes. If believing our world can be changed for the better is false hope and impossible then what are we doing and why are we taking up space on this planet and worse yet why are so many church leaders the main catalyst for these attacks?
These questions have really been rolling around in my head as I look at America’s choice for its next president. Why is the so called Christian mainstream so sure Barack Obama is this horrible person? What has he done that is so hideous? He has united races, classes, and people that have never participated before in their government and has given them a reason to believe again. What is so wrong with that?
The first thing I consider when trying to answer this question is it must be that he is of the belief that outlawing abortion is not the best way to stop abortion. For as I am learning in America, to be a good Christian means all you need to do is overturn Roe v. Wade and all the problems in the world will go away. While I feel that is false hope and really not a smart thought I will for the basis of my question consider it. After considering it and being an American that believes in the Constitution I realize that this makes no real sense. Even if Roe v. Wade is overturned abortion will still be legal in many states so the idea that this will outlaw all abortion is silly. In order to do that you need an amendment to the Constitution outlawing abortion and the irony about casting a presidential vote for this is that the president is the weakest office holder for this kind of law as it takes either state conventions, Congress, or State Legislatures to pass an amendment. So in reality in order to outlaw abortion a vote in your local state legislative race carries more weight than a vote in a presidential race. Wonder if the Christian Right has ever pondered this truth?
So as we see from above no real intelligent person would cast their vote for president on the abortion issue. Therefore it must be something else. Let’s take a look at the idea of bringing peace to the world for it was Jesus that said blessed be the peacemakers. Barack Obama unlike his opponent believes that ending wars and searching for reconciliation with our enemies is the right thing to do. In other words he feels that the best way to bring stability to the world is through relationships not through dropping bombs. I’m not always the smartest guy in the room but when you weigh this idea that Obama wants to find a way to end the war and McCain wants to continue it for the next 100 years it is pretty clear who is the peacemaker.
So if it is not an overstated single issue and it is not about getting us out of a mistake that is the Iraq war then it surely must be something else, right? I mean our church leaders are always right, right? Let’s take a look at things back home. The Christian Right supports a political party that has allowed gas prices to rise to their highest levels in years while their donors, the big oil companies, keep having record profits. They support a candidate that in one of the biggest financial crises in our country’s history answers questions about it that he does not know much about the economy. They support a political party and candidate that believes that an executive making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year deserves to pay less taxes then a single mom of three working two jobs at minimum wage. So much for the belief that to whom much is given much more is expected.
Then one of my favorites, the Christian Right supports a candidate that does not believe that everyone should have access to quality and affordable health care. I guess it is ok to them if children get sick from treatable diseases, families go bankrupt if someone gets sick, and that there are elderly persons who have to choose between food and their medicine. How in the most wealthiest nation in the world can we allow things like this to go on? I for one don’t understand it which is why I agree with Barack Obama that we need to fix it in the next four years and I am ready to join with him to help make it so.
Anyway I could go on and on but I think you get my point. Why does the Christian Right and a lot of church leaders fear this man so much and feel that John McCain is so much better? It boggles my mind.
But wait you say, what about the fact that he is a Muslim (LIE), or that he does not salute the flag (LIE), or that he did not take the oath as a U.S. Senator on the Bible (LIE). All LIES. Let me repeat that, all of these statements are LIES being submitted to play to our fears and to scare people. I believe that people are smarter than this and that these fear tactics that the Republicans always play will backfire this time.
However as unbelievable as all the above facts are the one that surprises me the most is that the Christian Right and the leaders of so many churches are against Barack Obama because they believe he is peddling false hope. They say that these ideas of a better nation and world are just a dream, that they are impossible. Well “my friends” that is the biggest lie of all being said against Barack Obama and the movement he is leading. God says that all things are possible and that if we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways that He will heal our lands. We do have a long way to go but at least we have someone running for president that believes that we can all get there and I will follow and fight for that any day over the side that says what we have is the best we can do. Yes we can change this world and I want to support someone that believes this fact too!
So as I am sure you can tell I support Barack Obama for president. John McCain is a great man and a hero and he deserves our respect and gratitude. It is just that he in my opinion is not the best choice to be our next president. However with that said my biggest frustration are Christians whose only reason for voting for John McCain are the lies and fears being spread that I have addressed above about Barack Obama. Barack Obama is a Christian and a man of high moral character that is uniting a coalition of all people to bring change to this country and this world and he is without a doubt the right person for this job at this time.
Over the next few months leading up to this election I plan on supporting Barack Obama in this endeavor and I hope you will join with me in this journey. I also am planning on writing more blogs about my thoughts concerning this election. I hope as you read you will consider what I am saying and will offer your own thoughts as well. Only by sharing our ideas and working together for the good of all will be able to move forward to the goal that we all want which is a world as God intended.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Scott,
Good thoughts. I too get frustrated when people attack Obama for stupid reasons. I think people do this because they are just not informed on the issues so they have to resort to belittling him as a person because they don’t know the facts.
I do think there are good reasons, however, for not voting for Obama. As far as the abortion issue, it is fair game when it comes to considering a President. As a Christian, I believe abortion is murder. I don’t want a President, U.S. Senator or Maryland Senator that believes either that abortion isn’t murder or that (even though abortion is murder) that it should be legal.
This is for two reasons. One, because Presidents appoint Supreme Court Judges and I would rather have the abortion issue be up to the states than universally legal. Two, not on legal grounds but on moral grounds. I want a President who sees abortion as morally reprehensible. I hope that Obama does think that.
As far as the war, Barack and McCain are more similar that most people assume. So I am fine with Barack’s view and McCain’s view. Both want our soldiers home. Both want to leave in a careful way that won’t create a genocide. They just have different approaches to doing this.
Barack wants to set a date; McCain wants the officers on the ground to decide the date. Barack doesn’t want bases there; McCain does. Barack wants to leave a few years before McCain thinks it will be viable to leave. But they are strikingly similar in their general desires to bring our troops home and to do it responsibly.
As far as taxes, that isn’t anything new. That is the general differences between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives want the free market and the states to have more influence; Liberals want the federal government to have more influence. That is a philosophical difference, not a moral one. Both care if people have healthcare. Both care if people have jobs. They just have two different approaches.
So if you are conservative, you have a good reason to not vote for Barack’s economic philosophies because they are liberal. Many Christians and Christian leaders are conservative.
So Christians, if they are conservative Repubicans, have a lot of good reasons not to vote for Obama. But these reasons should be based on political philosophy and pro-life moral grounds, not based on lies about his religion or his patriotism.
While I don’t agree with many of Obama’s views, I do think he is inspiring. He is making history. And I truly believe that McCain is a genuine American hero. So I think America will be in good hands with either of these men in the Oval Office.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
One final thought on “false hope.”
Hope that is grounded in the Kingdom of God, the resurrection and the return of Christ is the ultimate hope for all of humanity. So I am for any hope that is grounded in those foundation truths of God’s future reign in his new heaven and new earth.
What we as Christians should be careful with is what N.T. Wright calls “the myth of progress” that is perpetuated by the secular humanism of our modern world. Karl Marx, the same guy who said that religion is the ‘opiate of the masses’, is also the guy who got thousands of people excited about this idea of “progress.”
The modern philosophy of Marxism is just one fruit of the “myth of progress.” It is all founded on the idea that humans can, on their own, make the world a better place. And that the more this happens over the decades, the more society will approach a “utopia.” Unfortunately, the myth of progress doesn’t take “sin” seriously. It assumes that “people are good” and that “we have the power to create a good and just world.”
If we have learned anything from World War I, WWII, the fallout of Nazism and the failure of Communism, it is that we as humanity are haunted by our own tendency to sin terribly.
Here is where Obama comes in. If his hope is grounded in the inaugurated and coming Kingdom of God on earth and that we as humans are called to participate with God in redeeming His world, then his hope is not false.
But if his hope is founded on a liberalism which has bought into secular humanism and the “myth of progress”, then his hope is a “false hope.”
This is why Christians should be careful with all politicians, Democrat or Republican, who say that we can all come together and make a better society on our own. It’s just not true. Only in Christ and through his Kingdom on earth can we become a more just and loving society. Because “what is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
June 6th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Mark,
Thanks for leaving your thoughts. I like the discussion. As for your points.
On the abortion issue I get frustrated when people say that the only moral/christian position is that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. As a christian and a follower of Christ I find abortion reprehensible and I dream of the day when there are no abortions in this world. So overturning some court decision just to claim some moral high ground is not good enough. There needs to be a real discussion as to how best to fix this problem. Under the Clinton administration (pro-choice) abortions have fallen more than under the Bush administration (pro-life). This fact alone is proof that there are other and better ways to treat this problem. To be pro-life and to cut all the benefits like healthcare for infants, aid programs for single moms, and the rest does more harm than some law. It is time for the christian leaders in this country to wake up and realize that we need to address this problem not make it some political issue to demonize those that have other solutions. Let’s have a real debate on fighting abortion, let’s not label all pro-choice candidates as immoral.
As for the war. I think there are big differences. Ask the families of the servicemen and women that are on their third and fourth tours there if there is a difference to being in Iraq for 16 months or for 100 years. Also Obama wants to talk to other countries while McCain feels that we should bomb them if they do not do what we want. As you can tell another big difference. I don’t know maybe people want their great grandchildren one day to still be fighting in Iraq but as for me I would like to see us build the relationships necessary to help rebuild stability and peace in the world for our future generations to enjoy.
As for the Liberal/Conservative argument you are right on the differences. My point in the blog was that Christians can support Obama. He is the only candidate in the race that has policies that will guarantee all Americans that want it quality and affordable health care and he is not the candidate that in these uncertain economical times that said he does not understand the economy.
Anyway just some thoughts in response to your thoughts. I will probably not spend a lot of time on this blog in long back and forth discussions. I will probably just write new blogs highlighting certain topics. Feel free to keep posting thoughts just don’t read into it if I don’t always respond. I’m sure I won’t be able to change your views and I know you won’t change mine that Obama is the right choice but hopefully for anyone waivering they can see the differences in the two and make a better informed decision in the Fall.
Thanks again for responding.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Scott,
I think you are right on when it comes to abortion. It is reprehensible. And I agree that pro-lifers should do more than just protest outside clinics. I love the picture of pro-life and pro-choice people coming together to trying to find ways to bring down the abortion rate in our country. I hope that is what both Obama and McCain want.
I do think your characterization of McCain on the war is unfair. We are still “in” South Korea but we are not fighting. We are still “in” Germany and they are our friends. Simply “being in” a country doesn’t equate to fighting a war. This is what McCain has said about the war in Iraq. He wants to end the war soon. His comment about “100 years” was about having bases there, not about fighting for that long.
McCain, after all, has experienced the worst of war, Obama has not. McCain has said that he hates war and he, more than Obama, has first hand reasons to hate war. He still bears the wounds of torture. He knows what it means to put his life on the line in the military for his country, Obama does not. So I think we can trust McCain’s desire to end the war as soon as it is possible.
Claiming that McCain wants the war to go on for 100 years is just like claiming Obama is a Muslim. Both claims are false. They are both just politically charged sound bites that stir up emotion. But, in the end, they are lies. If you want people to be fair to Obama, you need to be fair to McCain. Obama would expect nothing less of you as one of his supporters.