Category Archives: Politics

Lessons in Politics – Using Theology poorly

18 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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After reading a couple of posts over the last few days, I thought I’d add a couple a blog posts on politics.  The point here isn’t to argue for either the Republican or Democrat parties.  Frankly, I don’t have faith in either party.  Sometimes one or the other comes up with a decent idea, but that seems to be a bit rarer each day.  Am I cynical?  Maybe.  But then again, maybe I just a different expectation of what we should be receiving from our government, leaders, and politicians.

Lesson #1 – using religion to advance one’s politics usually ends up pretty poorly.

I’m referring to a specific story here.  Yes, this candidate just claimed that 9/11 was God’s punishment for the US turning away from God.  And here I thought it was because of the gays.  No, wait, clearly I’m mixing my disasters up.  The hurricanes must be because of the gays.  Their gayness has magical powers that affect the weather don’t you know.  It’s difficult to keep track of what disaster can be attributed to which group of people these days.  I wish there was an easy chart or something so I could follow along.

Here’s my comment – Really?  Seriously people?  The scary thing is that people are going to listen to this candidate and think that he knows what he’s talking about.  He doesn’t have a degree in theology – although that doesn’t matter it seems.  There are plenty of people who have a degree in theology that spout off some really terrible theology similar to Judge Moore. (cough, cough…Pat Robertson, John Hagee…cough, cough)

Can we just consider what Judge Moore has suggested – yes, actually consider it.  I think we need to for one simple reason…to show how utterly ridiculous it is and how utter unqualified he is for any office.  What is the fascination with proclaiming a ticked off God who goes on a killing spree and is perpetually pissed off and wants to destroy humanity and all of creation?  It’s like God needs anger management or something.

Here’s what I know about God – God doesn’t go around with a hit list, checking it off for all the things God is really ticked off about.

God doesn’t go around smiling every time someone (innocent) dies just because God is a vindictive SOB and has a short fuse.

God is not like certain world leaders who are known for their temper tantrums when they don’t get their way.

That’s not the God I worship anyway.

The point is that it’s really easy to take scripture and theology out of context and use it for your own political agenda – in this case to raise fear.  It’s called manipulation.  Politics thrives on fear and manipulation.  The more fear you can put on people, the more likely they are to look to someone who can do something about the fear.  In this case, Roy Moore can point to himself.

Always be wary of a politician who is using religion/theology/the Bible as a means to an end – the end being the advancement of their own power.  It’s not a good mixture and it is terrible theology.  We have enough bad theology circulating these days and enough really bad politicians.  We don’t need to mix bad theology with bad politics.

How lives get changed

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by in Church, Health, Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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Yesterday I watched this video and you should too!

It’s a TED talk from the Mayor of Albuquerque on how the city is successfully dealing with homelessness and panhandling.

Mayor Richard J. Berry is doing the right things – empowering people, tapping into people’s value, treating people like human beings, and the results are impressive – huge reductions in homelessness, and getting people the help they need for drug and alcohol problems.  Go figure that when you actually treat people like people, then lives improve.

Even though this is a government initiative, it sounds like the Gospel message in which people’s lives are changed.  Yes, the Mayor doesn’t actually say anything Christian, but if he isn’t living out the Gospel with his “Better Way” program, then I’m not sure how you could.

Imagine if we took this same attitude to other cities.  Imagine if churches took this same attitude with their own ministries.  Imagine how lives could change if we actually took people at face value, we tapped into their value, we connected them with services that can work with them on challenges, we built relationships with people, and treated people as people who have potential for so much more.  Add in a Gospel message in which grace, mercy, love, peace, and forgiveness abound, and you’ve got yourself the makings of something incredible that people would want to be a part of.  Not because it would be really cool and cutting edge, but because it would be a message and activity that people desperately needed to hear and experience.  And once you have that – look out.  Lives would be changing.

How not to read the Bible

01 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by in Church, Politics, Theology

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I was going to write a nice long piece on how to read the Bible.  Then I read this.  And it was good.  And I would encourage you to read the post.  The author suggests several important elements to reading the Bible.

And then I read this wonderful article by Brian Zahnd and found this gem of a quote:

If we suggest to serious-minded, good-hearted people that the Bible is a word-for-word, verse-by-verse perfect revelation of God and God’s will, thoughtful readers will eventually run into some serious problems. At that point the Bible, instead of being a nourishment for Christian faith, can become a deadly toxin to Christian faith.

Oh so true, Brian!  Oh so true.

The other day while I was driving, I scanned through the radio and stopped on a “Christian” radio station.  Two guys that I presume were pastors of independent churches were having a conversation about the Bible.  I stopped scanning to listen.  It went downhill pretty quickly.  I started yelling my usual “It doesn’t say that…” at the radio when they started making claims that the only way that Christianity can be saved is through the preservation of certain American attributes and ways of living.  Yes, they were equating America as essential to the survival of Christianity. I can’t make this stuff us.

Why not throw in an endorsement for a political party and leader on top of it just for good measure?  Since when did Christianity’s survival rely on human made political arrangements?  Yes, even American ones.

Maybe the people on the radio missed this past Sunday’s Gospel lesson in which Jesus asks Peter – “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter responds by saying, “You are the Messiah, Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:15-16) Peter didn’t say, “you are Jesus, but our faith is really in the nation and certain political leaders.  Don’t worry Jesus, they have your back.”  Maybe that version is in another book – say Wisdom of Sham where Jesus gives his Polititudes.  Most of the Polititudes start off with Blessed are the politicians, for they shall save everyone, not Jesus.  You know, good wholesome stuff that Jesus never said.

Maybe the guys on the radio aren’t aware of this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading in which Jesus says “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)  I don’t see anywhere in that verse where Jesus says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny the basic foundation of following me and take up the platform of a partisan political ideology and follow it.”

It’s becoming a lot easier these days to hear really bad theology for what it is.  When the Bible is used as a political tool, that’s bad theology.  That’s a poor reading of the Bible.  When the Bible is used as a support for a nation, then that’s bad theology.  It places the nation as the foundation and the Bible as a mere support of that foundation.  It’s mixing something human-made with something divinely inspired.  No where in the Bible is America.  Or our partisan political parties.  Or our Constitution.  They aren’t divinely inspired.  People can debate how good the country is and what direction it is heading in – that’s fine.  But please don’t use the Bible as a political tool to advance your own beliefs.  That’s just poor theology.  We have enough really bad theology that is mass consumed already.  We don’t need to wrap it in the flag on top of it.

But history is being erased!!!

22 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Politics, Society, Uncategorized

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“We’re erasing history when we take down statues and remove the Confederate flag.  Stop erasing history!”

This is the argument of the moment.  It’s the idea that if we take down statues honoring Confederate personalities from Southern State capitals and non-battlefield locations (and in some places outside of the South – ie Maryland), then we are erasing their memory and erasing the memory of what the Civil War was really about.

Here’s are some things to consider regarding this argument.

1. Let’s talk about actual history.  In my sermon this past week I quoted people who were alive at the time of the confederacy to show what the Confederacy was actually about – slavery.  You really can’t do research on this and not find plenty of quotes from the era that shows that the Confederacy and the Confederate cause during the Civil War was really about preserving slavery and the structures and systems that supported slavery.  Look up William Thompson, the man who designed the Confederate flag – read what he said the flag stood for.  Read the Secession Statements from any of the Confederate State.  Read the words of Jefferson Davis, the first president of the Confederacy.  It’s pretty clear what these folks, who made up the actual Confederacy, believed what the Confederacy was about.  That’s not twisting history – those are actual beliefs of the people who started and supported the Confederacy.  For those who support the idea of maintaining the original intent of the Constitution, then we should use the same logic when it comes to the original intent of the Confederacy too.

2. While we’re talking about history, let’s talk about the history of the actual statues – when were they put up and why.  Most of these statues went up in the early 1900’s and were efforts to keep alive the ideas of the Confederacy.  They were placed in locations that were meant to send a clear signal of who was in charge and who was acceptable

3. What history are we actually erasing? – the fake history of the beautiful antebellum south that never existed in the first place, or the façade that gets thrown around as Gospel truth because we prefer to remember the Confederacy as something quaint and pleasant.  Do we keep this fake history because the reality of slavery is just too difficult to deal with?  And the fact that somewhere around a million people died because of the Civil War.

4. Does this mean that the only memory we have of the confederacy resides in statues and a flag?  I don’t see a whole of statues and flags dedicated to Rome, or Greece here in the US – and yet, somehow, we manage to remember the history of those civilizations.  Maybe that’s just too distant and on foreign soil.  How about this instead.  Are there any statues for the war of 1812, how about flags with the appropriate stars on the flag?  Yet we still have a memory of this war.  Statues and flags aren’t the only way to remember history.  If it was, we’d be screwed.  And frankly, the internet would have disappeared as something powerful for human memory too.

5. What is the real fear?  Is the fear that we’ll talk about the truth of the history and that we’ll feel guilty that we’ve been honoring a lie this long?

6. So if we extend the logic that is being argued here originally, then we should have forced the Iraqi people to keep up the statue of Saddam Hussein, lest they erase history.  We should have highly encouraged the Russians to keep up the statue of Lenin when communism fell, in order to preserve history.  We should have left the “whites only” and “blacks only” signs up in order to preserve history.  Or maybe that’s different, although I’m not sure how.

7.  Some times tearing down statues and laying flags to rest isn’t about erasing history at all.   Sometimes it’s about remembering the actual history and the horror that goes with it and deciding that there are better ways to remember history, and it’s not by erecting or keeping statues that tell a skewed history.  Instead, let’s tell the full history.   Here’s a pretty good article that asks an important question that relates to this very issue – http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/20/why-there-are-no-nazi-statues-in-germany-215510  Why are there no nazi statues in Germany?

I’ve been to one of the locations that keeps the actual history of Nazism alive and well – Dachau concentration camp.  There, they keep the actual history of what happened alive.  It’s not a façade.  It’s real.  When we start actually keeping history of the Confederacy, then I’ll be happy to go to a monument that shows what it was about.  I will walk the grounds of a plantation – especially the slave “residence” and learn about the life of the slave and see monuments dedicated to slaves who died at the hands of their masters.  Why do we erase this portion of history?  Because it’s uncomfortable?  It’s our history and we don’t want to deal with it.  It’s easier to tell a lie, then deal with reality.  It’s not as painful.  It requires no change.  Until we acknowledge the actual history of the confederacy, we aren’t going to move past it.

Responding to white supremacists

14 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics

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By now, everyone is familiar with the white supremacists who held a “rally” in Charlottesville, VA.  I put that in quotes because extremists don’t hold rallies – they hold gatherings that are designed to cause problems.

There was a counter protest, which we all heard about.  And there was violence.  And even three deaths as a result.  Evil usually demands a blood sacrifice, this would be no different.

Frankly I’m tired of white supremacists and their tactics and their belief that their ideas are just a-ok and deserve attention.  I understand the desire to hold counter rallies.  But here’s some things that concern me with these counter rallies.

What is the purpose of the supremacists in holding a “rally?” to cause problems.  Why?  To get attention, ultimately.  What happens when there is a major counter-protest?  The counter protestors give the supremacists exactly what they were seeking – attention.  When we give attention to something, we give it legitimacy as if the ideas presented were of equal weight and consideration.  Let’s be clear, they aren’t.

I understand that we want to speak out firmly against what the supremacists stand for.  I agree.  I just wonder if there is a different way to go about it.  A way that wouldn’t give the supremacists what they wanted – attention.  It seems as though the supremacists plan their rallies so that they hope there is a counter-rally.  It just adds to the attention.  They are sure to get coverage because emotions run high when you have something like this that touches people’s nerves and identity.

The problem with this is that the supremacists end up controlling the message of the day – they become the focus.  Their hatred is the message.  The violence that they cause is what is displayed and talked about.  They get what they want.

I’d rather see something else take place.  What if we responded differently?

These protests are known in advance.  That gives communities time to think through a response.  Here’s my idea.  Instead of holding a counter rally that gives the inmates of the asylum a full voice and all the attention they want, why not give them no attention at all.  But do it a coordinated way that is very unique, that is active, and changes the message completely.  In other words, change the rules of the game.  If the supremacists desire attention and want there to be a counter rally – do what you can to change that so they get minimal attention and the message is not in their control.

How would this happen?  Here’s one idea – get everyone to vacate town.  What if the town became a ghost town on the day of the supremacists rally.  Not a soul in opposition – no one there at all.  No one waving any banners.  No one chanting at the supremacists.  Just an empty town.  You see, everyone has a right to speak.  But that doesn’t mean we have to listen.  It doesn’t mean that what everyone speaks is of equal value and worth.

By way of analogy, take a different situation – when a toddler starts to pitch a fit in a mall, they are seeking attention to get whatever it is they want.  When we pay attention to the toddler and respond, or fight with them, or talk with them at all, we are giving the toddler exactly what the toddler wants – control over the situation.  Instead, the best thing you can do is realize you are the adult and they are the child.  You ignore them completely, even to the point of walking away.  You can’t rationalize with a toddler – they don’t have the capacity for rational conversation.  You aren’t going to convince them to stop their fit.  You just need to walk away.  Frankly, these supremacists are no different – only more violent and irrational than a toddler and a bit older (Which means they ought to know better).

If everyone vacated town, it would send a message that the supremacists words are being shunned because they carry no worth and no value.  It would also draw attention away from the supremacists to the counter message, if you want to call it that.  In this case, you’d have one spokesperson for the town.  Someone who could do any interviews the media wanted.  It would be best if it was a pastor or someone who could speak from a religious context.  The response to any question would be similar – it wouldn’t be to engage in any conversation about the supremacists.  Instead, it would be to offer prayers for those that are hurting, prayers for those that are filled with hatred and rage, prayers for those that separate.  It would be to shift the focus from the message of the supremacists to a different message – a message of grace, forgiveness, and care for all who come to the town.  It would be a message of non-violence.  A message that says that we pray for those who are fearful and violent.  It would be a simple message, repeated over and over again.  It would be said in a calm manner – signifying with body language that there is no intimidation, there is confidence in a better way of living and behaving.  It would be displaying a vision for what an alternative way of living would look like and behave.

Could this kind of response be pulled off?  I don’t know.  The larger the city, the harder that would be.  The more likely that others from outside of the town would come in to counter protest.  And realize that this way of thinking about countering the supremacists is very different from the norm.  Which is why I would be curious to see how well it would work.  And there is an added benefit – because this would be an unusual response, it would throw the supremacists off kilter.  They probably wouldn’t know what to do.  They might even wrap it up quickly and go home.  This would be telling – it would signify that all they really want is attention, and they didn’t get it.

I welcome your thoughts on how to respond to extremists actions in unique ways that disrupt the message they spout.  Please share them in the comments section.

Where is our faith?

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Theology

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For regular readers of my blog, you know that I have a long history of political activity.  I learned a great deal from those experiences and am grateful for that.  I also learned some things that make me glad I’m no longer in politics professionally.

Now that I’m in ministry, all that politics is brushed away, right?  Not.  Not even close.  In fact, in many ways, it’s much more difficult.  I have a fine line to walk when I preach and when I wear a collar publicly representing the church.

I’m not a big fan of pastors taking up partisan arms for a political party.  I can understand why some do, but I think it blurs the line of what we are.  Are we proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus or partisan political party?  Are we claiming that our faith is in Jesus, or in some politician in Washington, DC or another capitol?

This of course doesn’t mean faith and politics never intersect. I think that’s a big naive and dangerous too.  We are called to be in the world and call out injustice.  And often that happens in political ways.

When I see pastors that make excuses for politicians or political parties – for what they stand for, or the policies they promote – I have to wonder.  Are they a partisan preacher preaching the good news of political party with its vision for how the nation will look when the party has power?  I recently saw a video of a conservative pastor who was praising the current administration in Washington and made comparisons of the president’s leadership style with Jesus.  I’m not sure what that had to do with the preaching of the Good News, but I do know that it advanced the Gospel of the administration.

Likewise, I remember pastors equating the previous administration with Jesus too – labeling the president as a messiah-like figure.  Again, I’m not sure why that was necessary or how that promoted the kingdom of God.  It sounded more like the advancement of the kingdom of partisan political party.

Where does our faith lie?  Where is our hope?  If it is in Jesus, then partisan politics can be seen for what it is – secondary.  It is certainly not to be ignored.  But neither should we put all of our attention and energy to it either.  When we do that – when we obsess about politics and give it all of our attention, then we have made it into a god.

When our politics becomes the basis for our decision-making, when we feel the need to pay attention to every tweet and press conference and announcement from a politician or political party, when we believe that we will have a brighter future (almost heavenly) if only we fund a specific candidate and work to get them in office – then I have to wonder where our faith lies?  Where does our hope lie?  When politicians supposedly have all the answers to all of life’s questions and problems, then where is there room for mystery and faith?  What is the point of faith at all then?

Too often I have seen Christians who are well-meaning turn to partisan politics.  I get it.  I’ve been there.  Religion and politics are not very different at all.  Both offer a vision for the future – of what is possible.  Both deal with immaterial things.  Both offer a gospel message.  Both claim to be able to save people.

By all means, participate in politics.  It’s how we advance policies.  But be careful.  When politics becomes the center and the foundation for making decisions, for the way we live our life, for how we spend our money and attention, then know that we have just exchanged our faith in God with a faith in a broken humanity.

Trump and the Boy Scouts

26 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics, Society, Theology

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Do I dare?  Do I touch this?  Sure, why not.  Everyone else seems to be commenting on this, so why not me.  Maybe I can offer a different perspective.

I know it’s dangerous to talk about partisan politics – so many people have their loyalties to one party or the other and hence have a cemented opinion about political leaders, including the President. I’m just as guilty.  But I’m wondering what we can learn from this latest episode of the President speaking in front of the Boy Scouts.

Before I go on, I have to say, I haven’t seen the speech, nor read it.  There’s a pretty good chance I never will.  What I’m more interested in is the reaction to his speech.

Trump doesn’t really interest me.  I think he’s pretty predictable.  Say something outlandish in order to get a response – that way everyone is talking about him.  Whoever controls the conversation, is the one with real power.  If we have learned anything it is that he’s really good as drawing attention to himself.  And many people feel the need to be sucked into whatever the latest tweet or thing he said is.

When I contemplate this episode, I can’t help but think of this past Sunday’s Gospel lesson in Matthew 13:24-30 – the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

“He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

I’m not interesting in determining if Trump is the sower of the weeds or the seeds (depending on your political leanings), or is a weed, or something else.

What I’m interested in is this – What are we called to?  How are we to relate and react to the President or any other politician we may disagree with, or as some believe, find to be a danger?  Remember, every President, since Washington was president, had an opposition that couldn’t stand them.  Every President has faced threats of impeachment – yes, even the “universally” loved Washington.  Every President has been viewed as evil by some and as a wonderful leader who can save the nation by others.

And in each case, the faith and hope in that person is misplaced.  Or rather, too much faith and hope is placed in that person.  It doesn’t matter if that person is Trump or if it was Obama.

Christians are called to be wheat in the world of weeds.  We are called to live differently.  To, dare I say it, have different loyalties – (sounds so un-American, doesn’t it?)

So what do we do with a politician who desires to be the center of the universe?  The same thing you do when you deal with a black hole – avoid being sucked in.  You live your life.  You stay in control of your emotional state.  You realize that you aren’t going to like what the person says or tweets and you determine the best way to stay informed without being controlled by the person.  You don’t allow this person to determine what you do each day or what your emotional state will be.

Most important – you live out your calling, no matter what.  To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to visit the imprisoned, to care for the sick, to acknowledge the humanity in others, to tap into the value of those that feel valueless.

In other words, to build up the kingdom of God, regardless of what happens in DC or who sits in the Oval Office. Yes, some people make that easier and some make it harder.  You don’t have control over that.  You have control over how you react and what you do going forward.

Our hope isn’t in the person of the President – regardless of who it is.  It’s in the person of Jesus.

Our future isn’t tied to the President, our future is in Jesus.

Our loyalty, dare I say it, isn’t to the President first, but to the kingdom of God first.

Whether you are thrilled that Trump is president or dismayed, this administration isn’t permanent – nothing here is.  At some point in time, his name will be forgotten to the ashes of history.  But God, and God’s kingdom, will not.  In the end, God’s kingdom prevails.  That is where our hope is – that is where our faith lies.

Responding to a politician with anger isn’t going to change the politician or how they act.  It certainly won’t make us feel better either.  You can’t change weeds into wheat.  You can only be wheat.  We need wheat in the world of weeds.  We need to be wheat in relation to politics.  There are plenty of weeds in the world.  Plucking the weeds is a never-ending battle that is exhausting.  Being wheat though is different.  Wheat actually feeds people and gives life to those around us.  It’s time to be wheat, and plant more seeds.

Health insurance

18 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Health, Humanity, Politics, Society

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There’s a big debate going on in the seat of government about health insurance – or “health care” as it is always called.  However, the two are very different.  Health care is what doctors and nurses and pharmicists and other medical professionals do.  Health insurance is how we pay for it.  But health insurance reform doesn’t sound quite the same as health care reform does it?

Is the Senate bill a good replacement for what our current system?  Is it worse?  Depends on who you talk with.

It leaves me with a few observations though.  These are things that I think we haven’t answered as a nation.  And because we haven’t answered them, any change we make to health insurance is not going to go over very well – no matter how it’s sold to us.  But keeping what we have currently isn’t a good option either, long term.  But we have to start somewhere right?

At any rate, here’s a few thoughts.

What is the role of government in our nation?  This has been an ongoing debate since the beginning – one that we haven’t answer yet.  You’d think we’d have an answer after 240 years right?

What is our vision for the nation?  Where do we want our nation to go as we move forward in history?

What is the relationship between the government and the people?  If government is the one responsible for providing health insurance, does it bother anyone else that we have distrusting relationship between people and government?

Why in the world is health insurance still attached to employment?  How does this even makes sense anymore?

I wonder what a reformed health insurance would look like if the extreme ends of the political spectrum were left out of the discussion and the folks in the middle made changes.  Would it be better?

How much do we really spend on paying for health care?  Is there a better way to do it?

Why do we in the US focus all of our attention on sick care as opposed to more focus on prevention?  Prevention ends up costing a whole lot less, and it means that people are healthier.

What does our American culture and mindset force us into concerning health care and health insurance?  In other words, what are the things that are unnamed and hidden from view that drive the direction of health policy – good and bad?  Are these things that can be changed?  Or are we stuck?

How we invest our time

07 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics

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How we invest our time matters.  It tells people what we actually claim is important.  There’s a difference between what we say is important and what we actually do.  What we do telegraphs to everyone what is actually important to us.

When you spend time with your significant other and constantly look at your phone, you are telegraphing to that person that the phone is more important than the person you are with – or rather that potentially someone else more interesting is more important than the person you supposedly care very deeply about.  Where we spend our attention is like purchasing importance.

This goes beyond individual relationships.  Imagine if we took the time we spend on politics and devoted it to something else?  Maybe service of our neighbors, or someone in need around us.  Or what if we spent that time with our families?  Or maybe our church or place of worship?  Or personal growth, or working, or exercising, or cooking really good food, or walking your dog, or just going for a walk, or running, or reading, or sleeping?

All of those are much better uses of time than the ridiculous volume of time, emotion, and attention that we invest ourselves in politics. I’m not arguing that politics is worthless and should be ignored.  But seriously, with our 24-hour news cycle, there really isn’t all that much actual news – most of it is fabricated fighting over things that don’t matter.

Here’s what politics ultimately is – a fight over who has power.  A fight over who is right.  A fight over who gets to determine what rules are made.  A fight over who the bad guys are.  A fight over who gets to spend other people’s money.  A fight over things you always thought there was common agreement for but now we aren’t so sure about that common agreement anymore.

Or do we invest as much time in politics because we are bored or afraid – bored with our lives or afraid to examine our lives?  Maybe.  Maybe our politics has become more entertainment than serious policy moves.  Regardless, most of the time we can skip most of the “news.”  It really isn’t news at all.  It’s anxiety development.

Freedom

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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Today is July 4th.  Here in the US we celebrate our Independence Day.  A day devoted to the idea of freedom.

But there seems to be a problem.

We, in the US are having a problem with a common understanding of what freedom is.  How do we define it, as a nation?  Depending on who you talk with, you’ll get a different definition.  Without a common understanding of some fundamental things that our country was founded on, we shouldn’t be surprised that we have some troubles in our nation.

It is disconcerting that there are different understandings of the idea of freedom.  Does this bother anyone else?  How is a nation supposed move forward and function properly and serve its people when we have two major political parties, and groups within those parties, who all have different understandings of what freedom means.  And that’s not counting those unaffiliated with either political party who see the parties as an obstruction to freedom with their very existence and who they promote for leadership.

So what is freedom?  On July 4th we think about political freedom.  But there are other freedoms – freedoms that have nothing to do with politics.  That’s because politics isn’t the end-all, be-all of life.

In religion we talk about freedom too.  It’s freedom from sin and death.  Martin Luther wrote about the freedom of a Christian – free to serve our neighbors.

Today we celebrate freedom, but what kind of freedom are we celebrating?