As much as I’ve tried to avoid it, political news, gossip, issues, dilemmas, debates, scandals; politics is everywhere. I voted in my states primaries last Tuesday and recognized that although we tend to recognize that local elections and government officials have a far greater impact on our day to day life than who is president, we don’t really educate ourselves on what local candidates to vote for (what’s an Associate Justice do anyways?). That’s only been one of my latest questions that has arisen. I’ve made an effort to listen intently to people I respect on both sides of the aisle (including that third side that wants to abstain from voting), listening to people far more politically knowledgeable and wise then me have caused a lot of questions to raise in my mind. Ones I haven’t found answers for.

So, I’d like to employ your help. These are questions, not arguments for or against. Just things that have begun to arise in my questioning of politics on both sides of things. They aren’t an exhaustive list, but they are what have been on my mind. Remember, the stakes are high. I’ve got one vote.

For the Republican leaning folks…

• It seems to be the same religious right that wants to enforce their moral code of outlawing gay marriage, bringing prayer back to schools, outlawing abortion and teaching creationism are also huge fans of Sarah Palin. But, aren’t a lot of those religious right folks also against women in leadership (in the church)? Why do they believe so many of their religious moral codes extend to politics and society, and yet their views on women in leadership don’t? (I’m not saying women shouldn’t be in leadership, I’m just saying it seems like a double standard or a lack of consistent application of the principles they seem to uphold)
• Also, regarding inconsistencies, how a group can be so “pro-life” but support things like war and capital punishment? And I’d maybe through global poverty in to the mix too.

For you democrat-leaners…

• I’m all about caring for the poor and loving our neighbor and all that, I think it’s one of our primary callings as people of faith. However, I’m starting to wonder if there is a biblical justification or even legitimate Christian argument for encouraging our government to carry out those needs? I know the church isn’t doing its job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the government should.
• The Democrats, along with the nominee, have been cast as heartless baby-killers, and though I don’t think that’s the truth, it makes it difficult to find a thoughtful explanation for some of the decisions being made in the liberal camp. For both those who believe life starts at conception and those that don’t, are there concise and thoughtful explanations for supporting the democratic platform? What about explanations as to why Obama voted against the Born Alive bill (basically I’m looking for a response to this)?

These are serious and legitimate questions, I’m not trying to trap anyone, I’m really just trying to understand. So, feel free to leave a comment below, or email me directly with your responses. Thanks.

(photo credit)

So, for a number of random reasons, I need to take more of a break from regular blogging. I’ve taken sporadic breaks in the past. And more recently I cut down the daily posting to weekday posting. Well, now I’m going to try and cut things back even more. So in a sense, this is a bit of a goodbye.

I’m currently thinking of cutting back to one post a week. This wouldn’t be a YouTubesday post, I’m stopping those, at least not weekly (unless you protest), but I’ll post good videos here on tumblr. And it wouldn’t be book reviews either, I’m considering moving those to some facebook book app or somewhere else (maybe librarything or even amazon). My goal would be to have one thoughtful, original piece of my own writing on some topic, maybe occasionally multiple topics. That’s what I’m leaning toward at the moment.

I’ll still be writing a lot, and if your interested in seeing and giving constructive feedback on top secret work-in-progress writing, then let me know and maybe I’ll let you into my secret chamber. Otherwise, just keep your rss or email subscription, but except things with a bit less frequency. That is unless I get the bug and just can’t stay away. (you might see a redesign as well)

After a handful of emails regarding last weeks post and comment threads, and reading through them again, I guess I’ll have to conclude that I tried and failed, but it was worth a shot. I wanted to give one more try to clarify two things: what I was trying to get at in the posts last week and what my current position is.

My intention last week was to try and move beyond dialoging about the specific issue of abortion itself and discuss ways that we could support women in general. Apparently no one seemed interested in having that conversation, no matter what we stipulated about when life begins it still came down to debating specifically abortion. I’ve met loving caring people who value life on both sides of this issue. I’d love to try and help those people find common ground on the many issues surrounding abortion, like working toward reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, or providing support for teen mothers, or providing more mother-friendly work environments and laws. I think if people from both sides could agree to disagree on the specifics of abortion itself, just beyond that I think we would find a huge amount of common ground that we could all band together to address.

My current position on abortion is not what you might assume it is from my recent posts. I am extremely pro-life (against killing in all circumstances). Yet I’m open to the possibility that not wanting to outlaw abortion does not conflict with that. I’m also willing to listen and consider both sides and question the assumptions that have been given to me about when “life” begins. I don’t think it makes me heartless or callous to be willing to consider other views, nor does it make me any less of a Bible believing Christ follower. Personally, I would never recommend a woman have an abortion, rather I’d provide every viable means of support I can for them to go through with the pregnancy.

This has clearly been one of those hot button issues and I’m disappointed we couldn’t find a way to dialog about the surrounding complexities and find some common ground. I think one thing we all can agree on is that we must work hard to address the injustices that women, particularly mothers, face in our society. And another is that every child in our society should have their basic needs met and cared for regardless of the wealth or abilities of their parents: clothing, shelter, food, education. Let’s work together to meet those ends.

Anne Lamott is a fabulous writer. She has the ability to take the stories of her life, ordinary stories, and not only make them engaging, but inspiring. When I read Traveling Mercies I closed it with a new found appreciation for the day to day experiences of my own life. Reading Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott, was no different.

I didn’t tab this book very much, and I read through it so fast that I didn’t think to mark quotes to share, so I’d just recommend you pick up the whole thing and read it through. She makes a number of references in here to her distaste for George Bush, which might turn some people off, but it’s geniune.  She has a whole chapter on her experience with trying to follow her pastors admonishment to “love your enemies”, in which she happens to choose George to work on loving more.

It’s also interesting to read from a parenting perspective, as this collection of essays contains a lot about her son as he’s growing older and entering his teenage years. Her previous book talked about him at a younger age. The opportunity to follow them through a journey of parenting, an honest journey where everyone isn’t smiling all the time, is refreshing. It lets you know that your not alone, and that you’ll make it through the good and the bad.

It appears Lamott’s received both praise and criticism from the evangelical community. Praise for her honesty, criticism for her stance on abortion. In light of our recent conversations, I’m hoping to read more of her thoughts on the topic of abortion and others responses to it to gain more perspective on the issue.

I remember some evangelism training thing somewhere were the technique was suggested of challenging a person to accept Jesus on the grounds that if they were wrong it would mean eternity in Hell, so it probably wasn’t worth the risk. Don’t know how I feel about that tactic now, but for those (could include me) who don’t currently consider abortion as infanticide, I’m going to ask you to consider the “what if” today. We’ve dialoged already with the assumption that life begins at birth. Today we are going to dialog with the stipulation that life begins at conception. Tomorrow will discuss from a Biblical perspective when we believe “life” begins, but today we are going to, for the sake of productive dialog, stipulate that life begins at conception.

I believe the two things I mentioned Monday still apply to today’s conversation.

• Men should yield the floor to their better half and allow women to lead the decision making as it relates to pregnancy, abortion and women’s rights. We need to support them whole heartedly in their decisions, but do all we can to support and not unduly influence.
• We need to address the grave injustices that continue to face women in our country today. Equal Pay, paid maternity leave and better support for working and nursing mothers. Taking a stand against domestic and sexual abuse.  And removing discriminating stereotypes and media create pervasive struggles with body image for our young girls.

As to the issue of abortion itself. Assuming life begins at conception, abortion is murder. But, we must admit that it is unlike any other form of murder, it is unique in the relationship and physical connectedness of the mother and child. I am not saying that to diminish the value of the child, but to simply acknowledge that it is unique and should be considered as such. We think and respond differently to a suicide, an assisination or a fatal accident, though all involve the lose of life.

Is there a way to think of and respond to the situation, to consider the mother and child and the gravity of the situation that does not diminish the intensity of the situation, but also respects the values and rights of both the mother and child?

Okay, so the email forwards recently about Obama are driving me crazy. Not from a political perspective, but from a “I’m ashamed to call my self a Christian and align myself with these people” sort of perspective. Anways, I figured I’d add to the religious cynicism and give some folks a few videos to find amusing or get angry at. Your choice.

First, a trailer for Religulous, seems interesting…

Then some late night Christian Television clips…

And finally a great monologue on using the Old Testament in modern day life, from the West Wing (also quoted in Jesus for President).