Thursday, October 16, 2008

Discussing politics

One of the things that disturbs me about our culture is the apparent inability of people to have a discussion. With the talk show hosts & blogging & email, we have lost our politeness. At a time when we are most connected, we have learned to only connect with those who are like us. We have lost our ability to reach out to learn and share and really discuss.

I admit that I'm not all that good at discussion. I've spent a large part of my life thinking I'm absolutely right. But now that I'm gaining years, I'm realizing I don't know everything, and behold, listening to others is a good way to learn. And frankly, listening to real people is more pleasant to me than listening to Rush Limbaugh. So here's my two cents on this year's political race. Please feel free to leave comments. That would be kind of like. . .discussion.

I'm am a bit disgusted with the emails I have received from the evangelical, Republican camp that strike hysterical notes about Obama being a Muslim. It is not difficult to go to Snopes and check out the veracity of these claims. There are many sources of information on the web, but an email claiming to be true because of some list of sources is only true if you check the sources and they are accurate. Often I find that the sources contradict the presentation of information in the email. If someone approached you and said, "What I'm about to say is true, I read it in the newspaper..." would you automatically believe them? You might believe a friend who told you that their statement was true "because of this newspaper." But what if they said that a friend of a friend of a friend who knows someone who read it in a newspaper said something? This is the definition of a "forwarded email".

I am tired of the smearing of Obama. I personally believe the man's claims about his Christianity. Why would you be willing to believe McCain or Palin's Christian claims, but not Obama's? Perhaps we believe the Republican but not the Democrat because we cannot believe someone would love Jesus and disagree with us on something so significant as abortion. I disagree with Obama's pro-abortion stand. But I have also known Christians that I disagreed with, and this experience gives me a platform for understanding how someone could love Jesus but still differ from me politically.

This post is getting too long. I will stop now and leave you wondering if I am a scary liberal cloaked as a Bible-belt evangelical.

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