Speaking Words of Wisdom

Have any of you read Rachelle's Urban Abbess blog at Monkfish Abbey? It's amazing and Rachelle is my hero. This recent post regarding Ted Haggard's unfortunate situation is a perfect example of why I love to see her site highlighted in bold at my Bloglines account (though that keeps me from seeing a great looking site as well).

So This post is really two wrapped into one:

1. Rachelle's thoughts on this are as close to mine as anyone else's I have come across, so this is all I have to say as far as Ted Haggard (but not necessarily homosexuality with Haggard's situation as an example, watch for my next post) is concerned.

2. Don't miss out on all the great things you can find at Monkfish Abbey. They are an amazing group of people. If we had more groups like this around, the world would be a greater place.

Democrats Control the Congress

Democrats take control of the House and Senate. The final action to push Democrats over the top was Webb's concession to Allen in Virginia's senate race at 4:15pm today.


As an added bonus, Democrats hold a majority of governor's seats as well.

Democrats lost no previously held seats and gained everything they needed to provide the necessary governmental checks and balances that had been lacking over the last six years.

The Great Winds of Change in America

Just in case anyone wishes to take a look at what the elections spell for issues on a national stage, consider this: No Democrat seeking re-election for the House, Senate, or Governorship lost their race. None. Democrats took control of the House and are currently positioned to take control of the Senate (both independents would caucus with the Democrats to give the Democrats a 51-49 majority). If this fails to register as a wake-up call for Republicans, perhaps nothing will. After a stolen presidential election in '00 and a dubious-at-best election in '04, the chickens are coming home to roost. The number one issue voters claim as the reason to vote the way they did: corruption. Last time around it was "values", but both sides claimed that term even as it was being snatched up by Republicans as their own. Now we see republicans voting for democrats and saying that the corruption must end. To be honest, corruption can be found on both sides, but to maintain that honesty would be to admit that it's been found in the Republican party in spades lately.

It should come as no surprise that George Bush refused to speculate on a Democratic win tonight. He claimed to believe that Republicans would hold both the House and the Senate, no questions asked. When pressed to comment on any plans he had just in case the Democrats won one or both portions of Congress, Bush refused, insisting that he knew a Democratic shift just wasn't going to happen. Just like he knew the mission was accomplished back in '03, that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, and that we'd be greeted by a rose-petal parade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funny how that works.

Disgusted by "Christian" Nationalism

I'm watching TBN right now. George Bush just wrapped up an interview and was followed by some correspondents extoling Bush's unblemished Christian virtue. This was followed by remarks that make me want to puke. This is not hyperbole. My stomach is upset and I feel physically ill. I am a Christian and I am not a supporter of the republican party, yet TBN unabashedly links the two together. War, prayer, nationalism, patriotism, faith; it's all thrown together in a manner that should raise red flags in rational minds. TBN blatantly ties being American to be Christian and a Republican. Why is there no shame in there action? A man on this show said that he was saddened to know that 20 million Christians didn't vote and then he said that if every Christian voted "we'd" take every election. Ok. Bullshit. "Take"? Where? Not to mention the astounding arrogance to assume that every Christian votes in lock-step. What kind of Christian nation will we have? There is a place in politics for faith in that our beliefs inform our actions, but that's it. America will not be a Christocracy, theocracy, or theocratic republic. I'm just going to wonder whose Christianity will get to be the "American" political religion...

Methodist? (United, AME, Free....?)
Catholic?
Lutheran? (Missouri Synod, ELCA?)
Pentecostal?
Evangelical?
Mainline Liberal?
Charismatic?
Quaker?
Mennonite?
Amish?
Anglican?
Baptist? (Southern, Free, American....?)
Presbyterian?
Reform?
Fundamentalist?
Emergent?
Liberal?
Protesant?
Conservative?
Eastern Orthodox?



another wretching update: Now some guy on TBN is spewing on about how Christians can better market (shitty) movies becuase our faith traces back to martyrs dying thousands of years ago....