The politics of religion

I’m a Christian. In fact, I’m the daughter of a Baptist pastor and have gone to church my entire life, but I’ve always felt my religion was something personal. In fact, I only mention it here to make a point.

I mean, my faith and spirituality is about my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and I believe it manifests itself through my actions, reactions and behavior, particularly toward my fellow man.

In other words, I’ve never felt the need to broadcast my religion to the world on the regular. I’d rather show you. Just like the song goes
“This little light of mine…” well, I rather let it shine than force it down your throat.

So, I cringed when I began watching CNN’s “Compassion Forum” with Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Sunday night. (Republican presidential nominee John McCain was also invited, but did not attend.)

As the moderators and selected people from the audience asked Clinton and Obama in separate segments, to share their favorite Bible stories, describe a moment when they caught the Holy Spirit, or describe how they were led to Christ, my family and I were sitting there like “WHAT?! Why are they asking this kind of stuff? Why are they even having a forum like this?”

I strongly believe in the separation of church and state. I think it’s a very dangerous thing when you try to mix the two, because you stand a chance of some fanatic just taking it too far and then you got a raging tyrant, or something scary like that, running the country.

Religious freedom is one of the principles this country was founded on. And presidential candidates shouldn’t have to explain it or wear it like a badge. If it’s the essence of who they are, it shows. Besides, I’m not voting for a minister, I’m voting for a president.

Anyway, overall I felt like both candidates handled the questions about as best as they could. And it actually turned out to be pretty interesting and provide some insight into their spiritual lives.

But it wasn’t enough for me to change my vote one way or the other. (Now, you don’t really think I’m going to tell you which candidate I favor do you? Lol.) Overall, I was just uncomfortable with the whole thing. I mean I’ll admit it’s cool to know if someone shares the same faith as me. It’s a good thing to know, but a political candidate’s religion is just not at the top of my list when it comes to who I’ll choose for the commander in chief. I feel like the record of that person's works will bear that out.

I guess I feel this way because I’ve seen hypocrisy at all levels, from local to national folks, black, white, yellow, whoever, who claim to be this or that and 9 times out of 10, when they’re touting the claim, it’s coming from a place of phoniness or self-righteousness. What’s even more disgusting to me is when candidates exploit religion, namely Christianity, for personal gain or use it to distract people from issues that actually affect them. I mean if Jesus is love, how can you hate or kill people just because they don’t look or act like you, you know? Or how can you propose, legislate or approve bills that actually leave the masses of folks in financial despair, jobless or even homeless, just flat broke and struggling?

I could go on and on, but I’ll get off my soapbox now. I want to know what y’all think? Did anybody see it? Even if you didn’t see the CNN forum, what do you think about the subject in general?

What kind of words warrant a resignation?

Word got out today that Samantha Power, a Harvard professor who has been volunteering as a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, has resigned.

The reason: everybody found out she called Hillary Clinton "a monster" in an interview.

This story raises a couple interesting questions. Power apparently told a reporter for a Scottish paper that her name-calling was off the record. Not everyone agrees with what that little phrase means, but in an interview, the reporter is calling the shots. The reporter may have treated the comment differently if Power were not part of an extremely wealthy, high-profile presidential campaign. But I would be willing to guess this wasn't her first interview.

I interview people all the time, and they like to throw the "off the record" lingo out. I can be understanding with someone who is not media savvy, but not politicians or their advisers. Then again, I may have chosen not to insert the comment because it was kind silly.

Apparently Obama -- or at least more if his campaign advisers -- thought Power's comment was a bad move. Granted, that is not a very nice or grown-up thing to say, but was it really that bad? Should she have quit her job? This is politics, right? I never knew there was anything particularly sweet and kind in this game.

Did you ponder Presidents Day?

Yesterday was Presidents Day. I worked, but most of my friends, especially those who are military, were off from work.

Now that we're all back into work, did anyone actually dwell on the meaning of Presidents Day? Whether you worked or you were off having fun, what did you do to celebrate the occasion? Did you think -- at all -- about the current president or past presidents?

Speaking of presidents, I saw this (Former President Bush endorses McCain) on TV this weekend. I'm pretty sure we all know where former President Clinton stands on the campaign trail. What do you think of former presidents giving their political endorsement? Does it say, or weigh, any more than other organizations who endorse a candidate?

Or do we even care what anyone else thinks of the candidates?