Republican Party is not the Preacher Party

I am not a preacher, although the Left would like to cast me as one. This is the very reason why Democrats struggle to win the White House and have completely lost the South.

The Democratic National Committee belittles public displays of faith.

If polling indicates a majority of Americans label themselves Democrat…and, if most Democrats define themselves as liberal…then explain why Republicans control both Houses of Congress and have won the Presidency every time but 2x since the fall of Saigon?

Keep calling us Wing-Nuts. You only serve to galvanize us.

As the son of a Teamster/UAW Local 95 auto worker, I represented the next generation of Democrat voter. But your smarmy condescension of evangelical faith, and your general academic haughtiness towards God, pushed us to open arms.

Peace, Terri Schiavo

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The Pope and Terri Schiavo

Another chapter in Life’s Book of Serendipity has just been written; the Pope has a feeding tube.

He is unable to communicate and his quality of life has been deteriorating since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

I’m guessing the Pope does not have a Living Will. Even with a ticket into Heaven already punched, the premature ending of his life is not an option, as it is for Terri Schiavo.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, a throwback to the days when daily newspapers kept politicians honest, unlike their current function of delivering grocery ads, slams our culture’s Orwellian use of words.

The machinery of government is killing an innocent human being.

Media Bias and Faith

Life is full of inconsistencies. Liberals who are anti-death penalty and pro-choice. Conservatives who are pro-life and pro-war. Inconsistencies gave birth to our political parties and all their cleavages, as well as to our religions. As Martin Luther nailed his grievances to the Catholic Church’s door, the sound of his hammer would serve other denominations to cite their protests and challenge ancient dogma.

Life’s greatest inconsistency is the battle between science and faith. It is here where mainstream media exposes their greatest bias. Faith is a huge part of what makes us Americans. Faith, to jump on sailing ships to cross an ocean. Faith, to set out in wagon trains in search of land and gold. Yet, today, the role of faith in America is either ignored or treated with hostility.

On Easter Sunday, I watched the pundits on ABC refer to a poll that claimed 74% of Americans agreed with the courts that Terri Schiavo should be left alone to die. That can’t be, I thought. The U.S. is the most religious nation on earth. I have designed and conducted thousands of polls, so I suspected tainted questions leading to preordained answers.

Indeed, columnist Michelle Malkin exposed ABC’s methodology and the implication that people of faith agreed with the courts.

Science once claimed the earth was flat. Science once sterilized mentally ill humans. Inconsistency is a dynamic that leads to truth. And faith should have equal standing with science while engaged in the great discussions of our time.

Family Movie Night

My two boys are still too young to understand the big issues ahead of them, but I am already identifying movies that will someday help their mom and me reinforce their future understanding of God, religion, war, sacrifice, history, love. You know, all the stuff that adults struggle with, yet we want our children to surf over without being hurt.

Given this is Holy Week, I had to reacquaint myself with a movie lighter than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and more contemporary than the Charlton Heston classics;

Jerry, the grocery manager at Food World, (played by John Denver) watches God (played by George Burns) leave the courtroom in the movie’s final scene…

"If you find it hard to believe in me," says God, "maybe it would help
you to know that I believe in you."

"Trust me," says God, "like it says on the money."

Funny, and relevant. Oh God gets two thumbs-up for Easter and Passover entertainment.

Good Friday

Perhaps it is the Assembly of God influence that remains from the religious training of my adolescence, but I can’t watch cable news without tearing-up. It is not tears of sadness, anger, or even pity. Terri Schiavo is reminding me that God speaks to all of us, everyday. We hear Him when we set aside the noise of our routine, busy lives.

It is Holy Week and I am in a reflective state. Could it be a coincidence that this 15 year ordeal has reached the pinnacle of our federal government -- the Congress, the President, the US Supreme Court -- at the exact moment in time when God’s plan for Christ was culminated?

Is it possible that God chose this person, this time, this nation, to send His message of life, compassion, faith?

And perhaps, just perhaps, God’s plan for Miss Schiavo’s life was for this country to hear His Truth with our hearts -- that life is a gift from God. It is a gift you cannot give, and it is not yours to take.

Before Terri Schiavo’s time passes, I pray the mainstream media discovers religious thinkers such as Pastor Rick Warren or Rabbi Harold Kushner to add a dimension beyond law or politics.