Conversations with Christians on Barack Obama [Excerpts]
Saturday, September 20, 2008

Background: A couple, married for a long time; he is going to be 80, she is probably in her late 50s. White, middle class. Educated professionals. No children. Very active in a rather large church (membership near 1,000-- 3 Sunday services, one Saturday night service, multiple Bible studies/groups meeting weekly) and with the children in the neighborhood where they live.

She: "So, your parents are probably voting for John McCain, aren't they?"

Me: "All of us are."

He: "All of you? You mean your parents."

Me: "All of us."

He: "Even you? Someone of your age is voting for John McCain?"

Me: "Yes."

He: "Why?" (He is clearly aghast.) Everyone your age is voting for Barack Obama!

Me: I don't trust him.

He: Why?

Me: I don't trust his background.

He: Because of all that Muslim stuff?

Me: Yes.

He: Oh, that's just.... (trails off without responding) I think he's an educated man. We need that!

Me: He's a very good speaker.

He: We need education! He wants everyone to get a free education; that's what the government should do. We need educated people!

Me: I agree. But before the government sponsors free education, we need to reform the system.

He: I think a lot of people are denied an education based on economic reasons that are really, (he leans forward) more racially based than anything else.

Me: So, you're talking about white males, like my brother, who are denied scholarships that are then given to African Americans solely based on their race, right?

He: (Blinks. No response.)

Friend 1 (White American male, mid-50s): That's right.

Friend 2 (Hispanic Immigrant, mid-40s): That's right. White American males get nothing.

He: What do you mean, "reform"?

Me: I taught white male students who walked out of classes on feminist film theory feeling guilty of being rapists, colonizers, and murderers-- just because they happened to be white males.

He: That's ridiculous! What are you talking about?

Me: Feminist film theory-- a branch of literary and cultural criticism.

He: What is that? That's just one teacher, not an entire school.

Me: It is an entire school of thought that is taught on every college campus in this country.

He: What do you mean "every campus"? What college was this?

Me: A public, state-funded university.

He: Well, where does this come from? What is this theory?

Me: Literary and cultural studies, a branch of study that teaches you how to interpret the world around you and the media being produced by and for that world. It came out of English departments in the 1930s and expanded further in the 60s and into today. It is the basis of Liberal Arts education.

He: (Says nothing. A while later in the conversation, he returns to the topic.) Government should educate the citizens!

Me: That's all well and good, but we need to reform the system before we begin giving free educations to students.

He: Well, why is that the government's responsibility?

Me: (Laughing to myself.) Well, if you want the government to send every student to school for free, but they send them to an institution that is so drastically biased in its teaching, what kind of citizens are you getting? You're getting more people into the same work force that says (Friend 1) can't get a small business loan because he happens to be a white American male. So what good is a free education?

He: (Says nothing for a moment.) Well, why is the reform the government's responsibility?

[Ed. Note: I love how liberals like the government to take care of everything except when it comes to correcting their own shortcomings and faux ideologies. Then, suddenly, the libs aren't responsible.]

Later, in the conversation:

She: Well, I couldn't vote for any candidate who wasn't pro-choice. My sister got pregnant when she was 15, and she had no choice back then-- she didn't want to give the baby up for adoption, so she married the guy and had a miserable life. She was an alcoholic for 32 years. It was terrible.

Me: (Sometimes, saying nothing is the best response.)

She: I think the right has been horribly abused, but still, women should have the choice.

Me: (Again, I say nothing. But, I think to myself: My mother had a miscarriage and a blood disease, and was told that one of her options when she got pregnant with me was to have an abortion because of her medical history. Hm. She had a choice, and in exercising that choice, she respected her unborn daughter's right to choose life as well.

Later, it occurs to me that this woman's sister had a choice, too. She could have put the baby up for adoption; she chose not to. She could have raised the baby alone; she chose not to. She could have sought out refuge in positive things; she chose not to. And because her sister has sympathy for her, her sister chooses not to sympathize with every other woman, born and unborn, and their choice. Ironic, isn't it?)

Still, later in the conversation:

He: Hey, can you take a joke?

Me: Sure.

He: You know why I don't want to vote for McCain?

Me: No, why?

He: Because I don't want another Bush in the White House!

Me: (Shuddering at the lame vulgarity of the double-entendre, I choke out a polite chuckle.)

She: Oh, that's terrible.

Me: (Trying to change the topic.) One of my friends goes to your church.

She: Oh, really? What's her name?

Me: (I give her the name.)

She: Does she do music? Is she in the youth group? Is she active in the leadership?

Me: Oh, I don't know.

She: Well, it's such a large church... there's over 900 people. They do three services on Sunday, you know. And they're doing Saturday night services now!

Me: Really? Wow.

She: Yeah, it's great. I'm not a morning person, so this will be perfect.

Me: (I nod and wonder at the mercy of G-d, fitting Himself so politely into her schedule.)

He: You know, everyone in the world loves Barack Obama.

Me: I don't really care what the world thinks.

He: Why not? We have to deal with these people!

Me: The last thing I'm worried about are the opinions of overly socialized governments that coalesce to Islam.

He: (Says nothing.)

***

And that is faith impacting someone's political viewpoint. Well, faith, or a lack thereof. You know, Christians really need to get their heads on straight when it comes to what it means to live out faith. I think they're starting to, in drips, drabs, leaps and bounds. It's tough to verbalize and communicate, though, because expressing a faith lifestyle requires the equivalent of speaking a foreign language for most Christians.

Christianity's vocabulary is so diluted with pagan thought-processes that it is very hard to create and come to terms with the idea of living a life totally defined by Messiah. My heart goes out to these people who are trying so hard to do the right thing in everyone else's eyes that they've lost the vision G-d has for them. It's frustratingly pathetic on one hand, but seriously sad on the other.

I tend to be extremely critical on this blog because I have been trained, through education and experience, to view situations with a critical eye. Sometimes I come off as glib, and other times I come off as downright unforgiving. But, truly, as angry as I am with leadership that have let their flocks go astray, I have just as much, if not more compassion for the millions of sheep searching for the right path home, and I am just as easily able to laugh at the irony of G-d's truth in action. I hope everyone else is the same way because experiencing that depth and range of emotion draws us closer to knowing our G-d. And knowing our G-d is the only way to know and to be our true self.

Labels: American elections, Christianity, christians, Obama