It should go without saying. Faith is not a one-party notion. Nearly every faith has its own conservative, moderate and liberal factions. But too often the US media plays along with the supposed equating of ultra-conservatives as the voice of faith. That is so far from what’s true, you would think they would know better by now.
This video was the winner of a national competition to illuminate the one liberal religion’s voice. There are many others, including that of President Obama. As I have said before, it all boils down to:
* whether everyone is important, from the new baby, to the school child, to the home-schooled child, to the working parents, to the stay-at-home mom (or dad), to the unemployed, to the old, to the sick, to the frail.
* whether we embrace everyone, no matter the ethnicity or skin “color.”.
*whether we look beyond whether another is Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, believe in earth-based religions or any other faith.
* whether or not we believe that we are all in this together.
* whether we reject writing off nearly half of this country (47%), or even more so the 1% can return to the robber-baron era.
*whether we believe in a in a gospel that whatsoever you do for these …brethren, you have done unto Him, or believe in a so-called prosperity gospel (in which we tell ourselves “God wants a few to be wealthy”).
* whether we believe we really are charged with the mission of basing our politics and our faith on inclusion, tolerance and love; or whether we do not believe in those things.
* whether we believe that together we can accomplish great things or whether we believe in every person for himself.
Most of us supporting the President believe in the politics and faith of inclusion. We want others to be happy. Their being so does not detract from us. It only makes us better…because they are us.
Let us not forget that those with no faith are part of us too. They are most definitely a welcome part of my faith and my politics. In the final analysis, we know that faith and politics intersect when we reach out to those who are hurting. And at that intersection, we know that we are at our best when more people are doing well. We will not exclude the 47%, no matter what party they vote for. We may not appreciate the untruthfulness of their current political leaders, we may even despise the lack of candor on their current leaders’ part. But they are still part of us.
I do not speak for the entire Blue Virginia Editorial Board. But it is safe to say that all of us here strongly support a politic that recognizes and embraces all of our country’s people. When there is a Hurricane Sandy or Katrina, they are us, every last one. Helping them is not optional. It is something we must as a nation do. When they are hungry, that is our business. And when they do not have work, that is our concern as well. I support this president because he appeals to our better angels, not the politics of greed or the purported gospel justifying it. He supports one nation, indivisible. When the election is over, he will once again unite this country. It will be the GOP Congress’s decision regarding whether to continue down their path of hostility. Congressional Democrats did not do that to President George W. Bush. Regardless, I expect that our president, President Barack Obama, will have all of our (the voters’) backs. And that is why I have has his back, as I will tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.
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