Archives for November 2004

This is a New York Times article. If you want to read the whole thing you need to register, otherwise here are a couple of sections and my thoughts.

ocusing on the intersection of faith and politics, four religious leaders illustrated in a television appearance today just how passionate and difficult dialogues on such topics can be.

The sometimes heated discussion, which focused on abortion and gay marriage, played out on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority; the Rev. Al Sharpton, the minister-politician who ran in the Democratic primaries; Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine; and Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission.

The question of a moral divide has come more sharply into focus since the presidential election earlier this month. In an Election Day poll 22 percent of voters named “moral values” as the issues most important to them, and 80 percent of those people voted for President Bush. Critics, however, have argued that the phrase “moral values” is too ambiguous, covering everything from abortion to sexually explicit material on television.”

I don’t see any of these men as being representative of me and my religious beliefs. Since I am a firm advocated of a separation of church and state it doesn’t totally bother me. But since moral values seem to be such a key component of the current public arena I do like knowing where they stand.

“God is not a Republican or a Democrat,” Mr. Wallis said. “That should be obvious.”

I love it and agree completely. Unfortunately I have a feeling that for a while we are going to face a period of time in which religion is going to be used as a political tool to a much larger extent than it has been in the past.

Some of this may be cyclical, but it is just as important now as it has ever been for us to be vigilant in watching out for the rights of all people, not just those who claim to have G-d on their side.

I write about anything and everything. That includes absolutely everything about my life and the people in it. On some topics I am cautious about how much I say, if it is warranted.

Items that warrant my care are posts that are about people who are easily identified and who might be hurt by what I share. Please note that this is subjective. I recognize that I have a fairly thick skin and that what I find to be hurtful and offensive may not be the same as someone else.

But it is my blog and my rules, so live with it. I’ll do my best not to intentionally offend or hurt most people. That is right, most people. Those that fall outside of my ambiguous definition may find themselves to be targets and who knows what can happen. If you are worried about this I suggest that you stop reading this blog and then there will only be 17 readers a month who might know your secrets.

On a side note I was thinking about how many people I know that are divorced and it occurred to me that I could post about it as well. And I am sure that to far too many of you it might appear that my post is about your experience. Unless there are specific details you can assume that it is likely not about you and even if there are it may be an amalgamation of stories.

If you know me personally you know that I enjoy embellishing my tales.

What I find so sad about the comments about divorce is how prevalent it has become. It just makes me wonder about relationships. Have we lost something that other generations had, or have we found a freedom and truths that other generations did not have.

Out of the many people that I know that are divorced I cannot think of any that I thought of or think of now as having been thoughtless about marriage. Each and every one of them appeared to enter their initial marriage with a lot of thought and good intentions. But good intentions are often not enough.

One friend of mine said that he thinks it takes the first marriage to teach you how to be married. I don’t totally buy that argument, but I can see some of what he is saying. There are some experiences that require actual exposure for understanding.

As an avid newshound I read multiple accounts of the war and wonder, how are our soldiers handling the mental and emotional damage that we know they are absorbing.

Just as their fathers/grandfathers/uncles/cousins had to deal with trauma they suffered in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam these troops are faced with some real challenges. Consider what they face in the field and then consider how they are supposed to reacclimate to life, normal life.

I wonder and worry about how effective our mental support teams are at identifying those who need help, as well as trying to ensure that those who need it receive it. And this is under the assumption that those who require aid will not refuse it.

The war does not always end when you leave the battlefield.

As previously mentioned I am busy learning more about how to more effectively and efficiently engage in coding tricks for this blog. As I run through these I am Trying not to screw up.

I am not sure what will happen, but I am definitely of the school of learning through action. Be patient as I am sure that there will be some strange looking occurrences, but I do promise to try and minimize them.