Don’t Wanna Talk About Politics

Okay, let me preface this entry by saying if you are easily offended you probably shouldn't read this. I need to unload about a few things that are likely to offend some and I plan to do so in a confrontational way. If you are Catholic or Republican and are gonna hate me for this, then stop now.

So Father Corapi made some remarks about the election basically stating that God was going to punish us for electing an official that wouldn't stand in the way of abortion then he says that he is not telling anyone who to vote for. Another priest in the Bible Belt told his congregation that they should not take communion until they did penance if they voted for Obama.

Why does this have my blood boiling?

I am not Catholic, in fact I am not even Christian. I don't mind being told that I am going to hell for my beliefs. If the fact that I don't go to a particular building every Sunday, give them money, perform a crazy stand-up, sit-down ritual and sing a bunch of songs means I am going to hell – oh well.

I believe in God and I believe that God is all around me every day; in the face of my wife, my best friend, my favorite song, the fact that I have a warm house, and a great job. I believe that God gave me all these wonderful things because I worked my butt off to earn them. I am surrounded by good people that care about me and my well-being and I am happy. So in the mean-time between now and the time I go to hell I am going to do what I like to do and have fun with it. I will continue to behave as humanely as I can. I will continue to donate to worthy charities, and give my time to help those less fortunate as I was helped along the way by other good and decent human beings.

I am not trying to make myself sound like a saint. I have done mean and cruel things to other human beings and I am sure that I will do other mean and cruel things in the future, despite how I try to restrain myself. I am vindictive and stubborn and tend to react irrationally when angry. While I try to fix these things, I will never be perfect. If all of this combined means that I am going to hell then so be it, I personally don't think that it will land me in hell, I think that it makes me human, just like you and everyone you or I know.

Now I have digressed well beyond what my point was. Back to the election, people listening to priests to determine who they are going to vote for are asinine. Am I the only one that has taken world history? Perhaps there was an event or maybe events that would show us that allowing churches to run a government is bad idea? I will take Spanish Inquisition for $1000, Alex. Others you ask? If that isn't enough perhaps we should discuss many of the Crusades, most of medieval Europe and the fact that the country we live in today was founded by a people weary of religious persecution. How soon we forget…

I am not discounting anyone's religion. I view religion like doctors regard medicine, there are hundred different drugs to cure my ills, but which one works the best for me? I am stating that political matters should be separate from religious matters (separation of church and state – was that amendment repealed?). No human deserves blind and absolute loyalty regardless of who that human claims to be. Every human should be judged by the quality of their character, a priest or religious advisor may be very good at being a priest or religious advisor, but what qualifies them to advise on political matters?

I have rambled on for long enough now, let me get to the my bottom line. I encourage everyone to read about a candidates' ideals and agendas from credible sources, the candidates website, election campaign, etc and stop listening to the special interest. Along the same lines stop electing candidates who are going to make the best decisions for you and the country. Finally, regardless of who wins, come together as one country and figure out how to work with those in office. After all they aren't going anywhere for at least a couple of years.