So...

...I'm sitting on my front porch, soaking up the last of the sun's rays before it sinks below the house across the street, and I'm reading Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz (see my Current Read List).

In a chapter entitled "Church - How I Go Without Getting Angry" Don says that churches "seemed to be parrots for the Republican Party. " He then gives several examples and continues in the same paragraph: "I want my spirituality to rid me of hate, not give me reasons for it", and in the following paragraph: "The truth is we are supposed to love the hippies, the liberals, and even the Democrats, and that God wants us to think of them as more important than ourselves."

I want to expand upon what those statements mean for me personally, but I don't wish to imply that Mr. Miller necessarily subscribes to or agrees with anything I'm going to say in the following thoughts. They are my own.

-----

People I know look at me blankly when I say that I no longer believe I must align myself politically with the evangelical church. If I even insinuate that I don't necessarily hold "traditional conservative" political views on issues like abortion, homosexuality, creation vs. evolution, medical marijuana and war, people in my faith circles become terribly frightened.

It's certainly not that I am ejecting from my faith the biblical positions on those issues, only that I don't believe I have to subscribe to the Republican or Conservative political agendas and methods on those issues. We can tend, as christians, to be on a political witch-hunt in the name of Jesus. Liberal Democrats are the Enemy, and Conservative Republicans are the Righteous.

Forgive me for being hippie, but where's the love?

Isn't love the primary subject of the Bible? I know many who believe the Bible is primarily a rulebook, and God will love us more as we follow the rules. Here we go again, putting the cart before the horse. Is it possible that the Bible is a book of love, and the more aware we become of God's love, the more we will be equipped to follow the "rules" (which aren't really rules, but ways in which God suggests we behave to maintain our health, safety and well-being. Because He loves us.).

Are we still supposed to love those who we disagree with? Are we to treat them with meekness, kindness, gentleness, self-control...?

Do I sometimes lose my temper when I disagree with someone on a spiritual issue? Yes, of course. But it is my goal to continue to improve my attitude about those I disagree with. And I will continue to think for myself on political issues. The questions I ask myself: What would God want? Does He want me to fight for His position? How else would He like me to address this issue?

I think St. Augustine says "In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity".

Where's the charity?