Liberals under attack

Because I am my Mother’s full time caregiver, I am often in the company of evangelicals. We worship at her evangelical church. I often hear that they feel somewhat embattled, under attack by atheists and the intellectual elite. They should try walking in my shoes, a liberal Christian. I am despised not only by the intellectual elite but also by most Christians. I feel like a pariah around these people during the current election season. I and my ilk are under attack by the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for simply being a Democrat.


The BGEA has devoted an entire issue of Decision Magazine to a rant against the Democratic Party, who they say have adopted the sins of Romans One as their party platform. (The BGEA should look out for its tax exempt status.) Is it just me, or am I correct that the Democratic platform has included abortion rights and gay rights for some years now? The one added bit this year that seems to have driven all these people over the edge is gay marriage.

I just can’t see the big problem with gay marriage. For me it is much easier to accept than abortion rights. Abortion is a knottier problem, but gay marriage doesn’t hurt anyone. It seems to me to be good for society. Even if the six possibly relevant versus in the Bible did condemn homosexual activity, the Apostle Paul equates sins of sexual impurity with such sins as slander and backbiting. So those who slander gay people are as guilty of sin as those who engage in homosexual activity. I do not believe these six verses are even commenting on people who are born homosexual. Furthermore there are only the six verses but there are a great number of verses on justice for the poor and downtrodden. Social justice is not the forte of the Republican platform.

Banning abortion and making it a criminal act causes all manner of complex problems for individual women in situations of great difficulty. God has given us all freedom of choice and this very intimate issue should be a woman’s choice between her and God. I don’t believe it is unchristian to allow women this choice. We are all sinners and there are all kinds of sins. It doesn’t behoove us to point fingers at one another.

It is a cliché that everyone wants abortion to be rare. Birth control is very important in preventing abortions. It is very important to offer support services to pregnant women. God has given us the power to create human life and the power to destroy human life. I question the belief that human life begins at the moment of conception. I do not know at what point the fetus receives a human soul and becomes a human being. Clearly this happens at some point during fetal development. A microscopic embryo, however, does not seem to me to be yet a human person with an immortal soul. A local clergyman has pointed out that an egg is not the same thing as a chicken. The same observation applies to the embryo and the fully formed human fetus. I cannot see that the morning after pill should be a moral problem.

Jesus spoke often to condemn the Pharisees and the sins of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Pride is the greatest sin. Perhaps all this condemnation I feel is good for my pride and will humble me as I deserve for all my many sins. I doubt that voting for President Obama is one of them.

Colors are more intense and varied this year

Of course pictures can't do the colors justice.

Pictures from the summer