A quick note on politics on this blog.
There are times such as now that I get ticked off at a particular political occurrence (see my SCHIP rants). I want to emphasize that when I write about those things I write as a person with a particular political belief – a particular set of beliefs and values. Those beliefs are regularly informed by my faith. They are not, however, the same as my faith. My politics and my faith are distinct.
I do not say that Jesus is on my side and that those who disagree with me are an affront to God. I’m obviously overstating just a bit but I do so purposely because all too often when faith and politics meet the end result is a sort of “holy anger.” There is this notion that the people we “oppose” aren’t merely advocating bad public policy but are grieving God and proving that they aren’t really God lovers after all (and, by default, that we are really and truly holier than they are).
To equate politics with faith is a dangerous thing and I’ve made that mistake way too many times. I hope to make it less often in the future because faith is eternal and politics is not.