Three topics to never discuss with friends or family: Politics, Religion, and Relationships

Another paper that could have went on and on but I was limited to 3-5 pages:

The title I have given to this paper reflects on what I was told growing up to not do at holidays when the family was together. It has been proven time and time again that discussing politics, religion, and relationships will inevitably end up in a debate or a flat out argument, thus ruining the holidays or family gathering, etc. So, how do we deal with them? Have an open mind, open heart, and a closed mouth.

Reading through last months Sojourner and Christian Chronicle, I discovered that a vast majority of the issues in the church are these three things. With the upcoming election the major issues are centering on the candidates for President. I have always been a firm believer in the separation of Church and State; however this cannot be done all the time. The reason I believe in this separation is because I would rather not have the government breathing down the necks of church leadership and clergy to tell them how to run their congregations. Unfair taxes and laws that maybe put in place for non profits could affect the sole purpose of the church and the people. On the flip side of this, I do not believe that religious bodies such as the Christian Coalition should be harassing our government officials to get laws passed against issues such as Gay marriage. The problem can go either way if a radical group or person tries to push their morals on either party. There will without a doubt be a debate.

Nevertheless, there is a very fine line between these two bodies, Church and State. There is an extreme possibility that members of the government body are also believers and regular church-goers, and visa versa. So what does this mean and why is it an issue in the church today? Well, this is an amazing year for presidential elections and whichever way it goes it will make history. We have a very diverse selection to make this year with Barack Obama being the first person of color President or Sarah Palin being the first woman Vice-President. This is becoming an issue in the church because from opinion and the opinions of the folks in the editorial of the Sojourner, the public needs to understand what faith background the candidates come from to make a well informed vote. Regardless of a candidates experience and past voting history their faith is what drives their decisions on moral topics. As we have seen, the press delving into a candidate’s religious background caused an up roar with the whole Jeremiah Wright incident as well as the threat of the UCC being fined because Barack Obama spoke to us at our General Synod in 2007.

I have tied politics and religion into one category of issues in the church, now I want to move to relationships. When speaking of relationships I am speaking of “style” of the relationship if you will. The style can be made up of a man and a woman, two men, two women, etc. This is a huge and ongoing issue in the church not only in the United States but abroad as well. Of course when there are two people gathered in God’s name, there is love. In my opinion whatever the relationship style, there is love and. It appears that a vast majority of the religious public still struggle with this notion. I read a few articles on this issue and it seemed that the comments to the article were an attack. This is obviously a huge issue to the church today.

Our current government tried to place in the Constitution of the U.S. a law to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. It failed of course, but here it happens again, politics, religion, and relationships. These three things are so tightly interwoven with each other that it is inescapable to talk about one and not talk about the others. So now we have groups such as the Christian Coalition going to the state capitols and picketing to gain support of congress men and women, to protect the sanctity of marriage which they believe is between a man and a woman. Originally before reading the articles I was leaning toward America as being more excepting of alternative relationships. This mind set comes from the more liberal views of Maine, but what I found out is a majority still oppose of this.

I think supporters have good intentions and the non-supporters do not have a theological leg to stand on. It makes it hard to love my neighbors when they do not love themselves. If they would faithfully exegete the passages they so dearly hang on to for their ammunition against it they would find that the Bible was written in a very different time and our God is a God of love.

With that being said, I think everyone needs to remember the two most important commandments that were told in Matthew 22:37-40: 37Jesus answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38This is the first and most important command.39And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’40All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.” We will never be able to get away with controversy that comes from the issues of politics, religion, and relationships but we can move forward as God would want us to if we open our hearts, souls, and minds. More simply put, Love God, Love your neighbor, and love yourself.