One thing I am sick and tired of is men like Mitch McConnell lecturing us on morals, and Christian values. Who is Mitch McConnell to lecture me on Chirst and his teachings? What makes him think he has earned such a holier-than-thou attitude about anything? I am Christian and a sinner, but Mitch McConnell's actions run contrary to all Christ stood for.

This is what I'm waiting for.  The "I'm not a Muslim, but so what if I was?" speech.  We have examined race, now it's time to defuse the rumors and celebrate the faith.  This is an opportunity to remove the elitist stink from the sanctimonious suggestion of "Christianity" as the only acceptable faith tradition for our leaders.  It is time to end the disenfranchisement of Muslim-Americans, who are by all accounts http://pewforum.org/...), as productive, educated, and "...are decidely American in their outlook, values, and attitudes" as the rest of us.

What makes Obama tick? This seems to be the most pressing question of the day because, as David Broder insists we "don't elect enigmas to the oval office."

The challenge is that Obama is unique in American politics. He's trying to pull off something that doesn't fit preexisting models, and all the political experts out there (of which there's no shortage), who take great pride in knowing "the rules" of politics, are determined to explain Obama in the facile language of an old paradigm. Now that his shine has worn a little thin, now that we've grown accustomed to the idea of this "new kind of politician" who seemed to come out of nowhere, the debate has devolved into overly simplistic dichotomies like whether or not Obama is centrist or Machiavellian. There's far too little appetite for actually trying to better understand the guy on his own terms.

Obama's recent push toward the Christian community, especially as it comes to a White House connection to something resembling Bush's policies, has me a little edgy. The recent poll revelation that roughly 92% of Americans are believers in some form of religion (with Christians by far in the lead) puts me in a shaky 8% that misses the true separation of church and state that Jefferson enjoyed.

While riding in to work this morning and listening to public radio do a story on the Middle East, they gave up the statistic that over 80% of Arabs are convinced that the US's position in the Iraqi and Afghanistani campaigns is to replace Islam with Christianity, therefor giving Al Quaeda it's strongest recruiting message.

Welcome to Morris, Oklahoma, population 1,319, most of whom live in the same square mile. It's the kind of town where the locals tell highway travelers, "Don't blink -- you'll miss it."

You can be forgiven for having never heard of this place, as even most Oklahomans haven't heard of it. It's what I call a "tornado radar town" because it's one of those towns I only see on the Doppler radar broadcasts during a tornado watch.

As you drive through this town along highway 62 -- possibly on the way from Okmulgee to Muskogee --  you pull your car to a stop the town's only traffic light, which hangs from a wire at the intersection of the other highway that makes up Morris' "main drag."

The only evidence of the presence of government that you can see is the public school and the post office. There's a bank too, with an ATM whose installation warranted a story in the town newsletter. And there are seemingly dozens of churches.

This will be a shorty.  It will garner few to zero recommends.  And the point I will be making will be as passing as I suppose those views of the people about which I am making it.

Alas, on this day in 363, Julian the Apostate was killed.  Ruling the Roman Empire from 361 to 363, Julian was the last pagan emperor and the first management consultant.

Since 312, the Empire had been operating on a new managerial system called Christianity. The prototype of Total Quality Management, Christianity provided the benefits of monotheism without circumcision. It also offered eternal retirement benefits, which proved very popular among the meek. Constantine imagined that Christianity would be a cohesive and subservient force for the government. Instead, the Christian sects were fighting each other when they weren't persecuting everyone else.

This week, right-wing pundit and leader of the 'beat your children' movement, Dr. James Dobson, accused Sen. Barack Obama of committing violence against Biblical teachings.    

Despite Dobson being a best-selling self-help guru famous for advising parents to whip their children with sticks, every  mainstream media outlet somehow managed to overlook this fact.  Instead, media coverage of Dobson's remarks stripped him any and all potential controversy with respect to his views on parenting and child beating, describing him instead with the vague and anodyne term 'Evangelical.'    

True--Dobson is a leading voice of sorts amongst some Evangelical Christians.  Still, the question the media should be posing to the public is not about his religion, but about his violent views of parenting:

Should a man who pushes parents to use pain to train their children have a prominent place in the 2008 President election or American politics at all?

Once upon a time, there was a book called The Bible...

Is "Christian Conservative" oxymoronic?
Or is it just moronic?

I caught HRs under my own diary for refusing to concede that some people are "entitled" to be Republicans because of their religion.  Our  problem with that entitlement is when their professed religion is Christianity -- in that case, I chose just moronic.

I didn't state this as just MY opinion -- I quoted THE SOURCE.
When you see Pat Robertson on TV asking that we cut capital gains in the name of Jesus, you, IF you are a black person with basically NO net worth (beyond some home equity IF you are LUCKY), well, you're SUPPOSED to GET it, and MOST DO. If I insult the 10% who don't FOR not getting it, well THEY DESERVE that insult a lot MORE than I deserve to get HRed for pointing out what's after the jump.  
Something tragically toxic is going on here when truth generates this kind of reaction.
As for appropriate reactions to the alleged existence of a conservative Christian, OF ANY color,
there is  one below the fold:

The  earth & the human race are going through a profound crisis. Out of such crises in the past have arisen major reinterpretations of the cultures/ religions that had existed before, and the emergence of new ones.

The transformation of sexual ethics is only one dimension of the great transformation we are living through, and it applies as well in cultures that do not call themselves "religious."

A few days ago, I wrote about my frustration at having one of my pentecostal/charismatic friends jump on my case about my support of Obama.  Well, I think I may be close to winning over one of them.

General William G. Boykin (ret.), implementer of US torture policies in Iraq under Donald Rumsfeld:

Here's the way I want to enter the gates of Heaven. I want to come skidding in there on all fours. I want to be slipping and sliding and I want to hit the gates of heaven with a bang. And when I stand up and I stand before Christ, I want there to be blood on my knees and my elbows. I want to be covered with mud. And I want to be standing there with a ragged breast plate of righteousness. And a spear in my hand. And I want to say, "Look at me, Jesus. I've been in the battle. I've been fighting for you." Ladies and gentlemen, put your armor on and get into battle. God bless you.

I just love Christian websites. They provide so much inspiration...for tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. I think I hit the mother lode today. The following questionnaire is intended as a tool for parents to insure that their children haven't become pagans or begun to stray from true Christian doctrine.

After all, Satan and his minions are constantly on the prowl for vulnerable and impressionable Christians. Should there be any doubt, one can simply take a look at all of the twisted and tortured Christian pastors and politicians who have been caught in compromising situations.

I've taken the opportunity to provide my own irreverent answers to these "important" questions. While my answers dramatically deviate from those provided on the site of origin, they might actually make you grin. Whether that makes you a pagan is open to debate.

Late Saturday night, I had the first of what I expect to be many conversations jumping on me about being a pentecostal/charismatic Christian who supports Barack Obama.

I buzzed an old friend of mine after seeing her on Myspace--I hadn't seen her in forever.  She's a charismatic Christian--and an ardent Republican.  After a little bit of small talk, out of nowhere she said, "There is no way in heck that Obama is a Christian."  Apparently she noticed that I have a link to Fight the Smears on my status message in Yahoo.  It went downhill from there ... more after the jump.

The Republican party has been courting the Christian vote with their endless efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade because some Christians believe life begins at conception, and therefore, abortion violates the commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Christians want to protect the souls of woman that get pregnant, but do not want the child, from eternal damnation. While I don’t personally believe that a loving god would send anyone to hell, this article isn’t about Christian theology. I also don’t really want to make this article about when life begins, nor do I want to debate if the woman’s right to choose should supercede the fetus’ right to life.  This article is instead intended to show that the Republicans are using Christians like pawns for their own political gain. That indeed, the Conservative movement is morally bankrupt.

Earlier I laid a rough foundation trying to address and explain the origins of polarized (and polarizing) %50-%50 divisions in political discourse.  I began with questioning the relationship of our own truth systems (I called "truth-webs") and the positions we defend in open debate.  I also interrogated my own fascination concerning debate and discourse and thought perhaps the source of my own interest being a stark disconnect between the parties in dispute appearing my field of perception and my own internal "truth-system."

In doing so I offered some preliminary definitions and assumptions concerning the manner to which these truth systems arrive and how we relate the world of things and others under our own dynamic understanding.  In doing so I "defined" ideology as a system of interrelated ideas serving to divide other's assertions into authentic and inauthentic--authoritative and non-authoritative.  In doing so I may have simply offered a type of ideology, and not an overarching notion in which all idea-systems would be contain ed.  In this part I will try outline forms of authority and authenticity that ping the human consciousness--but this may require (more or less) diving a bit into a "genealogy" of human understanding concerning truth and interpretation.

Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power  

Jeff Sharlet is (Ishmael) on Daily Kos.

This diary is my effort to transcribe an interview with him today on WNYC radio's The Leonard Lopate Show, about his new book. I've added my own notes and some helpful links.

Action needed? Read up, get informed by yourself because the corporate media will surely NOT be covering this very powerful and secretive group in Washington, DC.

All-Purpose Action Links:
The Nation action and media links for recommending the Jeff Sharlet's good work:
http://capwiz.com/...
Talking Points? In their wisdom, The Founding Fathers enshrined separation of Church and State so that each may thrive, free from undue influence. This group called "The Family" is a threat to our democracy.

Cheers to Kossack Jeff Sharlet for doing this work.

Book Review:
"Just when we thought the Christian right was crumbling, Jeff Sharlet delivers a rude shock: One of its most powerful and cult-like core groups, the Family, has been thriving. . . .

More below the fold: