You state that going to church for 20 years doesn't heal divisions. Uhm, why not? What does it have to do with anything? Religion is a funky thing - it is wildly divisive, yet it also brings communities together. Granted George W. Bush used religion in a frightening way that gives me nighmares. But Obama is a much brighter man than Bush, as far as I can tell. The church he's been going to - has done aids outreach programs, it has helped the poor, it has given people who had no where to turn hope. And that's not all Obama has done. He's done other things besides sitting in church on Sunday, like most Americans. He's been a state Senator. He's pushed for Energy reforms and school reforms on the State and Federal level. I don't judge a man or woman by which church they decide to attend - that is their own personal business, I judge them by what they do in the workplace, and by their values which are not always dictated by religion (believe it or not) and outside of that church. Obama's venue is the Senate or the Legislature or a Classroom - I watch him there.
I haven't read Obama's first book. I'm reading his second, where he tells me about bills he's pushed forward and ideas he has about bringing the country together. I agree with those views. He is positive as opposed to negative in his actions.
I look at what McCain and Clinton have done as well - McCain who says he is against torture but voted for a bill that included it, the man's actions in the Senate and on the campaign trial contradict what he says he stands for - so I do not trust that he won't cater to the far-right like Bush has.
I honestly don't care who or what Jeremiah Wright says. He is a friend not a political advisor. Obama has made that clear. It is possible to have friends that one does not agree with. And the fact that Obama is friends with someone he doesn't agree with shows he has the ability to be diplomatic, to be able to make deals and negotiate with countries and cultures that may make him cringe. That is important in a President. To bridge gaps, to find a peaceful way of living with one another.
He condemned what Wright said, yet at the same time, said he still loved the man. That was what Jesus did years ago, he embraced people he did not necessarily agree with. You may not believe Jesus is the son of God, but he did do that as a man according to historical record. It is what Martin Luther King did. Not that they did not make mistakes and occassionally friend the wrong person or condemn people - making mistakes is part of what makes us human after all. None of us are immune. But striving to embrace those we disagree with is what we all must try to do in order to survive, and it is the hardest thing in the world to do. It is much easier to disown these people - to wage war on them. But if history has taught us nothing else - it's that this solves nothing, except more death and more pain.
And because I ran out of space
I haven't read Obama's first book. I'm reading his second, where he tells me about bills he's pushed forward and ideas he has about bringing the country together. I agree with those views. He is positive as opposed to negative in his actions.
I look at what McCain and Clinton have done as well - McCain who says he is against torture but voted for a bill that included it, the man's actions in the Senate and on the campaign trial contradict what he says he stands for - so I do not trust that he won't cater to the far-right like Bush has.
I honestly don't care who or what Jeremiah Wright says. He is a friend not a political advisor. Obama has made that clear. It is possible to have friends that one does not agree with. And the fact that Obama is friends with someone he doesn't agree with shows he has the ability to be diplomatic, to be able to make deals and negotiate with countries and cultures that may make him cringe. That is important in a President. To bridge gaps, to find a peaceful way of living with one another.
He condemned what Wright said, yet at the same time, said he still loved the man. That was what Jesus did years ago, he embraced people he did not necessarily agree with. You may not believe Jesus is the son of God, but he did do that as a man according to historical record. It is what Martin Luther King did. Not that they did not make mistakes and occassionally friend the wrong person or condemn people - making mistakes is part of what makes us human after all. None of us are immune. But striving to embrace those we disagree with is what we all must try to do in order to survive, and it is the hardest thing in the world to do. It is much easier to disown these people - to wage war on them. But if history has taught us nothing else - it's that this solves nothing, except more death and more pain.