Politics

Several people have asked me over the last few months about my comment some time ago on this blog that I believed Obama was probably the best choice to be our next president. With the elections just around the corner it seemed like a good idea to give an update on why I thought that then as well as what I think now and who I'm going to cast my ballot for next week. Most of this was cut-and-pasted directly from a couple of previous emails, it may look pretty familiar to a couple of you.

For me personally, the 'backstory' behind my approach to this year's election begins with a journey I have been on over the past three years or so through which I have become a pacifist. I have always in the past held something of a 'just war' approach, that killing in war is ok if the war is justified, etc etc. But a few years ago in talking with someone who is a pacifist, I was faced with a simple question: how can I kill the ones I'm supposed to love? Initially I passed it off and found ways to continue to justify my position. But over the months that followed, that question really dug its way into my heart. Pacifism still definitely *isn't* the most logical approach to me, or the one that comes first to my mind as I think through various situations. But, then, that's the case with a lot of what Jesus said... His Kingdom really is an upside-down kingdom, one where the logical thing to do is sometimes dead wrong. And although I can find lots of my own reasons for why war/killing may be justifiable, none of them negate the basic fact that Jesus told me that I need to love my enemies. And I think that starts by not killing them.

Fast forward to this election. I feel like I may never again get to vote on issues of the economy, educational policy, etc -- there are way bigger issues out there, issues of life and death. And there are two primary life and death issues: war and abortion. Unfortunately, it seems that almost no one holds what I would consider to be a 'pro-life' position on both of those issues; the republicans are solidly anti-abortion but support ongoing bloodshed around the world in the name of 'spreading democracy'... the democrats would mostly like to see us scale back our foreign military involvements but support this awful notion of 'choice' meaning a mother's right to end her child's life.

So, on which side to stand? There are lesser things about both candidates (and their parties) that I like, and lesser things that I dislike. But at the forefront for me is this issue of the preservation of life. And clearly, neither candidate holds a position that is completely acceptable to me.

And here's the thing: we've had 8 years of a republican president. What strides have been made in that time to curb the holocaust of abortion? Bush may be pro-life, but what difference has it made? The overall abortion rate has declined slightly, but it's been declining steadily since '81 -- so I don't really credit that to him. McCain also claims to be pro-life, but has made it clear that ending abortion is not a policy priority for him. So I see McCain's projected presidential report card as: Abortion: No Improvement. War: No Improvement.

On the other side we have Obama. He did not support the war in Iraq and was early to propose timelines for the exit of our troops. He has pushed change as a theme of his campaign, and in the early days of the campaign it seemed as though Obama's projected presidential report card could read: Abortion: No Improvement. War: Greatly Improved.

So although I abhor his position on abortion, the vote for him made sense -- it was the only vote I saw that stood a chance of making a difference on one of the two issues of life and death. Sidenote: in addition, yeah, I just plain *like* the guy. I like that he's not a bazillionaire, I like that he's young, I like that he's a great speaker, I like that he hasn't been in politics forever, I like that he's a black man with a legitimate chance of being our president.

As the campaign has progressed, however, Obama's war stance has moved further and further to the point where it's now not all that different from McCain's. I really like that he's willing to talk with Iran's Ahmedinejad, but overall he is presenting much more of a hawkish face these days. He has backed off many of his former statements about pulling us out of Iraq, and he supports increased miiltary activity in Afganistan. Plus there are his incendiary statements about bombing within Pakistan without their permission.

In relation to abortion, I don't know what changes he would be able to make in a negative direction -- but the more I have seen of his record it definitely seems clear that if he sees any chances to take us further down the abortion-is-ok road he will do so as energetically as possible.

Overall then, I now project Obama's presidential report card as: War: Little/No Improvement. Abortion: No Improvement / Some Deterioration.

I have come to a point where the election of either Barack Obama or John McCain will bring me some joy and great fear. Their agendas are radically opposite, but there are elements in each of them that give me great hope and elements in each of them that make me wonder if the future will even be recognizable. And on the issues that I see as most important, neither of them will make a substantive difference.

So who am I voting for? I'm approaching it from this standpoint: Will my single vote make a difference as to who gets elected? No. Washington state will be won by a margin of hundreds of thousands of votes. So my vote for either McCain or Obama will be insignificant, one among millions. When it comes time to vote, then, I will cast a ballot for Ralph Nader. Not because I agree with anything he has to say -- but because I think our country would be better off with a legitimate, viable third party, and my drop-in-the-bucket vote for him 'goes farther' in terms of proportionally increasing the total number of third-party votes cast.

Free Burma

peace thoughts revisited

I was going to post this as a comment on the Oregon Airshow post but it deserves its own space. Go to that post to get the background. Fogey, this is in no way directed at you, nor should you assume it to be an assumption of your beliefs one way or another -- it was a post that's been wanting to happen for a while and your words gave me the impetus to finally write it out.

Dangitt, I just lost what I had written -- here goes again:

I deliberated about my choice of words for my previous comment on that post; certainly they can be taken inaccurately, but nothing else communicates more accurately what I want to say.

Correct: neither the F/A 18 nor any other thing made by man is capable of damning souls.

Yet by taking the life of someone who is not a follower of Christ, I determine that he will not have any further opportunities to avoid his fate.

I believe in Hell. I mostly don't like the idea, but I believe in it. If I was an annihilationist this whole debate might result in a lot more grey areas for me. But as it stands, I cannot conceive of a definition of 'love' for my enemies that includes taking away their chance to avoid eternal torture.

The crux of pacifism for me is purely spiritual: I must oppose war because war permanently ends all opportunity of salvation for those unbelievers who are killed. This cannot be considered to be loving them. So, whether it's effective or not, whether it feels right or not, whether it can be defended from an Old Testament perspective or not, it's not love.

So do I think the United States should pull out of Iraq? Absolutely not. We made a mess there, and we ought to stick around to clean it up. With doctors. And nurses. And construction workers. And legal experts. And followers of Jesus. Not with soldiers. Or guns. Or F/A 18s.

What am I proposing, that a whole lot of humanitarian workers get tortured and killed? Yeah, that's what it looks like. I don't like that. But how else, how else do we love them as Christ would have us do??

I really don't have an answer to Iraq. None of us does, when it comes down to it. But ultimately the answer for Iraq, as for the rest of the world, is that her people need to be loved in such a way that they see and accept Christ's own love for them.

I find that posts (read: rants) like this usually tend to squash discussion / comments, and that's really really really not what I want. If you've got thoughts on this (and I know you do), throw them out there. I don't have this figured out, I know I don't, and my interactions with you all are part of my journey on this. Let's hear it.

Oregon Airshow

We coughed up the $20 a piece yesterday and went to the Oregon Airshow. Wow. I had never been to an airshow before so the chance to go and see the Blue Angels (annoying audio on their site) was quite the treat.

I have watched plenty of their stuff on TV, so it wasn't that I was unfamiliar with what they do... but seeing it live really was incredible. There was an element of playfulness that I really hadn't expected -- as they transition between maneuvers you see them circling around, one or two planes racing to catch up with the others -- it looked like a giant game of plane tag at times.

The crummy cell phone pictures make it look as though they were miles away but in person they really feel as though you could just reach out and touch them when they fly overhead. The first time one banked over the crowd literally got my heart pumping (and my ears ringing) -- the F/A-18 is quite the flying machine.

There's a feeling I'm starting to get used to, though, as my relatively new views on peace slowly infiltrate the corners of my life, and I experienced it while watching both the Angels and (more so) the A-10 Warthog they had there: Very, very cool to watch the pilots perform? Yep. Totally amazing to see such capable aircraft pushed to its limits? Absolutely. But the maneuvers we saw yesterday aren't the purpose of those birds. Plain and simple, they were designed and constructed to kill. And that's just not ok. And I don't yet know how to reconcile the enjoyment and the repulsion I experience at the same sight.

peace in action

I have been meaning to blog this story for a while now. Essentially (for those of you who won't click on the link no matter how hard I push it), a Washington burglar received an open invite for wine and cheese when he intruded on a dinner party. Things took a surprising turn from there.

"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned — like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"

Over the past several months (two years, really) I have been on a journey towards pacifism, prompted by several forces. The real bug in my ear that wouldn't let me stop thinking about the issue was Derek Webb's line "how can I kill / the ones I'm supposed to love" -- and that is where I stand today, finally convinced. Not convinced that pacifism is effective, necessarily (yet), but convinced that it is where Jesus would have me stand. But it's nice to see stories like that where the peaceful route does indeed prove to be the effective route too.

Labyrinth

Went with the kids the other day to a labyrinth at the local First Congregational United Church of Christ. Didn't really try to make it a contemplative experience for the kids but Ez loved getting to follow the trail backwards and forwards several times. Adriel was really much more interested in running on the raised wall around the outside than staying within the lines of the maze itself. They both enjoyed the experience and it made me wish that evangelical churches were more into experiential expressions of worship and faith.

The UCC, BTW, is the church of Barack Obama, who at this point seems to me like a fairly decent choice given the options we're going to get come election day. No, I certainly don't support everything he (or his church) stands for. I'm not convinced that he's into peace per se but he does have a desire to end the war -- it will be interesting to see what comes out once the democrats start debating republicans too instead of just each other. But he's got a lot going for him and I think his youth may lead him to be willing to shake things up a bit in Washington if elected.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh

I can't get this picture out of my head.

The expression on the bride's face puts a weight on my chest I can't really describe.

I'm usually pretty ok with this place we call home. Seeing this picture, though, makes me long for Home.

Execution Video, Part II

First off, thank you, Hutch, Jeana, and Eli for your thoughts on the previous post -- I appreciate your willingness to interact. Sorry this follow-up was so long in coming. Thanks too to Mike for your comment and for the excellent Shane Claiborne post I'm going to reference here.

For those interested in the details but not wanting to see the video, the BBC has a (very descriptive) article here, which was how I found out about the video.

As far as the video goes, I have very mixed thoughts.

Am I glad it was taken? Unquestionably yes. Events such as this should be recorded, *must* be recorded so that they can be reviewed and interpreted by history. Memories are fleeting even when used honestly to their fullest extent; when it comes to something like this, if it hadn't been taped, I have no doubt that there would be 15 conflicting reports of how things went down. At least this way we can all be talking about what we think *about* what happened rather than talking about what we think happened. As Eli said in his comment, "Importance doesn't mean everyone has to see it. It just has to exist." I fully agree. What troubles me about the cellphone recording is that the official recording stopped and that those in charge did not think it was worth continuing. In recording comes accountability.

Am I glad it was released? I'm honestly still not sure. Does it desensitize us to death, or does it sensitize us to the harshness of *real* death (as opposed to the fake stuff we see in the movies)? There is a big part of me that thinks that anyone who supports the death penalty ought to be willing to witness it being administered -- how but by seeing it can you know that you are really in favor of it?

On one level, Hussein's death definitely *feels* right to me. We all have an innate sense that when one person does ill toward another, that same ill should be foisted upon him. I can't say that I felt "dirty" (as Brian McLaren has). Yet, as Jon put it, I do not rejoice. More precisely, I should say that I feel that I cannot or should not rejoice, whether I feel like I want to or not. That is, the news is that of a sinner dying without repenting.

This is definitely part of my journey toward pacifism -- I used to be very ok with the idea of capital punishment. Two months ago I would have said I was ambivalent. Now I'm awful close to saying I'm against it. It comes down to the simple fact that the ending of a life is also the ending (as far as we know) of opportunity for a sinner to repent. How can this be ok? How can we claim to "know" that he had had enough chances? How can we claim to know God's timing? I know I've quoted this before, but as Derek Webb sings, "How can I kill the one I'm supposed to love?"

We serve and love a God who loves the un-lovable -- praise Him! He didn't wait for us to become lovable before dying for us! I am all for justice being pursued and upheld. But surely to end outright someone's opportunity for salvation is not to walk in the way of the One who died for us while we were yet sinners.

I'll end this with a quote from Shane Claiborne's post Communicating Through a Noose on the God's Politics blog. Go read the whole post, it's worthwhile. Then come back here and give me some more thoughts.

It is rather scandalous to think that we have a God who loves murderers and terrorists like Saul of Tarsus, Osama bin Laden, or Saddam Hussein – but that is the "good news" isn't it? ... The gospels tell the story of a group of people who have dragged forward an adulteress and are ready to stone her (this was the legal consequence). Jesus is asked for his support of this death penalty case. His response is this... "You are all adulterers. If you have looked at someone lustfully, you have committed adultery in your heart." And the people drop their stones and walk away with their heads bowed. We want to kill the murderers, and Jesus says to us: "You are all murderers. If you have called your neighbor 'Raca, Fool' you are guilty of murder in your heart." Again the stones drop. We are all murderers and adulterers and terrorists. And we are all precious.