An interesting event is taking place tonight in DC. Democratic Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama will be sitting together to discuss Faith, Values and Poverty.

The event is named “Faith Guiding Our Votes,” because it will be a unique forum to ask questions not just about issues, but about values. Not just what policies the candidates propose, but why. Not just whether they believe privately, but about how they live out their faith in public life.

Moderated by author and Sojourners Editor-in-Chief and CEO Jim Wallis, this event is the first of its kind, bringing together God and Politics in a new light.

The country has changed since Bill Clinton was elected. It has changed even since George Bush was elected. Ten years ago (and more), the economy was steady and healthy, it looked like there would be peace (as it could be) in the Middle East, and the country was not nearly as divided as it is now. Today, we have a raging war in Iraq, the economy stumbles, and nobody can agree on anything - there are lots of fingers to be pointed and blame to be pushed around. It’s also interesting that I don’t think I’ve ever seen an election where religion played such a role, and so early on. I also think that Iraq is such a FUBAR situation, that it is difficult to determine and articulate a fine answer and/or solution to both help the country recover from the mess that has been created and get the troops out.

It really is too early to tell how any of this is going to play out, even a year from now once conventions and candidates are finalized, there is no guarantee. What I do know is that with religion playing a hand, no strong candidate on either side (in my opinion), the war in Iraq looming over us all, and the use of Web 2.0 in campaigning and reporting…2008 will be an election for the books.

I guess it really does pay off to pray away the gay. Has anyone actually seen Rev. Haggard or met him? I saw him in Jesus Camp, and have no qualms about calling this guy gay (in the purely sterotypical way). Not only is he gay, but sleazy and sneaky for pretending that he’s not and speaking out against those who are, being a hypocrite.
It must be awful to not be able to admit who you are, even to yourself. I think it’s sad when people go to those kinds of religious-based camps to “fix” themselves. I don’t believe that people really choose to be gay, much like you don’t choose to be straight. You just are. The same way you are black, or white, or asian. Gay is not a religion or a belief, it’s a way of being. Gay people are not sex addicts, or demoralizing society…what’s worse is the people who persecute homosexuals and cause them to be ashamed. It’s that vicious cycle of blame that produces people with such a conflict as Rev. Haggard.

If there is anyone that needs a prayer, I would say it’s Rev. Haggard himself. Not for being gay, but for being lost, and a coward.

On Saturday I took a random turn and drove down to Staunton to visit my good friend. He had told me about this movie documentary called Jesus Camp that looked intriguing. I was sad to see that it was not playing at any of the “artsy” theatres in the DC area, so I had to drive over 2 hours to see it! I could go on and on about this, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I really hope that people go out and see this movie; it’s certainly more frightening than Super Size Me or Fast Food Nation.

The movie was great, it was actually filmed from a pretty unbiased view, and was hardly narrated save for a radio talk show host and some clips from various other radio announcers. The film was shot around the hearings for Judge Samuel Alito and takes place in Missouri and at a camp in North Dakota. The most disturbing thing to me about the entire movie was the fact that the main focus through it all was children. There were some young kids shown - the main 3 highlighted ranged from age 7-12 I think, but through the piece you could see kids as young as 3 involved. These were children who were supposedly experiencing visions and Christ speaking to them, speaking in tongues and crying for forgiveness of their sins and the sins of those around them. In reality, they were all simply regurgitating the words and beliefs of the adults around them. These kids are experiencing thoughts and emotions that many adults don’t even understand. How can they even process it? They cry about their sins and about not being good enough for God. They approach others to try to move them towards Jesus. Free speech is one thing, and the great thing about our country is the premise that we can all believe and follow whatever religion we want. But this…is something else.

The basis of the movie was that these kids are being trained. The leaders used the argument that in places like Pakistan and other countries - kids are being taught to become suicide bombers and to hate America, so why not use our children to spread the word of Jesus. (Or, spread the word that there should be less separation of church and state).

Personally, I think that Evangelicals are scary. They supposedly preach the “gospel” and the truth, but in reality it’s a huge almost cult-like following. According to the movie, 25% of America (or, 80 million) identify themselves as Evangelicals. They firmly believe that the government is an institution out to get them - these kids in the movie took turns taking hammers to porcelain mugs with the word government written on them. Many of the children are home schooled and basically taught that anything scientific is fiction, not fact. They say that the country took a downturn when prayer was removed from schools and that there is a problem with that. How can you denounce a government and system that you yourself are not a part of, or have a desire to be?

The best part of the movie, by far, was the fact that Pastor Haggard was spotlighted in it towards the end. Of course, there was no way of knowing what was to become of him by the time the movie was released, but I found it fantastic that he was shown denouncing homosexuality, and quoted saying something along the lines of, “someone paying you $1,000 to keep your secret. I know what you did last night!” I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the irony. There was also a side note in the movie that stated that he spoke to President Bush every Monday with a board of advisors - contrary to reports now. (On that note, I do feel really bad for his family through all of his recent headline news.)

The second best part of the movie was when they brought out a life-size cut out of George W. Bush, and they all touched it and “blessed” it…basically worshipping him. I mean….wow. I can think of a whole lot of other uses for a cardboard cutout of our fearless leader, and that would NOT be one of them. The Evangelicals were rejoicing that they already had one of them in the White House, ecstatic that Alito got named to the Supreme Court, and gloating in the fact that eventually all of their carefully-groomed children will become prominent members of society and essentially rule the country (taking part in the very system they criticize).

The third thing that got me was the issue of abortion. They had these children crying and praying for unborn children, holding small statues of fetuses (supposedly the size of 7 weeks) and weeping for them, wearing red tape that said LIFE over their mouths (stating that the unborn don’t have a voice). I mean, say what you want – pro-life or pro-choice…but to put that in the hands of children? I was appalled.

I guess I can relax a little in the knowledge that at least half of those kids will probably turn away from the church by the time they are adults.

It’s the other half that I’m worried about…

On Saturday I took a random turn and drove down to Staunton to visit my good friend. He had told me about this movie documentary called Jesus Camp that looked intriguing. I was sad to see that it was not playing at any of the “artsy” theatres in the DC area, so I had to drive over 2 hours to see it! I could go on and on about this, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I really hope that people go out and see this movie; it’s certainly more frightening than Super Size Me or Fast Food Nation.

The movie was great, it was actually filmed from a pretty unbiased view, and was hardly narrated save for a radio talk show host and some clips from various other radio announcers. The film was shot around the hearings for Judge Samuel Alito and takes place in Missouri and at a camp in North Dakota. The most disturbing thing to me about the entire movie was the fact that the main focus through it all was children. There were some young kids shown - the main 3 highlighted ranged from age 7-12 I think, but through the piece you could see kids as young as 3 involved. These were children who were supposedly experiencing visions and Christ speaking to them, speaking in tongues and crying for forgiveness of their sins and the sins of those around them. In reality, they were all simply regurgitating the words and beliefs of the adults around them. These kids are experiencing thoughts and emotions that many adults don’t even understand. How can they even process it? They cry about their sins and about not being good enough for God. They approach others to try to move them towards Jesus. Free speech is one thing, and the great thing about our country is the premise that we can all believe and follow whatever religion we want. But this…is something else.

The basis of the movie was that these kids are being trained. The leaders used the argument that in places like Pakistan and other countries - kids are being taught to become suicide bombers and to hate America, so why not use our children to spread the word of Jesus. (Or, spread the word that there should be less separation of church and state).

Personally, I think that Evangelicals are scary. They supposedly preach the “gospel” and the truth, but in reality it’s a huge almost cult-like following. According to the movie, 25% of America (or, 80 million) identify themselves as Evangelicals. They firmly believe that the government is an institution out to get them - these kids in the movie took turns taking hammers to porcelain mugs with the word government written on them. Many of the children are home schooled and basically taught that anything scientific is fiction, not fact. They say that the country took a downturn when prayer was removed from schools and that there is a problem with that. How can you denounce a government and system that you yourself are not a part of, or have a desire to be?

The best part of the movie, by far, was the fact that Pastor Haggard was spotlighted in it towards the end. Of course, there was no way of knowing what was to become of him by the time the movie was released, but I found it fantastic that he was shown denouncing homosexuality, and quoted saying something along the lines of, “someone paying you $1,000 to keep your secret. I know what you did last night!” I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the irony. There was also a side note in the movie that stated that he spoke to President Bush every Monday with a board of advisors - contrary to reports now. (On that note, I do feel really bad for his family through all of his recent headline news.)

The second best part of the movie was when they brought out a life-size cut out of George W. Bush, and they all touched it and “blessed” it…basically worshipping him. I mean….wow. I can think of a whole lot of other uses for a cardboard cutout of our fearless leader, and that would NOT be one of them. The Evangelicals were rejoicing that they already had one of them in the White House, ecstatic that Alito got named to the Supreme Court, and gloating in the fact that eventually all of their carefully-groomed children will become prominent members of society and essentially rule the country (taking part in the very system they criticize).

The third thing that got me was the issue of abortion. They had these children crying and praying for unborn children, holding small statues of fetuses (supposedly the size of 7 weeks) and weeping for them, wearing red tape that said LIFE over their mouths (stating that the unborn don’t have a voice). I mean, say what you want – pro-life or pro-choice…but to put that in the hands of children? I was appalled.

I guess I can relax a little in the knowledge that at least half of those kids will probably turn away from the church by the time they are adults.

It’s the other half that I’m worried about…

On Saturday I took a random turn and drove down to Staunton to visit my good friend. He had told me about this movie documentary called Jesus Camp that looked intriguing. I was sad to see that it was not playing at any of the “artsy” theatres in the DC area, so I had to drive over 2 hours to see it! I could go on and on about this, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I really hope that people go out and see this movie; it’s certainly more frightening than Super Size Me or Fast Food Nation.

The movie was great, it was actually filmed from a pretty unbiased view, and was hardly narrated save for a radio talk show host and some clips from various other radio announcers. The film was shot around the hearings for Judge Samuel Alito and takes place in Missouri and at a camp in North Dakota. The most disturbing thing to me about the entire movie was the fact that the main focus through it all was children. There were some young kids shown - the main 3 highlighted ranged from age 7-12 I think, but through the piece you could see kids as young as 3 involved. These were children who were supposedly experiencing visions and Christ speaking to them, speaking in tongues and crying for forgiveness of their sins and the sins of those around them. In reality, they were all simply regurgitating the words and beliefs of the adults around them. These kids are experiencing thoughts and emotions that many adults don’t even understand. How can they even process it? They cry about their sins and about not being good enough for God. They approach others to try to move them towards Jesus. Free speech is one thing, and the great thing about our country is the premise that we can all believe and follow whatever religion we want. But this…is something else.

The basis of the movie was that these kids are being trained. The leaders used the argument that in places like Pakistan and other countries - kids are being taught to become suicide bombers and to hate America, so why not use our children to spread the word of Jesus. (Or, spread the word that there should be less separation of church and state).

Personally, I think that Evangelicals are scary. They supposedly preach the “gospel” and the truth, but in reality it’s a huge almost cult-like following. According to the movie, 25% of America (or, 80 million) identify themselves as Evangelicals. They firmly believe that the government is an institution out to get them - these kids in the movie took turns taking hammers to porcelain mugs with the word government written on them. Many of the children are home schooled and basically taught that anything scientific is fiction, not fact. They say that the country took a downturn when prayer was removed from schools and that there is a problem with that. How can you denounce a government and system that you yourself are not a part of, or have a desire to be?

The best part of the movie, by far, was the fact that Pastor Haggard was spotlighted in it towards the end. Of course, there was no way of knowing what was to become of him by the time the movie was released, but I found it fantastic that he was shown denouncing homosexuality, and quoted saying something along the lines of, “someone paying you $1,000 to keep your secret. I know what you did last night!” I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the irony. There was also a side note in the movie that stated that he spoke to President Bush every Monday with a board of advisors - contrary to reports now. (On that note, I do feel really bad for his family through all of his recent headline news.)

The second best part of the movie was when they brought out a life-size cut out of George W. Bush, and they all touched it and “blessed” it…basically worshipping him. I mean….wow. I can think of a whole lot of other uses for a cardboard cutout of our fearless leader, and that would NOT be one of them. The Evangelicals were rejoicing that they already had one of them in the White House, ecstatic that Alito got named to the Supreme Court, and gloating in the fact that eventually all of their carefully-groomed children will become prominent members of society and essentially rule the country (taking part in the very system they criticize).

The third thing that got me was the issue of abortion. They had these children crying and praying for unborn children, holding small statues of fetuses (supposedly the size of 7 weeks) and weeping for them, wearing red tape that said LIFE over their mouths (stating that the unborn don’t have a voice). I mean, say what you want – pro-life or pro-choice…but to put that in the hands of children? I was appalled.

I guess I can relax a little in the knowledge that at least half of those kids will probably turn away from the church by the time they are adults.

It’s the other half that I’m worried about…