God is Not a Republican or a Democrat has already gotten comments from people saying “this sounds awfully democrat”.

This petition, no matter the title, leaves one feeling as though God must surely be a Democrat. A bit one sided. Regardless of how polite the bashing is… should it not be equal?

(additional note a few minutes later: to the guy who posted the above comment I have quoted…..please feel free to clarify if you wish. I don’t want to “hijack” your motives or ascribe a sense to what you siad that may be more (or maybe less, I don’t know) in agreement with my much longer rant. Anybody frequenting Jordan’s blog can’t be bad, so I expect correction/redirection/response)

The petition itself answers this (and is also the thing that no doubt prompted them to make this comment)

We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values.

We will measure the candidates by whether they enhance human life, human dignity, and human rights; whether they strengthen family life and protect children; whether they promote racial reconciliation and support gender equality; whether they serve peace and social justice; and whether they advance the common good rather than only individual, national, and special interests.

Hmmm……

1.enhance human life and dignity
2.promote racial reconciliation
3.support gender equality
4. peace and social justice
5.common good rather than only individual, national, and special interests

Only number 3 because it refers to “equality” and more specifically “gender” equality, should be at all suspect, I would think. And even there, I kinda feel that equality is something of a Biblical notion , too. But we hear that so often in the “political discourse” , and usually on the Democratic side, that this could be “associated” with Democrats. The others, are pretty CLEAR Biblical themes. Why do we parse these out as Democrat? This is part of the problem. The Religious Right has succeeded in “demonizing” what they consider “left” , and even calling into question the theology and the faith of “Progressive Christians” (a term that Christians are forced to use to voice their faith that there are is a MUCH wider range of issues than abortion, school prayer, and homosexual rights like the economy, which the Bush administration is destroying by some insane idea that continued taxcuts in the midst of a war and gargantuan deficits, and then the bulk of the benefits of those cuts benefitting the upper 1% of the population FAR more than families making , together, less than 50,000. Yeah, the riches 1% really deserve and need that BIGGER tax break. Also like the crucially important issues of international relations, which the rest of the world looks at the US with disgust, and the Religious ERight, along with this administration , arrogantly dismisses THE REST OF THE WORLD. The World’s Church leaders (OTHER than the Religious Right groups) all soundly condemn the US’s actions against Iraq. But “All of them are wrong, and we are right”. The Religious Right thumbs its nose against ecumenicity and cooperation between denominations in the Christian faith.

No , these issues are not DEMOCRATIC PARTY ISSUES. They are advocated by Democratic leaders because they seem “the right thing to do”. I am higly skeptical that the Bush admiistration is driven by anythign much higher than placating their bigest contributors, so they can return the favors to each other and in the process, irresponsibly remove all regulatory measures to prrotect the public against companies who seek to make a larger profit at the expense of responsibility. When both sides look first to “how we can mutually benefit each other” by dismantling long standing protective measures, this administration approaches rapidly what could be called “Corporate and structural Evil”. Basically , it’s doing evil. As a Christian, and becuase of my faith, I am appalled by all of this.

Justice issues are not a “Democratic platform”, but originated when someone got the idea that this might help advance the greater good. To hear the way these issues are being associated with “Democrats” and , by implicaiton and association , with “Pro-Abortion” (which I am not, I am a “ProLife” advocate who believes that there many other issues on which a Christian should be Prolife other than abortion (like in advocating and pushing for peaceful solutions rather than rush to war, especially on shaky evidence, but better , not at all. For Christians to feel a “sense of accomplishment” that we chose war over other means is reprehensible to me. There are MANY MANY issues that support LIFE and fight DEATH and DISEASE that are clearly more wholistically advocated by the present day Democratic platform– but most of all, I feel that THE WORLD and our COUNTRY badly needs a change here in this country’s direction. As a Biblical Christian, I see no contest.