Of particular interest to me has been the response to Bhutto's unfortunate and utterly tragic assassination. The presidential candiadates have "inherited" (exploited?) this opportunity to appear "presidential." Even Obama, who proudly touts opposing the Second Iraq War, says that we (the American Government) should do all we can to promote and stabilize democracy in Pakistan. Obama's response is not really surprising, given his recent "presidential make-up and tea party" where he said that we should immediately pull all troops out of Iraq and redeploy them to Afghanistan. John Edwards even placed a call to Pakistan. Hopefully Bhutto's supporters can spot the nature of these remarks better than they could Bhutto's assassin.
Hey, the Republicans are doing the same thing. But perhaps this is to be expected. Afterall, the young bucks have to test their antlers before attracting their "sugar-mamas" at the polls.
But what does all of this have to do with Jesus, church, and stuff? "I mean, pastor, shouldn't you simply keep to writing about Jesus and loving the world." Where does Jesus fit into politics?
Good question.
Before answering, allow me to take a trip into the wilderness of newpaper journalism to a spot the Columbus Dispatch ran on Pakistan on the Front Page, "Pakistan 101."
In clicking on the link you'll notice four categories in this highlight of Pakistan and the War on Terror, "Terrorism, Religion, Government, and Nuclear Neighbors." Allow me to highlight under Terrorism, "But the country's intelligence agency also has supported Islamic radicals in Pakistan and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in an effort to gain political influence in both countries." Allow me also to point you to the last part of the Religion section, "The Islamic religious right shot to prominence after Musharraf's rise to power in a 1999 military coup and was further boosted by a wave of anti-American sentiment after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001."
In these two statements "Islamic radicals" and "the Islamic religious right" are used to describe the people who "shot into" power, using religious ideology to "gain political influence." What is the end result of their politcal influence .... totalitarian control of the masses and campaigns of guerilla terror.
Question: What is the media's description of those who lean right of center on the political spectrum here in the States, who also happen to be Christian in general or more specifically Evangelical? According to Rodney Clapp in his 2000 book of essays, Border Crossings, the religious right are similarly out for power to advance their causes and will only have "draconian" methods in which to highjack power. According to others the religious right are taking refuge in the hinterlands of North America, card-carrying members of the John Birch Society, and lying in wait to blow up abortion clinics.
Perhaps among the debris the suicide bomber has left behind is the idea in our culture that all people who lean to the social and political right-of-center and who happen to be religiously conservative are all of the same ilk ... despite the tenates of their religion and the nature of their religious convictions.
The question at hand, which will be stabbed at later, (sorry for the violent imagery, I couldn't resist ... my religious-right tendencies must be taking over--Ha Ha) is the nature of involvement of a person who is devoutly religious in the political realm. Where does the theological intersect with the political? If we are serious about Jesus being lord over every area of our lives, this will include our political involvement and thus will be of importance for this blog dedicated to following Jesus in the "everydayness of life."
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