Ricky is So Fine
I do not think politicians should debate in political forums like we saw on Saturday evening with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church.Rick Warren's questions seemed like "soft ball" questions with a conservative agenda. When I heard Warren ask questions born from a core belief such as “when do you believe life begins?” or “How do you define marriage?” or “Does evil exist?” I found myself cringing from my seat and I was not even in Warren’s mega church. I do not think the questions were unimportant, but I do believe they followed a strong conservative party ethos.It would be interesting to see if, statistically, the questions were designed to favor a candidate like John McCain and the Christian value vote.
McCain is said to have sounded "better" and more confident than Obama. Obama is said to have sounded long winded. The questions did not lend themselves to short, straight ahead answers. McCain stated at one point that "our country was founded on Christian principles." This is true for the white Christians who landed here. But what about the Native Americanswho first inhabited the land and were destroyed in the name of Christianity. Does McCain’s answer define the beginning of our country while ignoring those who inhabited the land before us? This is a fact. General Pratt, the Secretary of the Interior in the 1860s, led a campaign to "kill the savage and save the man." To convert the Native American into a more western, Christian way of life. How does this bode with McCain's simple and straight ahead answer.
Rick Warren is the leader of the Evangelical movement and Evangelicals are frontrunners in promoting core values against abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage, to influence their voting cohort. It is said that Rick Warren’s “purpose driven church” has a network of more than 130,000 plus pastors. I know the Evangelicals are a powerful and large group, but when did America allow Christianity to become a political tool? I think the forum for candidates needs to be free from any bias that might infect the debate.Christianity is one such bias that is not needed in any political debate. What if the same questions were asked of a Jewish, Muslim, or god forbid, agnostic candidate.
McCain is said to have sounded "better" and more confident than Obama. Obama is said to have sounded long winded. The questions did not lend themselves to short, straight ahead answers. McCain stated at one point that "our country was founded on Christian principles." This is true for the white Christians who landed here. But what about the Native Americanswho first inhabited the land and were destroyed in the name of Christianity. Does McCain’s answer define the beginning of our country while ignoring those who inhabited the land before us? This is a fact. General Pratt, the Secretary of the Interior in the 1860s, led a campaign to "kill the savage and save the man." To convert the Native American into a more western, Christian way of life. How does this bode with McCain's simple and straight ahead answer.
Rick Warren is the leader of the Evangelical movement and Evangelicals are frontrunners in promoting core values against abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage, to influence their voting cohort. It is said that Rick Warren’s “purpose driven church” has a network of more than 130,000 plus pastors. I know the Evangelicals are a powerful and large group, but when did America allow Christianity to become a political tool? I think the forum for candidates needs to be free from any bias that might infect the debate.Christianity is one such bias that is not needed in any political debate. What if the same questions were asked of a Jewish, Muslim, or god forbid, agnostic candidate.
