Let the games begin

Well, it finally happened. What I never thought would happen has happened...I got the dreaded "email from the conservative relative concerned with my voting for Obama."

I love my cousin. He and I shared many great times together back in the day. He was there for me during a rough move to So. Cal in my senior year and made the move not so scary. He made me laugh on more than one occasion and I even paid my own way back to be at his wedding.

But today, sadly, I got sent the dreaded "I'm concerned for you" email. It was predicated on the Dobson rant and questioning of Obama's faith in his radio show. This has stirred up some ire on various forums I visit, but nothing that really concerns me. It really shows me that Dobson is misguided on his thinking and possibly should stick to psychology and not try to marry religion with it.

Anyhow, my cousin is concerned that our country is moving away from being biblically based. I countered with the fact that I never thought we were Biblically based. Most of the founding fathers were Deists or Atheists (Ben Franklin) and wanted their "right" to proclaim this. In fact, how Biblical is the statement that we "are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights." Ah...that's a negative. Jesus in fact says something more "upside down" than this in the Sermon on the Mount. I don't think us having "rights" was a big part of his motivation.

My cousin then went on to share his fear (FEAR is always a wonderful motivator) of how Obama would roll back all the "pro-life" stuff and that he would give homosexuals more favor. I am tired of these issues frankly. I think the God I serve is BIGGER than these two issues and in fact I am mandated to love the "gays and pro-choicers" and I do so happily with the understanding that Jesus loves them and died for them JUST AS MUCH as he died for me. In fact, I do not support suppressing anyone's "inalienable rights" Black, Hispanic, Muslim or Homosexual...if we have rights at all - they are for everyone.

I love my cousin and sadly time and distance have not allowed us to spend much time together in the last 20 years or so. I know how he was raised and I know theologically we would disagree on 99% of any issue. I love him though. I could care less if we agreed on issues...and I could care less if he changes his mind on any of them. I guess the bottom line is the love I have for him is greater than any political or theological difference. I hope he heard that loud and clear in my response to him.