Mitt is a Christian and so am I

Yesterday's New York Times contained interviews with "conservative Christians" in Iowa who wonder how they could vote for Mitt Romney since, after all, as a Mormon, he "doesn't pray to the God of the Bible."

Huh?

I live amongst numerous Mormons, or "LDS" as they like to be called. They may have some beliefs that are a little on the flaky side, but I don't know a group of people who better exemplify living their lives as Jesus taught. To me, that makes you a Christian. Overall, they make family their top priority, engage in good works, and are an asset to their communities.

I personally have some issues with a lot of Christian doctrine, but I try to live my life according to Jesus' teachings. Whether you believe he is divine or not, pursuing the life of giving and peace that he taught seems to me to be the most balanced way of living, and not because doing so will get you into heaven, but because it is just the right thing to do.

Do the finer points of theological doctrine really matter when you are considering a person's qualifications for President? Doesn't it matter more what kind of person they are and how they make moral choices? It seems to me the issue of whether Jesus became divine after his birth or started out divine to begin with (the crux of the fundamentalist Christian problem with Mormonism) is on the same level as arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

As great a mind as Isaac Newton's puzzled over the concept of the Trinity and ultimately came down on the side of disbelief in the idea. The Amish, who seem to have their act together in the morals department, also disbelieve in the idea of the Trinity. And the majority of our country's founding fathers were Deists.

I may not agree with a lot of Mitt Romney's positions, but don't try to tell me he's not a Christian and that's why I shouldn't vote for him. The fact that these incredibly ignorant Iowans quoted in the NYT have access to the ballot box is truly scary, and even more frightening is that the candidates they support show their true colors by failing to quench any criticism of Romney's religion as being, at a minimum, unsportsmanlike.

Back to work fighting against the forces of bureaucracy, inertia, and just plain evil,
I remain yours truly,
Annie42

The next generation gets it

Sitting last night at a banquet for some honor students, the three 16 year old girls at our table reflected on the rise of the US as a superpower since WWI. (These are honor students, okay? They talk about this stuff.) Their parents sat quietly and just listened to this conversation, amazed at the depth of their understanding of subjects that we learned, if at all, in our senior years in college.

After discussing things like Wilson's 14 points ("too bad nobody paid attention to them," said one girl) and other stuff we adults only vaguely remembered, but which were foremost in the minds of these students who had been furiously writting essays on the subject, one girl reflected, "I guess we're still a superpower, but I don't think that's going to last much longer." She sighed, and we adults all looked at each other and nodded slightly.

How is it that a 16 year old student in suburban Denver understands world politics better than the fellow who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? I want to hug all these 16 year olds and tell them how very sorry I am that my generation hasn't done a very good job of maintaining the legacy of the "greatest generation" and that we were lazy enough to allow things to get to this point.

Still, the evening gave me some hope that this generation might just get it. Maybe our children will save us from ourselves.

Love to all,
Annie42