Finally, my 2 cents on the Obama church thing.

I'm late jumping on this bandwagon, but since it is still simmering, I just thought I would comment on this story-that-should-be-a-non-story about Obama and his church minister's provocative remarks.

First, an anology. I have a longtime friend who is also a blogger, and often reads this blog (howdy, dude!). He and I have known each other for many years. And, in that time, we have had many spirited debates about all kinds of subjects including politics, society, and culture. Each of us has made statements that the other disagreed with wholeheartedly. Sometimes those discussions were pretty dynamic. But in the end, we each were able to recognize that specific opinions are only fragments of the whole psychology, and our appreciation of the whole person superceded any problems we had with one opinion. And that, I think, would be the situation between Obama and this minister. Association does not mean absolute adherence to identical opinions. It just means you have a friend and you don't have to agree with every single word they utter.

Besides, there's really one hell of a double standard in the media attention here. For example, as described in this article:

Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.

Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.

Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement.

Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.

Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think. John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide."

If a candidate's support of, or from, volatile religious leaders with big mouths and small brains is a reason to condemn, then let's be fair, shall we?

Better yet, just get religion the hell out of government.

I think religion sucks, and I approved this message.