Who Says?

When it comes to religion and politics, people should ease up on the guilt trip.  I'm tired of the divisions they try to create in all parts of our lives because  as far as I'm concerned,  these divisions do nothing more than reflect their narrow-minded and judgmental attitude. Take Christians for example. I'm a christian. I'm a Catholic Christian. There are Protestant Christians, Baptist Christians, Adventist Christians, Episcopalian Christians, Jeovah Witnesses and many more. Except for Jeovah Witnesses who don't think of Jesus the same way Christians do, these groups all have one thing in common: Their members define themselves as Christians. That's the bottom line. Why then do people pick on one group to make it the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in the Christian communitiy? Catholic priests who have abused minors when they were trusted with their care should be held accountable. Absolutely! Anyone who commits lewd and lascivious acts against children should be held accountable whether they are catholic, protestant, muslim, baptist or jewish.  I don't care. If you are preying on young kids and are taking advantage of them, you are a sick, dangerous individual and you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
But what about the distinctions people are trying to make between religion and politics?  For example, there seems to be a view out there that anyone who calls him/herself a christian should automatically be a republican, or tea partyist. Really? Where is that written? Is it in the bible? And before we go off running to try and look it up, let's just remember that the bible is open to interpretation. That's what created all these different factions of christianism in the first place so, we should expect to be challenged on everything we say.  There is a subtle movement toward intimidation and guilt in the christian community these days.  Church members are sometimes attacked because of their political affiliations, especially if these affiliations tend to lean toward the democratic party.  Why?  People vote according to their conscience and whatever they decide to do at the ballot box is between them, their conscience and their God if they worship one.  No one has the right to exert pressure on constituents to make them vote one way or another simply on the basis of their religion.  It's a matter of conviction and, of freedom of choice.  A republican voter is convinced he/she's doing the right thing when he/she is casting a vote just as a democrat or independent voter is convinced of doing the right thing when he/she votes. Of course, I'm only  referring to the people who are subject to that sort of pressure.  Some people don't embarass themselves with these considerations because they either don't worship a God or, they are able to keep their religions and politics completely separate.
Democrats tend to be cast in an ugly light in Christian forums because their republican counterparts feel they are being hypocrite by voting democrat.  Really? What about the "religious right" who does not want to help the poor? The religious right who strongly feels that each man/woman should fend for him/herself? What about the fight to cut services to the most vulnerable parts of our population? The senior citizens, the disabled, the babies, the kids whose parents may really not be able to pay for their healthcare? They want to use Jesus in their fight to justify their actions but would Jesus tell us not to care for our sick and our weak? Would Jesus ask us to cut off services to the poor because they need to get a job and take care of themselves? Where in the bible does Jesus say that we should work to enrich ourselves only? Does Jesus encourage racism, prejudice and discriminatioin? I'm tired of this game that's being played out there. It's dirty politics and manipulation. It only serves one purpose and it is to divide. I, too, believe in God and just because I'm on the left side of politics does not mean that I'm less devoted to my faith than those on the right. I just think differently.  Let God be the judge of my actions, not men and certainly not one party or another.