EXCELLENT POST.

I quickly watched the links first posted.....have not studied them at length or researched this to death, but since there are I'm sure those here who will be quick to enlighten me, please plainly list the grievous wrongs with this denominational viewpoint.

Rev. Wright preaches racism and hate. Without getting into a heavy theological discussion, there are places in this world that still have witch doctors who have a strong influence on their followers. The bondage-like power they have over their followers is light years away from the modern world we are used to and it is hard for us to even believe.

Faith is a mysterious thing. IF one believes in God, it is not hard to also see evidence of the antithesis of God.....namely evil. Both are core teachings of the christian faith.

Unless I'm missing something here, it seems that Palin's church is much more mainline then the cult-like teachings of Rev. Wright.

But of course I'm not surprised.....biblical christianity is the newest persecuted group in this new "enlightened" age.

Respectfully, Frank D.

Sister Sarah!
 

Sarah also believes the Tribulation will take place in Alaska! I kid you not! Do some reading.

I am not sure how this board went from making fun of politicians and posters to making fun of someone's religious beliefs,, but seems we have.

Too Bad!
 

Sorry Bucco, but when the candidates bring their religion into the White House and the division of church and state is so cloudy, it all matters. Iraq is not the will of God as Sarah Palin has said. It's a royal screw-up by Bush. And now you want another religious fanatic a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

Your Party and the McCain campaign are the ones that wanted to pin everything on Obama. He's been called unpatriotic, Muslim, his community organizer service has been ridiculed, his wife has been ridiculed, he was ridiculed for not wearing a flag pin, or saluting the proper way during the Pledge of Allegiance, now it seems McCain wants to blame the entire economic collapse on him. It's disgusting and nasty.

The McCain campaign has gotten so petty with all of this, and let's not forget the "lipstick on a pig" ad, it's time for payback. Wait. The road will get rougher. You might not like what you hear, but at least it will be true.

Chelsea...of course you leave out the ridicule of Sen McCain,his wife...Gov Palin and her entire family.

Now, on religion...if you are correct we need to vett all the candidates and how they pray, EXACTLY what they believe, dont you think ? Lets schedule a format where we can ask them all these personal questions !!!! We really need to know how Sen Biden feels about praying and such !!

Not a Bad Idea!
 

Not a bad idea Bucco! Not a bad idea at all. Especially when Bush said that "God lead him into Iraq." Guffaw guffaw. Oil lead him into Iraq and nothing else, except maybe to impress Daddy Bush.

As always you have no ability to post without a political slant, but we did already have the Saddleback forum which perhaps you missed for the Presidential candidates...you are suggesting now that we have one for the VP candidates....we have publicly vetted Gov Palin...perhaps we should be doing the same thing with Sen Biden although I, for one, am not interested in how he prays !!!

I just recalled as I was leaving that I saw Sen Biden asking the country to PRAY that the levees hold during Gustav. Was that a bad thing to do ?

Saddleback Forum
 

I, for one, have a strong belief in the division of church and state. I can't remember any election when this all became such an issue. I, personally, am only responding because it has INDEED become an issue. No, I didn't miss The Saddleback Forum, but I strongly disagreed with it. In fact, I found it distasteful. Religion is a very personal thing, and in all fairness, I don't think any of the candidates should bring their religion into a campaign. JFK said "I'm not a Catholic President, I'm a President that happens to be Catholic." This is my belief, entirely, across the board.

That said, it was the smear campaign against Senator Obama that started all this. And what's good for one, must be good for all.

Hide You Head in the Sand!
 

I think the saddest and most unproductive thing, is to hide your head in the sand. It's the easy way out.

Eschatology, the study of a biblical end time view, is a very common element in many mainline, denominational doctrine. Most of the major christian denominations have this as one of the tenants of their core beliefs.

Frank D.

I have no kick against Sen. Obama for going to a church where Rev. Wright is a preacher. He did not go there to be influenced in his thinking; he went there to get ahead in Chicago politics. He needed credibility in the African-American community, and where better to get it. I believe it was about politics and not ideology. The only problem that I might have was his claim that he never heard Rev. Wright say anything bad when he went. That is like the "I never inhaled" claim. Heck, maybe it is true.

Sarah Palin
 

Melvin is right....voting is not on false information and exaggerated research. Remember.....we need to be careful not to spread rumors without checking the details with accuracy. As a member of the League of Women Voters for years, lets be dignified about posts slamming one candidate or the other. Election day will be the vote of the people. And for the record, I am an independent voter and pray for the best person in our present time.

Well, one's religion does come into play when you are running for Vice President. Sen. Biden claims to be a practicing Roman Catholic. One of their core beliefs is that life begins at conception. He, therefore, must believe that abortion is murder. How can he possibly be pro-choice?

What is sad is that one of the greatest freedoms within this nation is freedom to worship freely. Yet, the religious practices of all four candidates, especially the Lead Democrat and the Second-tier on the Republican ticket, do not seem to have that privilege among many within the voting public.

I do not care if what faith, denomination, or none at all is praticed (if that's the correct word) by any candidate. It does not matter to me who the spritual advisor for any candidate is - that's between them and God (if they so believe). Whether the person actually practices the precepts of a particular faith or not, even though the person publically claims to be a member of that faith, is inconsequential. Only their political actions, not their private ones, should be subject to scrutiny.

When "religion" becomes a factor in selecting a candidate, then so does race, age, gender, left-or-right-handed, hair color (unless bald) and shoe size. And when that happens, what does that say about all of us?

I have gotten religious counsel from people hated by others, but who have given me things to think about. I didn't have to agree with the counselor, as their job was to make me THINK and come to my own conclusions based on challenged reason. What others thought of my counselors was of no matter, as they did intellectually challenge and stimulate me - and what could be wrong about that?

We're voting for a political employee, not a religious counselor. All of this concern about somebody's pastor is just examples of trying to create issues which one would have hoped the Constitution, Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence should have shown as non-issues for government office.