Credit: Liberty Counsel

My name is Adam, and I am a liberal Christian.

Yes, we really do exist.

And I just found out that there are people praying for me and all of the other Liberals. Well, maybe not for me, exactly - I’m not high enough on the radar and I yield absolutely zero political clout. But if I did, I’m positive I’d be on the prayer list.

The following comes from David Waters’s Under God blog at The Washington Post:

A conservative Christian organization affiliated with Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has decided to take a less partisan and more prayerful approach to the “radically liberal” age of Obama. The Liberty Council [sic], a nonprofit that defends religious liberties, is encouraging its supporters to “Adopt a Liberal” and “pray earnestly and intensely for them.”

Adopt a liberal, huh? Am I the only one who finds that just a tad condescending?

Looking at the Adopt a Liberal page…

Mousavi Supporter www.huffingtonpost.com/

If one remembers the results by county of the 2004 elections it was a swath of red with small pockets of blue, even though the popular vote was much closer. It was a clear demarcation of rural (generally poorer and less educated) versus urban (and generally more educated). There is a very similar line in the Iran elections. The religious lines are similarly drawn with the conservative (more rural) clearly supporting incumbent Mr. Ahmedinijad and the liberal supporting Mr. Mousavi.

It is the religious aspect that is of interest. One may also recall that former President Bush was

Ahmedinijad Supporters photos.upi.com/

intensely unpopular outside USA in 2004. Mr. Ahmedinijad is also very unpopular outside Iran. The two candidates also resemble in personality. Both have simple very conservative philosophies (albeit very different ones) and are seen by their supporters as having strong religious values and strong national security values, even if…

The Illinois governor, trying to get in an honest day's work. (AP Photo/Mark Carlson)

I am always intrigued when “local” news makes “national” headlines. The story on Governor Blagojevich is far from over, and I love to follow the juxtapositions between how it is covered in the local media versus the national media.

In that light, a couple paragraphs in one of The New York Times stories are worth citing:

Though Mr. Blagojevich made no public statement, and his lawyer did not return phone calls, one of the ministers who prayed with him at his home said the governor professed his innocence and gave no indication he would step down.

“He feels that he’s innocent and therefore we really should let everything roll out with the process,” said the Rev. Marshall E. Hatch, of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist church in West Garfield Park.

. . . .

“When it comes to the governor and his situation, I…

The current issue of The Humanist magazine has a wonderful interview with Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, entitled “One Nation Under the Constitution: Reason, Politics, and Morality in the New Century.” I highly recommend it.  Here are a couple excerpts:

[On his stance against adding "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance]: I went on a conservative talk show to defend the decision. The host kept insisting that we must be “one nation under God” or one nation under something else. “What do you liberals want us to be under?” he asked. “Gee,” I said, “how about ‘one nation under Canada’? At least it would be geographically correct.” But then I suggested, quite seriously, “one nation under the Constitution.” After all, I argued, we aren’t of one religion, one race, one ethnicity, or one party, but we do have one Constitution and one Bill of Rights.

[On humility]: Human progress today depends, as it…

With the election of Barack Obama, and the fact that, despite their vast political differences, faith remained as much a part of his candidacy as it did with our current president’s, some are suggesting that the “religious left” is resurging. An earlier post here by Pamela Dolan hinted at it.

Traditionally understood, we could define the “religious left” as mainline (”white bread”) and African-American Protestants, liberal Catholics, and Reform Jews. That’s an oversimplification but I think that’s how most people would have envisioned the demographic in its mid-twentieth century heyday.

Now the Pew Forum has released its findings on “how the faithful voted.”

I’m struck by the fact that, just like the general populace, this election seems to prefigure an entire shift in religious demographics. Rather than this being simply one dormant religious segment of public life reasserting itself, it is the continuation of subtle shifts in the entire public religious landscape. That might…

http://www.thoughttheater.com/upload/2006/07

Abortion is an issue that continues to deeply divide our nation.

To give a bit of the Islamic perspective on abortion today in many Muslim nations abortion laws are more restrictive than what the religion allows, although things are changing. Over 800 years ago a number of Muslim Scholars gave legal positions that abortion is undesirable but permissible within the first 120 days of pregnancy. After 120 days the only reason a abortion should be allowed is if continuing the pregnancy would endanger the mother’s life.

Personally, when I learn’t of these legal positions, what I found most remarkable was that they were reached over 800 years ago! It seems to me that, Abortion is always a bad choice and it has been a choice for over 800 years (otherwise why did they come up with those opinions then) and, legal or not, it will always be a choice.

The founding fathers of our…