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Which Candidate Will Honor God's Love

Another non-voter opens up the big picture that guides the vote:

Nicholas T. Wright: Which Candidate Will Honor God's Love - On Faith at washingtonpost.com.

The voter has God's authority - and hence a responsibility - to restrain government abuse of power, but also in the case of the ballot, to guide its deployment, whether within a nation or, critically, outside it.

Arab Hearts & Minds: Obama vs. McCain «

A voice we must listen to.

Middle East Blog - TIME.com » Blog Archive Arab Hearts & Minds: Obama vs. McCain «.

Barack Obama has inspired new hope in a troubled Middle East. Some of that is due to Obama's actual policies and conciliatory demeanor, alot of it is based on a gut feeling that he'll be more understanding and fairer to the Arab and Muslim world ... he's generally viewed favorably as a man of diplomacy, who wants to withdraw American forces from Iraq, speak more respectfully to the Muslim world and rededicate Washington to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

more understanding ... fairer ... a man of diplomacy ...  speak respectfully ... Its interesting how effective those traits are! 

“Obama or McCain? It’s a no-brainer!"

A brilliant post:  “Obama or McCain? It’s a no-brainer!"

"... Obama ... the hands-down best choice. I have to be honest and say that this is what every non-American I have met in the last year says about the choice of candidates.  ...  Now fair enough, they don’t get to vote for either candidate, and so can be dismissed as seemingly insignificant. But Americans need to be aware that all non-Americans do get to wear American choices because the President of the US is in fact the most influential person in the world ... "

These are the words that respected 21st Century church strategist, Alan Hirsch, ventured a week ago in a post on his blog "Obama or Mccain? Its a no-brainer". Hirsch is an Aussie living in the USA, and he doesn't have a vote. However he loves the nation. He says of himself that he has "... deliberated long and hard over [writing]. ... I do it with a deep sense of caution as well as a sense of profound love for (and calling to) America and the American people. ... I am strongly pro-American. .." He prefers not to use the place of trust as a forward thinking Christian voice to lobby  accorded him to speak on politics, to mix the message and dilute his central message of a missional church. 

(More from Hirsch on his blog The Forgotten Ways  and his latest book The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church on Amazon UK or here on Amazon.com)

I am always encouraged when I read another non-American who is urging people to Vote in the 2008 US Elections with the whole world in mind 

I appreciate his reluctance to break away from the central locus of his ministry. That is right for him. For me, working in intercultural relations and peacemaking based in a church in a very multicultural town in England, my conclusion is that for church to be prophetic I cannot  stay silent on such things. For me, the very essence of the type of church for which Hirsch speaks so strongly is that I must speak out against injustice and evil, and for peace and reconciliation in society. As importantly Hirsch writes in a non-partisan way. That is what has been so lacking in recent years in Christian ventures into politics.

So let me emphasise what I regard as the key theme in Hirsch's words:

... Obama is the symbolic choice: His election, if successful, will signal the healing of deep racial wounds and will, in effect, symbolize the utter greatness of America. Think about it! That America can elect a professing Christian, with an African Muslim (of all things!) father, a white mother, and a very strange sounding name to boot, to be its leader (and by extension, the leader of the free world) IS significant in the true meaning of the word. I can’t tell you what this will communicate symbolically to the rest of the world! ... And to do this in precisely this current, profoundly complex, global situation we all find ourselves in–well, that’s the historical piece. Hey, at the very least Obama represents the reconciliation of opposites…just look at him. He is himself a symbol of what I am saying: He reconciles black and white in his very person. He reconciles ‘the familiar’ and ‘the other’ in the precisely same way. He cannot but be symbolic. ...

Read the whole  of Hersch's post.  He speaks for me. Its a no brainer.

What saddens me is the degree of opposition expressed in the 160 comments below his post. 

 

 

 

 

 

Obama 'unity' plea in final week

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Obama 'unity' plea in final week.

Words that can be easily dismissed as sweet-talking -- but I believe Obama can see the potantial for huge division post election ( see my earlier post commenting on yesterdays NYT article: McCain’s Warning About Voter Fraud Stokes a Fiery Campaign Even Further ) This a sign of his greatness - and dare I say it, his Christian values being worked out.

McCain’s Warning About Voter Fraud Stokes a Fiery Campaign Even Further

The NYT yesterday outlined the possibility of a scenario of the election outcome being appealed on grounds of voter fraud:

Political Memo - McCain’s Warning About Voter Frau

Senator John McCain warned at the last presidential debate that the Nov. 4 election could be marred by voter fraud and added that Acorn, an organizing group in minority and low-income communities, was “now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.”

I commented a little on this last week: Pew warns 'perfect storm' on election day could complicate vote count.

Time has outlined 7 Things That Could Go Wrong on Election Day.

While being tempted to continue to scorn the electoral mechanisms that make that a possibility (and factors that Time outlines need addressing as a matter of urgency even if they do not undermine this election), I must move to a greater concern. 

I fear the ugliness of an election where the result is open to contest on several grounds. The racist undertones, the blatant islamophobia, the terror-mongering that are alive in the conservative blogosphere will be unlikely to avoid being inflamed in such a situation. It will take enormous retraint and leaders of quality on either side to restrain the passion and allegations that have marked the campaign fanning those red hot embers into a destructive fire that could destroy the social fabric of a great nation.    

Living in community: the goal of Christian-Muslim dialogue

Living in community: the goal of Christian-Muslim dialogue.

"Living together in community must take the centre stage of Christian-Muslim dialogue," said Catholicos Aram I at the opening of an 18-20 October ecumenical consultation aimed at developing a common Christian theological understanding of dialogue with Islam.

"The prevailing misperceptions, ambiguities, polarizations, tensions and collision [of values between Muslims and Christians], hijacked and sharpened by politico-ideological agendas and geo-political strategies, can be transformed only through a shared life in community," stated Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia), in delivering the key-note speech of the consultation.

Part of a consultation: press release here:

Pew warns 'perfect storm' on election day could complicate vote count

Incredible.

Link: Pew warns 'perfect storm' on election day could complicate vote count | World news | guardian.co.uk.

I honestly find it hard, albeit it as an ignorant Brit, to find it hard to know how the USA can be seen as a model democracy? 

• A polling system that canot handle the numbers expected.
• Variation in the methods between different counties  and states.
• Methods of recording the vote that are in question as to the accuracy of the system and the technology to count.
• A registration system for voters that is handled by the parties.   

Law lords ruling stops return of families to Chagos Islands

Link: Law lords ruling stops return of families to Chagos Islands - Times Online.

Shame. That such an injustice can continue today and be legitimsied by the highest court in our land makes a mockery of any idea that we really regret the wrongs of history.

Open Democracy has a good piece on the subject: The Chagos islanders: Britain's historic injustice.

.... Sadly, this repugnant treatment of the Chagossians was not an aberration. There are episodes in Britain's history as an imperial (and decolonising) power in which the country's citizens can take pride. But we are only entitled to do so if we come to terms with discreditable behaviour – towards colonial subjects, parliament and the British public. ...

If this judgement stands:

... it will tell us much about Britain's current government if it is prepared to stand up for the values that really matter. If the UK wishes to see itself as an exporter of democracy and respecter of human rights, it needs to see itself "as others see us". Is this government prepared to respect the rights of the poor and the powerless in its own territories?

It begs the question on larger situations lin Iraq or Afghanistan, and it makes a mockery of any right to make judegement of a nation like China for its presence in Tibet, especially in the light of the fact of US abuses in Iraq.

Muslim-American voices heard in presidential race

Muslim-American voices heard in presidential race

The alienation that is developing as anti- Muslim feelings and racism take on more subtle forms of expression in the US presidential campaign is worrying. Obama rightly wants to move it beyond race. McCain rightly know he cannot be accused of racism. Obama is denying he is a Muslim - simply because he isn't, and yet its so easy for it to be heard as fear of being identified with Islam. McCain confronts a supporter for that very allegation that Obama is a Muslim, and in rightly denyiny his fellow senator is a Muslim, makes it seem that its a good thing he isn't. No one really wants to move beyond the banal rejection of allegations of Islamophobia or racism. And the stereotypes, the fears, the anger, and the simple but deep hatred bubble beneath the surface.  The sense of anger and disempowerment of Muslims is tangible in this article, and yet so too is the anger and disempowerment of evangelical Christians who feel it all going wrong.

My prayer is when Obama wins, seems so likely, his first words will be reconciliatiory, and his first priority a nationwide process of healing and reconciliation. 

Muslims and the "Real America"

Some good comments as well as a link to a recording of Colin Powell's endorsement.

Link: Muslims and the "Real America" - The Middle East Blog - TIME.