Sean reports...

Dr James Dobson

Dr. James Dobson of Focus on The Family said the following on the radio yesterday in response to a speech (link to text) by presumptive Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama to the Call To Renewal's Building A Covenant For New America on June 28, 2006:

"He's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology."

Dobson, Tom Minnery, and Dr Bill Maier go on to talk about how Obama talks about the application of Bible teachings from Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Both Dobson and Minnery talk about how the Levitical law no longer applies today because it was only meant to apply to the Israelites after they came out of the desert. And in the same breath they say that the principles - such as on the issue of same-sex marriage - still apply.

HUH?

Does that make any sense? Aren't these two then doing what they are accusing Obama of doing?

Dobson even says that he isn't a reverand and a Bible expert but then responds to Obama like he is. For me I thought faith was a personal gift to yourself; a tool guided by your personal covenant with God and your own intrepretation of his vessels/prophets dictating a higher power's word - be it the Jewish God, the Catholic God, the Protestant God, the Islamic God, Buddha, Vishnu, or what even being your faith recognizes (Not to leave other faiths or Jewish/Christian/other denominations/sects out, I do want to say I am condensing here). In the end it is all a personal interpretation of how to live one's life well with the people and environment around us.  My personal view in this instance is in deference to Jesus Christ's declaration of a Golden Rule in the Bible's New Testament, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

I respect Dobson's right to give his opinion and have it heard. Many Christians utilize 1 Corinthians by Saint Paul as a counter to Levitical Law and maybe this is where Dobson and Minnery are coming from. But is it right to accuse people of hypocrisy and commit it in the same breath using his own interpretation? Funny how people don't even listen to their own voice sometimes.

For instance, Dobson and Minnery agree there are other faiths in America but since Christianity is the majority their views and morality should take precedence.

On the other side, Dobson and Minnery take presumptive Republican presidential nominee to task for not villifying same-sex marriage stong enough and supporting anti-gay marriage amendments on the state ballot in several states in November. So no side is left out in criticism from Dobson's moral view in this radio presentation.

It's funny to listen to someone feign that he isn't an expert than go on like he is and at the same time accuse someone of reinterpretation of the Bible while doing it in the same breath.

I will let you decide though in your own mind if Dobson is right or not. In deference to Dobson, here is a link to the full radio show. I am all for at least respecting disparaging views even though I think they are without real reason and hypocritical.

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Sean relates an experience...

Pope Benedict XVI

Yes, its true I was raised a good Catholic boy. I attended Catholic school from 1st through 8th grades. Both my parents attended Catholic school as well as did my sisters. Unfortunately, I always felt an outsider to that denomination of Christianity. Maybe it was the teasing a received while there, the feeling of not always meeting the moral expectations of the faith's beliefs laid out by the teachers and nuns, or the uncomfortableness with the faith's teachings. Or maybe it was my inner gay man rejecting teachings that excluded anyone who was not Catholic and/or not following the Catholic teachings as not being worthy of Heaven or afterlife.

I learned how to dig into my spiritual nature because of my experiences with Catholicism however and learned that you can talk directly to God without a priest listening at confession. Nowadays, I think of myself as a reformed agnostic Catholic of no particular denomination. I enjoy attending Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) services now where denomination isn't important, personal communication with God and good works is. I haven't been in a while but I truly miss my former church in Fairfax under Pastor Kharma. I need to find the one here that has a better time and invest in it more.

Pope in the Pope Mobile

Of course all this rambling brings me to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to DC. My whole office watched him drive by in his pope mobile from above Pennsylvania Ave yesterday (April 16, 2008). It was exciting I must admit to see a figure in a position that has been around for centuries and has had a huge role - positive and negative - in world events. I mean I ws so excited that I sent "I've been Poped!" text messages to friends and family to let them know of the event! But I also have to be a bit reserved to the fact that this pope is not the forgiver that Pope John Paul II was and he is not a friend to gays and lesbians around the world. I say this because that is where I lay my hat and until religion recognizes that living life according to the Golden Rule of "loving thy neighbor as yourself" is the most important in any faith regardless of sect or denomination then I will always be cynical or organized faith.

In addition, I was struck by President George W. Bush saying the following during the Pope's visit to the White House:

"In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed."

Strange how a man can say this yet advocate the death penalty (which I actually support with some restrictions), torture, unlawful imprisonment, and corporate welfare as well as wage war (and I do support the Afghan conflict reasonings btw) at the same time without admitting he to has sinned.  But I guess "our" President sees it as a crusade or vegeance or something. Hypocracy is just one of many reasons January 20, 2009 needs to get here soon.

Anyone else have thoughts about Catholicism, the pope, or religion in general? I love taboo topics for the dinner table!

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