My husband and I were just talking about this last night.  Actually we were talking about some of our conservative friends that think we are fighting a spiritual battle with politics, and of course the "Right" believes they are right.  And I mentioned that is why there MUST be separation between church and state, that even among all the different varieties of Christianity, the many churches and the doctrines they focus on, we that call ourselves Christians disagree on so many issues.

If I am unsure of how to approach issues that affect the outcome of others, I fall back on the commandments Jesus left us with and I think is this a loving way to treat people?  Would Jesus be more impressed that I am following biblical principles (think Pharisee laws) or am I treating them kindly?

So many Christians I know seem to have contradictive ideas such as they will move mountains to prevent abortion, yet they resent being taxed to help the poor.  It seems like we care more about fetuses than we do children that are already born, like we need to "get them born" but we would deny them a free school lunch.

A lot of people are angry with our president because he introduced free birth control to "Obamacare."  I've heard a lot of comments that this is taking away religious freedom for others.  But is it?  Just because "the pill" is included in insurance coverage doesn't mean anyone has to use it.  And I've heard the argument about Catholic employers being forced to go against their beliefs just because someone "might" use pills included in an insurance program.  First, why does the employer even need to know what parts of the universal program and employee uses?  And if the employee is a married women and not pregnant most of the time, she most likely already is using some form of birth control.  Secondly, studies indicate that 98% of Catholic women are already using birth control, and this is to the employer's advantage anyway, as it interrupts the flow of work when women take maternity leave, so they certainly wouldn't be too happy if a woman did it often. 

When it comes to free birth control pills, I've heard many Christian conservatives argue that they don't want to pay for someone else's contraception.  Yet they don't want people to have abortions and they resent their taxes going into social programs that help the poor.  So wouldn't the pill help prevent both, abortions and more poor people?  Doesn't it seem hard hearted and almost like you want poor women to be punished for having sex?  Is that how Jesus viewed the adulteress?

People are also angry with President Obama for affirmation of the right for gay couples to marry, and he has stated that his views have evolved on this issue.  Well, guess what?  I believe that because mine have also evolved.  I voted for Prop 8 here in California and asked my niece if she did and she stated she did not.  I said, but we are Christian and it's against our religion.  She replied, "Yes, it's against our religion, and we would never do that, but we can't tell them that they can't marry."  At the time I disagreed with her, but now I believe just as the president does, and that is that gay people are a part of our society and they have  families and have for a long time.  Don't the children of gay couples have the right to be treated just like other children?  Should we shun children of such families?  Should gay parents be treated with dignity and respect when they come to watch their children play games?  Are we being loving when we deny them the same rights that we want for ourselves.  Does gay marriage really hurt traditional marriage?  Does it really?  Because I think we straight people have already disrespected marriage to the nth degree ourselves.  Most churches have divorced and remarried couples in attendance already, and that certainly is not the fault of gay people who marry or wish to have the right to do so.

I believe that true Chritianity is a heart attitude.  We can spew verses and rules at people.  We can tut-tut people and make them feel disapproved of.  We can vote on issues that deny rights to others that would make them feel like equal citizens in our society.  We can be Pharisees. . .or we can obey the last commandments Christ left us with and "Love one another as I have loved you"  and "Love your neighbors as you love yourself."  I think if our focus is on that, so many of our other problems will begin to fall away.