Some quick notes on the CNN special "Faith Politics" organized by Jim Wallis and Sojourners.
I was disappointed that the first questions
Soledad O'brien asked were about the conflict of
evolution with a literal 6 day creation account. Really
Soledad, couldn't you think of something more interesting to open with? Then, her next question (also for John Edwards) was about homosexuality. I was thinking, "Really
Soledad, can't you think of anything to ask about besides these sensationalistic questions?"
Fortunately,
Soledad had to yield the microphone to Jim Wallis. He asked John Edwards about poverty, and I could see that Edwards was relieved to be asked finally about something significant for him. Unfortunately, he spent most of his answer talking about how much this meant to him over the years, but not too much time talking about concrete steps he would take as president. At least the question was raised, and that's a good thing.
Soledad did finally ask Edwards an interesting question, "what is the biggest sin you have committed?" and I was hoping he would say, "voting for the war in Iraq," but he missed his chance. Instead he just said something about how he sinned all the time. Interesting observation: Edwards mentioned two separate times that he was raised in a Southern Baptist Church, but he never mentioned that he is now active in the United Methodist Church. Curious.
Barak Obama leaves the impression of being very intelligent, but he does ramble on forever. Even before
Soledad interrupted him, I was thinking, "you are just rambling,
Barak!" He did
responde nicely to
Soledad's question, "does God choose sides in a war?" by citing the famous Lincoln quote. But he was just so long-winded! (Perhaps the people in my church say the same thing about me as they are leaving church on Sunday mornings?)
Soledad told Hillary that she had never said much about her religious faith, which is not true. Note to
Soledad: just because you spent five minutes on
google does not mean you have done your research. Hillary Clinton once spoke very eloquently, movingly, and powerfully about her religious faith to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church! She talked about her Confirmation Class, her Sunday School, her
MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) and how her youth pastor helped her link her faith to the civil rights movement. But only one reference to the
MYF got mentioned tonight. She said she came from a tradition that is very cautious about wearing one's faith on one's sleeve. To me that was a cop-out. I think she missed a chance to really connect with religious persons. But later on, she came back to it when she talked about prayer, and partially redeemed herself.
All in all, not much substance to tonight's conversation on CNN, but it was good to see faith and politics being discussed by Democrats in a nationally televised forum. Thank you Sojourners!
Read the complete post at http://theivybush.blogspot.com/2007/06/sojourners-hosts-discussion-with.html