Stop the madness!

The saga of Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright and the nonstop drumbeat of negativity coming from right-wing media (especially our local wing-nuts on WTKK) is threatening to swift-boat the Obama campaign.

You don’t have to agree or disagree with anything Rev Jeremiah Wright said, or Barack Obama’s membership in his church. The question people should ask is why any candidate for public office should be held accountable for their private religious beliefs or for every statement their pastor, rabbi or minister makes. I find some of Rev Wright’s comments offensive, others not so. I am more concerned with Obama’s PUBLIC life, his public statements, what he says and does as a public official. Until recently, there has been an assumed line separating an elected officials personal religious beliefs and their public actions. I don’t care if someone is a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist. I only care that in doing the peoples business they are secular, rational and act in the public interest.

If there is a god, I’m fairly sure that he/she/it is something far beyond our comprehension. If there is a god (and I’m open minded, though skeptical on the subject), I’m also fairly certain that he/she/it does not bless or damn any nation or take sides in the endless, senseless slaughter we insists on visiting on each other. The constant chatter about what sect is really following “gods law”, or is the true faith, or knows what rules the supreme being of the universe wants us to follow or how to get to heaven strikes me as, in all honestly, absurd. I view the reassurances of candidates that they are people of faith as trivial and insulting as should any rational person. Having faith and going to church have nothing to do with ones ability to serve the public interest. Some of the most moral and decent people I know are atheists, some of the most amoral and vile people I know are devout, church going Christians.

That being said, it is a dangerous road to start on when we scrutinize a candidates faith, their houses of worship and their spiritual leaders. Who decides what the right religion is, or the right church, or what sermons are acceptable? Where is the line drawn? Should public officials feel compelled to walk out of church whenever a minister says something that some special interest group may be offended by? This whole manufactured controversy is absurd. What issues aren’t we talking about while wasting time on this witch hunt? Shame on every pundit, reporter, editor and commentator who helped carry on this farce.

America faces serious challenges, this is the most important election in my life time. We need to get back to looking at the people who are actually running for office and discuss issues relevant to running the country.