Moving Forward

[muscadine]

I voted for Bob Dole in 1996. There, I said it. I was openly gay to most everyone except family members, well on my way to becoming a bleeding-heart via the "liberal" public education system, and beginning to develop the progressive universalist form of Christianity I believe in today. But I still voted for Bob Dole. I couldn't even really tell you why now. I grew up in a Republican household (though my grandparents are yellow-dog Demos), was still struggling with my Southern Baptist roots, and I lived in the rural South in a so-called "red state." That's about all the excuses I can muster.

I view it now as a huge mistake (even though the overall outcome was that Clinton was re-elected). And I think George W. Bush is a lot "worse" than Bob Dole. And I'm committed to working for change now more than ever. But I keep coming back to how I could possibly sit in judgement of people who voted for Bush. Or what that would accomplish. As someone(s) on my friends list have stated, how do you intend to get your point of view across or change people's minds if you won't even converse with them (yelling and condescension don't count)?

The church we attend now is a fairly diverse "liberal Christian" congregation. We have areas that need work, as do most organizations and institutions, but we do explicitly include various groups in our mission statement. And we do have a variety of political views present in the congregation. But we were at prayer group last night (which probably tends to swing more liberally than the congregation as a whole), and as we went around the room talking about how we'd been feeling this week, it became apparent only one person was upbeat about the election results. She's from Texas, and she holds some fairly conservative beliefs, both theologically and politically, compared to the rest of the congregation. She identifies as evangelical (although as another member pointed out, "evangelical" represents a broad spectrum of beliefs, unlike how the media likes to portray it). And she pointed out that for all our celebration of diversity, we don't really do a good job of even tolerating political diversity (though at least our pastor gives it some lipservice). She said, "I am the red state." And she feels sometimes within the church and the group very marginalized because of that. She feels sometimes like "she" is hated, feared. Not her, per se, but what she represents.

Yet she is one of the spiritual pillars/leaders of the church, one of the most loving, caring, open, compassionate people within the congregation. When a lesbian couple from the church who is adopting a special-needs child (and who are the primary caregivers for a relative's child) were experiencing difficulties, she offered to move in and help out. People can't be put into simplistic boxes. Labels aren't the person. I told her that if she ever felt excluded or unwelcomed by anyone in the congregation, I would stand with her. And I mean it. "Republican" is not the equivalent of evil, and the reasons people vote the way they do are complex.

...

Below is a meditation we did at the beginning of the group. It is based on the Buddhist Metta (Lovingkindness) meditation, but has been adapted to include God-language. I thought it (or something more atuned to the original Buddhist tradition, which you will find behind the link along with an explanation) might be useful to some of you (whether Democrat, Republican, and/or third-party voters) during these tension-filled times.

A Compassion Meditation

Part One: For Oneself

May I be free from danger.
May I flourish with good physical health.
May I dwell in emotional tranquility.
May I experience deep well-being.
May my relationships be honest and joyful.
May I know that all life flows from God.
May I open my heart to God in trust.
May God's love guide my actions.
May my life give honor to God.
May God bless and keep me, now and always.


Part Two: For Another (especially one from whom I am estranged)
May you be free from danger.
May you flourish with good physical health.
May you dwell in emotional tranquility.
May you experience deep well-being.
May your relationships be honest and joyful.
May you know that all life flows from God.
May you open your heart to God in trust.
May God's love guide your actions.
May your life give honor to God.
May God bless and keep you, now and always.

Part Three: For a Group or Community With Whom I Disagree (same as Part Two)

Comments

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

[ohdannyboi.livejournal.com]

I voted for Dole too... LOL How things change...

That's a nice adaption of the metta... :)

[opalturtle.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. It makes me hope.

I think I'd like your church. It sounds kinda like mine (just bigger in a more diverse community.)

Part of our church's mission statement is "Come as you are." And we mean it, too. We don't have any GLBT members - I don't know that there are many GLBTs in Cheatham County. Should someone of that persuasion come to our church I hope we would be big enough to welcome them with open arms and stand true to our statement. Right now we've got some how have problems with drugs and alcohol, several with marital problems. . .and just plain old people who have a tendency to sin, like me. I hope, should the occasion arise, our church can be as Christ-hearted as yours.

[travspence.livejournal.com]

You're a good man. Despite the lapse of judgment in '96. :-)

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

thezerosystem recently posted some very interesting and thoughtful ponderings on recent changes in what it means to be Catholic or Protestant in America, and how such changes play into political discourse. I've been meaning to ask for your thoughts on it.

[glenrock.livejournal.com]

1996 was just a freaky year because, oddly enough, I voted against Bob Dole. At the Republican convention that year, he wagged his finger at the camera and told the NEA that we could go stuff it as far as he was concerned. And if I'm liberal on anything, it's the NEA and education (well, among other things.. hehe). So I voted for Harry Browne, libertarian, instead - which made about as much sense as your Dole vote because Browne would have completely disbanded public education if he'd had his way. But I damn well wasn't going to vote for Clinton. ;)

[superbbluewren.livejournal.com]

Jason, my closest friend always used to vote conservative, in Australia the Liberal Party (in the US he would have voted Republican) and I voted Labor (or Democrat in the US). We have very similar values but when it came to voting our slant was always a little different because of our family backgrounds. We naturally approached issues from a different perspective.

I don't think that we can judge people on the basis of how they vote. I, like everyone else, am tempted to do just that and I have given into that temptation! Within my own parish, I am active in the Greens and at least one other person is equally active in the Liberal Party. I think we would both say that our action was supported by our Christian beliefs. I cannot say that his beliefs are any less conscientiously held than mine.

What I think we need to look at is the Christian values we bring to the electoral process. This is more than just in voting, but in participating. We don't need to be active in a political party to participate. We may participate by simply discussing political issues. Do we bring the values of caring, of honesty and integrity to our participation? Sometimes these values seem to be absent from all sides of politics.

I suppose I am advocating a holistic approach rather than the simplistic and single issue approach that seems to dominate debate: are you anti-abortion or in favour of a woman's right to choose? Neither seems in the black-and-white way that it is presented to embody a particularly Christian view. During election campaigns everything seems to be distilled into black and white issues. There needs to be more serious and open debate between election campaigns that recognises the true complexity of the issues and hopefully out of that discussion more Christian policy options will emerge. That approach probably requires more thinking and clarification. What is clear is that we cannot say that the other half of the population is going to hell because they disagree with us.