iVoteValues Archives

Guess who threw out the race card?

Posted by: K.D. Hastings on June 23, 2008 Hot Issues •

There is hardly nothing more vexing than when one person asserts that another person is a bigot, unless of course it is true.

How do you defend against such an accusation that you discriminate—if only in your mind—against others because of their race or ethnicity? There is no card you can carry that attests to the fact you are a fair-minded person or that a decision you made was not based on another person’s skin color.

That’s what makes Senator Barack Obama’s recent comments so insidious.

““We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’” Obama said June 20 at a fundraiser in Jacksonville.

He has preemptively interjected the race card into this year’s presidential contest. At least for those who support him, this will be lens through which they will view all criticisms of their candidate.

Unfortunately it is common in politics for extraneous issues to cloud the decision-making process. Some individuals are keen on throwing up smoke screens to confuse and delude voters, seeking to make things an issue that shouldn’t be an issue and to take attention off matters that should be an issue.

A candidate’s race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion or socioeconomic status should not be a basis for disparaging the candidate. It is important for a voter to consider the whole of candidate. If, for a example, a candidate is an elderly Asian woman who owns a multinational corporation and attends a Lutheran church, it doesn’t mean that the candidate’s positions are not to be evaluated vis-a-vis God’s Word, even if you are not an older American or Asian or Lutheran or a woman or a person of means.

We should hope for a high standard of decorum among voters and among the candidates.

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2008 Presidential Election: Another Y2K?

Posted by: Kaylan Christopher on June 13, 2008 Hot Issues •

Do you remember toward the end of 1999 when people around the world began to slip into mass hysteria because rumor had it that the world would end at midnight on January 31 at the start of the new millennium?

I remember it. People were freaking out so bad that it even started to scare me a little. You could go to the grocery store and see empty aisles where cases of water and essentials used to sit. Gas prices rose. People stocked up with loads of non-perishables. And some of the crazies even gathered together to welcome in extraterrestrials they believed would take over the earth.

I wouldn’t say that this year’s election will have the same effect on people, but more than once, I’ve heard people around me express the nervosa they’ve developed around which candidate will win and what will happen once he takes power. Again, I’m noticing increasing intensity in end times talk and panic rising in the voices of those believers who think this is it for us and our freedoms as followers of Christ.

Just this week, Barna came out with some statistics about the current presidential election status and said this:

“Unless Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama commits political suicide between now and Election Day, the Senator from Illinois is in a very comfortable position to win the November race against Republican challenger John McCain. A new survey from The Barna Group, exploring the voting preferences of registered voters who are likely to vote in the upcoming election, found that not even the existing strong support of the evangelical community will be enough to lift the Republican hopeful over the top. … The Christian community in the U.S. has largely shifted its loyalty to the Democratic nominee in this year’s race.”

Already, people are stressing over the rise of terrorism, natural disasters, and persecution of believers. So I can only imagine that once some of my friends find out about this, they are going to panic and question what’s in store for their futures. For others, it’s not going to bother them at all. And for some Americans, this is the best news they’ve heard in eight years.

For me, no matter how worked up I may get over the way the world is going, I have to keep one thing in mind—God is sovereign in all situations and nothing that happens in our lifetimes will take Him by surprise. He holds the past in His hands, is powerfully moving in the present, and is in complete control of our future.

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Family Breakdowns: Is the church to blame?

Posted by: Kaylan Christopher on June 4, 2008 Biblical Values •

Baptist Press published an interesting story last week titled: http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=27992>“Family breakdown costs $112 billion.” If you haven’t read this story and still don’t know exactly what I’m referring to, let me give you a synopsis of what has been uncovered.

The story stated, “High rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing costs U.S. taxpayers at least $112 billion each year, making marriage enrichment a legitimate policy concern, a first-of-its-kind study sponsored by four public policy and research groups said.”

Basically, taxpayers are paying for anti-poverty, criminal justice, and education programs, and for those who have been negatively affected by divorce or by being an unwed parent.

In the article written by Erin Roach, Ben Scafidi, lead researcher and economics professor at Georgia College & State University, is quoted as saying, “Prior research shows that marriage lifts single mothers out of poverty and therefore reduces the need for costly social benefits. This new report shows that public concern about the decline of marriage need not be based only on ‘moral’ concerns, but that reducing high taxpayer costs of family fragmentation is a legitimate concern of government, policymakers and legislators, as well as community reformers and faith communities.”

Are the high prices we have to pay because of our fault? Or is it the government’s fault for not putting enough priority in this area?

The BP News story said, “Public officials for years have given little attention to trends of divorce and out of wedlock births, dismissing them as social problems, the researchers said, but the study suggests marriage is more than a moral or social institution—it is an economic institution as a generator of social and human capital.”

Aside from the proposed “marriage enrichment” seminars to encourage healthy marriages, what are other ways the church can reach out to single parents—those who are victims of divorce and those who had children out of wedlock? Can the church do better job educating and counseling couples before they “tie the knot”? How better can we impact our culture with the message of hope and importance of family than what we’ve already established?

The most important question may be: Have we overlooked this area of concern to the point where it has become accepted in our culture as a way of life? If so, how do we fix it? Is it a church issue or a government issue?

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Marriage in California: Ignoring the People’s Will

Posted by: Kaylan Christopher on June 4, 2008 Hot Issues •

On June 17 (and maybe a few days sooner), gay marriages will begin to legally take place in California—a ruling that recently came about by the California Supreme Court to overturn a state ban on same-sex unions.

However, a http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355836,00.html>Fox News article said, “A group opposed to gay marriage has asked the court to stay its decision until after the November election, when voters are likely to face a ballot initiative that would once again define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Passage of the initiative would overrule the Supreme Court.”

A http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers>Field Poll recently stated that over half of Californians back the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, the “http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=28117>Los Angeles Times/KTLA poll of 705 voters released…found 54 percent backed the proposed gay marriage ban and 35 percent opposed it.”

If this amendment holds up, California will be the second of two states, the first being Massachusetts, to allow gay marriages to legally take place.

Do you know what you believe and what the Bible says about this issue? Many have argued against the scriptures that speak out against homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and Romans 1:26-28)—taking it out of context, twisting it around, and calling the Bible, in part, false and misunderstood.

The Bible is truth. It is God-breathed and infallible. This we can know for sure. God’s Word is clear on this subject. So should we be learned on what it says for the sake of preserving marriage between a man and woman, the family, and some semblance or morality left in our nation, while also loving, praying, and sharing Jesus with those who are dealing with homosexuality.

Do you know where our presidential candidates stand on this issue? Does this affect your decision in this year’s upcoming election? How are you going to stand for truth in our culture today?

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Politics a useful tool?

Posted by: Don Kirkland, Editor, ,The Baptist Courier on June 2, 2008 Hot Issues •

According to a recent poll conducted jointly by LifeWay Research and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a majority of Americans—though only a slight majority—do not believe that Christians are too much involved in politics.

When the survey figures zeroed in on Americans who attend religious services of any kind at least weekly, that modest majority of 52 percent increased to a more substantial 65 percent of our citizens who find no fault with Christian participation in politics.

And for the record, most Southern Baptist pastors—65 percent of them—expressed their disagreement with the notion that believers are too greatly involved in politics.

The results of the poll, taken at a time of heightened, if not yet peak, interest and involvement in the political process give a timely indication of the level of acceptance by Americans of the role played by Christians in shaping public policy that is not at all surprising.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, found the survey “in line with the involvement of people of faith throughout our nation’s history with political issues that have a moral component,” citing the abolitionist movement against slavery and the civil rights movement in opposition to racial injustice as “religiously motivated.”

Politics, which by one definition is “the process by which groups of people make decisions on who gets what,” is not limited to government. It is evident wherever people interact, whether in corporate, academic or religious settings.

Especially as the time for annual meetings of the Southern and the South Carolina Baptist conventions draw near, and often when decisions are made having a major impact on convention ministries, criticism over the prevalence of politics in the denomination is voiced.

Nevertheless, the political process has been and will continue to be a vital and visible component of denominational life for Southern Baptists and for believers from all walks of Christian faith.

Central to—and for that reason inseparable from—the political process is the acquisition and application of power and influence. How the power and influence are acquired likely provides the key to understanding how they are applied, and that will determine in most instances whether the political process works for the benefit of detriment of the denomination.

We as Baptists would be wise to embrace the political process as neither inherently evil nor inevitably good, but rather for its potential as a helpful tool in building the kingdom of God on earth when power and influence are used appropriately by those who seek to be our denomination’s servants, not its masters.

[This commentary originally appeared in The Baptist Courier (S.C.), May 15, 2008. Reprinted with permission.]

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Popularity Contest vs. Election Process

Posted by: Kaylan Christopher on June 2, 2008 Biblical Values •

In high school, I remember running for the position of Vice President in the Student Council. Back then, it was a big deal to go all out when campaigning. I remember hanging posters, handing out flyers, and coming up with catchy slogans to get the attention of the student body.

But what I remember most is thinking, “I have to gain the approval of my classmates, so I need to make sure I’m putting on the right face and attitude in front of each person until Election Day.”

It’s true. Our election was a popularity contest. If people liked me, then they would vote for me. It didn’t matter what I promised or didn’t promise to do for them the next school year. It didn’t matter if I didn’t regularly hang out with all the various demographics populated around campus. All that mattered was that if they knew and liked “Kaylan” more than the other person I was up against, then I’d get their votes and win the election.

Luckily, my opponent dropped out of the race at the last minute, so being the only person on the ballot, I was a shoe-in.

Remembering how seemingly intense I thought the school elections were back then made me think of how insignificant and petty that particular process really was. Ultimately, my position as Vice President turned out to be a glorified “party planner” for school events. But I think it’s safe to say that this could be loosely compared and discussed next to today’s elections.

Many times, it seems that today’s election process is also nothing more than a popularity contest. This thought, in itself, should cause us to consider whether or not we’re voting on the person because he or she is likable or on the values, morals, and standards he or she believes in and endorses.

Each time you vote, throw out the popularity factor and focus on the integrity, character, and beliefs of the candidate. Do these things match up with godliness? Does the candidate uphold biblical principles in line with God’s Word? Or are you voting on him or her simply because he has a great smile and a way with the people?