I'm sitting down to enjoy my favorite Sunday night ritual---listening to, of all things, Pipe Organ music on Minnesota Public Radio (Pipe Dreams, sponsored by American Public Media).

My wife just refered me to a book that I want to check out sometime, "Crunchy Con" by Rod Dreher. I'll let the author speak to his own book rather than recreate the review. It's as I was telling my friend Dean Malley today, I've got to blog someday about why I can neither subscribe wholly to either the Left nor the Right on the political spectrum. My King is Jesus---and there's a LOT he said that would fit squarely in the Democratic camp. Jesus was rescuing blatant sinners and society's scum from the Religious Right--the absolute purists. Read the Gospels, his harshest condemnations were reserved for the religious hypocrites of his day---and said that repentant sinners were welcome in God's kingdom. Since I'm only allowing myself 15 minutes to write, I won't take the time to look up all the references. That will need to come later.

But as you know, Jesus wasn't just a liberal hippy, either. (No offense to any hippies reading this post). He talked a lot about HELL. He said if your eye causes you to lust, pluck it out and throw it away because it's better to enter into heaven (implied---by your purity and astinence from sexual sin and lust) than to be thrown into hell with both eyes intact (implied---by continual lust and sexual sin---rightfully receiving JUDGEMENT).

So the reality is, Jesus expects pure living of his followers. But the reality is, we only get the power to resist sin by the indwelling of the holy spirit, so that HE, not us, gets the glory.

Now how did I get into religion when I started talking politics? Simple. For me, the two are inherently intetwined. You can't have one without the other. In fact, your politics is nothing more than an OUTFLOW of your religious conviction. If you believe man is inherently good, that God is uninvolved in human affairs, or non-existant, than you're going to carry out a political ideology and agenda that reflects that religous belief. If God is Sovereign Lord and redeemer of penitent sinners and will one day come to judge the living and the dead, you're going to carry out an completely different political idealogy and agenda.

Again, 15 minutes doesn't give me time to go any deeper than that.

That's why I'm a political moderate. George W. used the term "compassionate conservative" in 2000, and it probably best describes my view now...no matter how much that term is reviled by the likes of ultra conservatives.

Final word--I'm thinking of voting for the Constitution Party this election.
My real ambition is to launch an internet campaign called JCin08, but I don't think I have enough time.

Speaking of time, mine is up for today.