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{"id":343,"date":"2008-09-15T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-15T11:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2008\/09\/christian-and-an-obama-supporter\/"},"modified":"2008-09-15T11:57:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-15T11:57:00","slug":"christian-and-an-obama-supporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2008\/09\/christian-and-an-obama-supporter.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian AND an Obama Supporter…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The first is a video of a talk in which Obama <\/a>tries to deal with the role of religion and politics. It\u2019s a very good message and I would challenge all of my conservative Christian brothers and sisters to listen to this talk and recognize him as a brother in Christ; not that you should automatically embrace his politics, but hopefully that you would approach him with grace.<\/p>\n

Another is an article sent to me by my friend Todd. It is a short article by author Brian McLaren<\/a> that helps draw out the big picture difference between McCain and Obama. I invite you to try and read it with an open mind as well. There are obviously other reasons why I support Barack Obama, but I\u2019m hopeful that these will answer some of the questions that people have about my point of view. (he\u2019s posted another entry as of today \u2013 go to his regular blog <\/a>for updates. I think he\u2019s writing many entries on this).<\/p>\n

Overriding all of this is a belief that as a Christian I should have no other political allegiance other than to the pursuit of the kingdom of God. I should have no competing agenda save that of pursuit of justice and mercy. I have no moral high-ground from which to pontificate about politics, I have only the promise to live a faithful life, including those parts of my life which intersect with the political. I am not a conservative, but I am not a liberal either. I am a Christian. Therefore I must work alongside the conservatives when their agenda swims in concert with the kingdom of God as I understand it. When their agenda does not swim in concert with the kingdom of God, then I don\u2019t work with them. The same goes for liberals and progressives.<\/p>\n

That being said, the Barack video explains why I think he swims more closely in concert with the kingdom of God. The article by McLaren explains at least a bit about why I think that McCain does not.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"