Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Who, Us?

Nah. There's no Christian Bashing on the left. Not at all.

So there's a tape of Palin in a church speaking to some students graduating from some class in that church ... and she prays to God that we're doing the right thing in Iraq and that our soldiers are doing right by God's will.

And this is a bad thing?

A good Christian uses his value system -- one of the most time-tested ones around -- to make judgements on what the right thing to do is. From wars to pipelines to what do I say to my neighbor who just lost his dog. A good Christian realizes he is fallible and will often pray that he is doing the right thing, in recognition that there may be doubt. What that means is, he's thinking about it. It is an act of humility.

When anyone decides what he is going to do next, they typically decide what to do based on their value system. They believe it is the right thing to do (typically) ... which is why they go ahead and do it. Religious people have a personification of that abstract value system to make it easier to relate to it. But it's no different from a non-religious person doing something ... their justifications are based upon their beliefs, whether they believe in a God or not.

I don't find it scary when someone prays that they are doing the right thing. I grew up around a bunch of them. The ones that prayed they were doing the right thing were usually the most thoughtful, and the most humble.

The ones that were just convinced that they were right and couldn't possibly be wrong, not so much.

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