Why Athiests Should Support Christians for Public Office

Religion cannot be separated from politics.  It is possible however, to separate church from state.  I am a Christian.  That is how I know that strong families and strong individuals make for strong societies.

America is a nation in the Christian West, a place the world once called "Christendom."  Freedom and liberty in America are defined by Christianity.  No matter how disordered our society is at present, we are still not an anarchy.  You cannot drive on the left side of the road if you want.  Every society has rules, and  Christianity informs the rules of our society.

Two thousand years of Christian thinking cannot be decoupled from secular America.  The very word "secular" is religious.  It means that some activities are less ordered by the demands of Biblical holiness and righteousness than others.  The word does not mean that some activities are holy and others are not. Forces who are interested in reducing the status of Christianity from religion to superstition have changed the definition of the word secular, as they have changed the meaning of so many other words and concepts.

The word "gay" comes to mind, as does the meaning of the rainbow, as do the words "Freedom of Choice." But that is a topic for another time.

The safest society for atheists is a Christian society.   I've noticed that atheists and pagans aren't lining up to emigrate to other parts of the world.

Why is it safe here?

Christianity teaches us to love our enemies.  We don't use terror as a weapon.  Christians will kill if they must, but they won't murder.  And that is an important difference.

If atheists and liberals are really interested in confronting bullies, they'll put outspoken Christians in public office.

Building a Dynamic Economy in Maine

America is in a mess economically.  Putting our faith in an economic future, which may or may not come to pass, is a mistake.  God calls us to pay our bills on time, not rely on China to float us a loan while we wait for our ship to come in.

Maine can build the most dynamic economy on the planet.  Our people are hard-working and creative. Our ancestors moved north from Massachusetts to build their own homes.  They didn't want Massachusetts dictating to them.  We still don't have any use for big city values.

We need jobs - jobs that make it possible for us to provide for our families.

We don't have jobs, because the government wants it that way - especially the federal government. Augusta is an accomplice in the destruction of the economy, but it isn't the worst offender.  The worst offender is Washington D.C.

Maine has the natural resources to be self-sufficient. We even have enough to help our neighbors.  We are not a good neighbor, or even self-sufficient, because our government cares more about dirt and trees than it does about the people of Maine.

If government really cared about the people of Maine, it wouldn't give them food stamps and welfare.  If government really cared, if it were a true partner, it would unleash the creative potential of Maine people.  As Thomas Paine observed, "The government that governs best, governs least."

Government did not make the forest beautiful.  Christian ideas related to stewardship helped create the natural environment that keeps so many of us here in the Pine Tree State.  Giving Augusta and Washington responsibility for environmental stewardship is killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

The high ideals of Christianity make us good.  These ideas draw us away from Hell, and toward Heaven. If we obey God's laws, Maine will look even more like Heaven. Tending a garden is a labor of love, not drudgery designed to produce food.  We are spiritual beings. Animals are not. Everything in nature, plant and animal alike, were created to serve man. No matter what PETA and the liberals at Princeton and Harvard say, animals are good food - and that includes the deer in the forest and the fish in the sea. 

Our economic problems will disappear when people begin thinking correctly.  Maine will prosper if our people love God.  If we love God and recommit ourselves to obeying His laws, we will emerge from this relatively minor economic challenge stronger, and more devoted to one another.

Banquet's Days are Numbered

Homosexuals hold their annual banquet today at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.  According to their website they started their crusade in 1984.  I stepped into the ring against them a couple years later.  Back then their favorite euphemism for sexual immorality was "sexual preference."  Over time they morphed their propaganda, and ultimately pushed "sexual orientation" into Maine's laws and culture.  "Orientation" offers a whiff of science ... they can't help themselves, it's an orientation, not a preference.  Poor gays.  We all feel sorry for them.

Can you imagine!?  Living your life crusading as a victim.  Alas, poor souls.

They've devoted all their immoral energies to this crusade all these years and they only have less than a half dozen companies willing to identify with them as heavy hitters.  That must hurt.

What's really sad is that their top sponsor is the University of Maine at Farmington.  They have to know that support from that source is running out.  The University system is in trouble financially.  News this week reveals that they are cutting degree programs and professors.  It will not be possible for the University system to justify ongoing financial support for sexual immorality next year at this time.  People are waking up to the reality of what these folks mean by "equality."  Their days are numbered.  The public is waking up and I'm excited about it.

Frankly, I'm shocked that UMF has gotten away with supporting the "queer" cause up to now.  I suspect it is because the President over there supports this cause.  Mainers have a deep respect for college presidents, and all those in authority.  It is sad when leaders abuse that trust.  The days of public patience with this tomfoolery are coming to an end.

One of the other four big hitters is a credit union.  The Five County Credit Union is a sponsor for some reason.  Now that I'm the President of the American Family Association of Maine I'm considering a boycott aimed at them.  They would seem to me to be a target of opportunity.  Time Warner is also a sponsor.  It is more difficult to target them because there are not many cable and internet service options in Maine.  Who knows, maybe we'll decide to target all five of the big hitters.

I won't do it without contacting the leadership of all the companies beforehand to ask for an explanation of their financial support and a promise that they won't support this cause ever again.  I'll publish that communication on this blog.  Stay tuned.

I'd love to get your input on this idea, and any other ideas you have for making a difference.  Send me an email at afaofmaine@gmail.com

Focus on Dr. Dobson

My favorite people these days have something to do with football.  My buddy in Ohio, Coach Dave Daubenmire, is running for Congress in one of America's most conservative Congressional districts.  He coached football until the prayer police tried to make him stop.  They failed, but he got so disgusted with fearful leaders during the year long fight that he quit ... coaching football.  He kept right on coaching though.  He traded a non-descript cap for his trademark cross hat and took to preaching, and coaching guys like me.  I enjoy his columns published on newswithviews.com.

My new favorite football guy used to play NFL ball.  He's now a preacher also.  The good Reverend Ken Hutcherson penned a doozie of a column the other day.  World Net Daily published it.  He titled it I lost my Focus on the Family.

Hutcherson says he spoke personally with both Jim Daly and Dr. Dobson.  He claims that he's the only one who has spoken to both of them about Dobson's recent departure from the ministry he founded over three decades ago.  I'm sure there are many folks around the world who looked on these developments and would have enjoyed a conversation with both men.  I count myself among them.  Maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word.  It isn't enjoyable to discuss these developments with anyone, but it is necessary.

I attend a small Nazarene Church in rural Maine.  Dobson was raised by a Nazarene evangelist father.  I'm sure he got his toughness from his dad.  It's no picnic being an evangelist.

Having inherited his dad's grit, as leader of Focus on the Family Dr. Dobson stood up when it was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to endorse publicly the notion of spanking.  He not only endorsed it, he taught us all how to do it Biblically.  Moreover, Dr. Dobson taught us about discipline, choosing to do the hard thing for the good of others.

Dr. Dobson helped Paulie and I raise three sons who we couldn't be more proud of today.  All three have demonstrated with their actions deep commitments to God, family and country.  Between them there are three combat tours to Iraq with the United States Marines, and work in high levels of our government protecting all of us from terrorists.  And they're just getting started, none of them having crested 25 years of age.  I credit Dr. Dobson's Focus on the Family with providing significant, very significant, guidance to our parenting.

Dr. Dobson is an American hero.  He should be broadcasting from the Focus microphone until the day HE chooses to retire, and not before.  It is beyond belief, what has been done here.  I feel like listeners to Focus on the Family should object to this move and demand that Dr. Dobson be returned to the host chair of Focus on the Family.

His new radio venture is unwise for the movement.  I'm ashamed to call myself an evangelical as I think about this.  Surely we must do better with the war horses of our movement?  Dr. Dobson is in his prime.  God has brought him through so much.  Agree or disagree we need his ideas as host of Focus on the Family, not as the host of some side show.

Dr. Dobson is not to blame here.  He is too much of a gentleman to make Focus look bad.  I honor him for that.  The board of Focus on the Family needs to make a course correction, and invite Dr. Dobson back to the microphone.

Peter LaBarbera, the leader of  Americans for Truth observed:

We also suspect that Focus may be feeling the pull of George Barna’s polling research denigrating “religious right” activism (e.g., Barna Group President David Kinnaman’s and Gabe Lyon’s influential yet painfully shallow book UnChristian) and the appeasing liberal Christian “Emergents” — both of which appeal to younger generations of Christians who eschew the polarizing “culture war.”  In that regard, Focus has a choice: does it follow the worldly culture trends driven by these new generations — who, although they probably are loathe to admit it, are indoctrinated in politically correct,  “gay”-tolerant attitudes? Or does it recommit itself to educating these youth and standing boldly for timeless truths no matter where the culture is headed? (We realize there are many Christians who advocate quitting the cultural war against social evils, but they never have a good answer to this question: what about the hugely funded and powerful Homosexual, Abortion and Porn Lobbies that never quit; do we simply abandon America’s cultural/political landscape to them in a free society?)

If even the obviously Christian Focus on the Family is going to give up the fight for common sense on sexuality then very soon the question will be, "Will anyone be allowed to boldly speak out for Biblical ideas about marriage, family and sexuality?"  Massachusetts lawmakers decided this week to consider jail terms and fines for citizens in their state who shame the public display of sexual sin.

This is not a good sign for Christianity in America.  It's obvious we are losing our courage.  One good way to get it back would be to reverse course with Dr. Dobson, one of the most gutsy men in recent American history, and put him back on the radio.

Just Three Reasons Why

Two institutions and one movement experienced catastrophic moral failures over the past two decades.  This failure created Maine's current extremely toxic cultural climate on so-called "sexual orientation."  One institution is political.  The other two are religious.

Maine's Republican Party and Roman Catholic Church failed Maine people over the past two decades.  Maine's Evangelical Protestant movement held on until 2004, when they also capitulated.  Everything always rises or falls on leadership.  The leaders of these institutions, churches and movements are what failed the people of Maine.  There is no doubt in my mind that Maine would not have any "sexual orientation" laws today if it weren't for compromises at the leadership level.  I've been professionally active at that level since the late 1980s.

No reasonable person believes that the liberal leadership of the death culture is going to stop with their radical redefinition of marriage.  They will press that through later this year, or next year.  There exists no solid reasonable foundation to stop them.  Evangelical and Roman Catholic leadership granted the legitimacy of "gay rights" once again last year.  They did so in a crass political move designed to appeal to couch potatoes who might vote in the November election.  They ran a last minute television ad just before last year's vote on marriage allowing that Maine might need more legal rights for homosexuals and their friends.  Unbelievably, they offered the support of their institutions to these unnamed expansions in immoral rights.

I am left wondering if they meant they would allow the current effort to lock in government protections for cross dressing men to succeed.  Conspicuously absent in the debate over transgender bathrooms here in Maine are leaders from either the Evangelical or Roman Catholic tradition.  The only ones speaking out boldly are activists who tend to embarrass their leadership with passionate prayers in public, and bold public displays of the symbols of their faith, like rosary beads and big black bibles.

A few wonderful folks showed up to a work session in Augusta on the bathroom guidelines.  They contacted the press and made life generally miserable for the five members of the Maine Human Rights Commission, the governmental body that is creating the new bathroom guidelines.  Their efforts paid a rich dividend.  The Commission was forced to put the guidelines out to a public hearing.  That hearing will happen later this year.

Leaders will now have an opportunity to lead on this issue.  The Maine Human Rights Commission is arguing that they are merely doing the will of the people as enacted by law in 2004.  That is the year that homosexual rights finally passed.  Republicans and Roman Catholics sat on the sidelines while Christian (Catholic and Evangelical) activists and the Christian Civic League of Maine attempted another Peoples Veto.  The League nearly pulled it off at the polls a third time.  The relentless propagandizing of liberals finally pushed this evil idea over the top, and homosexual rights became the law of the land.

One Evangelical leader who spoke out in a blog post just before the bathroom guidelines work session suggested that guidelines like these shouldn't concern citizens as much as laws.  Perhaps leaders like this will now step up and work to strip the phrase "sexual orientation" from all Maine's laws?  This is an effort I am eager to support, but only if Christians will unite to make it happen.

It is never too late to do the right thing.  All Maine people must pray (or hope, if you don't have the spiritual muscle to pray) that these institutions will stop pretending that they are bold defenders of the family and marriage.  The upcoming Maine Human Rights Commission PUBLIC hearing on bathroom rules for cross dressers will reveal a lot.