Back Ground Information

I'm beginning a series of posts that are based on an ongoing email conversation that I've been having with a good friend. The emails have gotten to be quite long so I am breaking them down into sections for posting. Below is some background information I offered about myself and my thoughts on politics, economics, and religion before I began to answer questions or offer arguments to what my friend wrote. In future postings I'll paste sections of his email as well to help show the shape and tone of the dialogue which I have found to be quite healthy.

I. Introduction: Response to Friend's Email:

I must say that I miss these types of discussions. Being out of school over the last year I have been basically talking and writing about nothing very important to me with a few exceptional scenarios. I hope that this can be an ongoing discussion either via email or over coffee or whatever. Upfront, please understand and believe me when I say that I know neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have gotten the answers right on all the issues. Both parties have their strengths and weaknesses and both overemphasize particular hot topic issues to rally their core supporters. I can honestly still maintain that I would have been, for the first time in my voting life, happy with either of our 2008 presidential candidates winning the election because I see that things have gone down a path that is, to put it lightly, unhealthy over the last 4-6 years and I do believe that both candidates recognized this and were ready and willing to do something about it.

I attribute the reality that no political party or ideological position can satisfactorily resolve or address all of the issues that are of importance to me, and I hope I can eventually make the case that many of my concerns are developed directly from the principals of God’s Kingdom, to the fact that we live in a time that is far from perfect and that our nation is not, nor has it ever been—no matter how forceful some argue the opposite—a Christian nation. There were some notable and devout believers who helped to form this country and there were some who were, at best, deists. There were others who seemed to be less concerned with God and more concerned about unlocking the bonds of English rule and the ability to try an experiment of personal freedom and the unending generation of personal wealth. (This, of course, only applied to white males at the time.)

Currently, we are a more diverse nation than ever facing many controversial challenges, none of which can or will be solved by simple or easy measures. I hope to offer some explanation of first, my academic understanding of these issues and second, my personal experiences and thoughts on the topics you have outlined in your email. These types of issues are exactly what I would like to pursue in a PhD that looks at the relationship between, broadly, religion and politics and more specifically, the ethical and moral dilemmas that followers of Jesus face in a diverse nation and a shrinking world...