Last night, in his concession speech, Sen. John McCain said that President-elect Barack Obama commands his respect because “he managed [to win] by inspring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American President.”  That is certainly true.  If you read my past blentries on politics, you’ll find that I made it clear that I did not support Obama for President.

However, I do recognize that (still) Sen. Obama broke what once seemed like a huge barrier yesterday, and I join in celebrating that.  For those of us under 40 it’s hard to imagine how hard it has been historically for minorities, especially black people, in this country.  It’s even hard to communicate about this without seeming like I’m from a different time and place.  African Americans feel this more than most others, but even a lot of them don’t relate to what their forebears went through.  But, one example will be enough to remind us how far we’ve come in a short time.  Yesterday, President-elect Obama won the majority of votes in two states (Virginia and Florida) and possibly another–North Carolina is still too close to call–in which it was once illegal for a black boy to attend school with white students.  Most people reading this were probably born after that, but Barack Obama wasn’t, and he’s only 47 years old.

“Obama’s church” is the Trinity United Church of Christ.  Trinity United Church of Christ is “a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian… Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain “true to our native land,” the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.” (from their website) Their theology is progressive but generally what most Christians would consider Biblical.  Not everyone would agree with everything they do and say, but at least they’re doing something in the name of Jesus to help rid the world of injustice and oppression, which is more than I can say for most churches I’ve been associated with in any way.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is the senior pastor at TUCC, and he has gotten Barack Obama in trouble politically by making inflammatory statements over the last several months.  There’s no need to rehash those here.  I wrote about them back in March.  Last week, though, the last straw was a guest speaker, Catholic priest Rev.

For a long time now, I’ve thought that there needed to be a change in the tone of the debate over abortion.  I don’t adhere blindly to the well-worn belief that “bipartisanship is good.”  Healthy debate is good, and there are times when people are elected because of what they believe in.  No, the reason I think the tone of the abortion debate needs to change is that we pro-lifers aren’t getting anywhere the way we’re going now.

If we take a step back, we realize that there are two major roadblocks to making at least abortion on demand illegal.  The first is the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision of 1972.  Before any significant change in abortion law can happen, this case must be overturned.  Right now, there is a 4-4 split amongst conservative and liberal justices on the Supreme Court, with one justice who sometimes sides with conservatives and sometimes with liberals on the bench.  So, it is conceivable that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, but don’t hold your breath.  That brings me to the second hurdle.  Even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, states would have to enact laws to illegalize (NAW) abortion on demand.  Otherwise, it would continue–unless we try another strategy.

Visit snopes.com, and you’ll find no fewer than 7 Internet rumors about Barack Obama, mostly related to his heritage and personal background. Most of them are completely false, and some are just exaggerated. What I’m most concerned about is the Christian community’s role in spreading false rumors. At best, those who forward e-mails or tell someone Barack Obama is Muslim, racist, or unpatriotic are gossiping. At worst, they’re spreading lies. I recommend you take the time to read the entire Snopes debunking of the rumor that Obama is a “radical Muslim.” He’s not a Muslim, radical or otherwise.

I don’t support Barack Obama for President. As I wrote in an earlier post, I’m a Republican.