who i will vote for this november...

I have tried to talk very little publicly about who i will be voting for this November. Just a few months ago (when I was a pastor) I felt that it was a little inappropriate for me to appear partisan. During the primary season I refused to tell all but my closest friends who I had cast a vote for. To be honest, I had no idea who I was even voting for until I pulled into the parking lot of my polling place.

Before I spill the beans, let me give a bit of history:

I am a card carrying member of the Republican party. My paternal grand-father was a southern Democrat. My maternal grandfather was and is a staunch Republican. My Father voted for Nixon in his first presidential election and later voted for Reagan.

As a family, we were heavily involved in the pro-life, anti-homosexuality, white evangelical movement of the 80's. We were part of a Focus on the Family "Community Impact Committee", travelled to DC twice for the March for Life on the anniversary of Roe V. Wade and I organized "See You at the Pole" rally's at my high school.

So it was a given that when I registered to vote, that it would be as a Republican and that I have voted for both Bush's. It wasn't even that long ago that my wife and I drove around with a Bush/Cheney poster covering up our back windshield. At that time, there wasn't even a hesitation that I, as a pastor, should be a bit slower to advertise my favorite candidate.

To make a very long story short...my politics have changed about as dramatically as my spiritual understanding has. It follows this pattern:

(1) I started hiking and fell in love with nature, read a lot of Sierra Club propaganda and started wondering why the party that supposedly cares so much for the Creator show so much disregard for the protection of the Creation.

(2) I started re-reading and teaching the Bible verse by verse and realized that there are 3,000 verses about Justice and Poverty Issues that I have never heard a single sermon on.

(4) A friend "came out" to me and I began looking at the issue of homosexuality in a personal way for the first time.

(5) Like many Christians who have attached their faith to a political party - the war in Iraq has caused me to ask some very hard questions...

So here I am, less than two months away from another presidential election and I have a choice to make.

Who am I voting for?

• I will vote for the candidate who places priority on making sure that children have access to adequate health services.
• I will vote for the candidate who rejects torture as a means of national security
• I will vote for the candidate who's policies will actually reduce the number of abortions in this country
• I will vote for the candidate who's energy policy puts respect for Creation over the profits of oil companies
  
• I will vote for the candidate who's tax plan gives the most relief to the poor and lower middle class.
• I will vote for the president who will value diplomacy as the first step towards peace...rather than sanctions, threats and missiles.
• I will vote for a candidate who attempts to craft trade policies that would protect workers' jobs here in the United States while making it clear that our purchasing power should reflect our values.

more to come...