The last week of August 2008, the Democratic National Convention was held in Denver, Colorado. I viewed all the major speeches and will probably post about each speech that I thought was noteworthy. In this introductory post, I want to just make general comments. I've go to admit that the goal was to make Obama and Biden look as electable as possible. I heard more saber-rattling than substance. By this I mean that I heard more about Bush and the Republicans have messed up our economy and our Foreign Standing among the nations of the world rather than how we are going to fix it. I also found out that for the first time at the DNC, a church service was held the Sunday of that week to officially kick off the convention. I posted a video earlier that shows the whole hour service. I call it a church service but in order to make sure not to alienate or offend anyone it was called an "Interfaith Gathering". They had clergy from all the major religions to speak and honor their view of God. Selections from the Torah, Bible, Koran, and other holy texts were read before each speaker. Each speaker was able to say what ever they wanted to say.
Each speaker spoke about our "Sacred Responsibility" in a different context. For example Bishop Blake, the Presiding Prelate of the Church of God in Christ, spoke of "Our Sacred Responsibility to our Children". He spoke about prioritizing Children all over the world and protecting them. In addition he brought up the contradiction of loving and caring children but supporting abortion. He said that children are a gift of God. He said he disagreed with the Democratic Party's Pro-Choice stance, but agreed with Obama's plan to cut down on abortion by giving women more choices.
Another example was Sister Helen Prejean. She is a Roman Catholic Nun and Anti-Death Penalty Activist. She spoke of "Our Sacred Responsibility to Our Nation". She focused on her pet-issue. Her contention was that abolishing the death penalty is part of our responsibility to the nation. I thought that she appealed to emotion and the guilt of misapplying the death penalty. She pointed out how only poor people who murder white people actually end up on death row. I think she's right about that, but then she went to a very troubling place theologically. She said that our opinion on the death penalty brings up our view of God. I agree. Unfortunately she said that the Bible conflicts itself on God's character. Either He is forgiving and merciful or He is vengeful and harsh, is what she put forth and that we must pick which view we want to base our lives on. She then said that some Christians believe that God sacrificed his son to pay for our sins and that in the death penalty criminals pay for their sins to go to heaven. This is not what the Gospel is, but it is something you can get out of Roman Catholicism. To hear the Gospel mangled like that really offended me. She rejected that view and seemed to me to suggest Jesus' death on the cross had no redeeming value for anyone - all to disparage the death penalty which has nothing to do with saving anyone from hell.
There was a lot of good and bad said during the meeting. The CEO of the convention is a Pastor out of Washington DC named Leah Daughtry. The goal of this meeting was to show the world that you can be religious and still be a Democrat. Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, on August 19, 2008, says the there is a "God Gap" between the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans are often depicted as being "people of faith" more so than Democrats. The problem I have is with trying to be all things to all People. Orthodox Judaism Islam, and all the other religions represented contradicts Christianity. They say Jesus is not the only way to God that their way is just as valid. Christians say Jesus is the only Way. We can't all be right. Holding hands and singing "Kum Bah Ya" is not going to erase this division and all depends on what you think about Jesus. Is it what Jesus said about himself or not? Everyone who spoke was very careful in all they said not to offend anyone. Pastor Daughtry even referred to God as he/she - what ever you believe God to be. In effect this is allowing people to make up their own God instead of how God truly revealed himself in the Scriptures. Not good.
The last point that I would raise is how many Muslim women spoke on behalf of Islam while in a Muslim country this would have been the case at all. Islam was depicted as a religion of peace and enlightenment on par and equal to Christianity while it does not take any time to show that there are very many discrepancies between the Koran and the Bible and in faith and practices.
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