Certain Members of the Faith

So I was driving to work the other morning listening to Christian radio, don't judge..... The President of some council on family something or other comes on to do a quick message. When it is over I am literally yelling at my car stereo. What was so inflammatory you ask?

Said president of family council whatever began his statement by lambasting President Obama. It is ok to disagree, have opinions, not like our President, but to show blatant contempt is ridiculous. Honestly it is beneath us as Christ followers. This man's words were a cheap shot that provided no value other than to rile his base of right wing conservative Christians who would mindlessly agree with what a 'wacko' President we have because he does not pretend to believe every single thing some do. "The liberals say such and such and are so much worse than that...", blah blah, I can hear the protests already. I don't care. I expect more from my Christian leaders. Being President of the United States is arguably the hardest job in the entire world, whether we agree with him or not he deserves our respect as citizens of this great country. More so, as Christians we are commanded to submit ourselves to the authorities that God has placed over us. Disagree, make an argument, use fact to sway opinion, but do not disrespect my President because you are not smart enough to think of something wise to say.

Unfortunately it went downhill from there. Our friend the family council guy was on that morning to decry how the new administration is redirecting public aid away from abstinence only programs towards other more liberal leaning applications. I am by no means well enough read on the subject of pregnancy prevention and the like to lecture anyone, but I must say this. When the outrage over our new President moving X% of funding away from conservative abstinence programs was done I was the one outraged. Nowhere in his angry tirade was there a cogent argument. The facts that this Christian leader used to 'sway' my opinion to be like his were not germane to the actual argument at hand. His beef was with the fact that our government under President Obama was redirecting all of this money away from programs that the ("great") George Bush had setup to receive funding for abstinence only programs and throwing it all to liberal programs when abstinence only was clearly the way to educate.

I'm all for abstinence, I believe in it, I chose it for myself prior to marriage, I buy the ideology. That said the facts my friend the family council guy presented were all facts involving studies on the benefits of abstinence. This is where I got angry. No one will argue that the most effective way to not get pregnant is to be abstinent, that is not controversial. What was missing from the argument was whether or not the abstinence only programs are effective. For 8 years our government has helped funnel millions and millions of dollars into these programs. As a new Administration takes hold and sends the money where they think best provide me an argument that shows why we should continue to put our money in abstinence only programs. Are they effective? Do they work? Do certain types work, but not others? These are the questions WE as Christ followers should be asking before we beat the drums and cry liberal foul. Rash outbursts that don't actually address the real facts but turn everything into us vs. them are the reason that so many automatically tune "Christians" out.

As a Christ follower I was enraged that this Christian leader had missed his opportunity to use truth and facts to make a compelling argument with the platform he was provided. Instead he abdicated his time to partisan name calling and deflection facts meant to make me look in another direction. It is time for Christians to demand better of our leaders, to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the world around us. How dare we judge and decry the fouls of others when we cannot show respect and regard for those who disagree with us.

Most sad is at the end of the day when our Christian leaders act ignorantly like this we never get to the discussion. Did all those abstinence only programs work effectively? Are we doing harm by pulling all our funding from them? I'd really like to know so that I can be an informed citizen and a wise voter.