|
/ Hathaway Weblog / Taking it all in |
Lately I've had much I could say but even more to hear. I simply love to hear and read people's ideas. I like to wait a while before I comment (often weeks), giving me a chance to discover whether I really think my contribution is valuable. So here is some commentary that I've finally decided to share.
My brother Chas is married. Congratulations again! (Chas: now please call me so I can bring you a housewarming gift. You need a phone!)
I've been biking to work lately, and I really like it. The trip to work is downhill, so it takes only 15 minutes (as opposed to 10-12 by car.) The trip back takes 25-30 minutes depending on the wind. I bring my dress clothes to work in a backpack. I've learned not to eat before biking! I hate exercise just for the sake of exercise, but when I bike, I'm actually getting somewhere. I guess I need to avoid rain and snow, though.
Jeffrey Shell commented on the Michael Moore event at UVSC and the politics in Utah. Some donors apparently interpreted the expensive invitation to speak as a sign of UVSC's political orientation. However, I think there is a lot more media frenzy than actual politics going on, and I think most students and parents simply regard the whole situation as a valuable lesson in real-life politics. (The lesson is to be careful about making political statements.)
Jeffrey noted that Utah is strongly conservative in politics and simultaneously quite liberal in religion. That seems perfectly consistent: government should have a limited role so that it doesn't interfere with the workings of churches and other private efforts. Republican candidates seem to value this core principle more than democrat candidates.
Jeffrey also heard a returned missionary speak badly of Jehovah's Witnesses. Well, some say that if the church weren't true, the young missionaries would have killed it long ago. Personally, I encountered many Jehovah's Witnesses on my mission, and although some funny stories inevitably came about, I found them to be excellent, thinking people.
Comments
Jeffrey noted that Utah is strongly conservative in politics and simultaneously quite liberal in religion. That seems perfectly consistent: government should have a limited role so that it doesn't interfere with the workings of churches and other private efforts. Republican candidates seem to value this core principle more than democrat candidates.
I have to disagree with the idea that republicans value the separation of church and state. As a former evangelical christian, I know first hand what this group wants to accomplish. As a member of that group, President Bush has made his agenda pretty clear. First comes the federal agency to handle dispersing the money...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/ http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012901a.htm http://www.humanismbyjoe.com/Faith_Based_Initiatives.htm http://slate.msn.com/id/2086617/
I can't say that I'm aware of democratic party efforts to entangle church and state. Could you direct me to evidence that would confirm your belief that democrats don't value it as much as republicans?
Oops, I should clarify: I meant to say that republicans seem to value limited taxation and hence fewer government programs. I was talking only about economics.
As for separation of church and state, I'm quite conservative. The founders of our government got things just right: while many of them were openly religious, they did not use their position in government to proselytize their particular flavor of religion. Instead, they formed a simple faith in God that involved prayer and complete respect for divergent beliefs. That is the right model to follow and we stray from it at our peril.
