After reading this post be sure to read the discussion going on down in the comments area…

I was first “introduced” to Shane Claiborne a little over a year ago when Nathan Edwardson, the (very young) Lead Pastor of The Stirring in Redding, California gave me a copy of Shane’s book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. Shane’s book made me think about things I’ve never before considered from a Christian perspective.

CNN.com is one of the websites I read on a daily basis. Today Shane was on the front page as one of the site’s lead stories. Beneath Shane’s photograph was the headline Young Evangelicals not a lock for Republicans. Much to the chagrin of many of my Constant Readers, my heart felt great joy when reading that headline. Why? Because it is my opinion that the Republican Party is very far away from being a Party that Jesus would have endorsed. Not that I think the Democrats would fare a whole lot better, but as I’ve stated before, I personally have more respect for a person who is honest with me about issues that he knows I don’t agree with than one who deceives me by pretending to feel the same way I do just to get my vote.

Prime example: Republicans legalized abortion, yet receive a lot of the Christian vote by claiming to be against it and then doing practically nothing about it once in office (FYI: 7 of 9 current Supreme Court Justices are Republican appointed yet still do nothing about the issue so what makes anyone think yet another Republican administration will change anything?).

Our current Presidential Administration really opened my eyes. While I’m still registered as a Republican, and have been since turning 18 and receiving my right to vote, I’ll likely follow the example I set for myself during the 2004 Presidential election by NOT voting Republican this coming November. Should Senator McCain choose a very strong running mate I might change my mind, but as of now I’m strongly favoring Barack Obama.

I particularly like this quote from the article:

But these voters say views on abortion and homosexuality won’t define them in November. The environment and social justice are moving to the forefront of their discussions.

Yes! I totally agree with that sentiment! I’m not saying topics such as abortion are not important, because they are very important , but I really wish more Christians would wake up to the fact that Republican candidates should not automatically receive their vote based on these topics. As mentioned before, the Elephants have a record of being deceptive about such issues (again: Republicans, not Democrats, made abortion legal to begin with) and there are definitely better ways of spending our tax dollars than taking over a country for its oil a long, drawn out, needless war.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts. Read this CNN article and let me know what you think about it, and your general feelings on the upcoming election. The can of worms has been opened!