Today is Sunday and believers often act on Sundays, if they are involved Christians. Other faiths mark their spiritual weeks on different days, but I am a believer who is not actively involved with a church today. As an Anglican/Episcopalian female, I feel my denomination in this diocese has it in for me as a woman. The bishop feels that my gender does not have the "right stuff" to become priests. Since I am a feminist, my bishop's decision has influenced me towards becoming a religious backslider.My inner spiritual life is still rich, however. And, strangely, it is influenced by politics. How can that be? Am I not supposed to "render unto Caesar" what belongs only in that realm, and keep my spiritual side separate? I do not believe so. It is not profane and I am old enough to be much more internally integrated than that.
My intellectual, physical and spiritual selves flow in and out as each of my parts informs the others. And because one of my passions is politics, the news of the day influences what I think and feel as I get into what is happening. Sometimes it puts knots in my stomach, sometimes I get mentally confused, sometimes it wounds my spirit.
These days I am feeling uplifted psychologically. We Democrats won both houses of Congress in November, and in February we are winning a crop of fabulous presidential candidates. Almost all of them would make good presidents:
- Hillary could be the first woman president, a delight to my feminist side. I would be absolutely confident and comfortable if that happened.
- John Edwards is a liberal, populist, very smart and passionate candidate that I know could be a good president.
- Governor Richards is brilliant, warm, experienced in foreign affairs and government at many levels; he would fit into the oval office very easily.
- Senators Dodd and Biden are well known and acceptable to me, both are good, passionate and smart men, but have fewer chances to win.
Who would be the greatest is what will emerge as the year progresses. And it will make for a terrific conversation into next spring. Candidates abound; I am ambivalent. What a great problem I have. Like Stickings at The Reaction, I cannot yet choose from amongst the announced and exploring candidates. But like the DailyKos' diarist "davidsirota" posted yesterday, I want to believe in Senator Barack Obama (D-Il). His speech in Springfield yesterday was very uplifting to my spirit for several reasons, some of which are captured by Charging RINO's "Barack the vote" post. To quote,
If anyone can do it this time around, I think it's Obama. It's the challenge he issues to our generation that we can be better, that if we can get over our petty partisanship and work together to get things done, they can happen. True, it's a little idealistic, but frankly a little idealism wouldn't be a bad thing in this country right now.
Personally I look forward to following the presidential campaign as it unfolds. What place better for following all the nuances of U.S. and world opinion about Obama's announcement. Our 2008 election will be upon us before we know it. Meanwhile I have the delicious dilemma of listening for substance to all of the great candidates, rather than watching the horserace.
Technorati tags: barack obama bush war opinion politics religion weblogs
My "creative post" today at Southwest Blogger is about childhood snow storms.
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