Faith and politics, like oil and water, don't mix

There is an often used saying that one never discusses religion and politics in mixed company. I don’t discuss my politics with my church friends, and I rarely discuss my faith in a political environment or with non-Christians, unless they ask me about my faith.


I was prompted to write this entry after receiving an e-mail from a fellow worshiper at my church. She wrote me and several others asking that we support former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president because he’s an evangelical Christian, a former pastor, and a conservative. Now, I like the e-mail’s author and her family. But I questioned her sending the e-mail and disagreed with her message. I thought it inappropriate.


As I said, I don’t discuss politics with my church friends. I became an independent (or, in California, “decline to state”) voter in 1988 once I became a journalist because I didn’t want to display bias in my reporting or my politics. However, my political leanings are liberal. I attend an evangelical church and have accepted Jesus Christ but do not consider myself “born again,” merely struggling with my Christian walk. I came to my present church from an Episcopal church (another topic for another time). But I am not, nor will I ever be, a Republican. Moreover, I rarely vote Republican. I disagree with many planks of the Republican platform and believe the party has much to do to reach out to African-Americans and the working poor.


If someone asks me whom I’m supporting in the presidential primary, I will reply, “Barack Obama.” I agree with his positions on global climate change, the economy, the war (fiasco) in Iraq, education, affordable housing, investment in nonprofit organizations. My faith and my politics are separate, as our country’s founders intended. I bristle at the thought of either my church, my union, or whatever organization to which I belong telling me how to vote.