In a previous post I vented about my frustration with the slanderous emails I received about one of the Presidential candidates. Today I noticed that Adam Hamilton has posted about receiving similar emails. He makes a very interesting (and disturbing) observation that he consistently receives these emails from Christians, not from folks from another religious background, or from people who do not believe in God. Are Christians particularly good at spreading lies, or are we particularly lazy, or uninformed? I appreciate Adam’s post on this topic, and the reasonable response he occasionally offers to the emails he receives.
Steve Rankin has recently posted about a similar trend, except through campaign ads. His disgust at the way that Christians have been influenced by distortions and lies is palpable. And, I must confess I identify with his frustration. I can see how people could come up with good reasons to vote for McCain or Obama. Yet, the reasons Christians offer far too often are not good reasons because they are based in fear or lies. (For example: It is not a good reason to vote for McCain because Obama is a Muslim. In fact, Obama is a professing Christian, which is why that would not be a good reason… it is really pretty straight forward.)
It seems to me that we have a tremendous opportunity in being able to voice our opinion in the political process by voting. This year it has been particularly obvious that with this opportunity comes great responsibility. I believe that Christians have an obligation to be informed and to take the time to separate the truth from lies, and then vote based on the real issues at stake. We should be a city on a hill, or salt and light in an often putrid process… but too often we seem to be the ones that are keeping the rumor mill going and perpetuating misinformation. God help us.
Good thing the election is almost here, maybe I can stay off this soapbox for awhile…
“I’m Kevin and I approve this message.”
Kevin M. Watson 
yes. Hearing some of the things I hear from Christians is just disheartening. I was just discussing with someone the other day how hard it is to really be informed with all of these rumors and misinformation going around.
I think, perhaps, we are really good at creating truth (God) in our own image.
I think this shows the power of religion and of invoking divine righteousness in the name of a particular cause. One of the very worst uses of religion is to tell lies and use violence in the belief that such tactics are godly.
I regret that Christians stoop to this sort of thing. We always seem to forget the commandment ‘thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. Half truths are particularly dangerous because the element of truth makes them all the more believable.
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