Cross-posted from Talking Union 

AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee and Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders released a statement applauding President Obama’s message. They said:

“President Obama’s announcement today recognizes a fundamental American right – that every citizen is entitled to respect and dignity, and the equal protection of our laws.  For too long, lesbian and gay Americans have been denied the right to marry the person they love, raise a family and live as equal citizens in our country.”

Last March the Christian gay rights group Soulforce has sponsored the Equality Rides to challenge LGBT discrimination in many of the Christian colleges across the nation. This is part of a growing group of Evangelical Christians who are challenging the homophobia within the Evangelical church and are fighting for the fair treatment of LGBT people in the Evangelical church. A younger generation of Evangelicals are challenging longstanding assumptions among older evangelicals on social justice issues, gay rights issues, environmental issues and immigration issues.

The big news of the past week has been President Obama's comments in an interview that he now supports same-sex marriage. Over the years, he has stated his opposition to gay marriage, but added that his views were "evolving". This has been an issue where many Democratic and Republican politicians have seen their views evolve to the point where they now support gay marriage. This issue cuts across ideological lines where now several conservative Republicans are joining their liberal Democrat colleagues in support of marriage equality. In an article by Helene Cooper and Jeremy Peters for the May 15, 2012 New York Times, they write:

“If you don’t know anyone who’s gay, then it’s an alien lifestyle,” said Theodore Olson, the former solicitor general for President George W. Bush who supports same-sex marriage. But, he added, when “you realize that that’s Mary from down the street, she’s a lesbian and she’s with Sally, what would it be like if they couldn’t be together?” people come around.

During the civil rights movement, many white Northerners — including some who had never before interacted with black people — joined African-Americans to fight for the principle of equal rights, often opposing white Southerners who had lived among blacks all their lives yet saw nothing wrong with the separate but equal statutes. Principle seemed to come before the personal in many cases.

With the gay rights movement, it often seems that the opposite applies. While there are many people who support gay rights because it is in line with their personal or political views, for many others, their approach on the issue is experiential, and comes down to a simple issue: knowing an openly gay couple. In fact, it can seem as if there are two Americas when it comes to gay rights: one in which same-sex couples interact regularly with their straight counterparts, helping to soften impressions of homosexuality, and another in which being gay or lesbian remains largely unspoken.

Cut taxes on the rich and increase them on the poor. Cut spending on regulatory agencies, consumer protection programs,education, and social welfare programs. Increase spending on the military. Increase jobs. What is their formula for that?

The old song and dance that cutting taxes on the rich will create jobs is a theory that has never proven its self. Why would the rich create jobs if the rest of the population have no money to buy, even their necessities let alone any non essential products.

The candidates across the board (local, state, & national) are trying to be more conservative sounding and more right wing religious right than their primary opponents; bash the homosexuals; take reproduction rights away from women; kick out the illegals; restrict immigration; throw out ‘Obama Care’; return to the unequal health care availability of the past; destroy labor union; make Christianity the National Religion.

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Wichita, Kansas—Angelo Lopez is familiar to Everyday Citizen readers who enjoy his cartoons, his interviews with artists, poets, and activists and his other thoughtful Everyday Citizen blogs on a wide range of subjects. Angelo is one of those rare people who knew from a young age what he wanted to be when he grew up. As a child, he drew on any scrap of paper he could find. As an adult, he has realized his dream of being an artist in the same vein of artists who influenced him, artists as diverse as Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, and Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton. His drawings and cartoons, while humorous, also reflect the social conscience that he first developed growing up in the Catholic church. He discusses his life, his artistic commentaries, his love of Charles Dickens, and his political activism in this interview. He, as a member of the younger generation, should give us hope for future.

On the Friday night edition of NBC Nightly News, they reported that there is chatter that Al Qaeda is discussing setting wild fires in the west as a form of terrorist attack. They discussed making “ember bombs” and even using lit cigarettes and magnifying glasses. We have all seen the terrible toll wildfires take in our dry years. Strategically speaking, it is an effective tactic that is incredibly simple to execute.

So now the question is, are we going to close off our natural wonders in this country?
How about banning magnifying glasses?
Surely we won’t ban cigarettes; we can’t even do that to save peoples’ lives.

I think this is a great time to sit back and reevaluate where we’ve come from and where we are. On the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, I wrote an article (My Open Letter to the Detesters of America) in which I did a great deal of reflecting on our actions in response to those attacks and on the damage we have done to ourselves as a result. We’ve done a great deal of harm to our country, our liberties and our citizens. We’ve done far more harm than the terrorists ever could.

What have we achieved?
Do we even know?
We certainly aren’t happy with what we have.
Do we really feel any safer?

The second political cartoonist that I met after Steve Greenberg in the convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists two years ago was Monte Wolverton. The son of famed MAD cartoonist Basil Wolverton, Monte was trained at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design and he also studied editorial photography with Look magazine's Earl Theison. His cartoons have been published in CB Radio magazine, Creative Computing, CARtoons and Youth Magazine. He did advertising, publication design and illustration work in L.A., Seattle, and Portland, running an innovative design business that produced advertising, corporate images, and comic illustration. In the last 1980s Wolverton was the design director for Plain Truth, a large faith-based publishing concern that produced magazines and promotional materials.

Since the mid 1990s, Monte began doing editorial cartoons for syndication by Cagle cartoons to over 850 publications weekly. His political cartoons also appear weekly in the LA Daily News.

Randy, I agree with much of what you've presented. The bureacracy doesn't change much from one administration to the next. We here the complaints from polititians on both sides of the aisle and talk show pundits about the 1,000 pages and more in laws passed. I'm afraid the bureacracy puts out multi times as many pages of regulations and procedures to implement those laws. Our legislators, from both parties, claim authorship for laws, but the lobbiests decide the main issues and professional writers, who may or may not agree with the law, put the words together. Some of the laws are intentionally obtuse to keep the common folks from actually understanding.

I’ve been analyzing details and numbers. I’ve looked at our current and past leaders in all three branches of our government. The prevailing truth is that the country is more or less going in a single direction and the only thing that varies, from election to election, is the speed at which it is going. If you look at the actions of the last four Presidents you will see a great deal of similarity, and let me be clear, I said actions and not policy. I question if their actions don’t actually describe their policy more than what they are declaring it to be.

I’ve been looking at this data for a couple of years now. I’ve continued to see a picture form. The picture is very large and it takes a great deal of information to paint it in one’s mind. This whole idea originates from a comment that I was told by someone, who at one time worked in intelligence. This person told me, a little before President Obama was inaugurated, that I “shouldn’t expect things to change too much, especially with international issues. The President might change but the people controlling the information and making the recommendations are still going to be the same.”

I didn’t realize how right this person was.

That sorrow which is the harbinger of joy is preferable to the joy which is followed by sorrow. -Saadi, poet (c.1213-1291) [Gulistan]

Our recent discussions about religion reminded me of this. The sorrow of death is the harbinger of joy in the hereafter for the Christian. The joy of the lascivious life for the non Christian is the harbinger of sorrow in the hereafter.

The Christian faith isn't the only religion/faith that views our earthly life as a time of testing and often sorrow. And, most religions look at death as freedom from our earthly woes. That doesn't mean we should prefer death to life. It does mean that we should be prepared for death, irregardless of our theology.

I sure wish we would get the comment system working.

Angelo, I enjoy reading your interviews.

Rev. Britt and Larry James used to give us some very interesting bloggs.

Adam Zyglis is one of the best young political cartoonists today. I met him briefly about two years ago in an Association of American Editorial Cartoonist Convention in Portland, Oregon, and have been a fan of his work since seeing his incisive cartoons in the Buffalo News. Adam's cartoons are internationally syndicated and appear in publications like The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He also does illustration work for magazines such as The Week, Time, and MAD Magazine. In 2004, he graduated from the Canisius College Honors program summa cum laude, with a major in Computer Science, a minor in Math and a concentration in Studio Arts. Adam's first cartooning job was for The Griffin, the weekly student newspaper at the college, where he a first place national award from the Associated Collegiate Press and the Universal Press Syndicate. He placed second in the 2004 John Locher Memorial Award, and he was a finalist in the 2003 CharlesM. Schulz Award. In 2006 and 2011, Adam won third place for Editorial Cartoons in the National Headliner Awards, sponsored by the Atlantic City Press Club.

One of the most interesting bloggers on the Everyday Citizen blogsite has been Gerald Britt. Rev. Britt is a graduate of Harvard University’s Summer Leadership Institute and taught about community organizing at Yale University’s fellowship program for public housing administrators. He served as pastor of New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church for 22 years. As a preacher, he has performed chapel services for the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
Rev. Britt writes a monthly column for the Dallas Morning News, and contributes to his blogsite Change the Wind. Rev. Britt serves on a number of Boards of Directors in areas that include, health and wellness, community and institutional organizing as well as ministry. He is one of the founders of the local network of the Industrial Areas Foundation (Dallas Area Interfaith), as well as the African-American Pastors’ Coalition and the Baptist Ministers Conference. Gerald currently serves as the VP of Public Policy & Community Program Development for City Square (formerly called Central Dallas Ministries).

In 1996 Rev. Britt was awarded the Coca-Cola African-American Heroes Award. He is also a recipient of the Mickey Leland Human and Civil Rights Award by the Texas State Teachers Association for his work in public education.

Since we can't use the comments section on the Everyday Citizen blog site, I suppose we have to respond with blogs of our own. Thanks to Ken and Angelo for their thoughtful responses to my blog. My blog idea came from a blog I read on Alternet written by a man who had gone through his own spiritual journey.

For most people, life and what we think of it is a journey with many paths open to us. We have to find peace within ourselves in the best way we can. On the other hand, nothing is ever really settled. The search is ongoing. Forgive me if this all sounds cliche'. It's difficult to avoid those large ideas when one is thinking about the search for meaning in one's life. Long ago, when I studied existentialism in college, I came to the conclusion that the only failing is failing to make choices, that is, to let those choices be made for us. I found it especially enlightening to read Kierkegaard, a Christian theologian and according to some, the first existentialist philosopher. In his philosophy, one takes a leap of faith; one doesn't look for proof. One makes a choice to believe.

I agree, Ken, that there is a difference between religion and Christianity. When I said in my blog that many people use their religion as a stick to hit others over the head, I had that difference in mind. If a person is following the teachings of Jesus, he or she doesn't have to announce it. It will be evident in the person's life.

Angelo, I think it's healthy that you are asking questions. What is unhealthy is closing the mind. Who knows what possiblities may present themselves as time goes by.

I won't belabor this. I do appreciate the feedback.

This is just a reply to Diane Wahto's blog. It's a wonderful blog of your experiences at churches at different times in your life. I've gone through a similar journey, and am going through some spiritual struggles of my own. It's great that you followed your own path and that you have the integrity to stay true to yourself. I'm glad that you're enjoying your Sundays.

A good comment too, Ken. The Christian Church has a lot of good and a lot of bad, but anything that has human beings is going to be that way. I know a number of Christians who've left church due to the hassling of other Christians. But there are a lot of good Christians too, doing good work for their community and living humble devout lives.

I can't get in the comment section, so I'll comment on Diane's blogg with my own blogg.

Diane, there is a wide difference between Religion and Christianity. It is quite evident than many folks who 'profess' Christianity, may be religious but their idea of Christ's teachings and examples of service don't match what your Sunday School teacher tried teaching you about love, and especially God's Love.

Jesus, himself declared that He didn't come into this world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He didn't pay much heed to the laws, rules, and regulations of the established Jewish leaders of the day. He, in fact pointed out to those leaders and the people that rules and laws were not the answer. Strict obedience to rules and laws could not give man eternal access to God's presence, because man simply could not or would not obey them all.

A simple faith, like that of a child, in God's Grace will enable us to quit worrying about damnation and start giving, as Jesus did, to the needs of our fellow man. God doesn't condemn man, man condemns himself. If Jesus told those who were doing wrong that it wasn't up to him to judge them, why do we think God depends on us to judge the salvation of our fellow man?

The true Christian Theology is impossible to present in a blogg on the internet. But a starting point is to advise everyone to quite listening to the advocates of rules and laws to facilitate a loving relationship with our fellow man and with God. That doesn't mean that sin and hell are not real. It does mean that we must accept, whether we can absolutely explain why or not, that Christ paid the penalty prescribed by law for our wrong doing and try emulating Christ's example of love and compassion for both saint and sinner alike.

Man has to enforce civil laws to protect ourselves from one another. But those laws can't or won't guarantee us a relationship with God.

It is most unfortunate that man's bigotry, greed, and hate, in the name of Christ, has turned many people away from Christianity.

Wichita, Kansas—Politicians use religion like a stick, hitting citizens over the head with it in order to convince voters that a vote for a certain pious politician is a vote for Jesus, God, or whatever deity the particular politician claims allegiance to. Backers of politicians who want to ease taxes and regulations on business while they build great fortunes, use religion to mobilize the troops to carry forward the free market message under the guise of following what they claim to be the teachings of Jesus about such social issues as legal abortion, gay and lesbian rights, and equality for women and minorities. How successful these ersatz religious politicians and their backers have been may be ascertained by the number of religious zealots now serving in Congress or running for office, mainly on the Republican ticket. Even that many-married sinner womanizer, Newt Gingrich, managed to find Jesus in the form of the Roman Catholic Church once he married the woman with whom he’d been in an adulterous relationship while he was married to another, less Roman Catholic wife.
I say all this to trace my own religious journey, which has been twisting and surprising in ways I never imagined when I was a child in the Southern Baptist Church of my small southeast Kansas hometown.

Haven't been able to sign in for comments, now for several days.

Angelo, I wanted to comment about your Rap Music interview. Popular music, whether it's religious, contemporary modern, classical, blue grass, western, or rap, usually reflects the reality and attitude of society. It is usually more accurate than political poles and, even, the vote tallies in elections. The 'fans' of all the different music styles don't have the same perception of society, but each artist is quite adept at putting the lyrics together that fairly represents their followers likes and dislikes.

If the contemporary and rap followers were diligent about their civic duty of voting, they would very likely swing the political agenda away from the religious right and ultra conservative issues.

The political bantering about Ann Romney, the stay at home mom, is quite ridiculous! No, she most likely doesn't relate to the average stay at home mom, but that certainly shouldn't be an issue in which candidate will make the best president.

Around two years ago I attended a convention in Portland by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists where I met some of the best cartoonists in the U.S. and the world. During my time at the convention, I met Tjeerd Royaards, a Dutch political cartoonist who was recruiting American political cartoonists to join the Cartoon Movement, a global website that Tjeerd launched to promote political cartooning and comics journalism. Tjeerd had been a political cartoonist for seven years since getting a masters degree in political science at the University of Amsterdam. In that time, his cartoons have appeared in the Dutch dailies NRC Next, Der Pers, and De Volkskrant, the German newspapers Handelsblatt and Hannoversche Allgemeine, and the Swiss weekly Weltwoche. In 2010 Tjeerd won the "Citation for Excellence" for the United Nations Political Cartoons Award.

I've never really liked rap music much as a kid. I'd like the occassional song from Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys, but I had a hard time understanding the anger of the gangster rap that came during the late 1980s and early 1990s. As time has passed, however, I've gained a greater appreciation of what those rappers were trying to get at with their lyrics and strong sound. The rappers of the 1980s and 1990s were expressing the anger and despair of the black youths of the inner city in the same way that punk rockers in the 1970s were expressing the anger and despair of the working class white British youths of England's inner cities. Both rap and punk rock were criticized for its angry lyrics and its harsh sound. Yet both movements were just reflecting the despair of a young generation trapped in dismal economic conditions. One of the most influential and political rap groups of the 1980s and 1990s was Public Enemy