Depressing Election

One real change is both major parties are led by women

On Monday we have an election in Alberta. Social issues have become dominant this last week. That is normally good news but this time the debate has moved even further away from morality. There is no debate about abortion or gay marriage. All parties support both. The question has now moved to whether we should tolerate pro-life or pro-marriage people. Should they be kicked out of the party? Should they be excluded from government appointments? That kind of thing.

So what does one do with that? One party at least has some social conservatives. They might make a difference. But their leadership is publicly saying they won't make a difference. The other has rooted out any trace of social conservatism. They criticized the first party for allowing a former evangelical pastor to run for office because he opposed the gay agenda once. Not that he is making an argument for traditional marriage today. Just that he once expressed those views privately. He is guilty of a thought crime.

So who is more evil, those that react angrily when good is expressed and evil is pointed out or those who don't even care? Normally the first group is better. They feel some call of goodness and that is why you get a strong reaction. They don't have any rational way to reject that call so they opt for irrational anger or name calling or whatever. Those that have no reaction can be further gone. The call of moral goodness does not even register.

The promise to ignore social conservatives might be mostly poll driven. They have made political calculation that they are more likely to win if they just assure Albertans that nothing will change on that front. But why should Christians accept being demonized like this and not having the party most of them are supporting stand up and defend them? Would the leadership do that if they really respected the social conservatives in their number?

Suppose a party did that with blacks. They said they had black supporters and even some as candidates but they were not going to allow black ideas to effect the way they govern. I can't imagine it. Blacks are a respected people group. Even if the polls suggested that strategy might work it would not happen. Hopefully blacks were full partners and listened to as much as anyone else. Why say they are not? Because someone is stirring up fears about blacks? You would try and deal with those fears but not by accepting the premise that the black agenda is something to be feared.

It makes me scared for my children. Christians seem to be the hole in human rights thinking. Every group is defended as worthy of respect and dignity. That is good. Christianity taught society to do that. But Christians don't get that respect. Intolerance is OK when it is Christians you are intolerant towards. So where does it go? That is what scares me. It is just disappointing speech from political leaders today. But where will it stop? People believe that we have figured out the human rights thing. We need longer need the grace that comes from a Christian faith to prevent us from falling into torture and genocide. We are advanced.

I don't buy that. Humans apart from the grace of God remain capable of great evil. Especially when they feel they don't need God to build a better society. I hesitate to mention the Nazi's and the Communists but that is what they were about. Building a better society without God. How many times do we have to try that and fail? We have trouble admitting our sin as individuals. We have just as much trouble as a society.