more responses … and yours?
This one comes from a "post-pentecostal" friend from Europe ...
I want to congratulate you and the world, for the right choice the American people made in choosing Obama as the next president of the United States. Even though many evangelicals, Charismatic/pentecostals are not happy with the election of Obama,
I am very happy! Africa is rejoicing today, because this time Africa has exported a President instead of a Slave!
This is from a friend in a swing state from a few days ago ...
I just wanted to say thank you for your wise and hopeful words throughout this campaign. The spirit of your words was in such stark contrast to the fear-mongering of much of the so-called "right." It truly opened my eyes to an ugly arrogance/ignorance (a dangerous combination) thread that runs through a good deal of evangelicalism. And I resonate with the comments on your blog this a.m.. As an American, I have the right to remain silent about my political choices, but I don't have the ability. :-) As a result, it is quite clear that many of my Republican friends think less of me."
Sojourners has put together a powerful and positive way to respond to the election. Check it out here ... I hope you'll sign on!
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Responses from friends …
I posted my first response to the amazing election results at the On Faith site, here.
Since I was public in my support for President-Elect Obama, I've been flooded with emails this morning. Here are three excerpts from Evangelical Christians who have written me this morning ...
An Evangelical friend from the US wrote ...
... While I didn’t vote for Barack (or McCain for that matter, as I’d like to see our government grow beyond a two party system) I have to say that, for the first time in my life, I’m something other than ambivalent post-election. Barack speech reflected many of the things that you offered as reasons to vote for him and I do think it was a great moment for our country. The end of his speech, where he talked about the 102 year old voter in Georgia, was spot on and hope filled. It was good to see.
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Congratulations, America!
Thanks to everyone who had the courage to vote for change over entrenchment, hope over fear, diversity over homogeneity, and reconciliation over division. So many people have put their skin in the game and worked hard to make this moment possible. This is good news for our country and a good moment for our world. There is much to be done, but we have begun an important journey. May all Americans celebrate this historic moment. May a new day begin. May God help us make the most of this moment.
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Please Vote Today!
The day has arrived ... I just received an email from a South African friend who has been watching news reports of people waiting for hours in voting lines, and he said it reminded him of 1994 in his country - not just an election, but a turning point in the story of a nation.
I've spent a lot of time in Indiana over the last several weeks. I can't tell you how many times people came up to me and said something like this:
I've never voted for a Democrat in all my life, but I'm voting for Obama. If the people at my Evangelical church knew, they would ostracize me and never treat me the same. So I'm not making a lot of noise about it, but when I get behind the curtain to vote, I'm voting for hope over fear.
I wonder if this will be known as the "un-bradley effect" - people who publicly seem to fall in step with the ongoing Religious Right dominance of the Evangelical community, but who privately differ and will vote their true conscience when given the chance. We'll know in a few hours!
If you're one of those people, I encourage you to vote all your values, not just one or two.
If you don't know where to vote, you can find out easily here ...
Whoever wins today, I have to say it has been a great honor to be a public supporter of Barack Obama. Here's to the "yes we can!" spirit ...
Here's a prayer I'm praying this morning ... written by Rabbi Michel Lerner (tikkun.org) ...
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