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Today is election day here in Canada. I don't think anyone, apart perhaps from the campaign workers and candidates, is exactly excited about this day. The likelihood is that the Conservatives will win a begrudged minority...begrudged because most Canadians find their platform questionable and their leader repulsive. But the Liberal government has been in place for 12 years and seems to be begging to be fired. Scandals and corruption and just embarrassing moves have plagued their campaign. The only legitimate alternative to these two parties (outside of Quebec, which will vote overwhelmingly for the separatist Bloc) is the NDP...New Democratic Party. They've been around for a long time now, so perhaps the "New" has worn off. Still, they represent what I think are Canada's best impulses...everything that liberal Americans admire and conservative Americans fear about Canada, the NDP supports in spades. Social programs, environmental responsibility, public healthcare. Yesterday an NDP campaign worker came to the door to urge me to vote. I can't, not being a citizen, but I cheered her on anyhow. I think she was prepared for a hard sell, or complete rejection, because she noticed the cross around my neck. It's conventional political wisdom that Christians tend to vote conservative...but I wonder why. I strongly doubt that Jesus would want to cut social programs such as housing and food for the homeless. Rather I suspect he'd tell us we're not doing enough. I don't think he'd want to ignore the environment or deny medical treatment to someone who can't afford insurance. He'd probably point to our sketchy record on both and challenge us to do better. He certainly wouldn't support going to war, especially when immediate safety isn't at risk...I seem to recall him saying something about turning cheeks, and about blessing one's enemies rather than cursing them. That doesn't sound like the basis for a war in Iraq. Yet somehow a branch of Christianity has decided that conservatives are the only real Christians. I suspect it all hangs on two issues...abortion and homosexuality. On the first I can understand and appreciate the conservative position...I may disagree about when life begins, but I can at least relate to someone wanting to protect it once it has. The second is a ridiculous issue...a non-issue, really. It's an issue built on fear and ignorance and has no Biblical support...there was no concept of homosexuality when the Bible was written. Ancients knew homosexual behaviour (since homosexuality has been with us from the start) but saw it only as a personal aberration. They couldn't have conceived that a person could be naturally oriented toward their own gender, so they considered it a perversion of nature. It's the perversion, the bending of what one is naturally meant for, that is the sin. How did I get into all that? Oh, yeah...election day. Happy voting, Canada. And how would Jesus vote? Probably not at all...besides, he wasn't a Canadian citizen either. |
