If you listen to conservative talk radio all you hear are people yacking about Barack Obama’s minister and his “anti-american” statements. As near as I can tell the guy didn’t say anything that different from what Jerry Falwell said after 9/11, when Mr Falwell said that 9/11 was punishment for gays and abortion, or something to that effect. Therein lies the problem with taking religous people serious, the entire focus of most major religions is the next world, which ultimately has nothing to do with this world. Sure in theory if you are “good” in this world you can look forward to 70 virgins in the next, but ultimately following a certain religion is probably not going to make much difference to you in this world. In fact the obsession most religous people have with being a martyr probably drags the rest of us down.
Most of us are quite happy to enjoy to enjoy this life, and still can find meaning in this life without being a martyr. Religous people for whatever reason can only find meaning in their life by sacrificing themselves, and they don’t seem to understand that most of us would rather enjoy are current life. These ministers are always angling for that extra chit that will get them into heaven; I guess when they are at the pearly gate they want to be able to say “look Peter I really wanted to sleep with my best friends wife, but I didn’t, so can I get into heaven and get together with her now please”.
Any religous persons view of this world will be skewed, and it is probably not fair to hold anyone accountable for what their ministers say. Interestingly enough Obama seemed to have no problem distancing himself from comments that the reverend Wright has made. When are McCain and Clinton going to admit that their ministers are also like a “crazy uncle”. Maybe most of us can at some point make the admission.