I've been getting jaded about politics, but today I feel a little better. The election results seem to offer a great sign of hope for anyone in America following the message of Jesus. The votes are still being counted but it seems like the values of Jesus may have a chance again in America. I don’t have much more faith in our government, but I at least now I have more faith in our people to use their brains and make a stand against corruption. Time will tell if changing the balance of power in congress will really make a big difference, but it was refreshing to know that our country still has hope for the future.

What has me excited is that it became clear in the election analysis that progressive views are beginning to spread within the Christian community as their views shift away from political oppression toward freedom and compassion. It seems possible now that people can believe in God and still actually listen to Jesus. All over the nation (except for where I live in the redneck saturated, KKK inflicted, uneducated south) Christians are reading their Bibles again and realizing that Jesus actually loves the poor and desires peace more than the economic prosperity of America. As a matter of fact, they are probably figuring out that the more we work for peace then the more prosperous we will become as a result. We no longer have to believe the lie that our prosperity depends on our domination and oppression of everyone else in the world. Egyptians believed the lie, Romans believed the lie, Germans believed the lie, and many people in America still believe the lie. At least now a small signal was sent that Americans will not stand by and be fed lies.

The message of Jesus states that the way of peace and non-violence is the way to the kingdom of God and the way of Empire is the way to destruction. For this brief moment, if feels like Americans are starting to listen to Jesus.

One caution I have to mention is that I still think people are voting for whatever political group or candidate helps themselves the most. I spent too much of my life with that attitude and I’ve had to repent of that selfishness. It seems possible that the anti-war shift is a result of the fact that people feel the war hurts them so they are against it now. Wouldn’t it be more Christ-like to offer dissent against war even if the war benefited you? I get the feeling that most Christians would still support killing if they felt it was benefiting them and the war was “winnable”. I guess that level of sacrifice is asking for too much so I’ll just be glad we have a shift in the tide for now and keep hope alive for a real shift in spirit down the road.