Brownback too good to be president
Earlier this week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace said, “I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.”
Just today, Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback has seconded these comments. He wrote, “I do not believe being a homosexual is immoral, but I do believe homosexual acts are. I’m a Catholic and the church has clear teachings on this.” Alright, stop right there. Did you see it? Sam Brownback states that he backs the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs because the teachings of the Catholic Church are clear regarding the morality of homosexual acts. That is, they are NOT moral. Brownback is effectively saying that when it comes to the law of the United States and his own personal faith, when they are in conflict, he will side with his faith.
Personally, I do not have a problem with that. After all, isn’t that what Martin Luther King, Jr. did? When it came to the segregation laws of the South and his own Christian conviction that in we are all one in Christ Jesus, he opted for his faith. His God and his state were in conflict and he knew which of the two he stood with. This is an option which I respect and understand. I am with both Rev. King and Mr. Brownback on this one. I feel no less strongly that when it comes to the state and my Christian calling, I side with Christ hands down. Here is the problem: I am not running for an office charged with executing the law of the land. Neither did King, as far as I know. I will not speak for the great Rev. King, but I can speak for myself. I will not run for public office because there are some laws which I, as a Christian, cannot in good conscience execute. My constituents would be very unhappy by my releasing all prisoners (Luke 4:18), cancelling all debts (Deuteronomy 15:12-18), letting the army go home and abolishing war (Matthew 5:38-42), and refusing to kill death-row inmates (John 8:7). By the standards for the world, I would be a political dud. So, I let people run for office who have a different theology than I, or who have found a way to compromise . . . err, mediate on this issue. Brownback comes from the opposite spectrum than I do, obviously. However, he has the same problem and does not even know it. If he is not willing to compromise his Roman Catholic values as President then he is not fit for the office. In fact, he is not fit even to be considered for the office.
The American President must, as commander-in-chief, engage in warfare when congress declares a state of war. Will a President Brownback apply just-war theory to any such pronouncement and refuse to do the will of Congress if he decides that their war does not meet just war theory requirements? I suspect he would be impeached in a second for even pausing to think this way. I applaud a man who put’s God before country. Would that more people in the world did this. However, such a devout and dedicated Christian is, by definition, unfit for public office. But then again, if you know much about Sam Brownback, you already knew he was unfit to lead anyway.
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