Amen.

It’s sad that it’s necessary to point this out these days.

The horrible tragedy of yesterday’s plane crash has really been weighing on me, especially the newlyweds who were killed.

No doubt there are 50 or so other terrible stories of life cut short among the travelers who died yesterday, but the story of Jon Hooker and Scarlett Parsley has really hit close to home for me. How painful must it be for family and friends who less than a day earlier were joyfully celebrating their marriage? As I told my wife last night when I hugged her, that could just have easily been us on May 21st this year, when we departed for our honeymoon following our wedding.

It is excruciating irony to see two people come together in love, after months of preparations and with support from those that love them, only to lose their lives the very next day. I hope that God is watching over them and comforting their loved ones today.

U.S. Representative Katherine Harris, of 2000 election quagmire fame, has made what I consider to be some pretty arrogant and disgusting remarks recently while running for reelection in Florida.

Among her remarks was her opinion that religion and politics should not be kept separate because “God is the one who chooses our rulers.” I don’t really want to debate the question of how much direct influence God chooses to exercise over our existence, because I flat-out just do not know. I do want to say that this sounds a whole lot like something Osama bin Laden would say, in my opinion. So does this comment that Harris also made: “If you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.” Granted, bin Laden would have replaced “Christians” with “Muslims,” but you get the idea.

Why is it that so many Christians, especially fundamentalists, think that they have a monopoly on virtue and ethics? Doesn’t the Bible make the point that right and wrong are plainly obvious to everyone? C.S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity that essentially all cultures have similar concepts of right and wrong and that everyone, including Christians, fail to live up to God’s standard of righteousness.

Why is it, too, that everyone who thinks they have God all figured out and who needs to explain what God intended assumes that God is on their side and not someone else’s? Why is it that what God wants is almost always in line with what they want? This seems just a bit too convenient for me.

I wholeheartedly believe that God loves every single one of us, no exceptions, including Katherine Harris. I’m just really tired of hearing people insist that they have God in their pocket ready to speak up on their behalf.