I’ve recently found two books in my library that give me hope that Christians are starting to fight back against the people who I feel have hijacked the faith.

The first is The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez. I was really reluctant to read this book especially since the cover said that Mr. Suarez was a Christian. But it was a wonderful critique of how politically active Christians are not necessarily following the dictates of their faith. The only quibble I have with this book is that he makes the Christian assumption that “faith” equals Christianity. It has little to no discussion of minority faiths.

The second book is
Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament by Randall Balmer. I love this book even more. It takes issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and environmentalism and discussing why conservative Christians feel the way they do. This author takes issue with many of their claims. He considers himself an evangelical and a Democrat. Again it doesn’t discuss minority religions except to point out that many Christians avoid the environmental movement for fear of being labeled as “pagans.”

So I posted this and then went to get the mail. Thanks to Newsweek I can rest assured that some Christians are as crazy as ever. This is a letter about last week’s cover story on transgender.

“What a grievous commentary on the fall of American morals. Have we strayed so far from the Bible that we have forgotten God created Adam and Eve? Michael Kimmel’s statement ‘that there are two distinct categories and there’s no overlap, that’s beginning to break down’ is bone chilling. When we walk away from the order God provided, we reap confusion, and boy, are we confused. Please don’t ask me to rethink gender. God had it right the first time.” Sally Cressman Brentwood, TN

So many comments, so little time.

1. The Biblical account of creation is a story. It is not hard-core scientific fact and as such can not be used to discount transgendered people. Repeat with me, it is a story.

2. “Please don’t ask me to rethink…” Yeah, that sums it up.