Mike, I think you are right on. I've been guilty of focusing so much on politics that I have neglected the more important concerns of the human heart. Jesus didn't do a lot of social or political action: he focused his attention on changing hearts. Society reflects human hearts. If society is becoming crueler, coarser, less compassionate, it's because the hearts of the people in that society are becoming such. Thanks for reminding us that the problem is not so much in Washington as it is in me.

God also makes it clear that choices have consequences that people have to live with. Yes, there is forgiveness and grace, but only for those whose minds are changed about what they have done.

This is one more way in which God is "a conservative."

Obama doesn't have to favor gun control at the national level, he favors gun control - total banning of any weapons in private hands - at the international level and may well achieve it by ratifying a UN action to prohibit weapons.

I was a pastor for more than three decades. Churches I pastored provided services to the community - food, clothing, medical/dental care, tax preparation help. If ANY of the people we hired to provide those services had been videotaped giving illegal and unethical advice in the performance of their stated duties, we (the church) would have deserved whatever opprobrium we received! An organization with integrity does not hire people like that and will not excuse their wrong actions.