Faith & Politics--Do they mix?

I grew up with the belief that politics and religion don't mix. This past year I have started to take a more active role in politics, mainly due to the presidential campaign. Justin and I were volunteer officer managers for the Obama Office in Lexington during the KY primary. Through this experience we were encouraged to attend our local precinct meeting. We surprisingly walked away elected committee members. Due to my involvement and newfound interest, I have followed the campaign closely and tried to stay up to date on political matters. I also got involved with several activist groups mainly due to my belief in the Millennium Development Goals. Throughout this journey, I have been trying to better understand the complexities of politics. I mean, what is really best for our country, for the global community, for me, for others? There are so many issues and stances, viewpoints and perspectives, advice and expert opinion, media biases and political agendas. As I muddle through what I believe regarding politics, I find it hard to keep my opinions compartmentalized. How is it feasible to keep my Christian principles separate from my political ideology? Or is it possible to be a political Christian?

While these thoughts have been stewing in my head, there have been recent events that brought them to the forefront of my mind; various conversations with friends, KRM's fundraiser which is associated to the book "Jesus for President," and our recent topic of politics at Communality. Yep, for the past two Sundays we have been talking about politics at house church. It has been interesting and surprising to see how ingrained the belief of not speaking of political opinions in a religious setting is in my brain. I automatically get a little squirmy when the subject is broached. Nonetheless, I am still intrigued. I want to know how to be a holistic Christian, which also means being involved (or not involved if feel so led) in politics.

Tonight we were tagged with the task to write a political Christian creed in 5 minutes. Right. I am still thinking about this request and what my version would say. I will probably still be thinking about it for several weeks, months, possibly years. I feel that I jumped into the political scene rather quickly and would now like to take time to re-evaluate and build a stronger foundation of well-thought out beliefs. It's not that I have changed my mind about any issues or candidates. I am still an Obama supporter with a liberal mindset, but I also don't want to just be a stereotype. I want to really examine why I feel the way I feel. I want to learn from others with different opinions. I want to be challenged. And I want to figure out what fitting politics into my faith looks like.

You are what you Eat.

I recently watched a movie called "The Future of Food." www.thefutureoffood.com In the movie it brought up a food issue that I was unaware of--patents on seeds. Apparently, seeds have been patented. it began with seeds that were genetically modified but has now opened the door for other seeds to be patented. At first glance this might not seem like that big of a deal, but in the movie it brings to light many potential problems that seed patents offer. For example, if I have a farm and some patented seeds blow onto my farm (or blow off trucks carrying seeds) and start growing on my land and I haven't bought those seeds, then they don't effectively belong to me. THE CROPS GROWING ON MY OWN LAND DON"T BELONG TO ME! That's crazy. Seeds are naturally designed to be transplanted through wind, water and animals. It's like saying I have to protect my land from the possibility of seeds falling on the dirt and growing there. The whole thing seems quite ridiculous. You cannot control living organisms. They should not be patented. So if seeds and genes can be patented where do you draw the line. What if those genes are transplanted into a living human? Does this mean the human doesn't own those genes?

Another point is that seed patents give enormous control to big agricultural companies. When farmers have to rely on ag companies for their seeds, then these ag companies can control the seed market. Now if those seeds are patented it threatens the business of farmers who reuse their own seeds. If or when their fields become contaminated with the patented seeds then their own stockpile is effectively useless because it doesn't belong to them but the holder of the patent (even if they didn't want their seeds to become contaminated, i.e. it happens naturally).

The scary part of this is the big ag companies are pushing genetically engineered seeds and we still don't know what effective this has on humans. The GE seeds are mixing more and more with non-GE seeds. There has also been talk of a terminator seed (which would die off after one year making farmers more reliant on the big ag companies). Also, with the current global food crisis it seems dangerous to have such a seed, noting that it could potentially mix with non-GE seeds.

Before watching this movie, I wasn't really aware of any of these issues. Hadn't really thought about any of them. But I think it is important to be aware of issues that are going on in the world. Especially when dealing with such an important commodity as food. I also hope you will know think about it too.