I hate lemons, why can't I have chocolate instead...

Well, it finally happened. I think my computer finally decided to die. Which means that until that either gets fixed, or I get a new computer my ability to blog will be severely compromised. I can still use my roommates computer off and on, but that's not like having your own. My external hard drive also died at the same time. Well I'm attempting to be optimistic, and even if I can't get it fixed, I've got the blackberry which should take care of some of the basic essentials of email and such. And now I have a reason to ask for cash for various gift-giving holidays in order to put money to a new computer.

So I'm an avid reader and I have a large stack of books that I've aquired that need to be read. With the good news that I have a full time job (starting in March) which is second shift, I've been attempting to stay up late to get into the schedule. Reading is one way that I'm attempting to remain awake. I've started reading a book given to me by my friend S. Entitled And the Band Played On, written by Randy Shilts, it's proving to be an interesting read. Considering it's about the revelation that AIDS is really an epidemic, the first 12 pages or so read like a horror novel.

And while I've only touched the surface of the whole thing, in the first 15 pages it is made bluntly clear that the fact that AIDS became an epidemic of global proportions is due to indifference, miscommuncation, and fear. And while I came to this realization, it also struck me that here in America there are a lot of things that shouldn't be handled through people playing on fear.

Now I'm going to approach this from a rather religious standpoint, but it seems to me that a vast majority of religious leaders get people to do what they want by playing on their fears. Fear of being different, fear of being the same, fear of being corrupted by that which you don't understand, etc... But to me, being part of a religion, no matter what religion it may be, means that you should be confident enough in what you believe to be able to exist with people who may or may not agree/believe the same as you.

At it's most basic level, Christianity is about love. So why then, is fear used to push adgendas in the religious and political communities? And why are religious organizations using religious based fear to push adgendas that have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with politics?

While I realize that there will always be interplay between religion and politics, I think we need to take a step back from all the debating and all the fighting, and take a serious look at why we are doing (religiously and politcally) the things we are. For too long, I think, the religious majority has been conducting an overture of fear and the political community has waltzed away without regard to the consequenses. Maybe it's time to stop dancing, put our dancing shoes away, and get down to business.

As an endnote, this rant is incomplete. The last two sentances popped into my head and were too good to not write down. So this is an incomplete train of thought and very poorly presented and ill thought out. Perhaps I'll come back to it later, but for now, this is all I've got.