Kirk:

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, we are in a place where things are changing and on many points one party is tearing hard at values the country has long held (and very frontally). A problem is that other values we have and have had are also not so well aligned from a Christian values stand point either and on some of those points that are also of international and significant human consequence the remaining key party does always do so well either. We tend to focus on the more obvious issues but also must be sensitive to more subtle things that also are out of balance in our culture. We live in a fallen world. That is not likely to change as we discussed the other night. God is big enough to make us good representatives of His in the face of all of this (just as he did the first generation of believers in Rome, which was hardly a pristine culture!). The Christian faith and its answer is ultimately transnational (a point I did not get to Friday night), which is why the church must be careful not to be overly nationalistic while hoping, praying, and working for the best that any nation can be wherever Christians are. I suspect your anger is more an (understandable) sense of frustration at what is taking place. All the more reason to rest in God's priorities for us as believers and not place too much trust in structures we know can only have limited success at best (even in the best of times). In the meantime, we should do all we can to follow his call and values, making especially sure we love as he called us to love (and as we discussed), even when it is hard.