My response to my religious aunt who has a heavy heart over the election results. [View all]

[Drunken Irishman]

She was raised in a Catholic family, grew up with Democratic parents, was a Democrat herself, but then moved to Texas and left the Church and became very religious and very conservative. It's been sad watching her transformation and while I love her, and get along with her very well, her post on Facebook tonight couldn't be ignored.

Her post:

My heart is heavy because I finally realized that we are no longer a Christian nation....one nation under God. We are a secular nation who has taken God out of everything and as a Christian who believes that God is our ultimate leader I must therefore be obedient to his laws. Gay marriage, abortion on demand all oppose God's teachings. I love my friends who have chosen the gay lifestyle and they are welcome in my home, but their lifestyle is a sin. I love my friends who have had abortions and have cried with them over having to make such a hard decision, but it's still a sin, even though I grieve for them and with them, just like God does. It's time we start being accountable for our decisions and our lifestyles. We can't ask God to bless our lives and our nation and then disregard his rules.

And my reply:

I am sorry you feel that way, Caroline. I think this speaks to why the Founding Fathers were so careful to construct a constitution that defined the importance of separation of Church and State. They realized religion is often used as a tool of division and sadly, Caroline, that's exactly what I see from your post and your tone.

We didn't reject God because we decided it was okay to embrace equality or that a woman who has been raped shouldn't be forced to carry her rape baby - that is irrelevant and again, two issues that the religious right and the Republican Party have used to successfully divide our country for the last forty-years.

You say you love your friends who've 'chosen' the gay lifestyle ... but do you? Suggesting that they are the bane of everything that is wrong with this country and holding them in such contempt is not love. It's not kindness.

Your heart is heavy today, Caroline, because it's not embraced inclusiveness. Instead, sadly, it's filled with bitterness and division and that to me is the least commendable thing about so many Christians. America is great not because we are a Christian nation ... but because we are just ONE nation. It does not matter if half that nation believes in Islam or Christianity or Judaism or even nothing ... because the power of a nation, the success of a nation, does not come from whose Christianity is bigger and better, but by whose ideas are bigger and better.

We need to stop playing the game of division or we will sink as a country because I can guarantee you, the hate on both sides - whether it's toward our President or even Republicans - is more concerning, more damaging and more devastating to our nation's future than whether Jack and John want to marry and spend the rest of their lives together living in happiness and respect.