There is survivability in being emotional about politics and religion. People are very good at killing one another. Feelings that inspire loyalty and adherence to a code help people band together to defend themselves, their families and their tribe against enemies. Survival is the only absolute.

I believe politics is about organizing in ways that makes it possible to feed, clothe, house and protect ourselves while religion makes it possible for like-minded people to live together in harmony. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus prescribed how to be happy. Jesus emphasized love and humility over force and pride as the paths to happiness.….

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Thomas Jefferson was a scholar with an extensive library who studied science, literature, modern philosophers, ancient Greek philosophers and the Bible. In The Declaration of Independence he focused on attainment of happiness, a subject about which Jesus taught. In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote…"they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Freedom of religion was included in the Bill of Rights by Thomas Jefferson after seeing how badly Anglicans treated Christians who worshiped in ways slightly different from themselves. Having personally witnessed political and religious persecution he and a majority of the founding fathers were very concerned about the ways in which hyper-religious politicians mixed religion and politics.

Religious culture is invisible. Most of us just accept the way we were raised as being normal. I was raised within The United Church of Christ (UCC), a confederation of churches that includes the one brought to America by Pilgrims in 1620. They had no government officials or priests with them. Before they came ashore each free man signed The Mayflower Compact which guaranteed he and his household could own property and benefit from his worthy endeavors and frugality. Pilgrims were on their own to define who they were to become.

United Church of Christ pastors are chosen by the people to whom they preach and serve and are expected to be highly educated. The Pilgrims almost immediately founded Harvard and Yale to insure there would be well-educated potential pastors from whom to choose.

The United Church of Christ also includes like-minded German immigrants who fled Germany to escape being drafted to fight wars in which they had no interest. The pastor of St John's United Church of Christ, the German rooted church where I received religious training and was confirmed, was shunned for speaking out against the war in Vietnam. I believe Jesus would have been against the war in Vietnam and would have sided with our fired pastor. History is also on our former pastor's side.

Jesus Christ was a real man who lived a well-documented life. What makes Christianity real to me is that we are still quoting stories he told thousands of years ago. I consider him to have been the best teacher of all time. Perhaps his lessons are so well remembered because they are so simple; Be nice to everyone, never carry a grudge and only speak for building up relationships. I was a teacher who was lucky if students remembered anything I said for more than a week.

To me the Bible is worth study and quotation as great literature. It describes universal truths in ways that appeal to persons who base their beliefs on scientifically observed facts and persons who believe everything they read in the Bible happened exactly as written in whatever translation of the Bible they own.

"Beware of the man with too much, or too little religion" was the only advice given me by my father-in-law. The danger of religious extremism became obvious to me when Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix excommunicated Sister Margaret McBride of St Joseph's Hospital. Sister McBride allowed termination of the pregnancy of a woman who already had five children, and who was, according to all doctors consulted, 100% sure to die if her current pregnancy was not terminated.

Zealots like Bishop Olmsted would only have been appeased by the death of this mother of five. One excuse for such behavior is that he, and like-minded people are either autistic and know no better or are psychopaths, who enjoy inflicting pain. The Sisters own what used to be Catholic Health Care West but is now Common Spirit Health, the largest nonprofit health care system in America. The Sisters excommunicated Bishop Olmsted and his ilk.

I am not "Holier than thou." While I strive to live in accordance with Christian principles I constantly backslide when it comes to forgiveness. Forgiveness is good for everyone which is why I am so strong a believer in the prayer believed to have been authored by Jesus himself.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, yours will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Not wanting more than what we need is fairly easy for me; forgiveness more difficult. Jesus could be considered a socialist. According to Acts 4:32-35 NIV...

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need."

Jesus spent the last two years of his life criticizing the cruelty, dogmatism, self-righteousness, greed, selfishness, and pursuit of material wealth by local religious leaders and the wealthy lay elite who supported them. It was in response to popular support for his beliefs and actions that rich religious leaders and their wealthy supporters trumped up charges against him that made it legal for politicians to have him crucified.

But pure socialism doesn't work because it negates the human drive to acquire goods as needed to improve the life of oneself and dependents. Northeastern America thrived in large part because the Pilgrims who settled there made it legal for the head of each household to practice capitalism by owning property and prospering from their own hard work and frugality.

Protestant Work Ethic facilitated the agricultural and industrial development that created our general prosperity. This was an earth-changing shift from the autocratic political and religious practice of the day and how most nations are still governed today. In Southern Colonies well-connected wealthy immigrants were granted royal charters to rule. As a result they used slaves to become rich. The royal belief that only the elite few deserve prosperity, and that it is alright for them to own slaves, eventually caused this nation's bloodiest civil war and still slows economic development in former slave states.

Vestiges of White royalty; Black slavery culture persist. Many of the nations settled by old world royalty and religious leaders five-hundred years ago are still governed by authoritarians, who believe it is their right as royalty, to live in wealth with almost everyone else being pathetically poor, exist around the world today.

The legacy of slavery still persists hundreds of years after having been proven to be a destructively dysfunctional way to live. Places where this legacy persists, and there is no vibrant middle-class, remain pathetically poor.

Age and observation have made me conservative when it comes to governance. My first speech, as a high school junior in 1958, was about how much better off Cubans would be once Batista was deposed. In my youthful exuberance I believed my Cuban relatives when they said no government could have a worse leader than Batista - One of the first things Castro did was confiscate their store and family home.

I am conservative when it comes to endorsement of our protestat work ethic based democratic republic governance. Until 2020, and the insurrection fomented by Donald Trump, we all took it for granted citizens of The United States of America could bloodlessly change political leaders every few years and I am completely in favor of that. Our Constitution is one of the solidest foundations of our democratic republic government and adhering to it has served us well.

Modern day North Americans can take protestant work ethic too far. Many currently elected political leaders and business executives have distorted the protestant work ethic in ways that benefit only themselves. America has become a "plutocracy" with 16,000 families at the very top doing quite well while most middle-class Americans find it increasingly difficult to make it economically unless at least two family members work full-time.

Jack Welch is one of the worst examples of how capitalism can be destructive. In his zealous quest for increased profits he actualized the belief that patriotism was a fools' game and that corporate executives only owe allegiance to shareholders. He eliminated jobs and pension plans to increase profits which destroyed middle-class jobs. He moved profits offshore to avoid paying corporate income tax. What he did was considered "good business" and some Americans even consider people like him to be worthy role models. His zealotry destroyed General Electric, one of this nation's most successful and largest corporations.

Extreme income inequality is destructive. America used to be home to a large well-off middle class who owned homes and whose children could look forward to living as well or better than their parents. Today only 40% of all America earn enough income to be considered middle-class. The well-to-do versus working class income gap among Americans is wider than at any time in recent history.

Until recently upward social mobility was considered the heart of the American Dream. Today few of the wealthiest Americans were raised poor or middle class: Most were born to wealthy parents. According to The Business Insider 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people: The top 1% only pay the 20 percent capital gains tax on income earned this way. Since the late-1970s, the richest Americans, who make their income from capital gains, have been getting wealthier and wealthier.

Two-thirds of American children born to poor parents will remain that way their entire life. It has been decades since the economic policies of this nation mirrored Christian principles or the protestant work ethic. America is becoming a plutocracy like the European nations from which most ancestors fled.

I want religious leaders who consistently act with kindness, only collect property and wealth as needed to take care of the needy and campaign for peace no matter how the majority of their parishioners feel. Mean spirited religious leaders, who mistreat women, children and any "others", and endorse candidates who do, are to me beneath contempt.

I want political leaders who realize we need to make it possible for business to generate wealth enough for workers to buy the essentials of a middle-class life, to benefit from their hard work and frugality and to take care of those of us in need. Mother Nature doesn't care if our species survives. We all live on the same planet and irresponsible actions impact the lives of everyone.

I want business leaders who realize this nation prospered because of the protestant work ethic and that everyone prospers when both bosses and employees benefit from their honest hard work and frugality. In my opinion corporate leaders, like Jack Welch, who steal pensions and destroy the ability of middle-class Americans to earn a living by shipping employment opportunities and ill-gotten wealth overseas to avoid paying a fair share of what it costs to maintain this nation, are traitors.

Ours is an exceptional nation. Only a small percentage of our land is fertile; a lot is uninhabitable. It was because of the unique convergence of this being a secular nation, whose leaders embraced the Protestant work ethic and The United States of America became the beacon of light that attracts ambitious immigrants from around the world.

Pray our children and grandchildren
will be as able to pursue their
happiness as we are.