Friday, May 23, 2008

Vlog #2: John McCain: Out of Pastors

So John McCain received and then rejected the endorsements from two TV preachers recently: John Hagee and Rod Parsley. I have used these facts as jumping off points to discuss the role of religion in the electoral process in the United States. Here's the vlog:



What do you think? Should candidates seek the endorsements of religious figures? Should religious figures give their endorsements?

The AP news story can be found here.

Check out my other vlogs too!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Answers to your last two questions:
NO!!!
NO!!!

J. Matthew Barnes said...

A hearty "AMEN!" to your answers Chris!

Anonymous said...

I don't like endorsements, but I do think that Christians have a responsibility to speak truth to power. In other words, I don't think that religious leaders should tie themselves to any one politician or political party. But I do think that religious leaders should be prophets (if that's their gift) to speak out on political issues based upon their convictions as followers of Christ.

I also think it's appropriate for a politician to follow a "conscience" that is formed by their own faith perspective. Their responsibility, though, is to base their actions and decisions upon common and civic reasoning rather than religious reasoning.

So, I believe in the separation of church and state for the benefit of both. But I also believe that religious convictions have political implications.

Btw, I like how you're experimenting with things. I wonder if you can do some sort of fade thingy in between edits... you're looking a little Max Headroom at times :) but I liked it.

J. Matthew Barnes said...

Pat: You're definitely right about religious ideas having political implications (and vice versa too).

About the mechanics of the vlog: I watched some videos about making vlogs and most of them said to cut out down time, ummms, and ahhs -- which is what I did. I thought it turned out okay and it was even funny at times. But maybe when the topic isn't inherently funny, the form shouldn't be either...