Scrapblog 1

So I'm giving up the internet for Lent in two days. Which means I have forty days worth of opinions to inform you of before I hand the baton over to my Guest Bloggers (assuming my Guest Bloggers are willing to Guest Blog).

So here's an attempt to summarise as many of my thoughts regarding The World As It Is as possible. Have fun!

• Are political parties necessary? I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'm seriously wondering if the government would be better if every MP stood independently. We could then have a separate presidential/prime ministerial election, as they do in the States and other such lovely places. Lower house representatives in every democratic system often find themselves having to "choose the lesser evil" and throw their lot in with the party they disagree with the least, even if the leaders of the party are proposing something the rep. in question happens to really strongly object to. It would be so much better if every representative actually said and did what s/he genuinely believed in. It would be better for voters as well- we would vote for a candidate who was actually going to stand up for our constituency, then a governmental leader who was actually going to make beneficial changes, rather than gut-reacting to the labels of "Labour," "Tory," "Lib Dem".
  
• I support the separation of church and state. Despite believing that Christianity happens to be true, it is only one opinion represented amongst the population of Britain, and I see no reason to give it special status above every other religious/spiritual opinion. Christians should not be in the business of trying to force our morals onto people who have not decided to follow the same path as us. All we can do is try to demonstrate the arguments supporting our view the best we can. See also this post I wrote a while back about not assuming our interpretation of God's will is superior.
  
• Why is Christianity intrinsically linked with the right of the political spectrum? I am a liberal, as is the man I broadly consider my spiritual/theological mentor. There is a lot in the bible that supports the agenda of the left, such as the emphasis Jesus put on the sharing of possessions (welfare state/socialism), and Paul's claim that "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ" (a basic support of the idea that people should be treated equally regardless of demographic groups, and minorities should be protected).
  I think the only reason we have this link is that the social-conservatives can only really justify their plugging of the traditional family in traditional religious terms. As such, they have had to present their views as the "Christian" option for as long as they have existed.
  But it's not true. There are open Christians on every position of the political spectrum, and every position can be justified with at least one Bible verse. The conservatives do not have a political monopoly on Christian ethics.
  
• I like revolutionaries. I may have touched on this before, but it's worth stressing again my utmost admiration for those who speak up for freedom in places they may well die because of it. I would raise a glass to you all, if I had a glass. The support of the major players in the international community for the protesters in Libya and southern Sudan, and for those trying to build new governments in Egypt and Tunisia.
   
• Earthquakes suck. My thoughts go out to those suffering in New Zealand. Big amount of support needed there too. 

That's probably enough for now. As you may have guessed by the numerical qualifier on this post's title, I'll be doing at least one more of these prior to LENT*. If there's anything you'd like my opinion on before Ash Wednesday, or anything in this post you'd like me to expand upon after Easter, let me know! Emails are welcome, my web address can be found in the Self-Absorbed Box Of Vaguely Informative Introductory Narcissism. 

*Lent needs to be said dramatically now it's going to affect my life so much; hence the capitals.