Cool New Finds: Brian Houston & Hillsong TV

Recently discovered a pastor by the name of Brian Houston. Yes he heads up what some refer to as "one of those mega-churches" -- in fact from what I gather he's got two or three of them, Australia, London, New York and even Johanesberg. But he's got a cool vibe. Hip sincere not cocky or preachy. Very un-evangelical, which for me personally is always usually a deal breaker, any religion or religious leaders who are too evangelical or preachy or literal fundamenalist or dogmatic. Just not my thing. One of the reasons why this week's Rebublican Candidate Debates felt so terrifying. The whole damn lot of them appear to be in some sort of contest with one another to determine which is the most fundamentist far right conservative Christian. And though I personally choose to actively practice the Christian faith tradition, as an American I think that's something that needs to stay S far away from government as possible. These bible thumpin gun slingin cowboys and aliens who've taken over the once prestigious Republican party are so far removed from what the old GOP used to stand for. It's dificult to recognize good old fashioned Republicanism anywhere in the party. No wonder the US Congress has the lowest approval rating in American history. Just as partisan politics do not belong anywhere near traditional journism, and yet that is precisely what is being pawned off these days as journalism more and more with FOX News and MSNBC leading the pack, so too does religion need to stay as far removed from politics and government as humanly possible. The whole idea of "America the land of the brave and home of the FREE" is that as a country are. Giant melting pot of all sorts, including agnostics and atheists. Hence every single one of us who call ourselves America need to feel safe and secure that our elected officials in government would never consider allowing their oen personal religious beliefs enter into any of their decision making as a leader. It may be one thing to know that a president attends church with his family regularly; I don't see anything wrong with that. But when a president starts claiming publicly that "God told me to invade Iraq..." mission control we've got a problem. Unfortunately it appears that so far that's all the Republican party has been able to dig up for their prospective candidates. And that is one scary prospect.

In the meantime, check out Brian Houston and Hillsong television if that's your thing. Always a good message without being too preachy. Speaking of which, Joel Osteen gave a damn good sermon on Sept 6th if you can find it on YouTube or their website. Joel always finds a way to deliver a positive message without seeming too exclusionary or extreme. It feels good. That's the litmus test isn't it really? If someone is using their own personal religious beliefs to make people feel bad, like Santorum or Bachmsn or the others...the way they want to restrict fellow US citizens' constitutional rights because of their religious beliefs... That just isn't going to feel good to a lot of Americans Nd therefore not oy are they showing that they wouldn't make a good president of such a wide variety of different people all who call themselves America, but they also give a bAd name to those who are also Christian but who recognize how random and subjective one's personal relious beliefs are. There are actually plenty of us. And we're not such abD sort at all. It's a relatively smsll few who give the whole lot of us a bad reputation. And that's too bad.