Reagan to Obama

I'm a big fan of Donald Miller. Blue Like Jazz had a major impact on me, as I know it has on many other Christians in my generation. There were many reasons for that, but I do remember being intrigued by Miller's political leanings when I first read the book.

At the time, I was living in a very conservative state (Georgia), attending a very conservative church, working with (mostly) very conservative people, living on an Army post surrounded mostly by conservatives, and I had fairly recently voted for Bush for the second time. But I'd had my moments, now and then, when I wondered if the natural equation of Christian = Republican that I'd always grown up with was really as cut and dry as I'd believed it was as a child and young(er) adult. I remember reading Miller's book, agreeing with some of his sentiments, disagreeing with others (as I still do), and being challenged by much of it, including the political topics.

I even spoke with my pastor about it, asking him if he'd heard of the book. He said no, and I told him how much I'd enjoyed it. I then ventured a comment about how I was realizing that being a Christian didn't mean you automatically had to be a Republican--that maybe someone could love Jesus but vote Democrat. He paused for a moment, and then said something along the lines of "Well ... that's true ... but ..." and proceeded to basically say that Christians should vote Republican, because of moral issues.

That didn't sit well with me. I had a great deal of love and respect for my pastor--he and his family are great people--but it just didn't add up to me that in order to be a good Christian, one needed to be a Republican.

Anyway, all that to say that I really like and respect Donald Miller, and I always find his writing to be insightful and challenging, whether I agree with it or not. He's recently started a new blog, which I immediately added to my Google Reader and have really been enjoying. Today's entry really struck a chord with me, because in many ways his own political journey mirrors mine. I haven't reached all of the same conclusions--Miller is a Democrat, I'm registered as an Independent; he's been campaigning for Obama, I'm voting for Obama but don't agree with him on everything. But I really enjoyed reading about his road from Reagan Republican to Obama Democrat.

My favorite part ... "Having met the enemy, I discovered the enemy wasn’t who I thought they were. They were flawed, even as we were flawed, but they were no less patriotic, and no less good. "