Politics and faith

Being a Baptist pastor places me on interesting footing with regards to speaking publicly about politics. To begin with, I believe firmly in the separation of Church and State that our Baptist ancestors fought so hard for. As such then I am not speaking here for my church or any other Baptist group in an official way. However, I do want to speak from the inside looking out as it were, I want to speak on the subject as a person of faith who is interested in more than a few talking points meant to herd us in a specific direction. So, I will NOT be writing about abortion or Homosexuality. What I do want to say about these two very important issues that have been so effectively used to manipulate us is that I do NOT want to live in a theocracy and true democracy demands we respect the rights of others. The freedom we have here requires us to respect the opinion of others, even if it makes our blood boil, as long as it does not infringe in our or others freedom. Imposing our beliefs on others through legislation or government action, whichever side one is in, goes against the principles of freedom we profess to believe so firmly. It also goes against Christ's relationship with humanity as I understand it.