Sunday, August 31, 2008

Religion and politics

One of the big surprises of the convention for me was that I was
probably exposed to more religion in that week than I was in the
previous 10 years. Every convention session started with a prayer
and ended with a benediction. Same thing with every delegation
breakfast. So I attended three or four prayers a day for four days.
The party made a point of inviting a range of religious leaders to
deliver these prayers, so we heard from pastors, rabbis, imams, and a
Buddhist priestess. It was actually quite nice to hear so many
different types of prayers, with so many different areas of emphasis.

Probably due to familiarity, the prayers of the rabbis resonated the
most with me. The emphasis on social justice and righteousness,
combined with a self-effacing form of humor, just really appeals to me.

But yes, I was exposed to faith through my participation in a
Democratic convention. Whoda thunkit?

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