This past Sunday I went to church in Michigan with the friends we were visiting.  The priest was speaking of the challenges of lent and whether we are abstaining from or adopting some activity.  

The thought came to me that the Republican party is much like lent.  Just as Jesus wandered in the desert for 40 days and nights, so too are we now the outsiders, the outcasts.  The desert is a frightening place and the temptations presented to us are great.  Without question, we will falter and fail, but we are to remain hopeful. It is those who have faith who must present the vision for the rest to follow.

That is both the beauty and despair of religion.  Sometimes we don’t want to carry that cross.  We don’t want to be visionary!  It is our responsibility however to both question and believe almost simultaneously.  We should not be angry at challenges to our religion.  Darwin himself was deeply religious if you read his words, and there you will notice that he thought that adaptation of species was in the context of a higher being.

So don’t be flummoxed by aethesists or non-believers.  God gave us both doubt and grace, and when we are affronted with questions regarding God, religion and faith, does that not force us to more deeply examine the meaning and value of religion?  I do not always have the best response or answer to those who take religion seriously enough to challenge it, but isn’t it good that they do?  

So just as the Charles Hitchens and Richard Dawkins of the world force us to re-examine and deepen our faith and belief in God, so too will our exclusion from the halls of power permit us to re-examine our party and its meaning.