Alienation of Affection

Mensa Boy is very paranoid about germs. It's worse when he is about to go out of town. At my first mention of a viral-feeling headache the other day, he immediately took up his "you are a germy person" persona.

He now waves at me.

And so yes...I am snotty today. I'm remembering that I was hideously sick last year the week before the library festival too. But last year I was not sleeping...no good sleeping drugs were in my arsenal. This year I have sleep on my side. And I'm getting stuff done for the paper, so I'm able to take naps in the afternoon.

This morning it's an early-morning trip to the dentist. The appointment is at 8 a.m, which means we pretty much have to leave here in 10 minutes. It's not very far, but the traffic situation is really terrible, so we'll have to leave plenty of time for travel.

I read this article in yesterday's Observer and it resonated so strongly with me that I'm going to paste the entire text here. I've been a fan of Tony Campolo's for years now, but this is the best compilation of what he's about that I've ever seen. It makes me happy to know that we have some evangelicals that make sense to me. I'm particularly pleased about what he says about the death penalty.

THEOLOGY AND POLITICS

Trying to see today through the eyes of Jesus

Left-leaning Baptist author's article asked WWJD about Iraq?

TIM FUNK

tfunk@charlotteobserver.com

"What would Jesus do about Iraq?"

That's the question the Rev. Tony Campolo recently posed -- and answered -- in Tikkun, a left-leaning Jewish magazine.

Campolo is a left-leaning evangelical Baptist who's written 34 books on Christianity and social justice. He was President Bill Clinton's spiritual adviser. And on Sunday, he was in Charlotte to speak at Dilworth United Methodist Church.

In an interview, the Observer asked the Philadelphia-based Campolo what Jesus would do not only about Iraq, but about other issues dividing U.S. Christian churches.

Here are his answers, edited for space and clarity.

Q. What would Jesus do about ...

• Iraq: "I think what Jesus would have us do is repent. I would love to see (President Bush) go to the (United Nations) and say, `I really believed there were weapons of mass destruction when I asked for the invasion five years ago. I was wrong. Thousands and thousands of people have died, thousands and thousands of people are wounded and ruined for life. I ask for forgiveness.'

"I don't think you lose your stature when you ask for forgiveness. I think to be able to confess and to ask for forgiveness is a sign of strength. Jesus would have said, `Power is not the evidence of what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something better than guns and planes and armies. I'm looking for the kind of authority that people look up to.' "

• Gays and lesbians: "He'd love them and accept them. When we sing at my church, `Just As I Am,' I think we need to mean it." We shouldn't be saying to gay and lesbian people, `You have to become what you're not in order to be welcome by Jesus.' "

• Abortion: "I'm sure that the destruction of life in abortion would break his heart. However, I feel like if he were speaking to the church today in America, he would ask not the question, `Are you going to make it illegal and arrest women who have abortions?' I think Jesus would say, `What are you going to do to reduce the number of abortions?'

(A new survey reported that) 70 percent of all abortions are economically driven. You have a poor woman working on minimum wage with no hospitalization. She gets pregnant. She can't afford to have the kid, she can't afford to pay the hospital bills, she can't afford day care after the child is born. So she says, `I'm going to have an abortion.' Can Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives agree on one thing: that it's wrong for women who want to have their babies to have abortions? And that's about 70 percent of them. Then we can start talking about the other 30 percent."

• The death penalty: "(If you support capital punishment), you cannot believe in the Beatitudes -- `Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' You cannot say, `I'm going to overcome evil with good.' You cannot say all those things that Jesus said and believe in the death penalty. When you say there's going to be a death penalty, what you basically say is that there are some people who are beyond redemption. There are many times I feel that way. But I'm sure Jesus never feels that way."

• Muslims: "He would love them. Jesus said some very interesting things. He said, `Other sheep I have who are not of this fold.'

"I know I'll get in trouble for this because I'm an evangelical, but (in deciding who gets into heaven), the questions (Jesus) asks on Judgment Day are not theological. I wish they were because I'm an evangelical.... Here are the questions -- the only descriptions he gives of Judgement Day. `I was hungry: Did you feed me? I was naked: Did you clothe me? I was the alien, the (immigrant) from the other country: Did you make room for me in your country? For if you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.' I think there's a wideness in God's mercy that's greater than mine."

• Young people: "Jesus would say to them, `Youth was made for heroism and not for pleasure. And the church has been entertaining you. What I am here to do is call you to sacrifice all that you are and all that you have for love and justice in the world in my name. I want you to live out your life heroically for my kingdom and not get sucked into the dominant values of the culture.' "