For some, everything isn't political

I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons. -- Will Rogers

Woody, RIP

Our lives are a bit poorer today, what with the passing last night of our family dog, Woody, a 12 year old Golden Retriever.

We'd never considered ourselves dog-people, having had some nine cats during the course of our marriage. But Woody was the Perfect Dog. Never was there a more gentle animal in God's creation. His main joys in life were eating, chasing his Frisbee at the park, and just being with us (not necessarily in that order). He was loved by small children, and he loved them back.

A devoted companion. Always smiling. He only showed impatience when we didn't keep the biscuits coming in the evening. Unconditional love is suppose to be a Christian virtue. But while we humans, who claim to know God, often fail to display that virtue, the gentle spirit of a Golden Retriever put us all to shame in showing how easily love can come, unconditionally.

Woody was a big dog, largest of his litter. We've read that big dogs aren't suppose to live long lives. We believe Woody lived beyond his expected lifespan. He never experienced the doggy joys of retrieving ducks in early morning hunts, but as he was afraid of guns, and wasn't a "morning person," preferring to sleep-in, that's a joy he undoubtedly didn't miss. His joys were simple. And what joys he received from being a part of our family, he returned a hundred-fold.

I don't know the eternal fate of dogs' souls, but it seems right to say, "Godspeed, Woody." You are greatly missed.

Advent Watch, 2

The following was written by Canadian columnist David Warren a week before the 2008 presidential election. What he describes is an element of "the political illusion" -- the appeal of politics is in reality a religious appeal. Nothing since the election has diminished the accuracy of his assessment:

...Obama has presented himself from the start as a messianic, "transformational" leader -- and thus played deceitfully with ideas that belong to religion and not politics. That he has done this so successfully is a mark of the degree to which the U.S. itself, like the rest of the western world, has lost its purchase on the Christian religion. Powerful religious impulses have been spilt, secularized.

In this climate, people tend to be maniacally opposed to the sin to which they are not tempted: to giving Christ control over the things that are Caesar's. But they are blind to the sin to which they are hugely tempted: giving Caesar control over the things that are Christ's.

"Faith, hope, and charity" are Christ's things. They apply, properly, outside time -- to a "futurity" that is not of this world. They must not be applied to any earthly utopia. A Caesar who appropriates otherworldly virtues, is riding upon very dangerous illusions. Follow him into dreamland, and you'll be lucky to wake up.

Advent Watch

Who needs the Second Coming of Christ when we've got Barack Obama's inauguration to look forward to?

At least that's the attitude of fundamentalist liberals who see the incoming Obama Presidency as nothing short of a millenial event of biblical proportions.

This is from a reader of The Corner on National Review Online, posted by Jay Nordlinger, which illustrates the point:

From a reader:
A couple weekends back, I was listening to Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. And Renée Fleming [the great soprano] sang “In the Bleak Midwinter.” But the lyrics to this beloved and touching carol were changed, in order to celebrate Barack Obama. The original carol is about Christ. But, in this version, Obama was the central figure. What is happening to us?

The new lyrics, if you’re interested, are

In the bleak midwinter
At the Christmas feast
A family leaves Chicago
And travels to the East
For a public mansion
In Washington, D.C.,
In a time of trouble
And festivity.

All across the nation,
Sea to shining sea,
People watch the passage
Of that family.
And our loving wishes
Go out to them there.
All the nation breathes
A silent, hopeful prayer.

Politics as revival meeting

A premise accepted here as true is that as western societies become more secular, politics (both left and right) have been adopted as the predominant religion of these societies. It follows that politicians are something of a priesthood interceding for the people, the state as the all-seeing/all-powerful god of the secular society, and the particular political ideologies as religious dogma. Jeff Medcalf has posted a comment on Eternity Road which makes the same observation:

Evangelism, Proselytizing, Tribal Markers and the Faith of the Left
By Jeff Medcalf

Instapundit points to a post by Jay Nordlinger at NRO, about how Leftist political tirades and snide asides have penetrated much of the art world and other public venues. It’s something I’ve noticed as well, and I heartily applaud Mr. Reynolds’ suggestion: when it happens, boo loudly and lustily.

But what really caught me about the collection of anecdotes Jay Nordlinger listed is how Lefty politics has become something very like Revival meetings, and what that says about the position of religious belief in our society. The Left is generally appalled at religious belief of any kind, at least, any sincere religious belief. This should not be surprising. The core of religious belief is the perception that one is a part of a much greater whole, vastly beyond our immediate comprehension, and that being part of that greater whole does more than give our lives meaning: it infuses our lives with a set of duties and prohibitions. The core of the Left’s self-identification (and I do not mean the Left to be synonymous with “Democrats") is the rejection of any duties and prohibitions imposed from the outside, even if that “imposition” is only by convention, and is not enforced. The Left’s key value is “if it feels good, do it.”

This is a profoundly selfish attitude, but it is also a profoundly religious attitude: it comes with a set of assumptions about how the world works that includes the idea that our lives are indeed connected to a greater whole, but that greater whole is humanity and the world, and it can be understood — and controlled — by the elect wise enough to do so: themselves. This approach leads to the politicization of all things: politics is neither more nor less than the means of interaction among humans with differing goals, and thus the means to controlling human interactions is necessarily political. But the Left is not merely religious in the essence of its creed, it is religious in form. The Left is evangelical (it spreads its word with zeal to all who will hear, often even when they are unwilling), proselytizes (seeks growth through conversion) and depends like almost all religions on “marker beliefs” that are so self-evidently wrong that they serve not as a true article of belief, but as evidence of membership and that you won’t rock the social boat.1 In fact, to someone who was raised in an evangelical and profoundly conservative community, and whose religious journey began with a rejection of all of the tenets of evangelical Protestantism, the Left’s public ceremonial reminds me of nothing so much as evangelical Protestantism in form.

And given that their political journey begins with a rejection of all of the tenets of evangelical Protestantism, I’m fairly sure that comment will tick them off.

1 These marker beliefs appear in almost every religion. Christianity’s most prominent marker belief is that three equals one. “Fluffy bunny” Wiccans — environmentalist social non-conformists looking for a religion that just happens to be identical to their political and personal preferences — have corrupted Wicca in many ways, most notably though is their marker belief that nature is benign.