Why hello, Jesus! Long time, no see.

My health (and quite possibly my immortal soul) dictates that I should not watch the news every morning.  It drives up my blood pressure, feeds my as yet undiscovered brain tumor, widens my gastric ulcer and makes my eye twitch – rapidly. Also, my anger as a result of watching the news scares my boyfriend.

Because of this, I know I’m (more often than not) late with the political news. However, Rep. Todd Akin’s infamous words of the past week resonate with me.

As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, this individual feels that “at the heart of liberalism is a hatred for God.”

Cue firestorm of outraged liberal media.

Cue religious leaders coming forward and denouncing the comments.

Cue liberal Americans standing proud as Christian citizens who love God.

Cue me, wondering where the hell I’d been for the past week.

Honestly, it’s a bunch of bullshit. If you love God, then love God. You’re love of Him will either define your political leanings or it won’t. I don’t personally believe that at the core of any ideology is a love for, or a hatred of, God.

What I do believe is that the average human being has their own established beliefs, ideas and leanings and that they use religion as a means of fueling those ideas. How many times in the history of the world has a religious text been twisted to suit the needs of one explosive group or another?

In the end, I try not to define myself as a conservative or a liberal.  I do, however, define myself as a person who believes that we help those in need.  That we aid the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked – essentially take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.  Take a gander at Matthews 25:31-46. I don’t take those words lightly. I don’t think they are there just because they look pretty in red.

For the most part, the people you accuse of hating God are the ones that are the most vocal about upholding the programs that ensure that our uninsured get medical aid, that our hungry get food, that our naked get clothed and that our rich don't continue to get rich off the backs of people that can't even afford to put enough gas in their cars to get to work. Hatred of God indeed.

I'm going to need you to man up and not take the pansy way out by saying you were referring to "ideology" and not people. If the average person is defined by their political ideology and you feel that liberalism is defined by a hatred of God, doesn't that mean that you believe that some liberals, on some level, hate God? Or, at the very least, that they are okay with adhering to a realm of thought that his defined by a hatred of God? (Which, let's just face it, is just as bad.)

Of course that's not what you meant! 

Rep. Akin – I know who I am. I know what God defines me and I know what political leanings define me. But, whether I’m conservative or liberal – I take offense to your assertions. Perhaps if you spent more time focusing on the core tenets of the Christian philosophy and less on the foundation of the liberal ideology – you’d be a better representative.

If you wanted to debate the fundamental differences between conservativism, liberalism, pansy-ism and backbone-ism - perhaps you should have become a professor of the political sciences. 

Oh, and if any of you were wondering: 

Conservative - adj. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones and to limit change.

Liberal - adj. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.

I guess I'll be a liberal today.