Rick Santorum and Sharia Law

Are our civil laws connected in any way to Biblical ethics?

Do changes in culture reflect changes in civil laws?

Does separation of church and state automatically and necessarily mean that we cannot predicate civil and criminal law on "religious ethical systems"?

Are people, in their pursuit of "life, liberty, and...happiness," entitled to marriage, murder, and porn?

Are there any moral absolutes? Can we be absolutely sure that there are (or are not)?

Why, after all, is murder illegal?

Is the distinction between civil and criminal law such that we can suggest "morality" in regard to the one, but not the other?

My ethical stance:

Murder--it is not our life to take (whether murder, abortion, or suicide);

Same-sex marriage--is framed incorrectly, primarily per semantics; civil unions I can accept, but please a) refrain from using the language of marriage, and b) the church had better not conflate the two;

National defense--Augustine's perspective on war is helpful (eg. Just War Theory...look it up);

Capitalism--in the pantheon of national economic systems, it is the best (here, I am referring to true capitalism, and not the capitalism-run-amok typified by the U.S. economy);

Socialism--is the economic system of Christians, not of nations...again, to conflate the two is to suggest that we are a theocracy (the very thing those opposed to guys like Santorum reject);

Universal health-care--love your neighbor; don't relegate that care to the federal government;

Immigration--love your neighbor; uphold the law of the land;

Our country is confused for the same reason the church is confused. Each camp wants to have it both ways: the church insists we are a Christian nation (despite all evidence to the contrary) yet has largely been negligent in its responsibilities of love and justice just as it cries foul when the federal government tries to step in and care for the "least of these"; the nation demands that we are not a theocracy, and refuses to claim any ethical system based on "religion" even as it demands justice. What justice? What moral imperative would demand such laws?

This campaign season, I am going to do two things: 1) pray that our country's leadership would reflect God's kingdom to the extent that Americans are known more for peace, love, justice, and compassion and less-so for war, wealth, and bigotry; and 2) that the church will diligently care for people within and outside of the body in obvious, tangible ways, but in every sense pointing to Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the Gospel (Word), administration of the Sacraments, and discipline (there is a Christian ethic that we, as followers of Christ, will adhere to, regardless of what the world thinks).

There is probably enough here to get me into trouble with just about everyone. Relax. I will be happy to elaborate on any of these positions over a cup of coffee.