Striving for justice and peace

I was moved to tears by John Edwards' and John Kerry's concession speeches. They reminded us that the work is not done, and we will still strive toward justice, social reforms and respect from our allies.

Edwards has shown his stuff in this election, and his was one of the best and most-soul stirring speeches I've heard in a long time. We have definitely not seen the end of him in presidential elections, I think. And Kerry spoke simply, directly and from the heart and for the work we have to do in the future. I would vote for him all over again.

Who knows how honest this election was? I'm starting to hear about how easily a few percentage points can be manipulated through the vote-talling computers. Just have the scanners flip every 500th or thousandeth Democrat vote to read Republican.

We observed All Saints Day in church today, and some of the Baptismal Covenant was used in the service. Here are the last two lines of the Covenant:

Celebrant: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

People: I will, with God's help.

Celebrant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

People: I will, with God's help.

This covers just about everything.

How can anyone recite this and still refer to a gay young man as an abomination? How can we then invade another country, bringing thousands of deaths, on false and erroneous (with the emphasis on false) pretexts? How can we call such a war "Christian?" How can we have a "Christian" administration that encouraged the abuses at Abu Ghraib?

How can you have a "have more" power base, while people are un- or underemployed, go without health care, or even sleep on the street, in the richest nation in the world?