Candidates give props to their former coaches

From CNNSI:

Candidates give props to their former teachers and coaches!

Asked what was the best piece of advice he had received from the sports world, Obama said his high school basketball coach, when the young Obama rebelled against him, said, "'Look, this is not about you, this is about the team.' It took me awhile to understand ... but that's how I've approached the work I've done in politics since. If you stay focused outside yourself, you end up doing a better job."

In answer to the same question, McCain said he drew a lesson from a high school coach who also was a literature teacher.

"The guy was my inspiration then and is my inspiration to this day," McCain said. "The lesson he taught me was you always have to do the honorable thing, even if no one knows, because you'll know."

Read it all HERE.

A moment of Zen with McCain and Obama

From Religion News Service blog:

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Our moment of Zen

Moderator Tom Brokaw prefaced the last question of last night's presidential debate (offered by "Peggy of New Hampshire") by saying it had a "certain Zen-like quality."

The question was: "What don't you know, and how will you learn it?"

It's not exactly the kind of koan, or Zen question, you'd likely hear in a zendo (Famous koans are: What's the sound of one hand clapping? If a tree falls in a forest...) Generally, the answer to the question is supposed to be inaccessible to the rational mind. One could easily answer Brokaw's question rationally: "I don't know anything about the history of World War II; I will learn it by reading books on the history of WW II."

That aside, it's still an interesting question.

In Zen Buddhism such question-and-answer exchanges between novices and Zen masters are called "dokusans." Let's see how Obama-san and McCain-san fared.

Obama answered: "The nature of the challenges that we're going to face are immense and one of the things that we know about the presidency is that it's never the challenges that you expect. It's the challenges that you don't (expect) that end up consuming most of your time."

In other words, "I don't know what I don't know."

Zen grade: A-

McCain answered: "I think what I don't know is what all of us don't know, and that's what's going to happen both here at home and abroad...There are challenges around the world that are new and different....So what I don't know is what the unexpected will be."

In other words, "I don't know what I don't know."

Zen grade: A-

Both candidates then said what they do know is...(read the rest HERE.)

John McCain's Henotheism from "Creedal Christian"

Surfing the blogospere tonight had me reading the Creedal Christian blog, which is a blog with some great writing, challenging theological reflections, and just some wonderful stuff...tonight, I thought that Bryan Owen (the blog writer), was really onto something when he reflects on John McCain's use of religious language. In addition, he makes the quite interesting claim that "Ironically, the henotheism of our politicians and their attempts to reassure voters of the sincerity of their Christian faith may be a sign that secularism rather than Christianity is the real driver behind the wheel (even when the candidates in question happen to be self-professed evangelicals)."


An excerpt from Creedal Christian:

“My country saved me.”

John McCain said that last Thursday night in his acceptance speech as the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

I generally steer clear of politics on this blog. That’s not only because I believe that God is not a Republican or Democrat, but also because I have no desire to throw myself into the partisan mosh pit (the blogosphere can be brutal enough!). But I haven’t been able to get McCain’s statement out of my mind. I think it’s worth a look.

I’ll begin by saying that I’ve always admired John McCain. Sure, he’s not perfect. And I disagree with him on any number of issues. But his record of service to our country speaks volumes about his integrity. Flaws and all, he’s a fine American and a good public servant.

Listening to his speech last Thursday night, I thought that he did a powerful job of recounting his war service, his time as a POW, and his return home. That experience is hard for any rival to top! And in telling his story, he summarized his conversion from selfishness to service with the words that stick with me: “My country saved me.”

Given what we know about McCain's record and the way he consistently talks about serving our country, I don't think it’s stretching things to hear the statement “My country saved me” as an essentially religious statement. Because for McCain, there is no object worthy of higher loyalty than the nation.

“My country saved me.” This is a good example of what Reformed theologian H. Richard Niebuhr called “henotheism.” Lonnie Kliever (drawing on Niebuhr) describes henotheism as a form of faith in which “some social unit (family, nation, church, civilization, or even humanity) fulfills the function of god by conveying value to and requiring service of its members” [H. Richard Niebuhr (Hendrickson Publishers, 1977), p. 88]. In McCain’s case, that social unit is the United States of America.

Read the rest HERE.

The real John McCain?

With much focus on Sarah Palin, I wonder if we have forgotten to take a close look at the records of the men at the top of the presidential ticket!? Take a look at this.