Tradition

I was raised on "faith-based traditions..."

I'm not too sure what that means, to be perfectly honest.  I see more and more how the belief-system of Americanized established religions compel us to prophecy "doom and gloom" when presidents come into office who we didn't vote for; to proclaim the "end of the world" when humanistic philosophies become the root of benevolent deeds; and to claim the return of our Savior is near, because we have come to the subtle realization that we may have to learn to live with sinners much closer than the civil, middle-class baby-boomers ever had to or wanted to.  A few brief moments with American Family Association's website or World Net Daily will give you ample dosage of any such bent.

The conservative, right-wing movement always held delinquents at bay, and they have long been proud of that hallowed skill.  Those who don't profess Christianity and live upstanding lives (or at least conceal their misdeeds really well) have always been shunned and/or pushed into the shadows behind all of those "good people" who were pandered to and elevated into the foreground.

Now, after years of concealing our alcoholics, drug-addicts, sexual-miscreants, and general non-do-gooders in our communities, life spins a brutal irony: we have to love them like Christ would love them with open arms and NO prejudice.  Well, that's just absurd...how can the dishonest businessmen, the homosexuals, the corrupt politicians, the profane hooligans, the prostitutes, and all the other hippy, pill-popping, blunt-smoking weirdos we thought we ridded the world of just come right in here and take over our perfectly Christianized utopia of GODLY people in this, our homeland, which we so justly refer to as "God's country?"  Sound familiar?  Hm...

I was raised on "faith-based traditions..."
Now, with two kids of my own, the question is: how will I help to raise the next generation?