{"id":26351,"date":"2025-12-27T14:42:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/?p=26351"},"modified":"2025-12-27T17:44:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:44:38","slug":"26351","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/26351\/","title":{"rendered":"WHY ARE WE TOLD NOT TO TALK ABOUT RELIGION AND POLITICS? BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Liberal Logic 101<\/strong><\/a> – (20+) Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHY ARE WE TOLD NOT TO TALK ABOUT RELIGION AND POLITICS? – Religion and Politics: What They Told Us Not to Talk About<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religion and Politics: What They Told Us Not to Talk About<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a curious kid, I innocently asked the group, \u201cdid you vote for Reagan or Mondale?\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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10 Camels<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 10, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Making decisions on a recent walk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I once thought you cast your votes with yard signs. The first time I went with my dad to the polling location, I asked \u201cwhy didn\u2019t you just put a sign in the front yard like other people?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really believed there were election workers who drove around the city counting all the yard signs to determine the winner of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after this lesson, I learned another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My grandpa and a group of old white men were huddled together drinking coffee and eating donuts in the church social hall before the service started. I overheard them talking about the recent presidential election, the economy, crime, jobs being sent to Mexico, and the preacher\u2019s sermons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a curious kid, I innocently asked the group, \u201cdid you vote for Reagan or Mondale?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was six years old when Ronald Reagan won the 1984 presidential election beating Walter Mondale for his second term in office. At that age, I knew the candidates, but didn\u2019t understand partisanship or reaganomics<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before anyone could answer my question, my grandpa gave me the look<\/strong>. The look that said, I\u2019d made a big mistake. I walked away knowing I\u2019d hear more about this later. And I did. Back home after church, my grandpa told me \u201cwe don\u2019t talk about religion and politics. And we sure don\u2019t ask people who they voted for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I silently wondered, hadn\u2019t my grandpa and his friends been talking about politics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I wonder, why don\u2019t we talk about religion or politics ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are religion and politics\u2014and some would include money and sex\u2014topics not to be talked about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do they make us uncomfortable? Why are they deemed impolite? Why is talking about them considered bad social etiquette?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of this I am certain, we cannot heal wounds we will not talk about. We cannot change unjust laws we will not discuss. We cannot create a safer world for our children if we refuse to address the real dangers they face.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite my grandpa\u2019s warning, in this country we do talk about religion and politics. We talk about it a lot, with those in power determining what is political<\/em> and what expression of religion is legitimate<\/em>. These same people and parties label our discourse as free speech or woke-ness, protected or criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I attended an event where the opening speaker reminded us not to talk politics. They boldly announced that we were welcome and our politics were not<\/strong><\/em>. They then challenged us all to change the world with our writing. It was a disorienting and disappointing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However we dress it up, politics influence every aspect of our lives. We must talk about this if we want to change this. And we must ask, who benefits from our keeping silent? Those with political power benefit from silence, not those who are oppressed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know the exact path to social transformation. I don\u2019t know how we stop or even slow this violent corrupt road we are speeding down as a nation. But, I do know this; we have to reimagine what we talk about and how we talk about it.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another walk. Another decision to make.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For me poetry is a form of resistance and revolution. Poetry has always been a way of sharing thoughts, curiosities, pains, and doubts I otherwise couldn\u2019t express. Some of the most difficult discussions I\u2019ve had started with a poem. I\u2019ve told my hardest truths through poetry and through those pages my new life was birthed and unexpected lines of communication began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems we write and read or burn and ban\u2014like signs we put in our yards\u2014say a lot about the world we ache and vote for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, August 27th<\/sup> I met a dear friend for coffee. In the back corner of a neighborhood caf\u00e9 we talked about creativity and imagination. She read me poems and gifted me a new journal. She inspired a walk to the river, where I hoped to write about softness and peace, and being gentle with ourselves and others. As I packed my bag to head to the water, my phone told me of another school shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did still make it to the river. Here\u2019s the poem I wrote while there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read or listen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annunciation<\/strong>\n\u00a9Rebecca Wilson\nAugust 27, 2025<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
for fire drills\nwe went outside\nto the far side of the playground\nlined up along the chain link fence\nback at our metal desks within minutes\n\nfor tornado drills\nwe went to the locker rooms \nbrought along our social studies textbook\nteacher said\nput your head in your lap and the book on your head\nif the ceiling fell in this would protect us\n\nfor the start of the day\nwe rose to pledge the flag \nright hand over our hearts \nexcept for Todd\nwho was born with a heart\non the other side of his chest \n\nsome days we sang\nAmerica The Beautiful\nor My Country, \u2018Tis of Thee\nothers The Star-Spangled Banner\nor God Bless America \nas the score played over the intercom\n\nthey taught us slavery was bad\nThanksgiving was good\nCivil Rights were eternal \nthe content of our character\nmattered more than the color of our skin \nthe last war was the last\nHiroshima and Nagasaki could never happen again\ntornadoes mostly only usually\nhappen in Oklahoma not Michigan\n\nI asked who Oliver North was\nwhy his trial was on TV\nthey said something\nabout Iran and Nicaragua \nand sent us to music class\nto learn more songs\n\nThis Land is Your Land\nand one about a love-sick cat\nnamed Se\u00f1or Don Gato\n\nto art class\npainting pictures\ngluing random objects together\n\nto gym class\nplaying dodgeball and kickball\nand steal the bacon\n\nto math class\nscience and reading\nfield trips to farms and museums\n\nto the auditorium\nfor special assemblies \nand spelling bees\nI knew words like\nnatatorium and unemployment\nnot lockdown \nor active shooter simulation\n\nwe all knew if you brought a gun\nin your book bag\nyou were expelled forever \n\nwhen Aaron brought a butter knife\nhe wasn\u2019t kicked out\njust got paddled by the principal in the hall\nwhile we all listened to him scream\n\nin fourth grade while day dreaming\nI saw flames \nbig huge magnificent bright orange flames \nrising from the apartments across the road\nstanding at the window\nwe watched them burn\nchoked by the fear of knowing\nit wasn\u2019t a drill<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Water-fully Yours,<\/strong>
Rebecca & 10CAMELS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Invitation to Reflect<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n