Sometimes I watch CNN.

Not very often, but sometimes.

Today, I tuned in during the Election Update show. They were talking about Religion and Politics, and specifically the divide between Christian voters between Obama and McCain supporters.

Not long after I became a Christian, someone told me that if you are a Christian, you are a Republican. It was a lady that worked with me. She said "You can't be a Christian and not be a Republican." I didn't know that. So I said, Oh. Well I guess that makes me one.

(side note: I couldn't have told you the difference between a democrat and a republican if someone had offered me 7 million dollars at this pont in my life. Absolutely no exaggeration. Ask Kelly.)

So without thinking or voting from the age of 19 - 21, I assumed I leaned towards being a republican. But I never told anyone that because, well, I didn't even know what it meant.

But a lot of my friends, my Christian friends, voted for John Kerry. WHAT. Did they realize that John Kerry was A DEMOCRAT? Maybe they didn't know the rule. Maybe they weren't really Christians. Maybe they were secretly part of the Anti-Christ movement of people that claim they are Christian and then secretly vote democrat. I was very, very uncomfortable with this. (note: I was uncomfortable silently.)

Anyhoo, time passed and I learned that most of my Bellingham Christian friends tended to vote democrat, even if they didn't call themselves Democrats perse. So, being utterly confused, I looked into what the differences were between democrats and republicans.

Time passed, blah blah blah, and I now also lean towards the left politically, mostly because of social justice issues. And I (and most of my Christian friends) are very excited about Barack! But I still thought it was a Bellingham thing.

Wrong! Apparently, "a growing number of other young, left-leaning believers are entering the political arena ..... And they are placing social justice issues, like poverty and war, at the intersection of their moral and political decision making."

I knew young people were all like, "Party like Barack!" but I didn't know that lots of Christians were behind him. I thought that was very exciting - it made me feel like I was part of a movement. Like I'm in the 60's.

I'd make a good hippie. Peace, love, hippie Nicole.