I keep seeing phrases like this in this forum and I've tried to avoid commenting.  I was following a link from another website and found this.  Thought I would post it for those who feel that way

Edit:  To be clear, I do NOT feel that way

Politics & Faith ... Democrats celebrate love of God

Testimonials about faith-based persecution usually target pagan prejudices, but Rachel Aunspaugh described something different - Christian-on-Christian harassment - in a message delivered last week.
Aunspaugh, 16, a Baptist and student at Liberty High School, testified that a fellow Christian scoffed at her faith because of her politics. She is a Demo-crat.

"She said if I considered myself a Christian, I would be a Republican," Aunspaugh said. "Before I could even open my mouth to retort, she began a tirade on just how I did not even deserve the name of 'Christian' because I wasn't a Republican. She walked away while I just stood there speechless."

The crowd of about 230 that had gathered on a week's notice at Liberty Community Center for the "People of Faith for Kerry-Edwards" meeting Sept. 27 listened silently to Aunspaugh.

"Well, tonight I refuse to be speechless. It is a common misconception in my school that the terms Christian and Democrat are mutually exclusive. I see so many people here tonight that break that misconception and only wish that some of my classmates could come and see this," she said.

Aunspaugh discussed having given her life to Jesus 10 years earlier and how her faith and politics have blended.

"It gave me compassion towards homeless people in New Orleans, Louisiana, when I visited there. It brings me to tears that some of my friends' families are struggling to get by. It pains me that the senior citizens of this nation - people to whom we owe respect and admiration - are sunk into last place to make room for big corporations who do not need the money. It makes me angry that thousands of men and women, including a friend of mine's father, are sent overseas to fight a problem that does not and has never existed. It bothers me that all the jobs in America are being sent overseas to foreign people when there are hundreds of people here struggling to survive," Aunspaugh said. "I believe Christ wouldn't have allowed people to go hungry. I believe he wouldn't have sent people into a winless battle. That's how my faith colors my politics."

Aunspaugh concluded by saying she hoped to become a United States senator. Those who rose to a standing ovation included former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan.

The Rev. Dr. Phil Willoughby, a state representative running for the state Senate, testified that a few weeks ago he attended the church where he had been raised in the faith. He said he listened with concern to what the pastor had to say.

"His first announcement was this: 'Our women's fellowship is providing volunteers for the Bush-Cheney campaign. We need 13 volunteers and I'm not supposed to sit down until we have them. Who's doing it?' And he didn't sit down until he had recruited workers for the Bush-Cheney visit to Sedalia," Willoughby said. "You and I sit here and say, 'Churches aren't supposed to do that. It's a violation of the (tax rules).' And you know what? That is happening all across our nation ... all across our state and even in our city."

Willoughby said conservatives wish to change the wall separating church and state into a chalk line that can be changed to suit them.

"They have reduced the pulpits in many churches to being nothing more than a lobbyist organization for the right wing agenda, and they have made some churches nothing more than political action committees," Willoughby said.

Christians who are Democrats share Bible-based values, he said.

"Cutting 80,000 low-income children off of health care, just because you can, does not bring God glory," Willoughby said. "We want to say protecting the worst polluters of God's creation is not a biblical model of stewardship. But most of all we want to say hate in the name of God is never a family value."

Carnahan said when she grew up fellow Baptists may have disagreed, but that never mattered when everyone sat for a potluck meal in fellowship hall.

"I never thought I'd see the day when we would all think alike, interpret the Bible alike, or be members of the same party," Carnahan said, "and I am saddened when I see that happening in far too many of our churches."

Carnahan said she heard Republicans in West Virginia suggested Kerry would ban the Bible, ushers in a northeast Missouri church wore GOP buttons to church, another church held a political rally for a Republican candidate and some churches gave their membership lists to Republicans.

"Jesus did not take sides with the Sadducees and the Pharisees, nor did the prophets kowtow to the kings of Israel. They stood apart. They were separate, better able to maintain their prophetic voice and redemptive purpose," Carnahan said.

Passages about helping the poor and oppressed fill the Bible, but too few churches preach that message, she said.

"Today if you defend the poor on moral or religious grounds you will likely be accused of starting class warfare," Carnahan said.

She told about a man who cut out all references to the poor to see what the Bible would look like.

"When he was through, the Bible was quite different. The first sermon that Jesus preached had been stripped out; the one that reads, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.' And that part in Matthew:25 that reads - 'I was sick and hungry, a stranger in prison without clothing, and you didn't do anything for me.' To which the pitiful reply was, 'But Lord, we didn't know it was you; we would have (helped), if we had only known it was you' - well, they had to cut that out too. So much was cut out that the book was in shreds. It was literally falling apart. It was supposed to be a holy Bible, but it was a Bible full of holes. What we need to do is put the Bible back together again and make its true message the center of our lives and our churches."

Carnahan said some people read the Bible to support their prejudices, like the man who read his Bible nightly, prayed for the well-being of his family and all the while as captain of a ship he listened to the moaning in his cargo hold coming from slaves.

"Scripture clearly teaches we should be advocates for the poor, defenders of justice and seekers of peace," she said.

Carnahan outlined how, as a Democrat, she practices Christianity.

"Because God calls us to care for the poor and oppressed, my faith has led me to reject irresponsible budget policies that reward the rich at the expense of the low- and middle-income Americans," she said. "And because God commands us to be good stewards of his creation, my faith has led me to work for clean air, and water, and the protection of our forests, and farms and our wild lands for future generations. And because he has called us to be peacemakers, my faith leads me to reject a bully diplomacy that alienates us from our allies."

After a standing ovation, Carnahan told the Sun the success of the Liberty event would likely spur others across Missouri. She called "People of Faith for Kerry-Edwards" an important step for Democrats.

"They realize that their faith motivates them to do many good things and they want to come together and express that," Carnahan said. "There is no one party that has a corner on religion, on God or any good thing. They want to be out here to say, 'We're Christians, we're people of faith and we're Democrats.'"

I had to laugh yesterday when I saw a bumper Sticker that proclaimed "Christians for Kerry-Edwards".

Losers!

http://www.christiansforkerryedwards.org/

As a Christian, I could never vote for a person that thinks that killing innocent babies is a woman's "choice".