Call For Sanity

Politics and Religion (a guide for Christians) Introduction   Many Christians seem to vote based on secular self-interest rather than a Biblical worldview.  Others claim that they must vote one way because God has implicitly endorsed the candidate and/or party based on their positions on specific issues. I would contend that a Christian should ground themselves in scripture to see what position God takes on various concerns and make a decision with the Bible as the standard against which to measure all candidates. Republican or Democrat? Neither major party in the US holds consistently to Christian values. Republicans tend to be more pro-life, and Democrats tend to favor helping the poor and underprivileged. There are Bible-believing Christians in each party as well as those claiming to be Christian but not reflecting that worldview. Sanctity of Life Biblical Standard God shows great concern for the sanctity of life ( Genesis 1:27, Exodus 20:13,21:22,...

Climate change is happening.  The question is how much is due to natural cycles vs man's use of fossil fuels?  A lot of CO 2  and methane comes from natural sources such as volcanoes and animal flatulence. How much will reducing our carbon emissions actually slow the rate of change? Some, of course, but a bigger help would be reversing the pattern of desertification globally. In addition, the earth has gone through many similar cycles, including periods of rapid change after periods of stability. Allowing for gradual transition to alternate fuel sources and focusing on implementing changes to how we manage public lands and farmland to reverse desertification trends is more effective and less costly than taking drastic measures to reduce carbon emissions as the primary solution. The money saved in a more holistic and effective approach can be spent on common sense diversification of energy sources and improvement in efficiency. In addition, we need to take meas...

Nuclear fusion as a power source has long been seen as technology that is very promising but just out of reach. With significantly less radioactive and toxic waste than fission reactors, and with seawater as the primary source of fuel, fusion promises to finally deliver on the dreams first ascribed to fission in the early days of the nuclear age. One problem is that fusion reactors require a lot of power as an input in order to produce even more power as an output. Another problem is that the technology to contain a sustained thermonuclear reaction for an extended period of time has proven to be more elusive than was envisioned a generation ago. It will take until 2050, by current estimates, to reach the point where a fusion reactor will be out of the experimental stage and in use as a practical source of electricity. Meanwhile, nuclear fission reactors are the best source of electricity with current human technology.  Solar, wind, hydroelectric, and other sources must be pursu...

There has been a lot of extreme partisanship from both major political parties, and it has intensified under the current administration.  The fact of the matter is that we have laws that either aren't enforced or don't work.  On top of that, we have one political party that benefits from "undocumented" immigrants, and therefore pushing to ignore the existing laws, causing the other party to take a hard line stance which comes across as heartless and racist as portrayed in the media. I suggest that there are a few common-sense changes to the immigration laws that would help correct some of the issues, although it's unlikely either party would support taking a middle of the road approach. We need to address the underlying drivers behind the largest source of illegal immigration, which are desire for a better life in the United States and desire for cheap labor to do jobs many Americans don't seem to want to do. Here is how I would propose we rewrite the im...