Dobson-Land

I've just been informed by James Dobson et al. that I am not a Christian. According to the Focus on the Family types, the term "Christian" is exclusive to evangelical Christians.

Does this mean I should quit praying and going to church because I'm not a real Christian anyway? Does Jesus tune out my prayers because I'm not "evangelical" and I don't support Republican candidates? Apparently, the answer is yes in Dobson-Land (also known as Colorado Springs). Though good ol' Jimmy would probably say I should continue going to church – just make it a "real" one where the same people walk up to the altar every Sunday to be "saved" for the 500th time.

My prayer today will be for God to help take away some of the bitterness I have toward "Christians" like Dobson and his ilk.

Obsessively checking flights

Well, the most exciting thing going on in my life right now is my planned trip to the Dominican Republic in June. Thanks to my parents and their time-share, I'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort for the cost of $62/day. That's pretty cheap, right?

But the bad part is the freakin' airfare. It's ridiculous – in the $900 range for a decent flight – by decent I mean you could get there in one day. For a mere $674, I can catch a flight from Minneapolis to Newark, N.J., on Friday night, then languish in the Newark airport overnight before catching a flight to Punta Cana at 8 a.m. And on the return flight? It's the same deal – an overnight layover in Newark.

So I've been obsessively checking all the airline Web sites and the standard travel sites – cheaptickets, orbitz, expedia, etc. And I've concluded that all these sites basically suck. The only good Web site I've found is farecompare.com. It compiles the results from all the crappy sites so you can find out which ones have the cheapest flights. And it's pretty obvious that the cheapest sites to check out are the airlines' own Web sites.

But, it's still a crap-shoot. I'm holding my breath and hoping that the airfare to Punta Cana will drop sometime before June. Farecompare is indicating that that could be the case – but with my luck it'll probably skyrocket up to $1,000. That, unfortunately, would make the trip cost-prohibitive :(

Credit where credit is due

Since the Sioux Center incident, I've been following the progress of the SoulForce equality ride via the Internet. The riders are keeping a blog that details their experiences at the various Christian colleges they're visiting. And, I have to say, it looks as if Dordt – so far, anyway – is the only one of those colleges to put their Christian beliefs into action by welcoming the riders.

At Oklahoma Baptist, the riders were barred from attending a chapel service on campus, and several were arrested for trespassing:

We walked down University Avenue, a public street that runs through campus, and, when we approached the chapel, the administration greeted us with armed policemen and handcuffs. Each Rider was read a statement stating that we were not welcome on campus and that setting one more foot toward chapel would subject us to arrest.

Unfortunately, that one didn't surprise me too much, coming from a Baptist university in Oklahoma. But I was extremely disappointed to read that the riders experienced a similar reception at a Lutheran college in Wisconsin and at the grandaddy of Catholic colleges – the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

I can't believe I actually wanted to go to Notre Dame – how Christian is that to ban a group of gay and lesbian people who, from what I've read, are extremely religious, spiritual people seeking to talk and worship with students?

In any case, I want to give big props to Dordt for being the only Christian college so far to stand up and do the right thing. And to the rest of them – Shame on you.

I can't believe I used to live here

OK, I never actually lived in Sioux Center, but it was close enough – about eight miles away, and Sioux Center was considered liberal compared to the backwardness of Hull.

This story, to me, represents the typical hypocrisy of extreme right-winger Christian fundamentalist types. The type of people who "live by Jesus' example" and then go harass a group of people and spray-paint vicious, hurtful slurs on their property. Why? Because they're gay, of course. And what would Jesus do if a group of gay people showed up peacefully and requested to speak to him? Duh – he'd curse at them, call them names and destroy their stuff. Right?

I am constantly amazed that these people fail to recognize how far they actually are from living a Christian life. Who would Jesus harass? What's that, Jesus? Oh yeah, you based your message around the idea of peace and tolerance. Too many Christians seem to have forgotten that.