I find it amusing that a lot of the Christians that preach the sovereignty of God and predestination are the same ones freaking out that Obama is the Antichrist. Seems to me they shouldn’t be concerned if they are saved. And, what the heck? Why are they freaking out about something that they will be the first to admit is outside their control? Be concerned for the state of your soul and the souls of those you love.

That said, I can’t say I have an opinion on Obama as Antichrist. I don’t know enough about end times theology to make that call. What happens will happen whether or not I have an opinion about it.

I said I had my doubts about Obama’s five-day review period? It turns out the first broken promise of his presidency was because of that. (Ironically, by breaking this promise he also kept another of his promises by signing a particular bill.)

Granted, I was more concerned about the implementation of his promise, but now that he’s broken it I guess I don’t have to worry so much about it now. Oh well.

Everyone breaks promises, and he made a lot. He’s already done a lot to “open” government — or at least create the illusion of doing so — which was the underlying goal. You’d be surprised how much better it is just to feel like your government is actually yours.

Here’s hoping Mr. Obama keeps all the right promises and knows where to draw a compromise.

Immediately at noon eastern time today, the new White House website went live. As a web developer, Internet nerd and open information enthusiast, I was very excited to see what Obama’s administration had done with the site.

The new design is regal, elegant and modern, befitting of a 21st-century president, and I’m glad to see they provide RSS feeds so that the information they publish is more accessible than ever.

But the most interesting detail was this:

One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.

From the first post, Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov

I want to be optimistic here, because it is encouraging to see an immediate act of government openness. But, one, does this mean Obama and his advisors will actually be reading these comments? And, two, I know the Internet. Unless they build an ingenious moderation system to filter out trolls and spam, this could quickly become an empty promise when their commenting system allows far too much noise in with the signal. Even if it is well-moderated, it’s likely to become just one more place for one-issue groups to gather and “demonstrate” rather than provide a place for useful discourse to take place.

Good luck, Obama. I really hope you haven’t dug yourself into a hole with this one. That would be a bad way to start out a presidency that I have had a lot of hope in so far.

Tim Blair, my former boss’s boss (er… something like that), puts it quite eloquently:

Inexperience in Washington politics is a lot like recruiting a rookie to play on a last place team. They certainly won’t make things worse and might just make things better.

Is it possible for conservative evangelicals to be respectful of their political opponents?

While I have my concerns, I can respect Christians who stand on the Republican side of the fence. What I can’t tolerate is how they seem to be the group most likely to muckrake and speak unkindly of their opponents.

I’ve long since lost count of friends and acquaintances sharing videos and links that paint the Democratic candidates as though their presidency would bring the Earth to its end while praising the Republican candidates’ every move. I can’t, however, think of more than a small handful of times when any opposing group did the same to such a large degree. Maybe this is because I am, more often than not, surrounded by Christians, most of which probably lean Republican.

Ours is the only population that I have seen doing so much to disrupt their chosen opponent. My concern is that such action is not showing the supposed fruit of a healthy faith. If anything, I would expect and hope that the community of believers would be the least likely to be planting seeds of disarray.

I’m trying to address this issue gently; I’m well aware that I’m not perfect or that more often than not I don’t show healthy fruit in my own faith. To be transparent: half of me writes this judgmentally, but the other half is out of honest concern for the way my fellow believers carry out their beliefs.

Is it loving to call a political opponent disgusting when they disagree with you on a particular issue? Furthermore, is it respectful and honoring to those who do not share your political views?

To put a face on it: I’m an Obama supporter. I don’t agree with his entire policy, but we agree on the issues that are most important to me. That’s not my point, though. My concern is that, if I feel disrespected and judged when my Christian peers speak harshly about Obama (and I do), how much more are non-believers going to feel that way?