There was a lot of lip service dedicating ourselves to civility not long ago after Congresswoman Giffords was shot in Arizona earlier this year. Then there was a small amount of national unity when U.S. arch enemy Usama bin Laden was assassinated by Navy Seals. Neither lasted that long.

Civility and unity will never be maintained when political sides keep polarizing the nation. When we find that, a priori, the “other side” is 100% wrong and “my side” is 100% right we’ve become a nation of fundamentalists be they liberal or conservative or anything in between.

Let me just say that I did not vote for Barack Obama in the last election. As a social conservative my views and his views simply differ. We are far from political allies.  But contrary to the trend of vilifying and demonizing one’s political opponents, let me kindle the spirit of civility if not unity by highlighting the things l find agreeable about Barack Obama:

• The president’s recent decision to go after Usama bin Laden is to be applauded. Maybe his predecessor should get some credit but, good or bad, it was going to be his keister on the line. He took the gamble; he should get the return. And yes, the Seals did the hard stuff but Obama would have paid a huge price if any of them had been harmed or the operation went sour.
• I also agreed with his decision not to reveal the photographs. Honestly, there could be no good to come of that and he was spot-on to take the moral highroad on this issue.  Yeah, like, I’m going to recognize a man I’ve never met with half his head missing? I don’t need to see those photographs and neither do you.
• Obama is a dedicated husband and father. I don’t think he’s the type to get caught up in some sex-scandal, thank God, because I don’t need to see the photographs of him either after Michele hunts him down with a team of Navy Seals.
• Barack Obama is not an idiot. I don’t like it when people say a politician or president is an idiot only because they don’t agree with their policies. That’s just a lame excuse for not being able to frame one’s own thoughts on an issue. “Ha! He doesn’t know the capital of Assyria!” And you don’t know one of hundreds of proofs for the Pythagorean Theorem—are you an idiot too? In any case Barack Obama is no idiot and has the degrees to prove it.
• He’s a Christian. He probably prays, like I do, to a resurrected Jewish rabbi named Joshua. And this was a deliberate decision on his part and not part of some upbringing. Think about it—if he’s not an idiot and he chose to be a Christian…well?
• He can change his mind on an issue. I do to sometimes. That’s called growth. If you’ve never been persuaded that your view on an issue was totally wrong, your spouse is probably miserable.
• Maybe he invited the rapper Common to the White House but he also invited Rick Warran to pray at his inauguration. You win some, you lose some.
• The beer summit was brilliant. I never heard from those two guys again. Why can’t we have more beer summits? Could this work in the Middle East?

Barack Obama is my president, right or wrong, good or bad. I will not put a bumper sticker on my car that vilifies him or assassinates his character or dates the last day of his presidency.  He has not done anything to merit impeachment or the epithet that he’s the “worse president ever”.  It may surprise people that, as a Christian, I am commanded to pray for those in authority over me which include the president of the United States. Romans 13 is quite clear that Barack Obama is God’s servant.  This may seem peculiar to those who don’t know the Bible or the traditions of Christianity—but that’s what we do, or should do.

Do you pray for Barack Obama? Do you vilify politicians that you don’t agree with?

Are you a fundamentalist…