One of the most unsettling and revoltingly anti-democratic aspects of the eight year nightmare that we're finally waking from, is the push toward an American theocracy by churches such as this one, and individuals in the Bush Administration.

It needs to stop. America lost is collective mind in the wake of 9-11 and it was the perfect opening for whack-job fundamentalists to push themselves on to center stage. The erosion of the necessary line between church and state has chilled me to the bone.

We have been under the sway of deeply ignorant and fearful people for nearly a decade, and the degradation to our society and our standing in the world has been drastic and disastrous. We've had individuals in positions of power who reject and deride science, who start conflicts and wars based upon their belief in "the end times". We have people who use an entire segment of society - gays and lesbians- as scapegoats, the invectives and hatred spouted against us by "Christians" over the past eight years echoes precisely the tenor of the Anti-Semitic rantings of the Nazis during the 1930's.

This is a dark era in America that cannot come to an end quickly enough.

As one parishoner was quoted, "We've got a lot of people in this country who want to lead their individual lives, they want to be left alone by the government, and they call themselves conservative Republicans."

I would add that we've got a lot of American citizens- the majority- who don't want to have extreme, narrow-minded, fucked up bigotry legislated upon us under the guise of religion, or religious tolerance.

I, for one, cannot wait for churches like this to fade into obscurity. And I will do as much as I can to ensure that they never gain such outsized power and authority again. I am only one person, but for the sake of my freedom, it's the least that I can do.

What a beautifully written and accurate article.

I have been filled with joy and pride again in the past day. What an incredible, amazing time we are witnessing!

One aspect of Obama's victory that I find wonderful is the fact that it has proved all of the cynics wrong.

They said he was "too young".

They said his ethnicity would be too much of a factor.

They said he was "untested".

And they were ALL wrong.

It's nice to see that we have the capacity to wipe cynicism and negativity away through positive actions.

Hope really IS powerful.

is that you are so used to presenting yourself as the "strange" one, that acting in a different way seems like a compromise, or inauthentic. Perhaps you also worry about the response of your peer group and family precisely because they view you as the "strange one".

In a sense, your identity may be limiting your happiness. You feel obligated to the role but wonder if it is holding you back from happiness.

Maybe you are asking yourself- "If I'm not the "strange one", how will people know and identify me?"

The answer is, by the nature of your person. Who we are is much more than what we wear, or what movies we watch or how we act at parties. Ultimately, your happiness is much more important than maintaining a role.

"Creative Types" (whatever that means. lol.) struggle with this all of the time. Artists are expected to be wild drunks, or depressives, or starving in squalor for their art. The reality of most successful artists is the opposite, and has more to do with the nature and quality of their work than the image they project.

You should do what makes you happy, even if it seems conventional at first blush.

As a 28 year old man, I completely understand the tenor of this article, and the sentiments within.

That's why this election is so incredible. We are a generation that has been hungry for meaning, hungry for the chance to create a better country and a better world. We've been yearning to participate and get involved. And for the past eight years we were all told- all Americans- that the only thing we should do is sit down, shut up, go shopping- and leave the "hard work" up to the people in charge.

Well, that is not how you maintain a democracy. That is not how you keep citizens participating in the civic enterprise known as the United States of America, that is not how you inspire millions to get up, turn off the tv, and knock on doors and call their friends and reach out in their communities and discover their neighbors and work together with them, instead of fighting over superficialities.

That is why the election of Barack Obama is one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed. This election took the politics and social policies of cynicism and negativity and threw them into the garbage where they rightly belong.

It is a new world. I am so excited. And I cannot wait to get in and participate!

One week after the most historic election in America's history and pundits and columnists are already trying to handicap the 2012 race?

STOP IT.

We've just gone through the longest election and primary cycle in history. It's been exhausting. Give us a break.

Pundits, columnists, etc. Go have a cup of coffee. Take a break. Get some fresh air for god's sake.