FALSANI:Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:Yes.
FALSANI:What is sin?
OBAMA:Being out of alignment with my values.
Please don't think me a horrid partisan, especially as I have no issue with the current president or any of his predecessors. Frankly, I don't put a lot of faith in any politician, which is one of the liberating aspects of being a Christian. God, not government, rules creation, at least in my understanding and that of my Christian culture. I offer up this interesting quotation to display the "theological" perspective that I think is common in the contemporary governing class, including members of both political parties.
For those puzzled, sin is defined as a separation from God or, put perhaps too simply, from God's values. We do not commit sin when separated from our own values. [Unless, of course, we are God; something I don't think even politicians believe.] If we did, we would confess sin to ourselves, absolve ourselves, and seek to have a closer relationship with ourselves. God would not be a factor, nor, I think, would Jesus' redemptive moment on the cross. If we extend the logic of this quoted exchange, we could expect to crucify ourselves for the sake of ourselves and in redemption of ourselves.
Now I'm getting dizzy.