Yes, in addition to prayer we should attend and conduct ourselves properly. Christians have "sat" on the sidelines for far to long and its time to stand up for what we believe. We must be knowledgeable about the subjects at hand if we are going to comment.

If we are to be salt and light in this world, how can we be unless we are in attendance at one/some of these events? True, we are not of this world, but the Lord Jesus commanded us to occupy till He come. If we don't occupy, who does? The world and the devil does....

On the show Steve suggested that one reason Christians might not want to attend the tea parties is because the other tea partyers are not as concerned with the issues that concern evangelical Christians the most. Steve said those issues are abortion and homosexuality. By focusing on these two issues the most Christians ignore the very real evils plaguing our society like poverty, homelessness, hunger, overpopulation, a grossly unfair distribution of wealth and income, ecological despoliation resulting from corporate greed, militarism, racism, freedom-denying invasive drug laws, an inadequate public education system among others. By focusing attention on sexual issues Christians divert attention from real problems and instead they actually work to worsen evils such as homophobia and sexism in the name of Christian morality or "family values." Issues such as abortion rights and gay marriage are civil rights issues. It seems like most evangelical Christians are more concerned with infringing on other people’s civil liberties than they are with their biblical mandate to care for the poor among other biblical commands. Abortion rights are also a public safety issue. Making abortions illegal would not curb the number of abortions as studies done in countries where abortion is illegal have shown. It would only make them more dangerous. Besides the general public is purposely being deceived by conservative politicians into thinking there is any basis for hope that Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned in the upcoming decades in the United States of America. By claiming to be “pro-life” politicians have one more issue they can use to appeal to conservative voters. I don’t want to get into a bunch of legalese but average person doesn’t understand why legalized abortion is designed to continue forever in the USA because they don’t understand legal principles such as stare decisis. Casey v. Planned Parenthood is the Supreme Court case that defines stare decisis. As both Justices Roberts and Alito said under oath prior to their approval to the Supreme Court, the principles of stare decisis dictate the reasoning process justices must follow in deciding cases that fall under Supreme Court jurisdiction.

There are ways that both pro and anti-choice people could work together to reduce the number of abortions, if they wanted to. Together they could have considerable organizing and fundraising abilities to lobby for improved access to birth control and sex education, which could probably cut the abortion rate in half within a few years. But we know that isn’t going to happen. Not only are the anti-choice against abortion, most of them are against birth control and sex education, too, because their goal is not to reduce unwanted pregnancies or even abortions. What they really want to do is prohibit sex outside of marriage. Let’s be honest here please.

One caller to the show said that he stands outside and pickets at an abortion clinic on Saturday. I don’t have a problem with that as along as people don’t shout at already traumatized women. I don’t have a problem with people gathering at the tea parties either and I don’t see why evangelicals shouldn’t attend them. But both of these actions are sort of like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. The health care legislation is settled law that’s only going to be tweaked here and there from now on. And as I pointed we should be trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies rather than the number of unwanted fetuses or abortions.

Gathering in groups of like-minded people and shouting about what the group doesn’t like about the “other side” isn’t going to get much accomplished. What we as citizens should be doing is reaching out to people who disagree with us, and try to find common ground. We should set an example for our congress, which refuses to work together on the issues. If they don’t follow suit we can find someone who will. So let’s forget the tea parties and sit down and have coffee or a beer and try to make the world a better place.

I don't think beer will ever make the world a better place.

Yes Christians should attend, and when they are there take the opportunity to hand out some tracts and do some witnessing. Use the opportunity of a large crowd to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is about way more than healthcare and the other rights infringements being perpetrated by the Obama administration, the tea partiers, being civic minded individuals, are taking these issues to heart and wanting to address them as well.

Boris says: I’m not sure how free health care for those who need it and keeping the insurance companies from canceling the policies of victims of catastrophic illnesses is infringing on anyone’s rights. Be specific. What rights are you talking about exactly? For example you want to infringe on constitutionally guaranteed abortion rights among others. So name ‘em and claim ‘em. To me your vagaries sure seem like a disguise for something far more sinister.

Some of our "Founding Fathers" were Christian activist and this nation is the result.

Boris says: No bigger lie has ever been told on this planet. None of the principles of our democratic republic can be found anywhere in the Bible. Every Christian nation that existed prior to the United States was a brutal, violent, intolerant theocracy based on the supposed divine right of kings. There was never a “Christian” democracy. The claim that ANY of our founders were Christian activists or that this nation could possibly be the result of Christian activism is ludicrous! Our government and laws are modeled after Greek and Roman democracies that existed long before Christianity or the Bible did. The Bible knows nothing about publicly elected officials, citizen participation in government or democracy but only theocracy. Members of the Religious Reich seem to forget we don’t live in a theocracy.