“Thank God it’s over” was the statement of relief shared by a person the other day, obviously expressing gladness that the elections were done.

I pondered: Is it really over, or is it just the beginning of worse or better things to come?

In spite of the historical landmark established by voting via postal mail, Federal Way still has a ways to go in keeping the community united. I had mixed feelings about the new way of voting. One, I was glad I didn’t have to go through the annual “are you a citizen” questioning, even though I had my legal voting card. Secondly, I would prefer a process where I feel that my vote has been validated, and maybe not lost “in the mail.”

Speaking of validation and not being lost, that’s what we need more as citizens of this community. One of the key components to building a strong and balanced city is the engagement with faith-based organizations. It has been said that politics and religion don’t mix — like trying to mix water and oil. However, throughout American history, we have seen the religious institutions put down their “separation of church and government” political signs and have embraced the political perspectives of social acceptance. In similar manner, the politician will resurface his/her family religious heritage and will embrace the church as if the light was guiding the blind, even though they straddle the fence of hypocrisy.

Earlier this year, city officials hosted an open dialogue in which the public participated in sharing any concerns and ideas on how the community, city and churches could work together. I thought it was a good idea. The forum resulted with great interaction between local citizens, elected officials and church leaders. Since then, nothing has been done or followed up. Why put false hope and perhaps lose sight of the efforts somewhere in the shuffle of other selfish agendas?

Why is it like that? Why do pastors, preachers and prophets compromise and court the politician that is praying to God (even though he doesn’t believe in one), that the message of faith be kept in a bottle? Does the politician need the religious community, or is it all about dating and courting, then kicking its constituents or congregants to the curb after persuading them to open their assets and acquaintances? Why does the pulpit become a podium of debate over human and moral issues, while the podium is sugar coated with mockery of God’s word and wisdom?

It is time that the religious institutions and its servants of God, along with the elected public servants, form a partnership of collaborative strategies and vision that is not political driven, purse digging and deceptive.

One of the challenges facing us today is the belief that America has a religious mission determined by God and the belief that there is a distinction between good politics and good religion. The discussion over the separation of church and state is often connected with the general division between the concepts of secularism and theocracy.

We need to recognize that in spite of our philosophical, theological, political and cultural differences, we have a common denominator that we cannot neglect. It is the concept of objective value, which translates to the belief that certain attitudes, concepts and values are really true and others are false.

Many opponents of church and state separation advocate that a government is not good if it is absent of religious concepts and religious values. Some even argue that Christian principles specifically are necessary for morality, civility and good citizenship. They deny that secular government can be good government, to the extent of claiming that we have freedom of religion, and not freedom from religion.

Whichever side you choose, we still need to find ways to engage both entities in an action-driven agenda. That is for the true sake of the people and not the authors of either theosophical or philosophical precepts embraced.

To the pulpiteers and the podium politicians, I encourage you to be real and don’t hide behind the striped curtain. The people whose support you seek after may be simple minded and at times may think of you as a wizard. But they are the stars that keep the stripes intact. They are the true personality of what portrays a true community.

A tragicomedy is that we hold on to those qualities, values and agendas. These are seemingly fruitless and will inevitably foster men and women with spineless values and chest-less convictions to live what they preach. In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: Do the values, principles and laws they advocate and preach uplift or degrade human personality? The bottom line is, are they real?