"My two main men are Jesus and 'ol John Birch"

Neil Young, Richie Furay and Stephen Stills

I try hard to stay away from politics here. Oh, I have slipped a few times, but I never feel informed enough to state a coherent opinion publicly. And I have plenty of opinions.

But I will say (or write) something if I feel strongly enough about it -- or if I think I know enough to not come off as a fool.

So, here goes, simplistic or not.

I have long admired Richie Furay, he of Buffalo Springfield and Poco. Poco's "A Good Feelin' to Know" is one of my all-time favorite records. Not a weak cut anywhere; a great, great album.

Furay is now an ordained minister and has a church in Colorado. Good for him.

I recently noticed he was on Facebook and I gave him a follow. He was posting thoughts and photos from a trip to the Holy Land, along with random scriptures.

Good for him.

Now I see he is "liking" and "sharing" all the conservative hate for Obama in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. Awful, anti-Muslim stuff. And even worse, a lot of negativity regarding the acceptance of Syrian refugees. Hey Richie, to me, that's not very Christian of you.

Not good for him.

And you can have your issues with Obama; I'm not thrilled with him often either.

But I was under the impression that the basic tenets of Christianity are that of compassion and peace, not spreading hate or prejudice. I still hear, see and read a lot of this intolerance from the "Christian" folks I know. It's more than unbecoming, it's ugly.

Every one of them should be ashamed of themselves.

But the fact that a minister is doing this -- well, that doesn't sit too well with me. I 'm still looking in the Bible for the passages where Jesus says we should buy more guns or take up arms, either in our daily lives or to respond to violence.

Richie Furay has long been sort of a hero of mine. Well, you know what they say about trusting your heroes.

And that ain't a good feelin' to know.