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Food for Thought:
Here's the problem with acting too "holy" or too "self righteous."
Nobody, and I mean, nobody, is that perfect.
I asked the question on my Facebook page, "Why is everyone making such a fuss about Sarah Palin's daughter?"
And the response was, "Because her political party is always talking about "family values" and "abstinence until marriage," and they have a candidate who can't even make that work in her own family."
I don't know that I would call it hypocritical that conservatives would think it's OK for a woman to lead the nation but not a congregation, but it sure is interesting.
And, for the record, it isn't just conservatives who have the hang-up about women leading congregations; people who call themselves liberal have plenty of objections to women in the pulpit.
We are people of privilege. I say that because we are living in a moment in history that is almost too great to comprehend. From our beginnings as slaves in this country, we are witnessing the ascension of an African American to heights our ancestors might never have imagined. Many of us didn't either.
When Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America on Wednesday, a link in the chain of our history was broken. From slavery and the insult of being considered property, our people have moved to the possibility of one of our own being on the verge of the presidency.
It is almost too awesome to take in. At the moment Senator Obama was officially nominated, black people wept. My friends' parents, both octogenarians and participants in the Civil Rights movement, sobbed. A little boy, fascinated but not fully understanding what was going on, asked, as he watched his parents cry, "Are we supposed to celebrate or something?"
When first confronted with the question about the role religion should play in the campaigns, I thought, "none."
I still think that. But by all means, let there be a God-consciousness that permeates every single thing the candidates do.
There was something wonderful, yet sad, about Michelle Obama's speech on Monday.
The wonderful part is that it was history. Never did any of us, or especially our ancestors, expect to see a "brown" face as the little boy of one of my friends say, speaking as the possible new First Lady of the United States. For those who love history, as I do, the moment was one to be relished and cherished. The blood, sweat, tears and faith of our ancestors has not come to nothing; persistence and faith combined works, and we are seeing the evidence of it.
But what was sad to me is how carefully Michelle Obama had to be not to mention race or racism, the biggest problems in American culture.
When is it OK not to forgive?
And what does forgiveness really mean? As so many of us understand it, is it destructive?
Someone has to help me because I am truly confused.
Rick Warren said that "we believe in the separation of church and state but not separation of faith and politics."
So, at the end of the forum at Saddleback Church, what was the verdict? Who has the "best" or most viable faith, Obama or McCain? I mean, whose faith makes the best politics?
When it is all said and done, does it matter what a United States president believes when it comes to abortion, stem cell research and same sex marriage?
I found myself thinking about that as I listened to the forum Pastor Rick Warren held at Saddleback Community Church with presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
I have one question I would ask both Senators Obama and McCain, if I had the chance, and that is, why? Why have you consented to sit in a church, an evangelical megachurch at that, to answer questions from that church's pastor, Rick Warren?
What's up?
Our "community" lost two precious souls in two days: Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.
I am still reeling from the shock.
So, when I read David Waters' piece on Isaac Hayes in the "Under God" section of the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, I was ready to just absorb some warm, wonderful memories about the legendary singer.
That's not what I absorbed, but, rather, the news (to me) that he was a Scientologist.
When Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said that in bad times, some people "cling to" their guns or religion, there was an uproar. People were offended, and remarked that it was almost unconscionable that he would say such a thing.
I had a debate with a friend of mine this week.
I was saying that I was glad that the United States Congress , the House, specifically, voted to approve a resolution which apologizes for what this country did to African Americans.
The measure, which was introduced by a white man, Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, Tennessee, apologized for slavery and Jim Crow laws, and said that slavery was a "fundamental" injustice, which resulted in "cruelty, brutality and inhumanity."
My friend dismissed the apology, saying it was political. Cohen is running for re- election in the Democratic primary on August 7 against an African American.
It has never made sense to me, people who say they love God hating other people, or at least being seriously prejudiced against them.
When I was little, I remember being really puzzled and hurt as I watched mothers throw rocks at buses that carried black children to previously white schools. I was hurt because I thought mothers as a genre were kind and good and loving. I couldn't imagine my mother ever saying a mean thing to another child, no matter whose child it might be or what nationality he or she might be. Mothers were a different breed.
When I first saw the question for this week, I got angry at the ACLU. I could not understand why it would be opposed to prayers being said at mandatory meals.
Praying before meals seems to be fairly innocuous.
But then I read the reasons why the ACLU submitted a letter to the U.S. Naval Academy, asking that prayers before mandatory lunch be stopped.
Even if one is agnostic or an atheist, it is hard to believe that what we see around us is all there is.
A friend of mine, years ago, kind of rattled me when we were talking about the possibility of life on other planets, and he said, “Well, you don't think human life as we know it is all there is, do you? Don't you think that's kind of arrogant?”
There are some things about organized religion that send me over the top. And one of those things is use of ritual to keep people separated from God and from each other.
I understand that ritual is important, and it is beautiful in many cases. Ritual can inspire awe and faith and make a person want to know about the mysterium of God. But ritual too often disintegrates into rules which, to me, make no sense, and which make many people want to run from God instead of to God.
Well, I was confused.
I thought atheists didn't believe in God, period, so the fact that some self-proclaimed atheists pray to God or some universal spirit, and some believe in heaven, caught me totally off-guard.
So, I read a few definitions and I think I understand ... that atheists do not believe that the existence of God or gods has been proved. If that is the case, two things come to my mind: one, they're not much different from Christians, and two they are more agnostic than atheistic.
This week I was reading the newspaper when I saw something about Evangelicals heading a rally called "Jesus for President."
I immediately got an attitude; my back arched, my face got red and I got ready to "read for a fight" which is what I do when I read things written by or for so-called Evangelicals in the past.
There are a lot of terms used in religion, terms used that most of us have heard so often that we forget that we do not really know what they mean.
The term "grace," I suspect, is one of those terms. I would venture to say that when most religious folks speak of grace, they are thinking of that which we get from God that keeps us away from the gates of hell. In my home church, Trinity UCC in Chicago, we were taught that "grace is a free gift that you cannot earn."
My son and I got into an intellectual push-and-pull about what comedy is and what it isn't. What spurred our conversation was the fact that some members of the Hindu community are not at all impressed with Mike Myers' most recent comedy release, "The Love Guru," which opens in theaters this week. Some of the Hindu community have protested that the movie is offensive and makes fun of their faith.
"It's comedy, Ma," my son explained as patiently as he could. "The power of religion is that it allows people, gives people, a tool with which to make sense of the world. Some people get real serious when they're trying to understand and some people laugh.
"If more religious people would or could laugh at themselves, this world might be a lot better," he said.
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