Wrights, Wrongs, Faith and Politics

A few things here. I certainly understand his preaching about the plight of poor blacks in America.

But...(you knew that was coming didn't you?)

I have never and would never attend a church that was so political. The closest thing I've ever experienced was when our priest told people to read and vote on a particular bill. He did not tell them how to vote just to please read the bill and vote on it. The rest, he assumed, would be obvious. Just as I'd flee any church flogging Barack Obama I would similarly leave in disgust at any church pushing any Republican or Libertarian candidate no matter how much I supported them.

I've never been comfortable with the shouting, sweating preacher. Whenever I see the videos of the shouting, sweating Imams it gives me a shudder. I see a wild eyed zealot. I imagine if someone in Iraq were watching Rev. Wrong Wright shouting and sweating in a language he didn't understand it might give him pause as well. I understand that the Baptist tradition seeks to elevate emotion to a spiritual connection. However, it has always struck me as unserious. I've always liked the more thoughtful aspects Mass rather than the emotional one even if the latter is transcendent. I prefer thoughtful reflection to a sweeping tide of emotion. To me, getting carried away on emotion can lead places that you may not want to go. After you calm down a bit you may stop and look around and ask yourself how the hell you got there. I don't doubt the sincerity or the faith of people who like the upbeat energy of such a service. I do, however, think that zealotry is more likely to arise in places where powerful emotions are in play.

Second, how is this anything other than an explicit endorsement of a political candidate? How is it that the IRS is not revoking their tax free status? (Likewise James Dobson, Fallwell, Robertson et al.) As a Catholic the most I hear "don't endorse or support candidates that support birth control, death penalty or abortion." That's pretty wide net. One you'd be hard pressed to be able to fill. Combine that with the social justice teachings like helping the poor and I've yet to find a candidate that hit all the marks or frankly, even comes close. The other key difference is that this comes from church authorities but not from the pulpit. To me, there's a big difference. To the non-religious it's probably splitting hairs. What I hear from the priest (or deacon) during a homily or any time during Mass should be confined almost exclusively to the spiritual not the temporal. It's the isolation from the temporal that makes the spiritual timeless and powerful. Right and wrong, moral and immoral do not change with time. Things that are morally wrong will always be so no matter what the temporal realm thinks of it. The trouble with mixing the temporal and the spiritual is they corrupt each other. The two are never going to be fully isolated and I'm not suggesting they should be. Rather, I believe I should tend to my spiritual needs on one plane and one only. That compass of right and wrong will then guide me in the temporal realm without an explicit roadmap of what points my pastor thinks I need to hit.

Obama's distancing himself from the comments (but not the man) ring hollow for me. He excoriated Don Imus and said he should be fired for his stupid, bigoted comments about Rutger's Women's Basketball team. He said he didn't want to go on the show to "lend credence" to anything the man had to say. To stay in his company would be a tacit endorsement of what he said. Strange how this position doesn't apply to the good Reverend's comments.

That Rev. Wright did not voluntarily resign is also interesting. No doubt he is thrilled with the media attention and doesn't believe he said anything wrong.

My list of questions for the Senator would be as follows:

After attending services regularly for 20 years in Wright's church have you never heard any comments like these before?

You have rejected Louis Farrakhan's support for his past comments. Rev. Wright was honored by Farrakhan's group and even attended a trip with him to Tripoli. Given that many of Rev. Wright's comments dovetail with Farrakhan's where's the line between the two?

If Rev. Wright had a radio should would you call for him to be fired for his comments?

Please explain how you did not know your spiritual mentor held such views.

I am both saddened and sickened that my choices for any office seem to be holding my nose and picking the least worst one.

I had hope for Obama but the scales are falling from my eyes and I see that while he is more honest than some *cough* Hillary *cough* that isn't saying much. I also think he's running as one thing and will be another entirely once elected. I think his real tendencies towards radicalism will show and that will be another man entirely.