Red State Rebels

Tennessee on my mind

As a Unitarian Universalist, I've been thinking about and praying for my UU brothers and sisters in Knoxville, Tennessee, where a man opened fire in a UU church Sunday morning, during a children's performance. Two people were killed and six were injured by gunfire, but no children were hurt - physically, at least. The 58-year-old man arrested in the attack said he was prompted to act by my church's liberal teachings. (Story here.)

Plenty of writers have weighed in, trying to make sense of this senseless act. This is an eyewitness account from a member of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. And this is a reflection written by one of my fellow Boise UUs, the father of a young child. He notes how, in our local Sunday service this week, we were treated to a trip through the Grand Canyon - and how surreal it seems to realize now what was going on in Knoxville just hours before, in another UU sanctuary. David writes:

I'm juggling this message of hope and beauty against the horrific reality of what took place that same day in Tennessee. It's too much to fathom. I do believe, however, that trying times call for an outpouring of love. Not hate. We as a people must rise above mindless acts by misguided individuals. Harboring hate in your heart only allows it to fester and poison your entire being.

I believe we must come together in community and redouble our efforts to realize a world that focuses on love, not hate. Peace, not violence. Compassion, not division. This may be the impossible dream, but it sure beats the alternative. It beats wasting this gift of life on fear, anger and resentment.

Tom explores the ironies, as well.

I'm voting Republican

You know, I just think they've been right all along - so why fight it?

Seriously, on behalf of my fellow Boise Democrats, welcome to the 2008 Idaho Democratic Convention. I won't be with you - I'm in Denver on a business trip - but I am there in spirit. Have fun and get ready to kick some GOP butt! (Thanks for the video, Dale ...)

Clayton Cramer is living in a bad movie

I rarely read Clayton Cramer's blog because he's just so ... out there. But then the Statesman quoted him yesterday in its roundup of reaction to Barack Obama's nomination. This is the passage that caught my attention:

... there are a lot of moderate to even conservative Democrats who recognize that civilization comes first. Barack Hussein Obama seems not to fully understand the seriousness of the battle between civilized behavior and those who use power tools to torture people to death.

Well, here's what Clayton Cramer and his fellow fearmongers don't understand: Yes, terror exists. But for every fanatic who wages jihad and seeks martyrdom, there are millions of peace-loving  Muslims who shun extremism. Increasingly, they are marginalizing the extremists in their religion, just as Christians are doing here in the United States. And speaking of civilization, to most of us, it means quality health care and education, decent jobs with living wages, and being able to hold our heads up in the world because our nation is leading with integrity and truth, not starting wars based on lies.

Clayton Cramer seems to live in some slasher movie, where power-tool wielding terrorists lurk behind every corner and only testosterone-fueled American he-men can keep them from invading our homes. Fortunately, reality is far different - and the reality is, most Americans will choose clear-eyed, pragmatic, and ultimately optimistic leadership over fear-based bluster and bombast.   

A final thought before I ignore Clayton Cramer for another long spell: Isn't it interesting that the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry backed this fringe-dweller in his primary against moderate Tim Corder? I've never been a fan of IACI, but to see the pro-business group cynically align itself with Cramer's brand of nuttery is just disturbing. Of course, the more fractured and frustrated the Idaho GOP and its allies become, the better for us all. We need two-party government in Idaho, and the GOP's slow-mo implosion may just give it to us.

Obama parts ways with Rev. Wright

My email box is filling up with Idahoans for Obama messages about the candidate's denunciation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, so I thought I'd put up a thread here for anyone who cares to weigh in.

I spend my much of my days working on racial equity, so I can relate to much of what Wright has said, though I just as clearly understand how he was way over the top with some of his statements. It's hard to understand why, after laying low for weeks, Wright decided to start speaking out just over a week before what could be a decisive day of primaries (May 6) for his former parishioner.

Or - one theory goes - maybe Wright knew that by resurfacing now, he'd actually be doing Obama a favor in giving him another chance to distance himself from the pastor's more incendiary comments. "I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks, but what I do want him to be very clear about...is that when I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it," Obama said today. "It contradicts everything that I'm about and who I am."

Will it work? I'm not watching CNN or Fox, so I don't know how this is being spun. I only hope that the media - and more importantly, Indiana and North Carolina voters - can take Obama at his word that Wright does not speak for his campaign. I also hope that Obama's statements today will be shown at least as many times as the cut-and-paste snippets of Wright's most inflammatory speeches. Yeah, right.

Our nation can only move forward if it can move beyond divisive rhetoric, no matter what the source. That is the hope and the promise of Obama's campaign. Are we ready as a nation to accept the challenge,  or do we prefer to endlessly wallow in the muck? We should know one week from tonight.

Religion

I have to admit I am a person that strongly believes in separation of church and state; and my own spirituality is not main stream.  That said it seems to me there is a LOT of religion in campaigns and in politics. 

Here locally for example Fischer's program that claims it is in charge of the values of my state.  Yet a LOT of the folks I know, including Christians disagree that he or his group speak for them.  Apparently they have raised enough cash to continue their missions.

Then today on the National front we have Romney talking of being a Mormon and folks comparing it to when Kennedy ran and the concern folks had over his being Catholic.  Now I would not vote for Romney for a large number of reasons BUT I do agree with him that religion is not what we elect.

I have problems with tenants of the Mormon faith, and I exercise my right to just not practice that version of religion. 

I wondered some today (still am to be honest) how honest I am with myself on where I draw the religion line, for example would I suggest in a campaign tactics meeting to exploit a persons religion.  Or only if a lot of folks called it a cult?  I DO already point out fundie beliefs in some.

I am afraid I do think that there are some religions that in my opinion have you suspend logic in order to be a believer and follower.  I can't help but think that would be a person that I would have so many OTHER reasons to vote against that I would have a lot to work with leaving the religion out of the discussion.

Yet I will admit I do have serious concerns over fundamentalists in higher office.

I really doubt I am the only person that feels some inner struggle, in my thoughts on the topic.

t

Monday morning water cooler 9.17.07

Vineyard Christian Fellowship is in the Idaho Statesman again today for its leading role in the evangelical Christian "creation care" movement. (I noticed Vineyard had a booth at the Hyde Park Street Festival last weekend, too.) The Garden City-based Vineyard will host a national environmental stewardship conference later this week.

I applaud what Vineyard is doing, but I still wonder whether and how it might be affecting congregants' voting patterns. (I wrote the following letter to the Statesman shortly after Vineyard unveiled its environmental initiative a few years ago.)

    It's good to hear Vineyard Christian Fellowship is pursuing a new campaign of environmental stewardship, based on the belief that the Earth is God's creation and the Bible calls us to take care of it.
    But how does this position jibe with voting, as I am sure most of Vineyard's fundamentalist congregants did last fall, for George W. Bush? The current president has a truly awful record on the environment, ranging from his denial that global warming even exists to his bullheaded push to drill for a negligible amount of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
If Vineyard's congregants really want to help preserve our planet, they'll urge the president to support better fuel economy standards, improved public transit funding, responsible family planning to prevent overpopulation, and an end to the environmental mayhem wrought by “shock-and-awe”-style military actions. How about it?

In today's article, Vineyard pastor Tri Robinson is quoted as saying, "If people know Jesus they'll vote right. They'll have compassion and mercy and care about the world around them."

Interesting stuff. All I can say is this: If Bryan Fischer is mad at you, you are doing something right.

P.S. from Julie ... this is going to be my last post for a while. Despite my announced "retirement," I have been making too many posts. It's time for others to Step It Up, so to speak!