UNEASY BEDFELLOWS - RELIGION & POLITICS
The mix of religion and politics has always disturbed me and intrigued me. Its a very easy and often very volatile mix. It chaps my hide when one political group co-opts God and faith to push their agenda(s). I don't think Hashem would be too thrilled about it either. Like the joke says "God's fat, black and she's pissed off." I would be too. This intrigue is why I started blogging in the first place. The 'disturbed' part is why I went to the Network of Spiritual Progressives conference last year and the Progressive Faith BlogCon last over a year ago.
Our country has struggled many times with the theocracy rumblings. My own patriarchal ancestors, the Puritans, were such fundamental extremists - England asked them to leave. Fast forward to these days - and Muslims Extremists have moved into the U.K. and a fast growing unease has gripped people there. Particularly British Jews. And the dhimmitude has already spread to the 'got to be P.C.' shores of the U.S.A.
Now we have the extremes of atheist rumblings and fundamentalist preachings stepping up to this country's virtual microphone blathering on about the presidental race. I just pray its not another "Anybody But A Bush-y" bloodbath.
People still stereotype and make assumptions based on religion. Where I grew up there were NO Jews. Zero. Zip. First time I met someone I knew was Jewish, was in undergrad school. I was told Jews had horns, smelled funky and wore wierd clothes. Well, considering it was the 70s - they got 2 out of 3 right! Of course 7 years ago when my mother, of blessed memory, passed I find out her grandfather might have been a Jew. Go figure!
This is America and you can't tell by looking. Or by worship either.
Though people who should know better are still trying.
A Passion for Moderation
by Tom Krattenmaker
These are not the brightest times for religious moderates. Mainstream Episcopalians, Methodists, Catholics and the like, they're being upstaged by the more aggressive actors at the polar ends of the spectrum. From Christian conservatives flies rhetoric that pays little heed to the inclusiveness, reasonable tones and subtlety of the ecumenical middle. And from anti-religion author Sam Harris and like-minded atheists comes the damning suggestion that moderates enable violent fundamentalism and that moderation, as Harris puts it, "is the result of not taking Scripture all that seriously."
If any conclusions can be drawn from my recent conversations with the voice of religious moderation here in Oregon, those in the measured middle are going to be heard from more in the days ahead. And they take their Scripture very seriously.
Carla Starrett-Bigg, outreach director for Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, exhibits nothing short of a passion when she describes the need for religion to put forward its moderate, thoughtful face, and how her group is striving to do just that.
Especially here in the more-secular-than-thou Pacific Northwest, to reveal your religiosity is sometimes to subject yourself to some harsh stereotypes, Starrett-Bigg points out. She likens it to going to Europe and revealing you're an American. "They'll say, 'You don't seem like an American. You're not fat. You don't carry a gun.' That's how it can be for Christians now. People assume you hate gay people or that you're just like Jerry Falwell."
COMPLETE STORY HERE
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME
Comments