"America will not rest until Obama says Jesus had blue eyes"

[mrreowwr_kittty]

Why the fuck do I know Obama’s minister’s name?! No, really. Why? I don’t know John McCain’s minister’s name. (But he does have a “spiritual guide”.) I don’t know Hillary Clinton’s minister’s name? I don’t know John Edwards’ minister’s name. I don’t know Mitt Romney’s minister’s name, and Romney was in a church that is actually out of the mainstream and “raised questions”. I don’t know George Bush’s minister’s name, but I know that whoever he is probably thinks I’m going to burn in hell for all eternity for the sin of being a feminist atheist.

Nothing that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said from the pulpit is, in an objective sense, any worse than damning the majority of the population to hell, which is a bare minimum requirement for the religious right assholes in this country that we’re supposed to show such great respect for because it’s their beliefs and they’re religious. Oh, he shot himself in the foot by giving some liberals a toehold to get all bunched up and judge-y, but the only reason we’re in this place is because Obama’s church is being monitored closely, and it’s being monitored because he’s black, and because his church is a black church, and because a whole lot of white people are looking for a way to define “Christian” in such a way that Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago doesn’t count.

Because, as I’ve said before, the religious tensions in this country are not about actual tenets of faith, dogma, or anything like that. It’s tribal warfare in Sunday clothes. Obama’s church is being monitored by the press, and I for one am outraged. Hell, Huckabee’s fire and brimstone bullshit didn’t get half the attention this nonsense is getting. If we’re going to treat “people of faith” with respect, by god, we better have the same standard for white and for black. I don’t give a shit if someone worships a teapot—it’s all the same to me—I vote for them by their policies. We atheists think it’s all bullshit.

The sad thing is that this tip-toeing respect of religion has been used as a cover for a larger set of cultural issues that, without the Bible-thumping as a distraction, would be much harder to defend. Basically, it’s a culturally conservative, patriarchal, Anglo-Saxon, moneied class trying to demand that they be recognized as the dominant culture in the U.S. that all other cultures are divergences from. When they say, “America is a Christian nation,” they mean, “America is a patriarchal, white-dominated nation with a strict hierarchy that puts our people on top. You may be permitted to have other cultural choices, within limits, so long as you recognize ours publicly as the valid ones.” But boy, if someone from another culture really tries to lay claim to real power, the fucking mask of respect for “people of faith” comes flying off, doesn’t it?




http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2008/03/15/america-will-not-rest-until-obama-says-jesus-had-blue-eyes/

[Nitrogenica]

1. I love this line.

"Nothing that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said from the pulpit is, in an objective sense, any worse than damning the majority of the population to hell, which is a bare minimum requirement for the religious right assholes in this country that we’re supposed to show such great respect for because it’s their beliefs and they’re religious."

Thank you. There is a huge inventory of inflammitory comments by right wing preachers that is far, far scarier and troubling than anything Jeremiah Wright has said.

[frogcycle]

11. like Falwell saying 9/11 was god's punishment?

I don't recall the exact comments, but it was something about god punishing America for permitting abortions and/or tolerating gays; Pat Robertson chimed in and agreeed with him. Not all that far from the Phelps asshole's rants.

You're damned right their bullshit is equally inflammatory & bigoted, but they are the heroes of the rw nutjobs so they get a pass.

They realized the "he's a muslim" thing was drying up so they decided to prove "he's a Stokely Carmichael angry n----" and his religion isn't true loving xtian like theres.

This shit really makes me ashamed of my country. We try to be a tolerant, open, freedom loving society, but the price of that is to tolerate the presence of skinheads, kkk, and other such scumbags. I wonder sometimes if it really IS worth it. I guess it isd, because the way things are now if there were to be a clampdown on vile and vicious talk it would be the left that got shut down and sean hannity would be the only voice out there.

Damn, I am disgusted.

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Not the Only One]

3. Why the fuck do I know Obama’s minister’s name?! ... yep, that really does crystallize it

You don't think Obama is being treated differently from the rest of the candidates? You ponder that question.

Good j0rb.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Can't take credit for it. It's from a blogger named Amanda Marcotte. nt

[LisaL]

18. Oh right.

Too bad about Edwards campaign.

[JeffR]

4. Damn right!

:kick:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. K & R! nt

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bullet1987]

8. Which is why me and others have said that this thing about Obama's

Pastor is centered around race any way you try to frame it...which means if Obama is shafted BECAUSE of this, it'll widen the racial divide that already exists in this country. It's a fucking huge ass double standard to criticize one man's church and ignore the other bigotd and inflammatory voices out there.

[Swamp Rat]

9. Rev. Wright is a fairly nice dude compared to a lot of christofascist preachers

[sueragingroz]

10. Obama put him in play... not the media

You know him because Obama wanted you know him.

Audacity of Hy- I mean Hope remember?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

12. Bullshit. RW fundie asswipes never shy away from a camera, do they?

Take your Hannity talking points elsewhere, 'kay?

[LisaL]

21. Hah?

You were all happy when Obama was saying how christian he is, and how he goes to church.
But I guess what went on in that church should be totally of no interest to anyone.

[Cha]

26. Why don't you go nose around for us

and report back..we'll be expecting all the gory details.

[GoldieAZ49]

13. Romney lost because he was a mormon - Huckabee was always asked

religious - faith questions in the debates

So the candidates with strong religious connects have been scrutinized, Obama has known and talked about his church for over a year, he had to with the muslim rumor, but he has a very strong connection to his pastor that he has discussed, so it is a given that it would be looked at closely.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. Romney and Huckabee were also a couple of hapless dipshits.

And you cannot tell me, despite your correct observation that Obama talks about his faith a lot, that they wouldn't be all up in his church's business regardless. The GOP has a long history of targetting black churches.

[GoldieAZ49]

15. so the grief they got for their faith isn't the same because they were

A. Republicans
B. White

got it

there just picking on Obama

[mrreowwr_kittty]

16. A. yep B. yep

Any more questions?

[GoldieAZ49]

19. LOL nope, the double standards you have are enough

Michelle says Barack is the only one that can fix our souls and they have to be fixed before we can address our problems

and you wonder why they look at his religion that he knew back in the 80's of his church's radical reputation


Obama's problem is of their own making

[mrreowwr_kittty]

24. Yeah, I'm so unfair to those poor dear wealthy white right wingers.

Cry them a fucking river. :nopity:

[GoldieAZ49]

27. save your river of tears

for the wealthy Obamas and all their religious political rhetoric, talk about chickens coming home to roost, Ha!

:nopity:

[cali]

32. bullshit of the first order. Huckabee was a Baptist minister for years

and none of his sermons were scrutinized. For crying out loud; he was the candidate, not just a candidate's pastor.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

33. And Huckabee's sermons could have been full of nasty things

So long as nothing he said threatened the power structure, it would be fine.

[LisaL]

17. Obama has talked about being a christian and going to church.

His pastor was his spiritual mentor.
I have no idea as to why you think no one should know what kind of pastor Obama has.

[GoldieAZ49]

23. Obama also said he consulted Wright before making

any bold political moves

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. you're right but sadly it is a factor now and it shouldn't be

[PurityOfEssence]

22. He has overtly used religion more than anyone else in the campaign.

That, right there, is a big reason why his religious ties are being scrutinized.

John Edwards ran as a candidate who cared about the poor; that's why he took flak for his mansion and his tonsorial expense. Like it or not, that's legitimate subject matter: many people don't want you to be livin' large if you're talking about the small. They didn't talk about Clinton's or Obama's rather nice houses because those two weren't making a big stink about the poor.

If Dennis Kucinich had been running as a nationalistic family values type, you'd have heard that he was on his third marriage and that she was much younger and a foreigner. He wasn't, so you didn't; it didn't conflict with the pitch.

Obama has been THE most overt about bringing up the subject of religion, speaking to big religious gatherings, couching things in religious terms, extolling the virtues of letting one's religion influence one's policies and speaking in terms and that smack of religious piety. He also uses the cadences and imagery of religious speechifying as a standard approach, and he speaks of hope and sweetness and unity and wondrous things like that. That just gets people thinking about his religion, so they probe his religious life. What they find is a guy who's not quite ethereal and soothing togetherness personified, and that's news. The phrase that comes to mind here is "that dog don't hunt".

He brought it up and brings it up continuously. He points to it as a guiding focal point of his personal being. He does this more than anyone else who got much out of the starting gate, and that's why he gets judged accordingly.

It makes perfect sense.

Religion's dangerous stuff, and much as it can sweep one through all sorts of impediments, it's got unintended consequences. Just ask Donnie; I'll bet Obama never saw that one coming...

[BlackVelvet04]

25. Jesus was a Jew.....

not a black man, not a blue eyed WASP.

[Bongo Prophet]

28. Yes, and of a tribe who had been sold into slavery.

This is why black Christians have a different view of the story of Moses, for example.
It resonates in a different way.

This is also why the "prophetic tradition" of harsh condmnation of one's OWN group, as well as that of the slaveholder's resonates differently. Jeremiads and fiery denunciations of grave injustice are the norm in some black churches, like "fire and brimstone" or milquetoast versions of forgiveness (often sans repentance or even acknowledgement) may be the norm in others.

I am glad that you understand this, and are showing some balance in your views.

[barack the house]

29. This is a very valid post. Why are the god hates f*** crowd saying far worse things that result in

murder. If we respect theirs we respect Barack's and the history that causes Wright's hurt and pain.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

35. Because, generally speaking, the wingnuts preach hatred against little people

That's just fine because it keeps us peons divided and distracted. OTOH, let a preacher start talking about problems with capitalism and the power structure, why then we have a problem. That's exactly what Wright was doing and that's why it bothers the elites so much. Had he been blaming 9-11 on gays or liberated women, it would have been all good.

[GoldieAZ49]

30. Here is how Obama has positioned himself - no wonder his religion is front and center

Obama has a stock line which seems to play straight into the notion that he is an instrument of the divine. To a number of audiences, he has declared: "My job is be so persuasive that if there's anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down on you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realise that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama."

To be fair to Obama, this is said in a manner which just leaves open the idea that he is not being entirely serious. Yet I don't believe that those applauding this riff see it as elevated irony – and it is slightly creepy even as a joke. Perhaps it isn't a joke at all, but completely sincere: Obama's speeches are studded with religious rhetoric. For example, last October he told an audience of 4,000 that he hoped to be "an instrument of God" and that "I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth".

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-obama-must-beware-of-turning-into-a-cult-787298.html

Now, who wants to elect the Pastor in Chief? An instrument of God...doesn't that sound like who is in the White House now?

I am glad we are seeing this now, not next year.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

31. Sunday AM kick nt

[NDambi]

34. kickity kick kick

[helderheid]

36. K & R !!!

[galactical]

37. Screw that!!!! Jesus was....

probably brown eyed....:-D