...with Liberty and Justice for All.
Fighting for justice and against oppression is what we're SUPPOSED to do, right? As Christians, as Americans, as Humans. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, right? Is there anybody who doesn't agree with that?
Liberating the oppressed, reaching out and responding to the marginalized, showing hospitality and kindness to the outcast, is how Jesus defined his own ministry and the kind of ministry to which he called the disciples.
Instead, certain people in certain churches in certain contexts have decided, and continually decide, to be the oppressers. I'm trying not to generalize. I recognize and affirm the individualilty and particularity of each human person.
But there are A LOT of people who seem content with their oppression, even comfortable with it, even proud of it. Building fences, building fences to bolster the fences, denying people communion, denying people the right to worship where, when, how, to whom/what, they please.
Here it is, folks. I have to say it. It might trouble some of you, it might get me in trouble. But right now, I have to say it:
1. Saying that women don't have the right to preach is oppression.
2. Saying that homosexual persons don't have the right to preach or marry or even become members of a church is oppression. And a church, say the United Methodist Church, that does not allow ANYONE to preach and proclaim the gospel is a participant in oppression.
3. Denying anyone communion EVER is oppression.
4. Thinking your tradition's baptism is better or, um, more official, is oppression.
5. Building fortified fences on our borders is oppression.
6. Calling to claim English as America's official language is oppression.
The ultimate oppression is the idea that one person, one group of people, one tradition, one nation can have complete and sole ownership of truth (or of God, which might be six and one). If you (I) ever, in any way, think you (I) are (am) better than anyone else or have a clearer understanding of the mysteries of life than anyone else, you are (I am) wrong and you are (I am) oppressing.
The questions:
1. Knowing this, saying this, believing this, how do we claim Jesus Christ as the way to salvation?
2. How do we show tolerance to the intolerant? Kindness to the unkind? Love to the hateful? Are we supposed to? Aren't we supposed to hate what it is evil and cling to what is good?
3. How do we teach "liberty and justice for all" to the affluent, the liberated, the powerful?
4. How are we, individually and collectively, participating in oppression and what are we doing, individually and collectively, to set at liberty ALL those who are oppressed?
The answer, always: grace.
Your friend, brother, partner, collaborator, Brad-owner of one microscopic atom in one grain of sand of the vastness of the truth of God.
An unexamined life is not worth living.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
One for the Hip Column
This week, my brother Andy, posted a punch-in-the-gut story from the Dispatch that said "Morningstar is a United Methodist Church, but it seems more like a hip, contemporary, evangelical church."Well I think this is pretty hip. After 9-11, Bush's psuedo-gestapo homeland security agenga grew as fast and as out of control as a Bugs Bunny snowball rolling down a hill. It has now reached all the way to a place named, of all things, Friendship Park in San Diego. Friendship Park, for GENERATIONS before Bush, was a place for familes and friends to meet between Mexico and the United States and feel whatever community one can feel between the links of a fence. George Bush will now take away even that amount of contact. They're putting in another fence!
Well, one pastor, the one above, Pastor John Fanestil, has decided to offer whatever he can. He can't stop the administration from erasing the words from Lady Liberty, but he can preside over Holy Communion.
Every Sunday afternoon, Pastor Fanestil goes to Friendship Park and serves communion to families on both sides of the fence, helping them participate in the sacrament together by handing the bread and cup through the links of the fence.
This is true communion. What it is supposed to be. What it is supposed to mean.
Oh, and Pastor John Fanestil, he's a United Methodist. Count one for the hip, contemporary, evangelical column.
Brad
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Call (LCP: long, church-related post warning)
Over the next few months, as part of my continuing journey to ordination in the United Methodist Church, I will be asked over and over to explain, reflect, define my call to ministry.
My call has a spiritual aspect and a practical one that comes from growing up in a pastor's house. By spiritual call, I'm not one of those people who has heard God's voice in the back of his head (like, oh i don't know, telling the people that God wanted me to be president.) I don't deny some people's audial experience of God, it just didn't happen to me.
When I was 17 years old, my youth group at Schweitzer United Methodist Church in Springfield, MO, went on a fall retreat. We went to Camp Wilderness, or Wilderness Camp, a UMC sponsered camp in southern MO. During this retreat, during one of the private reflection and prayer times, I went out by the lake and sat down. I found myself asking the question, do you want me to be a minister? I couldn't think of anything else, the question just kept circling through my head. And, like I said, I didn't hear a voice, no one answered me, Charlton Heston didn't come down and say "Let my people go." But, when I asked that question, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace. A sense of right-ness. There's no way I can make anyone understand, but I think that's the way it's supposed to be. I just knew.
The practical side of my call came through the process that almost everyone goes through when they're 17 of just trying to find something to do with their lives. I knew I wanted to teach, I wanted to play music, I wanted to work with youth and children, I wanted to write, I wanted to speak, I wanted to help people, I wanted to work in mission and service. (And, being 17, I still wanted to be a rockstar drummer, so I did stay in bands throughout college) But, I watched my dad do all those things growing up. Everything I wanted to do, in one job. So, I decided I didn't have to pick one, I could do everything my heart was telling me I was supposed to do, as a minister.
And that same year, the spiritual call came as well, so I didn't look back. I applied to one college, got a full ride scholarship on the strength of my writing (which i subsequently got cut in half on the "strength" of my study habits), signed up as a religion major/sociology minor in my first week, assigned to my first churches before graduating and have been in the process ever since.
But, my call has evolved since then. The non-descript, fuzzy edges of "ministry" have become clearer. I believe I am called to urban ministry, to ministry in Kansas City proper, to ministry with young adults. I am not rural, I am not suburban. My gifts and skills and talents and call and culture are for city ministry. I want to be in ministry with urban young adults-the First Friday Art show crowd-the River Market concert crowd-the downtown loft crowd, but also feel called to be a part of homeless ministry, fighting the racial divisions in Kansas City, reaching the ever-growing international community of KC, bringing church back from the suburbs into the city, stopping the skyrocketing homicide rate, speaking out against the meth trade, etc.
Let me be clear: I am not denying the life-changing ministry that can be and should be done in rural areas or suburban areas or small towns. Or evaluating any one of them as better than the other. It's just not me, it's not my community, my context, my call.
Full discloser: I also LOVE Kansas City. I love the plaza, westport, 18th and Vine, Arther Bryant's BBQ, the Western Auto sign, Irishfest in Crown Center, yes even the Royals and Chiefs.
Of course, I also feel called to ministry within the United Methodist Church, which means I am part of an itinerant system that moves its pastors around on appointment basis and will be asked if I am willing to "go and serve where ever I am sent." The answer is yes, but i also feel called to be a part of reforming the 300 year old system of itinerancy. (i.e. what it does to families, what it does to smaller churches, what it asks of spouses, how it fits in our flat-earth, ditigal culture)
Finally, another piece of my call that has revealed itself more clearly through my seminary years, is the call to be a part of redefining what counts as worship, what worship looks like, how worship functions, what worship sounds like. As I told my DCOM board, my personally ideal worship style doesn't exist: my sanctuary would look more like a theater and my service would look, feel, and sound more like a rock show. I don't want a praise band, I want a professional level band that plays smart, poetic, powerful, iconic (directs one through to connection with God), and, most of all, MUSICALLY SOPHISTICATED worship music. -Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, Here I am to Worship, Open the Eyes of my Heart, and especially *shudder* Jesus is My Friend, don't count. In addition to bringing these things into the sanctuary, I also want to bring worship outside the sancutary. Art shows, concerts, experiencing nature, literature, a good meal, anything in all God's creation can connect us to the Creator God.
This is my call, as I see it, as I feel it. I pray that we all constantly search for the ways in which God is speaking to us and calling us in to ministry (everyone, not just pastors). A call is NEVER defined, it is always changing, always growing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal,
Brad
My call has a spiritual aspect and a practical one that comes from growing up in a pastor's house. By spiritual call, I'm not one of those people who has heard God's voice in the back of his head (like, oh i don't know, telling the people that God wanted me to be president.) I don't deny some people's audial experience of God, it just didn't happen to me.
When I was 17 years old, my youth group at Schweitzer United Methodist Church in Springfield, MO, went on a fall retreat. We went to Camp Wilderness, or Wilderness Camp, a UMC sponsered camp in southern MO. During this retreat, during one of the private reflection and prayer times, I went out by the lake and sat down. I found myself asking the question, do you want me to be a minister? I couldn't think of anything else, the question just kept circling through my head. And, like I said, I didn't hear a voice, no one answered me, Charlton Heston didn't come down and say "Let my people go." But, when I asked that question, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace. A sense of right-ness. There's no way I can make anyone understand, but I think that's the way it's supposed to be. I just knew.
The practical side of my call came through the process that almost everyone goes through when they're 17 of just trying to find something to do with their lives. I knew I wanted to teach, I wanted to play music, I wanted to work with youth and children, I wanted to write, I wanted to speak, I wanted to help people, I wanted to work in mission and service. (And, being 17, I still wanted to be a rockstar drummer, so I did stay in bands throughout college) But, I watched my dad do all those things growing up. Everything I wanted to do, in one job. So, I decided I didn't have to pick one, I could do everything my heart was telling me I was supposed to do, as a minister.
And that same year, the spiritual call came as well, so I didn't look back. I applied to one college, got a full ride scholarship on the strength of my writing (which i subsequently got cut in half on the "strength" of my study habits), signed up as a religion major/sociology minor in my first week, assigned to my first churches before graduating and have been in the process ever since.
But, my call has evolved since then. The non-descript, fuzzy edges of "ministry" have become clearer. I believe I am called to urban ministry, to ministry in Kansas City proper, to ministry with young adults. I am not rural, I am not suburban. My gifts and skills and talents and call and culture are for city ministry. I want to be in ministry with urban young adults-the First Friday Art show crowd-the River Market concert crowd-the downtown loft crowd, but also feel called to be a part of homeless ministry, fighting the racial divisions in Kansas City, reaching the ever-growing international community of KC, bringing church back from the suburbs into the city, stopping the skyrocketing homicide rate, speaking out against the meth trade, etc.
Let me be clear: I am not denying the life-changing ministry that can be and should be done in rural areas or suburban areas or small towns. Or evaluating any one of them as better than the other. It's just not me, it's not my community, my context, my call.
Full discloser: I also LOVE Kansas City. I love the plaza, westport, 18th and Vine, Arther Bryant's BBQ, the Western Auto sign, Irishfest in Crown Center, yes even the Royals and Chiefs.
Of course, I also feel called to ministry within the United Methodist Church, which means I am part of an itinerant system that moves its pastors around on appointment basis and will be asked if I am willing to "go and serve where ever I am sent." The answer is yes, but i also feel called to be a part of reforming the 300 year old system of itinerancy. (i.e. what it does to families, what it does to smaller churches, what it asks of spouses, how it fits in our flat-earth, ditigal culture)
Finally, another piece of my call that has revealed itself more clearly through my seminary years, is the call to be a part of redefining what counts as worship, what worship looks like, how worship functions, what worship sounds like. As I told my DCOM board, my personally ideal worship style doesn't exist: my sanctuary would look more like a theater and my service would look, feel, and sound more like a rock show. I don't want a praise band, I want a professional level band that plays smart, poetic, powerful, iconic (directs one through to connection with God), and, most of all, MUSICALLY SOPHISTICATED worship music. -Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, Here I am to Worship, Open the Eyes of my Heart, and especially *shudder* Jesus is My Friend, don't count. In addition to bringing these things into the sanctuary, I also want to bring worship outside the sancutary. Art shows, concerts, experiencing nature, literature, a good meal, anything in all God's creation can connect us to the Creator God.
This is my call, as I see it, as I feel it. I pray that we all constantly search for the ways in which God is speaking to us and calling us in to ministry (everyone, not just pastors). A call is NEVER defined, it is always changing, always growing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal,
Brad
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Dear Bishop, Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry,
Background: In the United Methodist Church we go through an extensive process of discernment and preparation toward becoming ordained as an Elder in Full Connection. It's called candidacy.
To whom it may concern:
The process of candidacy should be a grace-filled time of personal reflection and discernment, of celebrating that myriad ways God calls people into ministry and the diverse gifts that each of us have been given. It should be affirming, strengthening, growth-inducing.
Sitting around the lunch table at St. Paul School of Theology today, I heard a sadly common story of a recent candidacy interview with a District Committee of Ordained Ministry. The interviewee was spoken to condescendingly, broken down, beaten up, actually insulted and eventually not allowed to be certified a candidate because he was too intellectual. The person was treated as an inferior. He was told that teaching was not a job pastors were supposed to do. He was told that instead of entering into a conversation with a troubled youth, he was supposed to tell them God loves them and give them a hug, and then shown by one of the committee members what a hug looks like. He was asked how old he is, 23, and told that he has some more learning to do and to come back in a few years, delaying even further the age in which he could ever become an ordained elder. He was asked a question by one committee member who then immediately left the room to answer a cell phone call and told to answer to the committee. He was told, basically, that he was wrong, that he needed to get right, and that right meant the opinion of the committee.
I have typed for too long and too much about this. This is not the exception, this is the common experience of my friends and colleagues. One friend will not be commissioned this year, not because he is not eligible and certainly not because he is not ready, but because the district committee lost his paper work. One person who mentioned the desire to transfer conferences was told by the conference she would be leaving that she could leave, but don't expect to be welcomed back.
There is so much that the process of candidacy should be, so much that it should accomplish, so much ministry that it should build, so many gifts that it should affirm and strengthen and explore. Unfortunately, a grace-filled, affirming, collaborative, learning, diversity-celebrating, conformity-avoiding, empowering experience with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry and the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry is the exception, not the rule.
I don't want to draw lines. I don't want to talk about us and them. I don't want to speak for young adult clergy, or candidates of all ages. But, the stories are piling up.
As I prepare to answer questions for commissioning in the United Methodist Church (the very same questions, btw, that I have answered twice a year for 8 years now), I should be excited about the freeing process of self-reflection, looking forward to working in collaboration with the Board and my mentor to become the best possible pastor I can be, I should be examining my own gifts for ministry, lifting them up, strengthening them, sharing them with others.
Instead, the only thing I feel is fear. Will I pass or not?
Dear Bishop, Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry,
We need to fix this and we need to include the voices of the people GOING THROUGH IT in order to do so. There is so much more that this process could be.
Dedicated to answering God's ever-changing, life-changing call on my life,
Reverend Brad Bryan
To whom it may concern:
The process of candidacy should be a grace-filled time of personal reflection and discernment, of celebrating that myriad ways God calls people into ministry and the diverse gifts that each of us have been given. It should be affirming, strengthening, growth-inducing.
Sitting around the lunch table at St. Paul School of Theology today, I heard a sadly common story of a recent candidacy interview with a District Committee of Ordained Ministry. The interviewee was spoken to condescendingly, broken down, beaten up, actually insulted and eventually not allowed to be certified a candidate because he was too intellectual. The person was treated as an inferior. He was told that teaching was not a job pastors were supposed to do. He was told that instead of entering into a conversation with a troubled youth, he was supposed to tell them God loves them and give them a hug, and then shown by one of the committee members what a hug looks like. He was asked how old he is, 23, and told that he has some more learning to do and to come back in a few years, delaying even further the age in which he could ever become an ordained elder. He was asked a question by one committee member who then immediately left the room to answer a cell phone call and told to answer to the committee. He was told, basically, that he was wrong, that he needed to get right, and that right meant the opinion of the committee.
I have typed for too long and too much about this. This is not the exception, this is the common experience of my friends and colleagues. One friend will not be commissioned this year, not because he is not eligible and certainly not because he is not ready, but because the district committee lost his paper work. One person who mentioned the desire to transfer conferences was told by the conference she would be leaving that she could leave, but don't expect to be welcomed back.
There is so much that the process of candidacy should be, so much that it should accomplish, so much ministry that it should build, so many gifts that it should affirm and strengthen and explore. Unfortunately, a grace-filled, affirming, collaborative, learning, diversity-celebrating, conformity-avoiding, empowering experience with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry and the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry is the exception, not the rule.
I don't want to draw lines. I don't want to talk about us and them. I don't want to speak for young adult clergy, or candidates of all ages. But, the stories are piling up.
As I prepare to answer questions for commissioning in the United Methodist Church (the very same questions, btw, that I have answered twice a year for 8 years now), I should be excited about the freeing process of self-reflection, looking forward to working in collaboration with the Board and my mentor to become the best possible pastor I can be, I should be examining my own gifts for ministry, lifting them up, strengthening them, sharing them with others.
Instead, the only thing I feel is fear. Will I pass or not?
Dear Bishop, Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry,
We need to fix this and we need to include the voices of the people GOING THROUGH IT in order to do so. There is so much more that this process could be.
Dedicated to answering God's ever-changing, life-changing call on my life,
Reverend Brad Bryan
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Three Completely Unrelated Topics
On the way in to Kansas City this afternoon for my week of school, I passed three large pickup trucks with three large bumper stickers on them. The first read, "I Love My Carbon Footprint."
The second one said, "Piss off a liberal, buy a gun," with a picture of a handgun in the middle of the words. The third one, my personal favorite, "Suckin' Gas n' Kickin' Ass!" God bless America.
I've heard the new Metallica album and I believe that while Death Magnetic can't compare to Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightening, it definately approaches ...And Justice for ALL, and clearly surpasses the Loads and St. Anger. (Only a few of my readers will understand what that meant!) Here's the thing about Metallica: the only way to rank or critique a Metallica album is to compare it to OTHER Metallica albums. That's how you know the band is huge.
On a more serious note, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's no "may" or "might" left on the box anymore. It simply says, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's a powerful and difficult article in this week's Newsweek about how we're losing the fight against cancer. 1 in 2 men will get cancer at some point. 1 IN 2!!!! Sure, most of that is prostate. But, men who get prostate cancer aren't participating in an activity that knowingly causes it.
I started smoking when most of us started doing the things in our lives that hurt us, college. I smoked cigarettes for five years, and got down to the occasional cheap gas station cigar and the very occasional expensive cigar shop cigar. But, then occasionally turned into any time I was out with people. Then, any time I drove anywhere.
Why do we do the things we do to ourselves? Sorry, that was a little judgemental. Why do I do the things I do to myself? It's not just smoking either. It's eating. It's not working out. It's not studying like I should. Why? Why can't I stop the voice of selfish justification that always makes it ok to have that one next cigar? That comes up with a perfectly good reason to go to Taco Bell at 2:00 in the morning!
Well, as far as the smoking is concerned, I'm done. For good. Never, never again. If you ever see me with a cigar in my hand, slap me in the face. I'm done. It causes cancer stupid.
Taco Bell will be a harder battle.
Peace, B
The second one said, "Piss off a liberal, buy a gun," with a picture of a handgun in the middle of the words. The third one, my personal favorite, "Suckin' Gas n' Kickin' Ass!" God bless America.
I've heard the new Metallica album and I believe that while Death Magnetic can't compare to Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightening, it definately approaches ...And Justice for ALL, and clearly surpasses the Loads and St. Anger. (Only a few of my readers will understand what that meant!) Here's the thing about Metallica: the only way to rank or critique a Metallica album is to compare it to OTHER Metallica albums. That's how you know the band is huge.
On a more serious note, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's no "may" or "might" left on the box anymore. It simply says, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's a powerful and difficult article in this week's Newsweek about how we're losing the fight against cancer. 1 in 2 men will get cancer at some point. 1 IN 2!!!! Sure, most of that is prostate. But, men who get prostate cancer aren't participating in an activity that knowingly causes it.
I started smoking when most of us started doing the things in our lives that hurt us, college. I smoked cigarettes for five years, and got down to the occasional cheap gas station cigar and the very occasional expensive cigar shop cigar. But, then occasionally turned into any time I was out with people. Then, any time I drove anywhere.
Why do we do the things we do to ourselves? Sorry, that was a little judgemental. Why do I do the things I do to myself? It's not just smoking either. It's eating. It's not working out. It's not studying like I should. Why? Why can't I stop the voice of selfish justification that always makes it ok to have that one next cigar? That comes up with a perfectly good reason to go to Taco Bell at 2:00 in the morning!
Well, as far as the smoking is concerned, I'm done. For good. Never, never again. If you ever see me with a cigar in my hand, slap me in the face. I'm done. It causes cancer stupid.
Taco Bell will be a harder battle.
Peace, B
Friday, September 05, 2008
The Times They Are A-Changin' (sort of)...
My brother, http://www.entertherainbow.blogspot.com ,has finally graced the world with an opinion on the current political race that no doubt will inspire a few others to blog there own reflections on the conventions, campaigns and coverage. I know it made me want to talk about it.
I'm no Fareed Zakaria or Jonathan Altar, but here goes. LRP warning: this will probably be a longer post that will ramble at times, so get some coffee and find a comfortable chair.
In Andy's first warning he mentions the misnomer (sp?) that pastors are not to have, or at the very least, express their political opinions. Of course, the pulpit is no place for politics but in an informed, civil conversation, why should pastors be expected to be apolitical? We're people, too! (was that whiney?)
Okay. Both camps say we're heading in the wrong direction. Both camps say we need a change in Washington. Both camps use the same evidence to support the need for change. both camps have seemingly interchangable mantras of Yes We Can or Change We Can Believe In or I Believe in a Better Way (kudos to Barack for using a Ben Harper song and not anything by ABBA)
Here's the thing. We thought change was coming two years ago when the democrats regained voting power in the Senate. The new government has, largely, failed to change anything.
The whole system is so entrenched that its hard to believe that any one person or administration will change it all that much. I believe this election year has started a process of changing the ways of Washinton, one that won't fully be developed until i'm an old man, say 37. Obama's not going to ride in on a white steed and throw out all the lobbyists, get the dems and rebs to sit down and smoke the peace the pipe. McCain, voting with Bush 90% of the time, is certainly not going come in guns blazin' and say "the Maverick's in town, this town ain't big enough for partisan politics." It's not going to happen. Things will change simply because different people will be in office. But the lobbies aren't going away, the never-ending campaign culture isn't going away and the 50/50 split isn't going away. As long as money's invovled, as long as special interests are invovled, as long as reelections are invovled, it'll be Washington as usual.
(here's the rambling part) About this Muslim thing. I want to make perfectly clear: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT, HAS NEVER BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE A MUSLIM. But here's a question, why does it matter? In 2008, are we really still that obtuse and arrogant and ignorant to believe that a Muslim person couldn't be the cheif executive of the United States. Our nation, founded on the priciples of religious freedom (to name one), has officially seperated church and state. It shouldn't matter. neither candidates faith should be an issue. But it is. I praise both candidates for distancing themselves from the crazy Christian supporters that came out of the woodwork. Jeremiah Wright, James Haggee, Dobson, Robertson. James Dobson actually called on the members of Focus on the Family to pray for rain during Obama's speech. How very Christian of you! And then there's Rick Warren. Get them on the same stage, ask them the same questions, and let your worshippers make up their own damn minds. Thank you, Pastor Warren. They shouldn't have had to campaign in a church in the first place, but such is our country, and you handled it well.
I don't want my PODUS to have time to go to church. I don't want my president to bring religion into every decision. I do want them to have hearts of compassion, mercy and justice. Every religion on earth shares these tenants, and oh, atheists can be compassionate too. It shouldn't matter.
OK. No turning over the tables of the money-changers, no great hope for change, we covered the religion thing. What else?
Can we talk about Sarah Palin for a second? She's an intelligent, successful person who cares about her family and the people she's been elected to serve. But has there ever been a more rediculously transparent political move? It's like the GOP is saying, "Hey Hilary supporters, this person has boobs too, vote for her now." And it turns out, it's been kind of a political train wreck. Where's that 200 million dollar check from the federal government for the project that was cancelled? You know, the one you supported until the US government scrapped it and ONLY THEN did you agree it was a bad idea? Cindy McCain? Closest state to Russia? What?! How does being governor of a state with a population smaller than the city in which Obama honed his political chops prepare you to be a heartbeat away from the PODUS? It's insulting, is what it is. It's an insult to our intelligence. (and, I agree with Obama and McCain that family should be off limits, but just think for a minute what would happen if the tables were turned. If Obama had a 17 yr old daughter who was having a baby. What a field-day that would be for the GOP?)
Speaking of Hilary supporters, get over it! How many times does Hilary herself have to say she supports Obama for you to listen.
Now, the coverage. Journelistic integrity died when 24 hour news stations were born. Just like video killed the radio star, 24 hour news killed the unbiased, factfinding reporter. I go to www.bbcnews.com for my election coverage. "A lot of people are going to pre-supposed such and such, so let us be the first to presuppose such and such." The best politcal news team? Come on, people, this isn't 7th grade. In a political knowledge poll, people who got their news EXCLUSIVELY from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report scored 20% higher than people who watched the real news. Karl Rove as a political analyist? Oh yeah, that should be totally unbaised.
Alright, here it is. The ultimate faux-pah (sp?). Don't talk about religion or politics. But, here it is. I am supporting, voting for, hoping for Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead the next administration of the United States. Primarially for their promise to find a reasonable end to the war in Iraq. I'm not naive enough to take a campaign promise without a large grain of salt, but we have to get out of Iraq and I think Obama has a better plan than McCain.
And finally, I leave you with the same pessimistic hope as my brother. That politics itself will change. That the constant, junior-high bickering will stop, the campaign culture will stop, the lobbyists and speical interest groups will stop, the "this is why you shouldn't vote for these people" strategies will stop. That we can help the poor and oppressed, acknowledging the systemic failures that birth poverty and create opportunities for personal development and responsibility. That we can promote, encourage and work for peace while facilitating the security of all people. There is too much need in this world, too much violence in this world, too much hunger in this world for politics as usual.
I pray (yes, pray, i'm inserting my own religious views into politics) that we can come together and fight for the things that really matter.
Hopefully yours, Brad
www.procon.org
www.dividedwefail.org
www.bbcnews.com
I'm no Fareed Zakaria or Jonathan Altar, but here goes. LRP warning: this will probably be a longer post that will ramble at times, so get some coffee and find a comfortable chair.
In Andy's first warning he mentions the misnomer (sp?) that pastors are not to have, or at the very least, express their political opinions. Of course, the pulpit is no place for politics but in an informed, civil conversation, why should pastors be expected to be apolitical? We're people, too! (was that whiney?)
Okay. Both camps say we're heading in the wrong direction. Both camps say we need a change in Washington. Both camps use the same evidence to support the need for change. both camps have seemingly interchangable mantras of Yes We Can or Change We Can Believe In or I Believe in a Better Way (kudos to Barack for using a Ben Harper song and not anything by ABBA)
Here's the thing. We thought change was coming two years ago when the democrats regained voting power in the Senate. The new government has, largely, failed to change anything.
The whole system is so entrenched that its hard to believe that any one person or administration will change it all that much. I believe this election year has started a process of changing the ways of Washinton, one that won't fully be developed until i'm an old man, say 37. Obama's not going to ride in on a white steed and throw out all the lobbyists, get the dems and rebs to sit down and smoke the peace the pipe. McCain, voting with Bush 90% of the time, is certainly not going come in guns blazin' and say "the Maverick's in town, this town ain't big enough for partisan politics." It's not going to happen. Things will change simply because different people will be in office. But the lobbies aren't going away, the never-ending campaign culture isn't going away and the 50/50 split isn't going away. As long as money's invovled, as long as special interests are invovled, as long as reelections are invovled, it'll be Washington as usual.
(here's the rambling part) About this Muslim thing. I want to make perfectly clear: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT, HAS NEVER BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE A MUSLIM. But here's a question, why does it matter? In 2008, are we really still that obtuse and arrogant and ignorant to believe that a Muslim person couldn't be the cheif executive of the United States. Our nation, founded on the priciples of religious freedom (to name one), has officially seperated church and state. It shouldn't matter. neither candidates faith should be an issue. But it is. I praise both candidates for distancing themselves from the crazy Christian supporters that came out of the woodwork. Jeremiah Wright, James Haggee, Dobson, Robertson. James Dobson actually called on the members of Focus on the Family to pray for rain during Obama's speech. How very Christian of you! And then there's Rick Warren. Get them on the same stage, ask them the same questions, and let your worshippers make up their own damn minds. Thank you, Pastor Warren. They shouldn't have had to campaign in a church in the first place, but such is our country, and you handled it well.
I don't want my PODUS to have time to go to church. I don't want my president to bring religion into every decision. I do want them to have hearts of compassion, mercy and justice. Every religion on earth shares these tenants, and oh, atheists can be compassionate too. It shouldn't matter.
OK. No turning over the tables of the money-changers, no great hope for change, we covered the religion thing. What else?
Can we talk about Sarah Palin for a second? She's an intelligent, successful person who cares about her family and the people she's been elected to serve. But has there ever been a more rediculously transparent political move? It's like the GOP is saying, "Hey Hilary supporters, this person has boobs too, vote for her now." And it turns out, it's been kind of a political train wreck. Where's that 200 million dollar check from the federal government for the project that was cancelled? You know, the one you supported until the US government scrapped it and ONLY THEN did you agree it was a bad idea? Cindy McCain? Closest state to Russia? What?! How does being governor of a state with a population smaller than the city in which Obama honed his political chops prepare you to be a heartbeat away from the PODUS? It's insulting, is what it is. It's an insult to our intelligence. (and, I agree with Obama and McCain that family should be off limits, but just think for a minute what would happen if the tables were turned. If Obama had a 17 yr old daughter who was having a baby. What a field-day that would be for the GOP?)
Speaking of Hilary supporters, get over it! How many times does Hilary herself have to say she supports Obama for you to listen.
Now, the coverage. Journelistic integrity died when 24 hour news stations were born. Just like video killed the radio star, 24 hour news killed the unbiased, factfinding reporter. I go to www.bbcnews.com for my election coverage. "A lot of people are going to pre-supposed such and such, so let us be the first to presuppose such and such." The best politcal news team? Come on, people, this isn't 7th grade. In a political knowledge poll, people who got their news EXCLUSIVELY from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report scored 20% higher than people who watched the real news. Karl Rove as a political analyist? Oh yeah, that should be totally unbaised.
Alright, here it is. The ultimate faux-pah (sp?). Don't talk about religion or politics. But, here it is. I am supporting, voting for, hoping for Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead the next administration of the United States. Primarially for their promise to find a reasonable end to the war in Iraq. I'm not naive enough to take a campaign promise without a large grain of salt, but we have to get out of Iraq and I think Obama has a better plan than McCain.
And finally, I leave you with the same pessimistic hope as my brother. That politics itself will change. That the constant, junior-high bickering will stop, the campaign culture will stop, the lobbyists and speical interest groups will stop, the "this is why you shouldn't vote for these people" strategies will stop. That we can help the poor and oppressed, acknowledging the systemic failures that birth poverty and create opportunities for personal development and responsibility. That we can promote, encourage and work for peace while facilitating the security of all people. There is too much need in this world, too much violence in this world, too much hunger in this world for politics as usual.
I pray (yes, pray, i'm inserting my own religious views into politics) that we can come together and fight for the things that really matter.
Hopefully yours, Brad
www.procon.org
www.dividedwefail.org
www.bbcnews.com
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