Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, Wright, Ctd.

A reader writes:

Your reader, in proposing that perhaps we need to forgive, or at least avoid demonizing, preachers on the Right just as we – and you – are asking for the same for Wright, has a good idea.

However, as one on the Right, and as a Christian, let me propose another way to look at it.  We should forgive, yes, which is what Christ taught, but we ought not to tolerate preachers who abuse their callings to lead people astray. I include all Christian preachers, on the Right or the Left, who engage in such teaching. To the degree that the ones you name (Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, Wright) have done it, they must all be opposed.

Another adds:

Yes, there is far too much attention given, particularly in media to the fantastic sound bytes.  However, Dobson, Robertson & Falwell, unlike Rev Wright, have an agenda which with justification you labeled Christianist, that goes far beyond talk. These men have orchestrated financial and political campaigns not just to demonize those of us who are gay, but to undermine the American constitution and religious liberties. They are very dangerous men.

Carville and “Judas”

A reader writes:

The thing that astonishes me about that quote is not that it’s insulting to Richardson. It’s that when you unpack it, it implies that Richardson should have ignored his convictions and backed Hillary because of all the nice things Bill did for him over the years. Isn’t that the very definition of corruption?

A Poem For Easter Week


Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

More of this John Updike poem here.

Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, Wright

A reader writes:

I have to agree with the reader who commented on the tone and content of the Dish pre and post Obama’s speech on Race (and ultimately Faith) in America and on your own assessment of Obama’s great strength.  He gives us permission to be flawed, to sometimes contradict ourselves, to "flip-flop" when facts force a reassessment of previous positions, to have controversial bedfellows, to love the sinner.  Above all else, Obama is teaching me to be less judgmental.

If I’m going to ask the Right to move beyond the Wright soundbytes and examine the man’s full resume, I must do the same with people like Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Pastor Hagee.  It’s been so easy to dismiss these pillars of the Christian Right as hate-mongers and bigots based on soundbytes posted throughout the liberal blogosphere.  But clearly their messages are not limited to the demonization of gays and abortion-providers or they would not have developed such enormous support.  If I truly believe in the decency and honor of the American people, I must assume that the millions of Americans that congregate to these churches are going because these men inspire them in some way and provide a positive spiritual message.

Obama’s message inspires me to question my own biases and assumptions, to keep an open mind about people with whom I disagree, and to stay positive.  Obama has even inspired me, a life-long agnostic, to consider exploring some congregations in my community. Not because I’ve suddenly "found God", but because I see in his experiences the value that can be gained from involvement with the spiritual community.

I have been thinking along the same lines. I do know, for example, that James Dobson, for example, has done good for people, even though he has also demonized people like me and my husband. This Easter, I found myself forcing myself to ask whether I have also been too quick to condemn on the bases of soundbites. I’m not saying that opposing the worldview and hatefulness of some statements from the religious right is in any way wrong. I’m saying that Christians have an obligation to try and see the good others do as well – and to realize that we are all a mix of good and bad.   

Miscege-Nation

Peggy Orenstein considers the rise of mixed race identity in America:

Of the seven million Americans who identified themselves as mixed-race in the 2000 census (the first in which it was possible to do so), nearly half were under the age of 18. Almost 5 percent of Californians now identify themselves as mixed-race; by comparison, fewer than 7 percent are African-American. Hawaii, Obama’s childhood home, is the most diverse state in the Union: 21 percent of residents identified as “Hapa,” a Hawaiian word meaning “half” that has gone from being a slur against mixed-race Asians to a point of pride — and has increasingly been adopted by multiracials of all kinds on the Mainland.[…]

More than anything, though, Hapas remind us that, while racism is real, “race” is a shifting construct. Consider: Would Obama still be seen as “black enough” if the wife by his side were white?

And don’t get my husband started on why Tiger Woods — whose mother is three-quarters Asian and whose father was one-quarter Chinese and half African-American — is rarely hailed as the first Asian-American golf superstar.

Race is thrust on Hapas based on the shades of their skin, the shapes of their eyes, their last names. (Quick: What race is Apolo Ohno? How about Meg Tilly? Both are half-Asian.) But ethnicity, an internal sense of culture, place and heritage — that’s more of a choice. Cultivating it in our children could be the difference between a Hapa Nation that’s a rich, variegated brown and one that fades to beige. I know that challenge firsthand. Because we are trying to raise our daughter as bicultural, much in our family is up for grabs, from the food we eat — and what we say before and after eating it — to the holidays we celebrate to whether we call her rear end a tushie or an oshiri.