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November 7, 2004
Focus on My Family
NPR had a piece yesterday on the influence of Evangelical Christianity on the last election.
During the interview, Jennifer Ludden interviewed Pastor Tim Wilder who ministers to the First Baptist Church, Kissimmee, FL. During the interview, Pastor Wilder spoke of the need to unite Christian’s faith and their political choices: “I believe it breaks the heart of God … [when the faithful] separate their Christianity from being Democrats or Republicans”. Pastor Wilder went on to encourage his congregants to vote their “Christian Values”, and avoid the past apathy of Christians who “let government do it’s thing and the church do it’s thing”.
Pastor Wilder’s view is a vivid reminder of the thousands of well meaning, but naive church leaders who are pursuing an anti-separation doctrine. The very religious freedom that allows Pastor Wilder’s church to flourish is threatened by any move towards a theocratic government. I’m sure that as soon as Pastor Wilder is on the “loosing” side of a theocratic administration, he’ll howl about the injustice of the lack of the separation of church and state.
During the interview, Pastor Wilder said “a lot of the information I got for my sermon came from [Focus on the Family] material.” Dr. Dobson’s organization has been very active in the political sphere with it’s “Citizen” magazine. The agenda is clearly to make America great again by force-fitting the nation into Dr. Dobson’s image of a family. Dr. Dobson’s use of the definite article (“the”) is referring to his prototypical family – my family (poor, gay, troubled or uneducated) doesn’t matter, just like the poor troubled & uneducated families that landed at Ellis Island at the turn of the last century.
I grew up in the Evangelical Church, so I’ve got a pretty clear view of these Christian Values: White, Straight & Affluent. While Pastor Wilder and Dr. Dobson clearly are an affront to God’s love and grace, what really troubles me is they are distracting people who would otherwise be vital, contributing members of a beautiful world.
Posted by pgutwin at 8:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2004
Stunned
I didn’t actually understand the real meaning of the word until this morning. I suppose it’s just silly, not anticipating a negative outcome. But I’m stunned.
Honesty and personal responsibility are deeply important to me. These values were not affirmed yesterday, and I am very, very sad. The messages broadcast by the progressive channels are encouraging, but I’m going to continue to morn for a few days, drinking in the reality of what has happened. This is not feeling sorry for myself – I feel a need to make the depth of what has happened a part of me – to understand what we are up against.
It goes without saying that being beaten does not mean being defeated. A couple of days will be needed to absorb, analyze and resolve. But there is no possibility of holding back – being a part of change is not easy or convenient, and nothing will restrain me from working for a compassionate, insightful society.
We can do this.
Posted by pgutwin at 9:25 PM | Comments (0)