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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DanD who wrote (69881)	5/31/2008 11:25:54 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541627

He yeah. I'm an agnostic. But I loved what Obama said about the black churches in Audacity of Hope, and I love what he said about being baptized there. Let me quote one of my favorite passages- since I think it is relevant: "And perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship, the grounding of faith in struggle, that the historically black church offered me a second insight: that faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts, or that you relinquish your hold on the world. Long before it became fashionable among televangelists, the typical black sermon freely acknowledged that all Christians (including the pastors) could expect to still experience the same greed, resentment, lust and anger that everyone experienced. The gospel songs, the happy feet, and the tears and shouts all spoke of a release, an acknowledgment, and finally a channeling of those emotions. In the black community, the lines between sinner and saved were more fluid; the sins of those who came to church were not so different from those who didn't, and so were as likely to be talked about with humor as with condemnation." I think the above is key. I think the black churches have preachers who are colloquial and unscripted much of the time. They speak off the cuff- and we all know what happens when you do that. We all of us say things that are un PC, and things we wouldn't want broadcast on the news. I think those who go in to politics often learn to be very very careful, but not all their friends will be able, or willing, to learn this. I am in a strange position here- since I'm not religious- to be defending religion. But in the inner cities religious institutions are some of the few institutions that work. One can condemn Pfleger's remarks, and some of Wrights- but these men did yeoman's service in these communities. Their lives are not defined by a few nasty remarks, any more than MLK or Malcolm X's lives can be summed up that way. Some charismatic men may lead lives empty of good works- but that is not the case for these two men, and their communities have benefited from their works, and know these men by their deeds. I am sad that Obama had to disown the black church where he found his religious faith, because while white Americans may feel more comfortable with that decision, it's that very discomfort with the black church that is part of the problem- it's not the WHOLE problem, which of course is also partly the fault of the black church, and the fact that it sometimes perpetuates outmoded feelings of oppression in its followers, but the way to convince people they are not oppressed is not to make martyrs of their leaders, or castigate them for a few remarks while disregarding a lifetime of service. That way simply reinforces all the negative stereotypes blacks might have of the white community. Now you could say "But that's their problem"- but you'd be wrong- since their problem is our problem, as we all live together in the same country.