Politics
As Usual?
I Don't Think So
by bobby
jennings
I received my religious training in the
late 50's and early 60's in the First Baptist Church of
Gainesville, Florida, a small liberal Southern college
town. We were taught that love and tolerance for, and
forgiveness of ourselves and our fellow man, were at the
top of the teachings of Christ. I remain a Southern
Baptist and my views have changed little since then.
My membership remained in Gainesville
for nearly 20 years after I had left the community. I
had never found a Southern Baptist church to match the
compassion of my first church. Yes, I am sure that there
were things going on that I didn't know about or
understand, and Gainesville at that time was a homogeneous
community. We were far removed from the racial strife of
the times. There were no blacks in my school, only one Jewish boy, and just a handful of Catholics. It's easy to get
along when you all have the same heritage.
The 2000 Republican Presidential primary
was like a return of a nightmare for me. My personal
conflict with-? religious bigotry" came at
the height of the political power of the "Religious
Right" in 1985 when I finally decided
to move my membership to the largest Baptist Church in
Orlando. I chose it because my then fiancTe was a
member and the pastor was a great speaker, a moderate,
and he was slated for the presidency of the powerful
Southern Baptist Convention and would bring some sense
to them.
My first conflict came when I presented
myself for membership in that church and learned that I would have to
go through a series of indoctrination classes designed
to weed out undesirables. Everyone was aghast when I
refused. Silly me... here I thought there was only one criteria
for becoming a member of Christ's Church.
I continued to attend the church, and
they continued to accept my tithes, but I always squirmed
in my seat when the traditional call to receive
salvation came at the end of the Sunday service or the
vote was made to accept new members; an old Southern
tradition, I might add, designed to keep out Blacks and
other "undesirables". There are Black families
in the church now but they are merely dots in a sea of
white faces. My guess is that Black candidates need to
be a close relative of Ole' Uncle Tom to survive the
process.
My second run in with the church came
several years later when my wife (now my ex-wife)
lobbied for an annulment of our marriage by accusing me of being a
homosexual. If you remember this was at the time of the
most intense AIDS scare, and the fact that I had an
"alleged homosexual" working for me, and that I was
refusing to fire him on that grounds, was enough
"proof" (for my ex-wife and the First Baptist
Church) that I was a homosexual.-?
I was
called before the church management to repent my sins.
Mind you, it didn't seem to matter to them that the
allegations weren't true. I admit that I had plenty to
repent for, but being a homosexual wasn't one of them.
Furthermore, I'm not at all sure that homosexuality is
something one must repent for in the first place.
I
continued to attend and tithe and remained on their
mailing list. The final blow came to my continued
participation in this church came when I received a
letter from the pastor that admonished a lesser minister
in the church for having an affair and announcing his
dismissal. Mind you, I was not even a member of the
church, didn't know about the affair, and did not want
to know about the affair. I saw no reason for the pastor
to publicly humiliate the man.
Senator Warren Rudman, in his book,
said that he had met many fine people in the
"religious right" but he had also met-?
religious zealots, homophobes, etc. For that Pat
Robertson called Senator Warren Rudman a "vicious
bigot". Pat Robertson's manipulation of the truth
and his character assassination of John McCain in the South
Carolina primary is typical of religious zealots that
gave us the Crusades, the Inquisition, the pillaging of
the American Indian under guise of Manifest Destiny, lynching
of "niggers" by "Good Christians",
and the out and out theft of the state of Hawaii. Name
your own example, for history is replete with examples
of-? discrimination, death, destruction, and
injustice in the name of religious conviction.
Religious intolerance and disrespect
for the spirituality of others is an ugly, ugly
inheritance and harms us all. In the US, we can't even
have spirituality in our public schools because the
"Extreme Religious Right" can not be trusted
to respect the religion of others. I, for one, have no
problem with evangelical efforts as long as people are
free to accept or reject the message without adverse
consequences.
George W. Bush went to the corner in
his bid for the presidency. His appeal to Bob Jones
University, Pat Robertson, and the "Extreme
Religious Right" to save him in South Carolina is
one of the biggest blunders in American politics and the
quest for separation of church and state. It was
somewhat expected, as George Bush had tried everything
possible -- from exaggerating a poor record in a weak
executive state, copying John McCain's campaign
messages, and blanketing us with negatives.-?
Quite frankly I have a problem with
the proven character of many politicians in general. Gore's and Bush's
apparent willingness to say and do what is necessary to
win the most votes seems cut from the same bolt of
cloth.-? I would love to have Bill Bradley as
President, but I don't think we will get that
chance.-? While one can disagree with his stance on
issues, no one can question that this man has made good
choices with his personal life.
I am sure of one thing. If George W.
Bush is elected and runs the country like he ran his
campaign so far, then we are in a heap of trouble.
After the primaries, InnerSelf will
endorse a candidate from either the Republican, Democratic,
Reform, or Green Party. We will do so on our upcoming
Holistic Politics site-? http://www.HolisticPolitics.com
where we will study the issues and where the candidates
stand. But in my mind, George W. Bush or any
other candidate who plays to weakness of mankind for
personal gain will be
eliminated from the our list of possibilities, after all, a
leopard can't change his spots just because he's
president.
The era of "politics as
usual" is on its last leg in the US.-? But this
era is not going out without the normal kicking and
screaming -- as witnessed in South Carolina. But rest assured
that the dawn of the age of government by the people,
for the people, and of the people is upon us.-?
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