Thanks to all who have served and are serving our country. Let’s do everything we can to bring our troops home safely. And until then, let’s hold Congress’s feet to the fire until all our soldiers are properly equipped and all our veterans receive the care they deserve.
I heard this little tidbit on the radio a couple of days ago, and I was stunned. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA, is in danger of losing its tax-exempt status because a guest preacher urged congregants to consider the values of the Prince of Peace when they voted in the 2004 election. The IRS apparently considered that an “implicit” endorsement of John Kerry, and we can’t have that, now, can we?
I may be dreaming, but I seem to remember the Bush campaign asking conservative churches to provide their membership lists so all the congregants could be encouraged to vote, and I don’t think they were urged to vote for Kerry. I also recall groups like the “Christian” Coalition handing out thousands of voter guides in churches across the country. They don’t make explicit endorsements, either, but they sure as hell make it clear which candidates are deserving of the “Christian” vote.
An IRS spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on the investigation but assured NPR that there are safeguards in place to prevent politically-motivated inquries. Yeah, right!
Send him your best wishes at Agitprop.
We’re back from a wonderful four days at Seagrove Beach. It was quiet, it was relaxing — and we had no Internet access. Now it’s time to play catchup.
If we had to leave the beach, we picked a good time to do it. First, the Bishops of the United Methodist Church unanimously repudiated the horrible Judicial Council decision upholding a pastor’s right to refuse membership to a gay man. Okay, I admit that we read about this one while we were gone. Yes, we actually read the newspaper, as in the entire newspaper, uninterrupted.
Then I turned on the news last night to hear that the Democrats won the Governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia. I guess those Bush coattails aren’t as strong as he thought. Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, and other equally mature gloating.
And my favorite (thank you, Songbird) — Maine voters turned back an effort to restore legal discrimination against gays and lesbians! Yeah, I know Texans re-banned gay marriage, but that was to be expected, and at some point in the (near, I hope) future, it will be overturned. I’m just very proud of the citizens of Maine for standing up against this tidal wave of bigotry that seems to be sweeping the US.
The husband and I are off to the beach for a long weekend sans children. We’re hoping for intelligent, uninterrupted, adult conversation. And good weather, and some seafood, and major relaxation. We’ll be right next door to Seaside, Florida, where “The Truman Show” — one of my all-time favorite movies — was filmed. Light posting, low stress.
The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church has defrocked a woman who was called by God to the ministry, upheld a pastor’s right to refuse membership to a gay man, and stifled dissent by voiding a statement by Methodists in the Pacific Northwest that people of faith hold differing opinions regarding sexual orientation and practice. I am still trying to process the grief I feel. I have been a Methodist since shortly after birth, when I was christened in the First Methodist Church of Griffin, Georgia. I took the obligatory few years off during college, grad school, and the first couple of jobs, but found my way back midway through my twenties. I have been active in my local church for the past twenty years. My husband and I were married there, and we had two babies baptized there. My stepdaughter worked there while she was in college and even moved her membership from her beloved Episcopal church. I have served on committees, taught Sunday School, sung in and directed choirs, gone to lots of United Methodist Women meetings, and done what I could to advance the ideal of social justice. I have at times exhausted myself hammering my head against the wall of apathy, of unacknowledged prejudice, of “we’ve always done it this way”.
And now I find myself in a dilemma. The church has made me angry before. The church has disappointed me. The church has failed me and others. But I always thought there was the possibility of change, of progress, of transformation. My congregation has loved me and infuriated me and taken care of me and my family. My children have run the halls of our church since they were babies, and they think of it as a second home. I don’t want to leave it, but I don’t see an alternative.
I can’t be part of a denomination that would deny my own brother membership because he doesn’t believe his sexual orientation is sinful. I can’t be part of a denomination with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for clergy. And I certainly can’t be part of a denomination that has so perverted the ideals of its founder that the quadrilateral authority of scripture, reason, tradition, and experience has been usurped by a Judicial Council that won’t allow us to think for ourselves.
So I must make a painful decision. Do I leave and let my family stay where they are known and loved, or do I insist that we all find a church that truly does have the open hearts, open minds, and open doors that the United Methodist Church claims? Or do I decide to try one more time, two more times, a thousand more times to work for change from within? What does it take to open those hearts and minds that would close our doors and limit the love of God to those they find acceptable? I confess that at this point I have no idea.
I was highly impressed by Mr. Reid’s moves today, forcing the Senate into closed session and then kicking Bill Frist’s whiny a** in his press conference afterward. It’s about time the Senate looks into the failed intelligence efforts that led us into the Iraq war, and it’s also time for the Democrats to show some backbone.
“They [Republican Senators] have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why,” Democratic leader Harry Reid said.
He’s right. The system of checks and balances is a thing of the past in Republican Washington, but with Harry around, it might make a comeback.
Tom DeLay has won his motion for a new judge. Texas criminal defendants, take heart. From now on, if you don’t like your judge, you can claim political persecution and get a new one.