(Ir)religiosity

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Apparently I picked the wrong week to go on sabbatical. Lots happened. Both at home and around the world. Here’s a quick re-cap, though I’m sure most of it is old news to most of you.

The main story of the week: Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “controversial” sermons. Barack Obama’s pastor was brought to the forefront this week and Obama has been lambasted over and over again for it. Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of hearing the sound byte snippets of Rev. Wright’s sermons–which have been taken out of context and severely misunderstood–played on loop via the corporate news media. It’s quite unpopular to do so, but I stand with Rev. Wright and I agree with him. America needs more Rev. Wright’s daring to speak truth to power; indeed he is more right than he his wrong. As for those that have called for Obama to “leave his church” I would say this: going to church is not about having your ears tickled or your presuppositions confirmed. It’s about being challenged and being pushed beyond normalcy. The idea that one should leave a church to find another once they hear something they disagree with, has led to the current fractured American church. Why do you think we have so many different denominations, sects, and branches? Calling for Obama to leave his church just because his pastors made have made a few “controversial” comments, is asking Obama to distance himself from the church itself. Furthermore, to ask a Christian minister to not be prophetic, to preach only what is safe, or what is popular, is to ask that minister to not be Christian. After all, Jesus would have never been elected; indeed such things got Jesus executed by the nation state.

In response to his being blackballed, Obama gave a speech. Not just any speech, but the speech. The speech that America has needed to hear since Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. This may be the speech that defines Obama. It has already, as of this post, been viewed over 3 million times on YouTube. And of course, since he left the stage, reading the last sentence of his manuscript, the 24-hour, corporate news media propagandists have been picking it apart, ripping him to sheds, and engaging in just what Obama warned us against. I think Jon Stewart puts it very succinctly, “Obama spoke to Americans as though they were adults.” It’s a shame that most of us aren’t. Though it is good to see some people going against the flow in some unlikely places. I won’t go into much of the speech because everyone already has, I would point to a couple of places, here, here and here, that are worth stopping by. I add my “what they said” to that.

After hearing the speech, Bill Richardson endorsed Obama, calling him “a once in a lifetime leader.” Honestly, I wish he (and some who haven’t yet) would’ve done this earlier, but apparently Obama’s speech “clinched it” for him. At least it allowed Obama to end an otherwise tough week on a high note. Of course the Clinton people, downplayed it all, calling the endorsement “insignificant in this environment.” I wasn’t really surprised about that, though I’m sure they would’ve broadcast it loud and clear had Richardson opted to endorse Clinton. What did surprise me a little was when I heard that some in the Clinton camp were exploiting Holy Week, comparing Richardson to Judas. Seriously? Richardson is Judas? Give me a break. Just because he is connected to the Clintons doesn’t mean he can’t be his own man. And, as one blogger points out, by that analogy Hillary Clinton would be Jesus. I think I’ll leave it at that.

Then there was the passport thing. Apparently, over the course of last year, and even the beginning of this year, State department officials peeked at the confidential passports files of all three presidential candidates. Looks like the State department’s right hand doesn’t know what its left hand is doing. But hey, what else is new?

And of course, last Wednesday was the 5th “anniversary” of the invasion of Iraq. Five years, 4000 US lives–who knows how many Iraqi lives, because “we don’t do body counts”– $3 trillion and what do we have to show for it? Only more lives broken, ruined, and terminated while the war profiteers get rich. Shame on us. I’ll be speaking at a war protest on Wednesday. I’ll try and post my speech up later.

Speaking of war protests, many people celebrated Easter yesterday. I wish more people would have celebrated like this, rather than spending outrageous amounts of money on new clothes and expensive meals. What better way to commemorate resurrection than to affirm life and condemn its termination? [Ht. Corey Hau]

And finally, for the not-so-important stuff that happened around my house. As you can see, I completely overhauled my blog (more about that later), which needed to be done pretty bad. I was sick for most of the week (nothing like being sick on your spring break), so I sat around and puzzled over CSS. My wife, Bonnie, now has her own site and has started blogging. You should hop over and check it out. And, another really big thing happened over the last week, but I’ll wait and dedicate a whole post to that later.

Whew. I think that’s it.