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I probably should add, “from my Jewish white woman in the suburbs perspective.”
Tami at What Tami Said wrote this excellent post about Barack Obama’s resignation from Trinity United Church of Christ. And I completely agree with her conclusion (with coincides really well with the tweets I’ve had today with Professor Kim Pearson on this very subject). As I tweeted to Kim, I want religion out of the politics. It drives me absolutely nuts.
But, again, getting back to Tami’s post she does a great job putting it in perspective, even when I still agree with her that it says more about us and our political system than probably anything else. That is just sad.
Here’s some of What Tami did Say but go read the whole post:
Three things I think I know about how this country views religion:
- America is not comfortable with radical leftist preachers. Few question the relationships rightwing conservatives like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have with Republican politicians. John McCain sought the support of Rev. John Hagee. It doesn’t matter than Robertson, Falwell and Hagee regularly spew hateful rhetoric. But activists like Wright and Pfleger, who combine a desire for social justice with scripture? They matter very much, more so because they preside over predominantly black churches.
- For a country that is founded on freedom of and freedom from religion, it is important to us not only that our candidates be avowed Christians, but that they be the right kind, preferably Anglo mainline protestant. The hoodoo that people of color practice is generally maligned, even when it largely follows Christian doctrine. The black church, because of African Americans’ unique history in this country, has always combined social activism with scripture. That blend helped to end slavery and Jim Crow. Most mainstream Americans have not experienced this sort of worship.
- If you have a name like Barack Hussein Obama and one out of 10 people think you are a Muslim, your religion will be particularly dissected. It is curious that most people don’t even know who Hillary Clinton’s pastor is.
…
I am not arguing that Wright and Pfleger are wrong, but that they have not been very skillful about how they express themselves–not very politic. But then, it is the job of a politician to weigh his words, not a pastor.
If TUCC is unwilling to tone down its rhetoric in the face of the spies and cameras that no doubt are in the pews every Sunday these days–and that is the church’s right–then for the sake of his candidacy, Obama must go. It is a political choice by a realistic person. If Obama wants to lead us in improving this country, as he says and as I believe, then this sacrifice is one price. And I hate like hell that this is so, but every marginalized person reading this knows that the rules are not the same for everyone.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:55 pm June 1st, 2008 in Barack Obama, Politics, Religion
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5 Responses to “Trying to understand Barack Obama, religion, TUCC & politics”
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Jill, I don’t know about this. I grew up Catholic and have warm memories of priests marching in both civil rights and anti-war efforts. History tells us that any number of priests ended up in concentration camps for their efforts in WWII. These matters are more human rights than political. I don’t know the IRS code all that well, but it would seem that any church that was so blatantly political to preach against any candidate so mockingly should have their tax status investigated. This is not to say that clergy do not have a right to their opinions.
I cringed when I heard Obama’s speech about why he was resigning from the TUCC. Now Tami has put into words what made me squirm:
“then for the sake of his candidacy, Obama must go. It is a political choice by a realistic person.”
Yet he made it sound like he thought it was a moral decision…because being moral is politically expedient for him. As opposed to being moral for its own sake, in which case he might have resigned about fifteen years ago.
Lynda – I believe that there is an unprecendented level of IRS action and investigation into religious and other 501s precisely because of these kinds of concerns. Again – I am really in favor of keeping politics out. I’ve attended synagogue pretty much all my life and can tell you that very very very rarely do outright politics come in. There are many sermons that touch on foreign policy issues because they may focus on Israel or on relations between peoples. But I have to tell you, I have absolutely never in my LIFE ever heard anything remotely like what Rev. WRight or Pfleger or Hagee etc. have said.
Now – that is NOT to be interpreted as saying that religious leaders cannot or should not go further than my clergy have – I’m not saying that at all. I’m only saying that my experience has been that religious inspiration and reflection needn’t have a thing to do with politics the way we’ve been seeing. And it certainly isn’t why I go to synagogue.
Agreed. I have no problem with clergy putting forth values and ideals from the pulpit. But, I would be mortally offended to waltz into St. Boniface for 10 am mass and find a “Vote for Joe” banner over the altar or even in the mass program.
ByJane – yeah I think this is the really difficult place for many of us. Who wants to really judge, it’s not right, because this is a very personal decision and we can all probably find a time when we overstayed our allegiance to someone or something and then something dramatic had to happen to really make us see what we needed to do all along. It feels too hypocritical to really admonish Obama.
But then there is the political expediency of it.
BUT THEN…is that any different from what any other politician does?
BUT THEN does that make the Obama mantra of change seem hollow?
It’s really not so simple.