As recently as yesterday, I was still casting around for the right topic to write about tonight for TC. I had already explored my most recent online obsession, Second Life, in TC last week, and my follow-up to va dare's excellent TC diary on Appalachian racism wasn't quite whipped into shape for prime time yet.
Then last night I read GoogleBonhoeffer's An Obama Congregation Near You, and was inspired to continue that thoughtful conversation here, by briefly telling the story of my experience over the last 11 years as a member of a small-town UCC congregation.
If you're not in the mood for a bit of relatively innocuous church talk, jump further down and partake in the Top Commenty goodness; if you're game, follow me on down below the fold.
The recent negative attention on Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ has made the attacks of this political season personal for me in a way they weren't before, not quite. For the past 11 years, I've been a member of the small-town South Dakota UCC church pictured to the right.
We're used to being misunderstood and misrepresented, but never that I can recall on such a grand scale.
My own religious background before I came to the UCC was a strange mix of orthodox and heterodox. My family's heritage, going back to the 1830s, is the Wesleyan Church, which split off from the Methodists over slavery, the very reason my great-great-great-granparents joined it. My immediate family during my childhood were typical congregation-shopping, post-denominational Protestants, and we ended up settling in, of all things, an Assembly of God congregation, because the pastor there was not typical of the Assembly--a Democrat, for one thing, it turned out, and not all that enamored of public displays of tongue-speaking. This would lead to a bitter (and ultimately unsuccessful) fight by a more conservative faction within the congregation to remove him.
Along the way, we ended up with a traditional Dakota/Nakota/Lakota sweatlodge on our property, and a rather different perspective on what constitutes a path to the spiritual or the divine.
Like many, I drifted away from the church in my 20s, and my wife and I eventually found ourselves able to actually describe ourselves as "lapsed Unitarians." Then we started to hear about the dynamic new pastor the UCC church had hired, and when we went to a music night there and struck up a conversation with him, one of the first things he said to us was "don't come to church if it isn't fun."
And while we don't always make it to church as often as we would like to on a Sunday, it's still fun. We've found a new family, and a new and vibrant community of faith, within our small UCC community. I can't count the new friendships we've forged there, or the wondrous realizations we've found there. The pastor there, now one of my dearest friends, baptized me one September Sunday in the waters of the Missouri River.
But through all of this joy and community and really, normalcy--we're not that different from any other mainline-denomination congregation, though that gets lost in the days of mega-churches and peculiar new fundamentalist denominations--I've maintained an awareness of how people in the more politically- and theologically-conservative Christian groups in our town talked about the UCC. I've heard it called a "social club," a "phony church," and that we "aren't Christians." One of their pastors once referred to our pastor as "a servant of Satan."
But we know our history, that of our Congregational forebears, and of our German Reformed cousins who joined us to form the UCC. We know the circumstances through which these churches have maintained the independence of their congregations, and the persecutions they left behind in Europe to pursue religious freedom in New England, Appalachia, or the Old Northwest and the Plains. We know the historic fights they have undertaken against slavery, for civil rights, and now against homophobia.
And we know that the current targeting of the UCC by political and media groups is nothing new, and nothing compared to what our ancestors survived. But make no mistake--we are under, if not exactly attack, certainly negative scrutiny from conservative forces that would oppose the Democratic ticket in general, and Barack Obama's candidacy in particular.
To all our Progressive friends, we ask that you stand up with us to be counted against these tactics.
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So, on to the nominations!
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Nominations received in our TopComments AT gmail.com account - send your nominations each evening before 9:30 eastern and don't forget to include your UID!
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From ScottyUrb:
Dump Terry McAuliffe relates March Madness with Earth Hour.
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From the TC-harvesting mind of A Siegel comes this suggestion:
FourthCornerMan had an excellent question for Meteor Blades in response to the call to shut off all 'non-essential electricity' for one hour (8 pm to 9 pm Sunday) as part of Earth Hour.
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JeffLieber stands up to be counted with:
...this whole thread starting with Chumley's comment here. I am JeffLieber and I approve this stupidity.
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carolita noticed a comment in which:
plainbrown1 gives an eloquent description of victimhood -- and how to avoid it -- in Underground in Ohio's brilliant Alice Walker Endorses Barack Obama.
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BeninSC shares:
I always love comments with beautiful animated gifs. This one, from Pam from Calif, expresses a noble sentiment to an injured US troop, so I nominate it with joy. Sadly, it will be out of recommendability by the time the diary posts, so please find another of Pam's comments to give some mojo.
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From the desk of noweasels:
This beautiful comment from possum in FireCrow's heartbreaking diary I see no bravery in your eyes anymore. Only sadness. Thanks to them both.
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vertexoflife observes that:
Hilarity ensues at BradF's Which politician, Republican or Democrat.
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Found by Ear Icicle:
In this super-fun diary about Obama's basketball challenge to register young Indiana voters, the sports metaphors fly fast and furious, and cmnh makes an irresistible pun.
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FireCrow shares:
One of the most profoundly moving thoughts I have come upon! Hope isn't a word, it's an agreement.
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TOP MOJO courtesy the ever-brilliant brillig. Thanks, friend!
Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments (top 30 of each plus ties):
1) She's the best thing on radio today. by JayBat — 145
2) yes! by Underground in Ohio — 138
3) how do i by Underground in Ohio — 127
4) msnbc should give Rachel her own show by no expert — 120
5) Package soon by Ninepatch — 86
6) Morning Madow/Brzezinski on MSNBC by RedMask — 83
7) "White House to Seek New U.S. Power"... by CA Libertarian — 81
8) Wow -- that should sink a candidacy by djs — 75
9) Look. Let's face it. They dont have what it takes by rhfactor — 69
10) hey, don't forget this quote from George by Hard to Port — 68
11) I would love to see about 35 of them step in by smash artist — 68
12) It's beltway disease by pgm 01 — 62
13) Thanks... this is probably the first honest by victoria2dc — 61
14) Is that all they got? by Dallasdoc — 61
15) Hillary is not being disrepsected because she is by rlmeade — 59
16) Its deplorable that a candidate against the facts by beholderseye — 59
17) although it's often fun by sap — 58
18) You are pushing debunked popular vote spin. by PocketNines — 57
19) Unbelievable by billysumday — 57
20) thanks but no by FireCrow — 56
21) Maddow is the best thing on TV or radio by Flint — 55
22) I love it by not a cent — 55
23) It's been a quiet week by Ed in Montana — 51
24) your city is like my town (photos) by Stranded Wind — 50
25) thanks for the info by cfk — 50
26) Obama has to defend himself (remember Kerry?) by HillarysWar — 49
27) Good Morning, Gardeners! :) by PhillyGal — 49
28) I want to know why Wright gets played over again by beholderseye — 49
29) Obviously not, but their power sets the narrative by doinaheckuvanutjob — 48
30) Beautiful diary, FireCrow by DelicateMonster — 48
Top Mojo - everything included:
1) Tip Jar by Soldier Boy — 556
2) I love Rachel Maddow, by the way by Joe Buck — 510
3) Lone Star Tip Jar by Rieux — 374
4) Tipjar n/t by TocqueDeville — 311
5) Also by BooMan23 — 270
6) War is a fools errand by FireCrow — 237
7) Bush is no FDR by Magnifico — 204
8) How amazing was that essay? by stefanielaine — 201
9) Respect by bink — 174
10) Tips Basket by Hope08 — 167
11) Thanks in advance.... by Scott Kleeb — 153
12) tip jar by psericks — 150
13) She's the best thing on radio today. by JayBat — 145
14) yes! by Underground in Ohio — 138
15) how do i by Underground in Ohio — 127
16) msnbc should give Rachel her own show by no expert — 120
17) GooooOBAMA! by kath25 — 115
18) Just a brief report... by mayan — 111
19) Tip jar. n/t by MTmofo — 93
20) Tip Jar by Gemina13 — 90
21) Package soon by Ninepatch — 86
22) Morning Madow/Brzezinski on MSNBC by RedMask — 83
23) Peace by middleagedhousewife — 82
24) In another fit of brilliance by Frankenoid — 81
25) "White House to Seek New U.S. Power"... by CA Libertarian — 81
26) You can't equate a primary vote win by discocarp — 81
27) To repeat, rec Rieux's excellent mothership by peraspera — 81
28) Wow -- that should sink a candidacy by djs — 75
29) Tip jar by Underground in Ohio — 74
30) Tip jar, by request. by Big Nit Attack — 74
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Going out to Prairies, the Highlands, the Lowlands, and all the ships at sea,
Progressive Witness