Obama in Indiana: Oprah's Church

Well, I think they really are running scared.

I mean, now the crazy religious nuts here in Indiana are resorting to making things up.

I've been blogging my experiences with the Obama campaign and I've been sitting on this one for a week as I tried to put it together. But today is Sunday, the day the faithful take to their pews so it seemed appropriate to get this out there this morning.

Two weeks ago I sent an email about Obama to a group of 50 women who are in my circle as "friendlies", women I see regularly in a sports venue but we don't know one another all that well.

I received about a dozen replies from women asking me to add them to the short list. It was great fun to connect.

One woman gently let me know that she supported Hillary and we agreed to friendly disagreement until this thing is settled.

The only 2 negative responses I received were about religion.

We need to figure out how to address this because this is what Obama is facing in the Heartland. Follow me ...

The email
I knew that I might strike a few nerves, so I kept the email short, direct and professional.

I sent the email blind and promised that I would respect their privacy and email addressses. I promised that this one email would be the only one they received unless they emailed me back to be added to a short list of people who wanted to know more.

Here's the text of the email:

On May 6th we will vote in an historic primary election. Our votes – our voices – here in Indiana could be the decisive factor in the race for President.

Since we don’t discuss politics on the tennis court most of you are probably not aware that I’m involved in the Obama campaign. One of regional field directors for the campaign is living with me while the campaign organizes voters for the primary. [She] quit her job as a TV producer in NYC to join the campaign in Iowa and Indiana is her 10th state. She is responsible for Hamilton County, so  I have gotten a tiny peek behind the curtains of this campaign which is even more impressive than what you see in the media, which is pretty amazing.

I’m sending this email for several reasons. One, just to let you know that the campaign is active in Hamilton County. For those of you who support Obama and would like to make a difference this is your chance!

For those of you who are curious and want to know more about Barack, there will be several opportunities in the next few weeks. The first is an event this week, on Friday, April 4th at 2:30 pm at the Fisher’s Conference Center. Ethel and Max Kennedy, wife and son of RFK will be speaking on behalf of Barack. Please RSVP to [Obama HQ] if you would like to come, as space is limited.

And finally, here is a link to an amazing Youtube speech by Barrack in Iowa, called "Our Moment is Now". This speech is the one that sold me on Obama: http://www.youtube.com/...  

I want to respect our friendships and email addresses, so this will be the only email that I send to this list. If you are interested in getting a few more emails from me during the next few weeks before the primary, please reply to this and I’ll add you to the short list. If not, do nothing and that’s it!

Please consider joining me in support of Barack Obama. We need your vote on May 6, 2008!

The first negative reaction was a blast against Rev. Wright and Trinity. I wrote about that in my first Obama in Indiana diary last week.

The second negative reaction linked blasted Oprah and Eckart Tolle, whose book is her March book club recommendation, A New Earth: Awakening to your life's purpose. By virtue of Oprah's endorsement of Obama, it's a direct attack on him as well.

Oprah's Church
One of the "friendly crazies" included me on an email that she forwarded. It came with a forwarding list as long as I am tall.

Although she didn't write a personal message, it was obviously in response to my Obama email.

This is a local woman involved in a conservative, evangelical Christian fellowship called "The Great Banquet". I've known other participants and I'm convinced that it's a steeplejacking organization because its based in a prominent mainline Presbyterian church that my sister also attends. But that's another topic for another day.

Obama needs to head this one off at the pass because this is what we’re going to face in the GE.

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:15:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Fwd: Fw:  Oprah's "church"

Please go to the site below.  This is VERY scarey [sic].  Those of us who know Who our belief & faith rests on, should be putting on our armor and begin to fight against this.
 
Please pray with me that we won't just accept this as another looney [sic] idea, because Oprah has alot of power and influence, unfortunately.  

Please pray with me that God will handle this and guide us to do what He wills to defeat the enemy.

Please  watch this video about a "church" that is growing by the millions.

http://youtube.com/...

With this woman’s influence she could not only lead millions to hell but also shake the belief of thousands of young or unstable Christians.  We should pray God put someone in her path to witness thru the power of the Holy Spirit and that her eyes would be opened.  Watching part of the video, it is so very important we know what and why we believe what we believe!  We must be grounded on the Word of God!  (He was not made in our image, we were made in His image.  He did not say we are the light of the world, He is the Light of the World!)

----- End of Forwarded Message

Knowing that this is one vote we’re not going to get, I replied as gently as I could to let her know that we definitely weren't on the same page, implying that I would leave her off of my forwarding list if she would leave me off of hers.

Actually, I was really fried that she didn't show the same respect for my email address as I had for hers. If it had been one of my throw-away accounts I would have hung around to see what else they had to say but I just couldn't face being on that list until the rapture.

The Scary Video
Oprah's Church a one very weird video.

The makers of the video are linking Obama to Oprah to Eckhart Tolle, using shameless scare tactics to instill fear in the ignorant.

I read Tolle's book The Power of Now and thought it was thoughtful, insightful and spoke to a spiritual wound I didn't realize that I had. So I pretty much agree with everything being scare-mongered in the video.

So how do we counter this? Do we need to?

::

Obama in Indiana
This is the third in a series, as I blog my experiences with the Obama Campaign in Indiana. If you're interested, here are the links:
Obama in Indiana: 32 days

Obama in Indiana: Muncie

If you live in Indiana and would like to connect to other kossacks in the state, please email me at hoosierkossacks at earthlink dot net.

•  Thanks for stopping by!

  Am I overreacting?

  I know that this email really pushed my buttons because I was devastated by my involvement with radical, evangelical Christianity back in my Jesus freak days in the 70s.

  I'd love to hear what others have to say.

  by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 07:56:21 AM PDT

  •  OH, NO! Ignore the poll.

    I deleted it at least 4 times and here it is again back from the catacombs. ARGHHHH!

    Oh, and can someone explain how to link to youtube so that I get the little tv monitor instead of words?

    Thanks.

    by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 07:58:28 AM PDT

    •  Nevermind. ;-) n/t

      by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:05:14 AM PDT

•  I got that email in TN on April 7th

  I replied all with a polite response and some scriptures from the Bible and I also attached links to Obama's Faith and Politics speech.

  I noted in my email that those forwarding the thing were engaged in a character attack on Senator Obama and since I consider him my Brother in Christ I was taking my stand along side him. Since the attempt of the charater assasins to paint him as a Muslim didn't succeed, I opined that they were now assaulting his Christianity.

  I got a couple private emails back thanking me for the response.

  by PointGuard on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:07:32 AM PDT

  •  Excellent response.

    I emailed back and linked to a blog from Trinity about the dimensions of a liberal gospel.

    But your response was much better. Excellent!

    by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:13:34 AM PDT

•  Welcome to the RWSM...

  tactic number 62 ( I made up the number)...internet chain messages carefully forwarded to people who would be influenced by this type of slime...that is why I have always argued that Obama is no more electable than Hillary...they are equivalently electable with different strengths and weaknesses...the RWSM/MSM echo chamber will bring him down (as they already have) to Hillary's positive/negative polling numbers

  by dvogel001 on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:15:45 AM PDT

  •  I hope you are wrong, but I hear you.

    Haven't we learned anything? Surely we can deflect this one, too.

    Just like the Wright thing turned into a conversation about race and racism in America, and the bitter brouhaha is turning into a conversation about mainstream anger.

    We can't just give up!

    by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:18:25 AM PDT

    •  That we certaintly agree on...

      by dvogel001 on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:49:10 AM PDT

•  Folks are going to have to have a reality

  check, the blond Nordic Jesus speaking King James English is a myth.

  Once they contemplate the Golden Rule, as the over-riding commandment from the Last Supper, is universal to all religions...society has to start from that point and work backwards.

  If you can't get the Golden Rule right, in your mind and life, then you are lost...

  by Theghostofkarlafayetucker on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:24:30 AM PDT

•  thanks for sharing the email and link

  I have few connections to know what evangelicals are thinking or saying and find it fascinating. I don't watch Oprah either so found the video on her church very interesting, especially at the end about the scary department of peace. What would the Prince of Peace do about that?  The closing music and imagery was also quite ominious. I'm off to my unitarian church, of which Oprah is an honorary member (in terms of her beliefs fit very well into this noncreedal faith tradition)

  by no expert on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:26:45 AM PDT

  •  The video

    I had to laugh when I realized all the people who are going to be exposed to Oprah's thinking through this video, many of whom will find it intriguing and look into Tolle's work as a result!

    by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:48:04 AM PDT

•  I received this email this morning

  4/13 from one of the gals in a small group I led for five years in a suburb of Chicago. She no longer attends the same church because it wasn't "pure" enough. She was a staunch Bush supporter for the last election. At first, I didn't get the reason for her forwarding on the email...until I got to the part about Oprah endorsing Sen. Obama. And then it became clear. So, yes. The muslim attack didn't work so now the not-really-a-Christian thing has to be pursued. After reading the email this morning, I haven't responded to her as yet. I really wanted to take some time and think and pray about what I want to say and how to frame it. It saddens me ot know that a fellow Christian would just forward this on and not think about it and question it. However, there have been several times in the past, when I've sent her to snopes to debunk some of the stuff she seems to believe that comes across the net. Interestingly enough, I received an email from my sister-in-law this week asking about this book - The New Earth. I haven't read it and don't know anything about it. So, if any of you have, I'd like to knwo your thoughts about it. Thanks. And I just want to say that it's really wonderful to have this community here. I'm very new to this but I really enjoy the we're-all-in-this-together spirit.

  by lilysnana on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:27:05 AM PDT

  •  Link to the Trinity blog

    Some of the critics are going for a two-fer: Obama is a secret Muslim pretending to be a Christian who belongs to a church that isn't really Christian at all, confirmed by the fact that Oprah endorses him and she has obviously lost her marbles.

    I want to believe that this is fringe thinking, but I know the people involved in this fellowship and they aren't fringe at all.

    Thanks for your comments. Best wishes in your response. You might want to check this link to a blog by a member of Obama's church, Trinity United Church of Christ:

       The Christian cross has two axes or dimensions, the vertical and the horizontal. Some Christian church leaders of conservative bent act as if issues like abortion and gay marriage, which are related to personal choice and personal spirituality (the vertical dimension of faith), are the only issues on which the church should act politically. Dr. Wright, however, is spiritually clear that Christians ought to pay attention as well to the horizontal dimension of faith, that is to issues of sociopolitical significance that affect more than one individual at a time – matters such as institutional racism and global warming that, when acted and legislated upon, positively impact millions and billions of persons at once.

       His is a holistic approach to the gospel. He is clear that the church must be concerned and vocal on any issues that affect persons’ spiritual, physical and emotional wellbeing and not just those that conservative churches have chosen to focus on.

    by annan on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:45:34 AM PDT

  •  The New Earth is excellent

    It teaches that the key to happiness is releasing ourself from ego and the thirst for materialism, and focusing on the moment.  It teaches that God is a feeling not a belief system; it's just the combined awareness of all living things.  Oprah has been using her show to argue that there are many paths to spirituality for the last decade and a half.  She's probably the single biggest reason for the decline in religious fundamentalism:

    http://www.religioustolerance.org/...

    Oprah's mentor Phil Donahue also got into trouble with evangelical Christians at the end of his career.

    by countmein on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 09:52:26 AM PDT

•  ALWAYS turn these kind of attacks into an

  opportunity. Not by responding to the negative and thus reinforcing the negative frame, but by providing some inspirational message from Obama regarding spiritual/religious beliefs.

  Most of these folks sending this crap aren't going to vote for anyone other than McCain, but there may be a few who are caught up in the midst that might appreciate a reasonable response with info.

  by IndySteve on Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 09:04:14 AM PDT