Thursday, July 3, 2003

How Does the Democratic Presidential Field Compare to Harry Truman_

Oh no. I'm not going to touch this. You are. I have sent e-mail invitations to the Democratic Presidential campaigns and/or bloggers whom I know publicly support a candidate to comment on the Truman posts and compare themselves or their candidates to Harry. Mouse Musings' Cyndy Roy has already explained why she thinks Kucinich has the resoluteness to achieve the real unity in America that Truman sought. Edwin Large of Progressive Christians for Dean says that the former Governor has Harry's forthrightness. We're waiting on the other candidates' representatives or advocates to make their cases.

Now you're invited to participate as well. Go here to read up on Truman first, then compare your candidate to him by clicking on the "Comment" link at the bottom of the post. We'll be updating you on who is participating in this early opportunity for us to assess the Democratic field on "character issues."

The Ongoing Culture Wars

We have some fresh and informed perspectives on the culture wars. Guest author Hart Roussel gives us some much needed historical background on family structure and debunks Bill Frist's silliness about protecting the "sacrament of marriage" with a Constitutional amendment. I relate a little personal history that explains how I began my journey out of the wilderness of homophobia.

Last Thursday I answered Dean Esmay's questions implying that the Christian Right constituted some some sort of persecuted minority in "Why the Christian Right is Wrong." I haven't heard back from Dean.

Thanks are due...

...to Bill Scher at Liberal Oasis for naming us as one of the "Best of the Blogs" for the second time in the last three weeks, to Mary at The Watch, Cowboy Kahlil at ReachM High Cowboy, and Avedon Carol at The Sideshow. Not all established bloggers are willing to help a neophyte build readership, but these folks view the blogosphere more as a community effort than just another corner of the dog-eat-dog world.

Obscure Bible passage of the day: 2 Kings 18:1-4

"In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole. F62 He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him." (NRSV)

Comment

Harry Truman and David both had their faults, but for the Deuteronomic historian(s), David was the standard against which all other kings were measured.

Blogs noted: A-Changin' Times

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Wednesday, July 2, 2003

How Does the Democratic Presidential Field Compare to Harry Truman_

Oh no. I'm not going to touch this. You are. I have sent e-mail invitations to the Democratic Presidential campaigns and/or bloggers whom I know publicly support a candidate to comment on the Truman posts and compare themselves or their candidates to Harry. Now you're invited to participate as well. Go here to read up on Truman first, then compare your candidate to him by clicking on the "Comment" link at the bottom of the post.

The Power of Words

Words are very powerful. I know that television has wrought fundamental changes in politics and religion, but words printed and spoken retain their power to create and to destroy, to affirm and to denigrate.

If you doubt the power of words, consider this passage from Plain Speaking, Merle Miller's oral biography of Harry Truman consisting of a series of interviews with the ex-President when he was in his 80's. Miller asked Truman about the price of celebrity and Harry responded:

"A fella like me who's been notorious and who's been what I've been and been through what I've been through, well, there are always curiosity seekers waiting out there, and you somethimes can't even go out to get the papers. You have to send the old nigger cook out to do it for you."

Even if you're white, did you feel your heart skip or a lump in your throat when that word hit you_ It's hard for me to even imagine the feelings of an African-American who encounters that word. For the past two days I've held up Harry Truman as the most courageous champion of civil rights ever to sit in the Oval Office, and that one word has the power to destroy my efforts to present him as a model for progressive politicians. It may not help even if I defend him by pointing out that it was not only the public Truman but the private man who displayed empathy and respect toward the African-Americans he knew. Michael Gardner in Harry Truman and Civil Rights, tells us about Alonzo Fields, White House butler during the Hoover, Roosevelt and Truman administrations. In My 21 Years in the White House, Fields wrote this about Truman in private:

"So if the question is, 'Which one of the Presidents did I understand and which one did I think understood me as a person_' I must say that the answer is President Truman. I always felt that he understood me as a man, not as a servant to be tolerated, and that I understood that he expected me to be a man, sincere in my duties and trying to do what is right at all times. President Roosevelt was genial and warm but he left one feeling, as most aristocrats do, that they really do not understand one. As if to a less forunate human being, they extend a charitable, human tolerance but never permit the right to understand them."

I believe that word, awful as has been it's power to segregate and subjugate, should not lead us to dismiss the moral courage that Truman displayed. Nor do I believe that his use of that word, and Miller reports that it was frequent, should obscure the fact that Harry grew beyond the bigotry of his background to treat African-Americans with respect in private and to be their advocate in public. But how sad it is that he could not grow beyond the use of that terrible word.

This truth about Truman should encourage us to examine ourselves to uncover instances when we use terrible words. All of us share with Harry the fact the we are heavily influenced by the environment in which we mature. As a college student, my roommates and I often retired to the billiard room after partaking of the sumptous feast offered at the freshman dining hall. On Friday nights, as the hour of 9 PM drew near, there would be plenty of nervous joking and abundant use of terrible words because we knew that a gay group met in the building at that time. That a homophobic atmosphere was not limited to my colleagues, but instead prevailed more broadly, even at an elite northeastern university in the mid-70's, was brought home to me years later by two things. First, an entry mate of mine appeared in the alumni magazine obituaries with the cause listed as AIDS and the survivor as a male partner. It was a complete surprise to me that he was gay. Now part of that lack of awareness was no doubt due to my Midwestern farmboy naivete, but part of it was because that young man was not very open about his sexual preference. The second thing was learning that Harvard Divinity School professor Peter Gomes was gay. I was hardly a regular attendee at Memorial Church, but when I went it was to hear this eloquent young preacher, Peter Gomes. Again, the naive Missouri boy had no idea, but the fact was not exactly advertised because of the prejudice still present in that community.

I received my seminary training at an institution that still teaches biblical inerrancy and the sinfulness of homosexuality. After graduation, I was called to a parish in a blue collar Chicago suburb and did not ever have occasion, as I recall, to preach about homosexuality. We were more concerned with slander and self-righteousness and bigotry against Hispanics from what I remember. There was one young man who was grown and living on his own, but often attended church with his elderly parents. One day I received a letter from "Frank" in which he poured out his heart about being gay and just having been diagnosed as HIV-positive. He told me that he only felt comfortable telling me this by letter and begged me not to betray his confidence.

We talked on the phone and in person many times after that. He recommended books for me to read about being gay and movies to see like "Jesus in Montreal." What I learned was how horrible it had been for Frank to keep all this hidden from the community in which he had grown up. Of course, he had another life in which he was open about his sexual preference, but back in his old neighborhood, it was all a secret. He never did tell his parents about either being gay and HIV-positive--at least while I was at that parish. He just took his meds, lived his other life, and came "home" once or twice a month to visit his folks.

I no longer subscribe to biblical inerrancy. I'm free to say that I reject the words of the Holiness Code in Leviticus and Paul's condemnations in Romans 1. I have come to the conclusion that the declaration that "homosexuality is sinful" constitutes terrible words that should be rejected, and I urge others to do the same.

Matt Zemek, a blogger and one of our guest authors, has written a beautiful call for dialogue and understanding in our bitterly divided nation. He writes:

"Liberals have a lot to say to conservatives about the value of compassion in various national discussions, and conservatives have much to say to liberals about responsibility and the consequences of individual choices. If we can find points of agreement on these underlying issues through morally centered conversations, something tells me that divisions will begin to fade away."

I have written about the need for everyone to come to the public square as true participants, as open to change in themselves as in others, and not as self-anointed spokesmen for God and the sole possessors of the truth.

There is another necessity for "morally centered conversations" to result in a fading away of the sharp divisions we now experience. We must recognize the power of words and be alert to those words and phrases that devalue and wound those who have been on the receiving end of such words in our culture historically. And when we discover such words, we must put them away ourselves and strongly encourage others to do the same.

Obscure Bible passage of the day: Luke 19:1-10

"He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham." (NRSV)

Comment

The gospels portray Jesus as someone ready to take on "righteous" people at the same time as he defended the targets of the stigmatizing words of his day.

More on the Culture Wars

Hart Roussel gives us more historical perspective on the sources of family structure and its relationship to the controversy over marriage.

Caveat Lector

Charles Utwater has begun a reader thread demonstrating the practice of Lectio Divinae, a method of scriptural interpretation and application. The passage he has selected and his approach is likely to make what he has written controversial. My main post today and a follow-up posted on his thread explain my response more fully.

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Tuesday, July 1, 2003

"I won't stand for any double talk."

Progressives are the underdogs in American politics right now. If we're not being ridiculed and mocked, we're being accused of treason or destroying the country's morals. These are times that test our faith in ourselves and even in the nation we love.

I began this Weblog to answer the unbiblical nonsense being spread across this country like so much manure by the Christian Right. The mission of "The Right Christians" has expanded since then to embrace the challenges posed by Kelley and Lakoff to sharpen our vision for the future and enhance our ability to communicate that vision to a frightened citizenry tempted to go hide in the past. Yesterday I wrote about the necessity to combine that vision and that poetry with leadership that was both flexible enough to grow in times marked by rapid change and resolute enough to stand against the forces of exploitation and oppression.

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About the Founder

Allen H. Brill, founder of "The Right Christians", is a private citizen and Christian who wanted to see viewpoints of progressive Christians better represented in the public forum. He provides a Weblog on issues involving Christianity and politics that is updated five times a week.

Rev. Brill is an ordained Lutheran minister educated at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO. He is also a member of the South Carolina Bar with a B.A. degree in Government from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.

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About "The Right Christians"

We thank the Rev. Al Sharpton for our name. Confronted by an anti-abortion protester at NARAL's January rally to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, Rev. Sharpton responded, "Young lady, it is time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians." Our site is not otherwise connected with the Sharpton campaign and he is not responsible for its content nor we for his campaign. We do appreciate his stating so succinctly what we have been feeling for some time and wish him well.

"The Right Christians" was founded by the Rev. Allen H. Brill and is currently under his direction.

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Participate

You are invited to contribute to "The Right Christians" by submitting letters, articles or even a blog on a specific topic. Use the Volunteer Form to get started.

We have some ongoing opportunities to participate:

We would especially like to add the following:

Diverse Sources:

Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and other religious groups; pastors or former pastors of Evangelical or neo-Pentecostal congregations; academics in the areas of church history or systematics

Experts in the following areas:

contemporary Christian music; the business interests of the Christian Right; "Christian" publishing

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