Now, I concede that I haven’t written a real post in a while. I’ve been a little gunshy.
Bad dreams again of late, I’m afraid. I hate it.
I’ve been taking excerpts from other folks, posting PSAs, and jotting little links that hopefully provide you, dear reader, with some of the insights and interests of what’s awhirl in my life.
Sit down a bit. You may, or may not, depending on your level of indulgence, be here a bit.
I’ve been thinking of late…most animatedly this evening, with regards to my personal reconcilation related to faith and current political passions. They are not divergent.
Two things have sparked a cycle of thought of late.
#1. Obama’s compelling and “audaciously hope” filled speach
#2. DailyKos’s review and statement of Obama’s speech and this particular simple statement
He invoked God in a way that didn’t offend me.
Flashback.
Back in college, my senior year… nigh… two presidential elections ago, I was amidst in a fling.
I had met this man. He was handsome and tall. Charming. Drank real beer, but not too much of it, and had a hearty laugh. His eyes were mocha and warm. His hands confident and sincere. He was fun. I met him a scant month or less before graduation. His last name was Love. Seriously.
One afternoon, in the delight of Michigan springtime, temperate and gentle, while seated on lemon polished hard wood floors we sat on the floor together. The skylight shone a gentle light that made dust float and instantly transform into magic. There was nothing beyond the two of us and the moment. Nothing but his hand in my hair, and his rough chin again my cheek as he laughed. We kissed. Lots.
And as if surprised, himself, by what he would say — the following words spilled absentmindedly from his lips.
“You know? You seem far too intelligent to be Christian.”
Within 72 seconds the man was shocked, stunned, and shuffled out the door.
I think I told him “You. Get your stuff. You gotta go. Right now. I’m going to get really mad soon. And it’s best that you leave now before my Mad gets here. Go.”
He thought I was kidding. He laughed, even. That is, until I grabbed his stuff, made him pull up his pants, and shuffled down stairs ahead of him to throw his jacket out on to the porch.
I closed the door behind him and after 25 minutes of him knocking and finally realizing that I was serious, he left.
I don’t claim to be a good Christian and I am a very bad Catholic. And that’s fine because as far as I’ve seen, God’s love doesn’t work on meritocracy.
Two years ago I received a comment in response to one of my posts challenging me on how I can call myself a Christian while being a fag hag.
I responded in length, but the snapshot version is based on two primary tenements which I still hold to today.
#1. Nothing exists unless God wills it exist. God doesn’t make mistakes. Ergo the notion that a God exists that loves a child but could possibly *renig* on that love because that child eventually grows up and identifies themself as homosexual is — well — ludicrous.
#2. Anyone who presumes to judge another in the name of God has an extraordinary amount of arogance to
assume that they have the right to spread hate and exclusionism on behalf of anyone’s name.
Take with a grain of salt that I recognize that I am a spiritual person without being particularly religious. And that I have encountered in my lifetime people that are religious without being spiritual. I have had the fortune of encountering those graced with the amazing capacity of faith and discipline to be both. I’ve also had the fuck annoyed out of me by encountering indivuals bereft of both spirituality and concept or respect of religion.
Living in Sf I’ve grown accustomed to the general vibe that it is extraordinarily counter culture to adhere to traditional faith of any sort of judeo christian norm.
I have issues with our current president. That he invokes that name of God, the same God that I believe in, and uses that to manipulate an emotional response to hasten into a war with imperfect information conflicts me and shames me. That religion should be used as an excuse to demonize another, exclude and divide a nation, or deny two people that love each other the opportunity to be recognized and cherished within their community — infuriates me on a visceral level that I’m unable to articulate.
There are many that I’ve encountered (both in politics and in day to day life) that have made me feel embarrassed for my faith. Those that take religion as an excuse to abuse or to divide, those that use it to judge and belittle, and most of all, to encourage hate in the name of a God who has intended and hoped for nothing more than for us to love one another. Too often have we heard over the last two years, the invokation of God in a way that *does* offend, more often than not. It batters our sensibilities into an identify of the Christian Right and Republican as being stodgy, myopic, stubborn, unyeilding, and very often times very stupid. That individuals are Christian or Republican because they are too idiotic to make their own decisions and need conformity and control and order in their lives.
Faith simply cannot thrive without emotional freedom.
And choice is the profound articulation of free will — which makes us human.
Now, it is naive to believe that a nation can exist where religion and government remain completely sterile and seperate. It’s not human nature. Consider the history of a man in Jerusalem getting nailed to a big stick because an insecure king thought it was fucked up that he should be rumored to be a leader of the Jews. Not to mention the nuances of ardent devotion, study, and faith that inspires folks to tow trucks with their gonads or go to war in the mideast. One way or another, it’s a nut yanking, isn’t it?
Anyways, back to some half assed attempt at a point.
I think that Obama is the first politician that I’ve come across in a very long time that has portrayed a convincing representation of the intelligence, dignity, potential, optimism, and inclusionary sensibilities that makes me feel proud as both an American and as a Christian.
As a progressive Christian, I’d like to see more peeps representing me and my community, my city, my state, and my country that embody his committment and ideals. His speech makes me want to be a better person and a better American.
We all start somewhere.
