Saturday, May 31, 2008

Moving Right Along

Well, here it is, the first week of June already - time for our annual trip to Cape Cod, along with my mom. As always, we have rented Cottage #4 for her and Cottage #5 for us, at our usual spot, Gibson Cottages in Eastham. And of course, Miss Diva will be accompanying us, and Friend #2 will be taking care of Baxter. I'm sure he will be Disgruntled about being left home alone again!

While we're at the Cape I am determined to create a post for my long-neglected travel blog, Marvelous Meanderings. It is way overdue for another post, considering my last one was in March of 2007!

One of these days I need to leave my job at the Big Corporation and just blog and read blogs full time. Because right now I don't have time to read all the wonderful blogs that I enjoy. I hope to make up for some lost time next week, although it won't be all that easy - our cottage does not have wi fi! But there is always the library and a cute little cafe' in Orleans that has access.

Before I sign off for now, I do want to mention one politically-related thing.

What is UP with the pastors at that church Barack Obama attends? I support him and don't really care what kind of church he goes to as long as he doesn't let it interfere with governing. But I couldn't believe it when I heard the news that this priest, who was a guest speaker at the church, went off about Hillary Clinton and said she was crying because Obama was "stealing her show" and related it to race.

I haven't been to church in quite a few years, so maybe I'm out of date, but back in the day when I attended church, the pastor didn't talk all that much. He did one major prayer - which was about God and religion and that sort of thing - and then a sermon. And the sermon usually was a gentle tale, often opened with a humorous little anecdote that led into a spiritual lesson. There was no politics, no mocking, no hostility to anyone. The idea was to leave the parishioners with a sense of peace and a wish to be better people, fleeting though it may have been. It even worked on me for the time I was listening.

Now admittedly, we did tend to have activist ministers at that church, which happens to be the same denomination as Obama's. I believe the minister we had back in the early 70's organized those in the congregation who were interested, to participate in a protest at the local supermarket. The purpose was to boycott lettuce in support of the labor movement led by Cesar Chavez. I remember my parents both participated in the boycott and marched around outside our Pathmark.

I have no problem whatsoever with the leaders of a church getting involved in boycotts and social issues as part of its ministry. But politics should not be preached from the pulpit, especially with such a mean-spirited tone.

Hopefully Obama has realized that the type of religion practiced at this church is not consistent with his message of unity and peace. He needs to not only distance himself from the words of these preachers but from the church itself; not just for political reasons, but because the messages being preached there do not appear to be positive and uplifting. And I'm sure any candidate for President needs as much uplifting and positivity as they can get. Just my two cents.

I know this is probably once again one of those things that is blown up out of all proportion and not worthy to be "news." But given that the Trinity Church pastors (and their guest speakers) must know by now that the media will be all over anything they say, you would think they would be more careful with their words, especially if they support Obama and want him to succeed.

24 comments:

Larry said...

The spike in all these fanatical pastors comes with the Reagan/Bush/Bush wallowing with the real extreme "religious right" whose pulpit rhetoric is not of love and peace, but of the same fanatic rants from a right wing perspective.

Thus Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, Hagee and the real nutcase Rod Parley emerged at the "religious voices" when in fact theirs is far from what most churches are about.

Anonymous said...

Ugh. When I read about this priest I thought...man, Obama must have put his head into his hands and said, will this ever stop??? I flet bad for him. I'd just stop going to freakin' church until after the election if I were him. Or go to some other church. Some mild-mannered nicey-nice church. Are there any? Anyway, what a goofball that priest was anyway.

I had fun clicking thru and looking at your canin rentals at Cape Cod. I relaxed just by looking! I hope you have a great time!

John J. said...

I think omyword is completely right.

A large part of the problem is that lots of people are pissed off at the, honestly, childish way Clinton is losing this election. On one side we have someone comporting himself presidentially while being attacked by even his allies. And on the other side we have someone comparing her opponent to the likes of Mugabe and anti-suffragists with a husband claiming that the media isn't talking about something they talk about non-stop.

What is not needed though, are people like this priest. This is time for us to unify, not throw around childish (and false) insults. I don't think this speaks to Obama's character - as soon as he found out about it he completely rejected them. But it is impossible to find a community leader who has not, at some point, said something that would piss off one group or another. He is with this church, not because of the inflammatory speakers, but because of the myriad of things this church has done for the community, and that is something I will never begrudge him.

kuanyin333 said...

Yeh, there's something weird about these pastors going off knowing full well they will be videotaped and spotlighted. Are they being paid to backstab Obama or what?! Their dramatics are WAY over the top--so much so that I'm suspicious of their motives.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

Completely disregarding race (for it has nothing to do with this issue), Obama's church is a Fundamentalist one. Fundamentalist intent is much different than your experiences. You grew up this way: "when I attended church, the pastor didn't talk all that much. He did one major prayer - which was about God and religion and that sort of thing - and then a sermon. And the sermon usually was a gentle tale, often opened with a humorous little anecdote that led into a spiritual lesson. There was no politics, no mocking, no hostility to anyone. The idea was to leave the parishioners with a sense of peace and a wish to be better people", I grew up in Fundamentalism. You got the better deal, by far.:)

I grew up thinking all Preachers screamed and yelled at you, told you you were no good unless you strictly did what they said, and it was completely normal to mock, degrade, and humiliate others, for it was done all the time in church by the Pastor/Preacher, which was one and the same. Nobody "was right but us,", "us" being the Fundamentalism I was raised in. Everybody else was going to hell, no questions asked.

Fundamentalists elected Bush. He is one of them. Fundamentalism is 180 different than your experience. Fundamentalism relies entirely upon the politics of fear and control, and politics itself. Witness Mike Hucklebee, a former candidate. He was a Fundamentalist who swept the Fundie vote, but was an outcast everywhere there was intelligence. Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (both the same for all intents and purposes) is a refuge away from intelligence, thus reality. You will find no Mensa clubs in Fundamentalism.:)

While Rev. Wright is reviled for his racist comments and bitter hatred, race is immaterial, in that John McCain endorsers are every bit as bad, and every bit as repulsive. That Hugee, I think his name was? McCain did the white version of what Obama did - Pretended Hugee was a vile, awful person when in fact McCain sought the Fundamentalism/Evangelical votes and endorsements passionately. For every Rev. Wright (and this latest aberration), I assure you from years of experience, they have a white equal that preaches the same message of hatred.

Further, both men (Obama and McCain) have attended churches for years that preached the politics of hatred, but now that they're in the public spotlight, they pretend they can't stand their churches or Pastors. That's why I am so passionately against ANY mention of religion in politics. Before God got on the campaign trail, and politicians got behind the pulpit, America was one HELL of a lot better off - and had better "Family Values" to boot.

Sorry for the ranting...it's a hot button soapbox for me.:)

Anonymous said...

MG - First off, have fun at the Cape. Hopefully, you'll have plenty of sun and warm weather to enjoy.

As for priests being political from the pulpit, it does not surprise me. When I was a practicing Catholic, there was no shortage of sermons about the evils of abortion and the need for government to support religious education. Why should this be any different? If anything, it's yet another distraction from the real issues affecting this country.

Anonymous said...

Safe, happy trip to you all. Will you leaving catnip for Baxter? That might take a little of the sting out.

Fran said...

Cape Cod - how great!

Poor Baxter though - I do feel for the cat.

M said...

I'm so envious of your trip. Cape Cod is my dream vacation. I hope you'll post pics? And sorry I've not followed through on my email communication--things have been hectic. Hope you are well!!

Odessa said...

Hi mauigirl!
Its so good to catch up on your posts. I've been MIA from the blog world lately.

Cape Cod! I'm so happy for you. Hopefully you'll get that much needed R & R. And yeah, I'm with you on not working and just writing/blogging/travelling--- that'll be the day. :)

Anonymous said...

I am so tired of religion--whether one attends church, is religious, finds a church, leaves a church--being used as a yardstick to measure our candidates with. Who cares!? The one and only constant in this nation, is that an atheist has not chance of election to high office, and that's a freakin' shame. All other concerns are a sideshow.

Mauigirl said...

Thanks for all the great comments!

I'm on line for a brief period here at the Chocolate Sparrow cafe in Orleans - the cottages we stay at still, sadly, do not have any internet access! (I must put it in the suggestion box, LOL!).

Will respond individually to your comments when I next get on line!

Distributorcap said...

by the time you read this
you would have learned obama resigned from the church

i could go on.... but that is a whole blog

Vigilante said...

Hey! I was in Maui last week! I looked all over for you and couldn't find you!

Larry said...

You should move there Mauigirl.

Cosa Nostradamus said...

.
Aloha!
Sorry for the interruption. Just wanted to offer some contact info on the Superdelegates. It's easy to find & email yours, free: Couple clicks, starting HERE. Just tell them to get it over with NOW, please? Thank you.
Mahalos!
.

Jess Wundrun said...

Have fun! The weather is there, I wish I were beautiful or something to that effect. I gave up on Jimmy Buffett about the same time I gave up on religion although the two are in no way related.

Unless I just became cantankerous all at once?

Looking for the photos!

Dorothy said...

Sadly I think there are a small group of ministers and priest who have egos..and it takes them to strange places.

Regarding your trips yes we'd love to hear about them.

Hope you have fun and I can't wait to quit my day job either.

Hugs..Dorothy from grammology
remember to call gram
www.grammology.com

Sue J said...

Hope you're having a great time on the Cape! Don't forget to stop in at Bubula's in Ptown, and order the calamari.

I'm still in withdrawal ....

Mauigirl said...

Larry, agree, the GOP started this attention to the pastors, and unfortunately these connections have come back to bite all of them. The good thing is that the negative attention they are getting this year may just make people realize that religion and politics should never mix.

OMW, I am glad that Obama has now severed his relationship with the church. Actually United Church of Christ (which his church is a member of) is usually the "nicey nice" kind of church you mention - only one step short of being Unitarians when it comes to tolerance and openmindedness. I guess the denomination is so tolerant it even has factions that are not so tolerant. Glad you enjoyed the Cape Cod link! Be sure to spread the word to any other expatriots if they intend to stay on the Cape sometime! It's a great place to stay.

John J, I agree, Obama's ties to the church are for all good reasons, and I'm sure it was hard for him to give it up. I hope he is able to find another church where he feels equally at home but doesn't have the kind of negative rhetoric this one seems to promote.

Kuanyin, I agree, it almost makes you wonder what their game is.

Future, I agree, fundamentalism is in no way similar to the church I grew up in. I actually attended a fundamentalist Baptist church for a short while and although I left it (and religion) after they prayed for Anita Bryant's success in her mission against gays, even they didn't preach the kind of hatred these preachers seem to. So there must be variations and all different types of fundamentalist churches and I haven't been exposed to this kind before. At any rate, I'm glad Obama and his wife have left the church and as I said above, I hope they find another one that they can feel at home in without the hostility that this one seems to have.

Spartacus, thanks, we have had good weather for the first three days but now two days of rain and fog. Oh well, it's still not New Jersey! ;-) As for the Catholic priests, I'm sure there are many that do preach some kind of politics, I've attended a number of masses that were really very similar to my own Protestant church - no politics involved in their homilies. Maybe it's a regional thing and New Jersey just tends to be basically liberal. Either way, for sure, it is a distraction from what is really important.

DCup, thanks - and Baxter thanks you for thinking of him. I will be sure to deluge him in catnip when we return. My friend is taking care of him and he will come out and accept her homage when she visits him. So he's doing OK, I'm sure.

FranIam, I think Baxter will be fine. Someday we may come up for two weeks and perhaps we'll bring him along then. I'm not sure how he would take it though!

M, thanks so much, hope all is well for you too!

Odessa, thanks, glad you are catching up! I need to catch up too - especially after being here all week with such limited access to Internet. I'm at the library now, and have a 30 minute limit!

Kvatch, for sure it will be a cold day you know where when an atheist gets elected here. But we are making progress - at least the two candidates are falling over themselves distancing themselves from the religious fanatics this year - a nice change. And I don't think McCain was ever a religious fundamentalist - he tried pandering to them a bit but now realized it has its drawbacks.

DCap, yes, I was relieved to see that happened shortly after I posted this! (Coincidence? LOL!)

Larry and Vigilante, I often wish I did live there but unfortunately my job is here on the east coast...

Cosa, thanks for the link, if any recalciatrant superdelegates have not yet committed I'll be sure to send them a scathing note!

Jess, thanks for the good wishes, and I'll be sure to post some pictures when I have more time on the computer!

Dorothy, I agree, it's all about ego with some of them. I've met some religious people who truly live their religions but most of these preachers are not doing it out of altruism.

Sue J, we walked past Bubula's on Tuesday and I told my husband "We have to go there to eat, Sue J said it's great!" We had just had our usual pizza at Spiritus so we weren't hungry at that point. But perhaps we'll go for lunch there tomorrow.

Hope your withdrawal is pain-free as possible...I know how hard it is to support someone and not have the dream come true.

enigma4ever said...

I thought I left a comment- but I guess I messed up- I hope you are having a wonderful time on the cape...everything here is kinda the same..kinda...Obama did leave his church..( so hopefully we can move on to other issues...hopefully)..and Hillary gave her speech today...concession, so hopefully that will lead to some healing...and Unity can begin, so we can fight McSame.....anyways...take care and enjoy the break...

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