Senatorial Choices

The other day in class one of my professors was talking about the religious consequences of the American Revolution. Like any of the rest of us I knew that when the Founding Fathers established the new government with the US Constitution they made sure that there would be no National Church to which everyone would be compelled to belong. Not only this, but there would be no tax money going support otherwise struggling organizations.

What I hadn’t thought of was how this would encourage all sorts of religious diversity. Think of it like this. When everyone has to go to a particular church, the pastor is going to get paid no matter who shows up so there is little incentive for the leaders of that group to tailor their message or presentation to suit the desires or needs of the people in the pews. However, once the First Amendment was enacted your American Everyman or woman could go to whatever church, synagogue, or matinee movie they felt like. If ministers wanted people to come to their church they would have to be offering something that the people wanted to hear.

Every Sunday my wife and I put this freedom into effect. We get up earlier than we’d otherwise have to so that we can travel the half-hour across Chicago to go to the church of our choice. Now there are a lot of options for us that are a whole lot closer to where we live. We go to all the extra effort because we can find at our church those things that we want to hear. Thanks to the religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution we are able to live according to our own choice.

I say all this because apparently my Senator is not aware that this freedom exists. He seems to be under the impression that you cannot choose where you go to church. Just this morning he gave a beautiful speech in which he responded at length to the many questions arising from the unusual sermons of his former pastor. I truly mean that it was a beautiful speech. The man is a master of his craft. Senator Obama’s craft is, like that of any other politician, is to tap into the emotional undercurrents of his audience and carry them along with the vision he lays out.

Today the vision he hoped to impart was that while his longtime spiritual mentor had indeed said some drastic things, the Senator strongly disapproved. In the midst of some specific criticisms, Senator Obama refused to completely abandon his longtime friend whom he said was “like family.” To illustrate his reasoning he told the audience of his white grandmother. He said he knew she loved him dearly, but at the same time it caused him pain when she occasionally used ethnic slurs or confessed to fearing black men. Just as he could not deny his grandmother simply because she sometimes said regrettable things, he, for the same reason, could not now abandon his pastor.

Now this was powerful rhetoric. The Senator deftly connected with his audience by getting us all to consider how many family members or friends we have that go around saying things that we really wish they hadn’t. Anyone reasonable listening is forced to concede that they wouldn’t kick granny to the curb no matter how loony she might sound sometimes. If we think it’s okay that we continue to associate with those who “transgress” taboos, then we have to grant the same consideration to the candidate.

However, before we all jump on the Obandwagon, let’s think about this a minute. Senator Obama has gotten things a little bit confused. He has confused the nature of his relationship with his grandmother with the one he has with his pastor. His grandmother is his grandmother because she is his mother’s mother. His pastor is his pastor, however, because Senator Obama chose him.

As the candidate suggests we all put up with all sorts of nonsense from those around us. From our families we don’t really have much choice. We don’t get to decide who we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with. Sometimes we are lucky in this respect and sometimes . . . not so lucky. Yet even in this sacred space there are limits to what we will tolerate. If Cousin Luigi shows up on Turkey Day and starts ranting about how “the Jews” are out to get him most of us are going to be hoping that he doesn’t get invited next year.

The same principle goes for our friends or other social relationships. The only difference is we have a choice when it comes to them. We have an acceptable level of disagreement within which we will tolerate, but beyond which we’ll cut off the relationship. Each person’s line is going to be in a different place, but once it’s crossed we will go our own way. For most people this applies to our use of religious freedom.

Senator Obama has said that Rev. Wright is like family to him. If this were literally the case then his association could be excused. As it is, he has used the same religious freedom that I use each Sunday to go to the church of his choice. If I were to show up one Sunday morning and my pastor were to launch into openly political advocacy, as Rev. Wright has of late, I would seriously question my continuing attendance. If he were to shout to the cheering crowd, calling on God to damn America, as Rev. Wright has done, I would never darken their door again.

Of all the churches among what must be the hundreds available in the Chicagoland area, Obama has chosen one whose beliefs are drastically inconsistent with the vast majority of the American electorate. He says this is not something we need to be concerned about. He wants us to believe that the pastor who ministered to him for a decade or more does not represent his views. He wants us to believe that just as we put up with the unfortunate remarks of our friends and families, he puts up his mentor’s raging against Israel and America for the same reason he continued to love his grandmother. Apparently, he also wants us to believe that his pastor’s desire that “God Damn America!” is an acceptable disagreement. Somehow I am not comforted.

Vote for Hope!!!

Good Morning,

My name is Joe Bamah, and I’d like to be your airline pilot for this flight. Now I know there are a lot you out there who aren’t too happy with the way previous pilots have been flying us around. I know you’ve been hoping for a new way of flying. I am here because I too believe we can change the very way airline flights are done.

I know there are a lot of cynical people out there who want to scare you by saying that someone with more experience flying planes should be the pilot, but I ask you, what has all their years up there in the cockpit done for them? Has it meant that your plane has arrived on time? There are those out there without hope. They say that my flight simulator “experience” isn’t enough. But has their “experience” given you flights free from turbulence?

I offer you hope for change you can believe in. I haven’t been contaminated by the hours of association with the comforts of the captain’s seat. I haven’t had my hope drained by countless take-offs and landings. I won’t be held captive by their so-called laws of aeronautics. I will fly us through beautiful skies with the smoothness made possible by a complete lack of experience.

Vote for Joe Bamah. I am not a pilot so you can trust me to fly.