Tempest UCC
The United Church of Christ (UCC) the denomination I belong to recently decided to buy a full page ad in the New York Times. Which as you might guess not is not inexpensive. This idea came from one of the New York City Congregations, but was quickly embraced by many others. Doing what we can under the circumstances, a quick-whip around with the internet hat was necessary to raise the cash, which the head office does not have on it. This went smoothly, the thing was done and it ran I believe on 02 April
Full-page UCC ad appears in The New York Times . Enough money was raised to even buy a second ad in USA Today a week later on 11 April. The text of this one was different from the first and continued the conversation
UCC's full-page USA Today ad invites nation to 'sacred conversation on race'. The preceding links lead to the press release (with links) that accompanied each ad, here are direct links to pdfs of the ads:
ny-times-ad.pdf (application/pdf Object) and
usatodayad.pdf (application/pdf Object) for those who want to cut to the quick.
The need for this step came from the strident and imprecise press attention surrounding Sen. Obama's Trinity Church (UCC) in Chicago and its former paster, Jeremiah Wright. A few weeks ago this controversy gained an above-the-gatefold article in the Washington Post's Sunday Outlook section
He's Preaching to A Choir I've Left. Which some quipped was more attention than the denomination has ever had before in its history. We felt the need to state clearly that we are not the church that hates America. Traditionally we lay claim to a greater legacy as a church that was one of the foundings of the nation.
Beyond the Church's concern to reaffirm who we are, I began to think about the meaning of Rev. Wrights demonization by sectors of the media. In the first place removing voice, denying standing, delegitimizing feeling. In the second place decapitating leadership by misrepresenting what Rev. Wright was about. Portraying him as strident unrepresentative and extreme (the first to gain the second)
Fox anchors O'Reilly, Hannity, fire back at Wright :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Barack Obama . He could not be called extreme, if in fact, many if not most felt as he does, if he spoke for others. I did see one commentator who took considerable chance in this debate by pointing out that many of Martin luther King's speeches particularly the earlier ones had levels of stridency that equaled or exceeded Rev. Wrights. He may be preaching to the choir, but the whole congregation is awake. Beyond a soon familiar bundle of pull quotes; rhetorical tub-thumping pinned to the line. They had little about the man. His entire life, the testimony of his work and those who know him
Obama's Minister Problem - WSJ.com. The notion that he was a hate filled radical did not connect with the fact that he made his living as a UCC Minister. Stylistically Rev. Wright seems different from the Congregationalist ministers I've known: Rev. Sangree, and John Mack. I have the feeling that this is mostly just style. I can recall Rev. Mack in a sermon speaking on how he came to doubt the effectiveness of the mass protest march particularly as we moved into the current era. This did not affect his appetite for social justice nor diminish his desire to speak towards it. His own style moved away from stridency and effusion, for quieter moments of more certain engagement. The real statement those that demand that Sen. Obama or the UCC cleave themselves from Reverend Wright are making is to say that that they have no right to their opinion, or no right to leadership at all if they have dis-comforting opinion.
Addendum 16 Apr 08... Since again I haven't managed to kick a post out the door before additional events overtake it. I can take a moment to consider Sen. Obama's recent statements to the effect that small town Americans living in what has for 30 years now been referred to as the rust-belt seem to him bitter at the experience of several successive presidencies taking little or no interest whatsoever in their plight. Well it was not good to have said this. It can only seem like a comment on, not a comment with. It does not demonstrate solidarity
Democrats must renew bond with working class - The Boston Globe. At the same time there is little point in others with their own distances to overcome stepping forward to tell small towners how they should feel about this. Further to connect this with the first part of this post. If it does not work to marginalize Sen. Obama as akin with angry common and extreme opinion, the process from there is to marginalize him by portraying as elite and condescending whatever he says. Both have the equal intent of locking him away from the American people.
11:31:11 PM  ;;
|
|
