Thursday, May 1, 2008

Ships & seas & sealing wax......

Religion is a very touchy subject for so many people..... s’almost as bad as politics....’cept politics is safer....not by a whole lot but where politics c’d get you a black eye, religion gets a lot of people killed.....
T’day, we got the Muslims against the world.....I think it was way back in the 15th or 16th Century was the last time the Muslim world attempted to convert the rest of the us by fire & sword....didn’t work then, don’t think it’ll work today either...but that ain’t what has me thinking today...
Nope, Jeremiah Wright hisownself is what got me to wondering this time.....He calls himself a Reverend & I s’pect he may be or might have been, but after hearing just a little bit of what he’s had to say, I have a hard time thinking of him as a spokesperson for God....anyway, he claims, as do some of the black pundits who defend him, that the ‘Black Church’ is different than the ‘White Church’.....more of a forum for social change, more political, a place where black ‘folk’ c’n speak their mind w’out fear of ‘us whiteys’ sellin’ them down the river & I have a problem with that...first of all, I find the concept of separate but equal churches abhorrent. Next thing, he’ll be demanding separate but equal bathrooms, water fountains, etcetera.....I bet there are a lot of really nice people that attend the Rev. Wrights Trinity Church of Christ but, somehow, due to what I’ve heard of his sermons & what I’ve heard of his makeshift apologies, I don’t think I’d feel welcome there. Becuz......well.....Black Churches are different, y’know......
At least, that’s what Wright & Farrakhan & Phelps & David Dukes & Osama bin Laden & the idiot with the unpronounceable name, the President of Iran would have everyone believe......
And it ain’t true. It ain’t true. The world has consistently rejected the Hitlers & Mussolinis & will continue to reject the haters. I believe that any church could be a forum for social change and that anyone should be able to speak frankly not only about religion but about the issues of the day, whatever they might be.......
Now, I must confess that I don’t attend any church on anything like a regular basis. I grew up going to a Southern Methodist church in Kentucky. (During that most un-civil war between the states, the Methodist church divided) The Southern Methodist Church no longer exists & hasn’t for years. Now, it’s called the United Methodist Church. I attended for awhile but decided it wasn’t a good fit for me. I’ve attended a number of different churches over the years, the most recent Christ Unity which states that everyone is welcome, regardless of creed, color or sexual persuasion...It’s my belief that all churches should welcome everyone. Christian, Muslim, Jew. Even Episcopalians. God’s house should never be locked & the doors should be open to all.
On that proverbial other hand, I s’poze we c’ud adapt a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ philosphy......Justin Other Smith

No comments: