LeShawn blogs today about what she saw in the session at BlogNashville yesterday. She was a capable and knowledgeable discussion facilitator. I was concerned for how this would go when I went to her site and saw the massive dominance of GOP related ads, and praises for Ann Coulter. But my worst fears, and hers, were allayed.
La Shawn Barber’s Corner » A Conference Only a Blogger Could Love
In terms of faith and blogging, someone talked about the need to disassociate faith, in this case, Christianity, from a particular political party. We have to be sure our faith sets the tone for our politics and not the other way around. Unfortunately, this subject wasn’t fleshed out. It is probably the most relevant issue facing faith bloggers who write about politics, such as yours truly.
I’m not so sure I’d want to let Ann Coulter be an admired expression of the tone of my faith (well, yes, I AM Sure that I would not). In fact, when I saw this on LeShawn’s page, it made me reticent to even go to the faith based blogger session. But I nixed podcasting, which I wanted to be in, and went. Thankfully, she didn’t go on an Ann Coulter attack (not that she would; but that is COULTER’s “schtick” so to speak) . She facilitated the session without much predefining of the scope of Faith Based Blogs, which was good.
It is probably very good that the faith-politics subject wasn’t “fleshed out” in a diverse audience like that. (especially since it’s pretty clear from LeShawn’s blog where she arrives re: “faith sets the tone for [her] politics and not the other way around” ,which is squarely in the Bush camp. Well, not ‘especially snce she’s a Bush supporter, since coming from the other way would also bring about political debate.)
I stood up and gave my little intro and talked about my blog and how I grew up Southern Baptist and went to seminary, just before the denomination “went in the direction they’ve been in for the past 20 years”, and I saw a few people nod their heads. I also talked about how I was impressed with the Cluetrain Manifesto and their challenge to businesses to recognize that “markets are conversations”, and that I apply this same insight to the Church and emphasize the conversation.
I cannot avoid the political issues because they can’t be separated or ignored when the Church I believe in is standing for peace and reconciliation; and an ethic which is “not of this world”. War is the number one “worldly solution”, and it takes quite a bit of rationalization and “reinterpretation” of Jesus’ words to fashion a gospel that avoids the “Love your enemies” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. I can’t help but be appalled whrn I see the fervor with which the Religious Right adores George Bush when he can say things like “sometimes you just gotta step back from religion when you got a job to do”, like faith is a convenience that we can “set aside” at any time when we have to do something “in the real world”.
No, I believe that Bush and his team (Karl Rove, Cheney, etc.) is USING the Religious Right, and it seems amazing that with as little and few things he actually says about his faith, that he actually gets a stamp of approval from The Religious Right who are quite meticulous in their apparaisals of their fellow Christians’ theologies, while allowing Bush to go scot-free on such clueless utterances as the “step back from religion” remark.
The war against Iraq has no defense. It has been, and continues to be, a crime against humanity. But the “pro-life” people in the Religious Right have apoparently no qualms about the destruction of the lives of people who had NOTHING to do with 9/11, and were harboring NO WMDs, and who stand in the way of the Bush-Neocon alliance’s desire for economic dominance of the country and its resources.
The British intelligence memo leaked late this week is but another sign of the masive publich deception this administration carried out against the American public, and millions of people who claim to follow Jesus somehow cannot seem to place themselves in the shoes of Iraqi civilians, whose deaths, had they been American citizens, would not be tolerated. HOw many of them, had that been THEIR families killed in bombings and multi-casualty-producing attacks carried out for their “effectiveness” and “minimal risk to American military personell”, these “strategic decisions” would be unacceptable. Life, after all, is PRECIOUS , isn’t it?
All of the previous was just a sidebar, and not a RESPONSE to LeShawn . She did a good job with the session. Her blog is where she is, and she also runs ads, which helps her (I have no idea how much she makes on those). Blogs are great becuase they enable self-expression, and to find communities of like-minded folks, and occasionally spark debate (sometimes often). I was glad to see some additional Christian representation expressed. I allowed a bit of rant-detour above, but hey, that’s part of blogging, and a lot of valuable stuff can come from exploring our reactions, or elaborating on them.
Here’s the Technorati BlogNashville tag results (which , if it works, should include this post in the results.