I Am Officially Sick of the Bigoted Kind of Religious People, Today.
And that means, as is always the case, that religious people who believe what ever they believe but have no desire to evangelize or convert others, or in any way shape or form badger or force others to respect any aspect of their faith, are still A-OK to me.
But those religious people who do evangelize, try to convert, and who badger if not try to force other people to respect what they believe? They suck. Well, to my mind, they suck.
Now I know what some of you out there are thinking. You are thinking something like, "Gee, what kind of person believes in a particular religion but does so so passively, so quietly, so non judgmentally, is so non confrontational?" Here is my answer to that. I call that kind of person kind, I call them well-mannered, I call them polite, decent, respectful of others rights and more specifically, respectful of others rights of privacy and their own convictions. I call that kind of person a true believer in their faith. And if other conditions are met, I call them a true Christian.
If you have been following this blog you might know that I routinely do not capitalize Christian and there is a reason for that. So many of the people I see either here in the digital realm, or on the TV, or actually in the actual real world who call themselves Christians, don't seem to be acting at all remotely close enough to Christ-like, as in following in the example of Christ, that I basically dispute their status of such.
And now that I am done with that part, I will say that I do get why as a political matter it is a good move for P.E. Obama to invite Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation for the Inauguration. It is a great move to start of the Obama Administration with that sort of cross-the-divide gesture. And it is not a matter of law, government, or even policy, so it is only a symbolic gesture. So I am really not all that bent out of joint about it being Rick Warren, although I am not a fan of either Rick Warren's religious or socio-political views.
But if I wanted to get my nose out of joint it would be for P.E. Obama passing over my very very very very distant Cousin; The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes.
His official bio is here.
And here is a bit, from his wiki article:
Gomes surprised many when he revealed in 1991 that he is gay, [2] and has since become an advocate for wider acceptance of homosexuality in American society. However, he has stated that he has remained celibate.
A lifelong Republican, Gomes offered prayers at the inaugurals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. However, in August 2006 he moved his registration to Democrat, supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Deval Patrick, who would later become the first African-American elected governor of Massachusetts. (Gomes, 2006) In 2008 Henry Louis Gates featured Gomes and his family on the PBS documentary African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that Gomes is related to the Fulani, Tikar, and Hausa peoples of West Africa. Gomes is also descended from Portuguese Jews through his paternal grandfather who was born in the Cape Verde Islands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Gomes
Hmm. Yes. Picking Rick Warren is reaching across the big political divide, but picking cousin Gomes is like hitting the jackpot, with the number of constituencies who can claim him as one of theirs.
But those religious people who do evangelize, try to convert, and who badger if not try to force other people to respect what they believe? They suck. Well, to my mind, they suck.
Now I know what some of you out there are thinking. You are thinking something like, "Gee, what kind of person believes in a particular religion but does so so passively, so quietly, so non judgmentally, is so non confrontational?" Here is my answer to that. I call that kind of person kind, I call them well-mannered, I call them polite, decent, respectful of others rights and more specifically, respectful of others rights of privacy and their own convictions. I call that kind of person a true believer in their faith. And if other conditions are met, I call them a true Christian.
If you have been following this blog you might know that I routinely do not capitalize Christian and there is a reason for that. So many of the people I see either here in the digital realm, or on the TV, or actually in the actual real world who call themselves Christians, don't seem to be acting at all remotely close enough to Christ-like, as in following in the example of Christ, that I basically dispute their status of such.
And now that I am done with that part, I will say that I do get why as a political matter it is a good move for P.E. Obama to invite Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation for the Inauguration. It is a great move to start of the Obama Administration with that sort of cross-the-divide gesture. And it is not a matter of law, government, or even policy, so it is only a symbolic gesture. So I am really not all that bent out of joint about it being Rick Warren, although I am not a fan of either Rick Warren's religious or socio-political views.
But if I wanted to get my nose out of joint it would be for P.E. Obama passing over my very very very very distant Cousin; The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes.
His official bio is here.
And here is a bit, from his wiki article:
Gomes surprised many when he revealed in 1991 that he is gay, [2] and has since become an advocate for wider acceptance of homosexuality in American society. However, he has stated that he has remained celibate.
A lifelong Republican, Gomes offered prayers at the inaugurals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. However, in August 2006 he moved his registration to Democrat, supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Deval Patrick, who would later become the first African-American elected governor of Massachusetts. (Gomes, 2006) In 2008 Henry Louis Gates featured Gomes and his family on the PBS documentary African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that Gomes is related to the Fulani, Tikar, and Hausa peoples of West Africa. Gomes is also descended from Portuguese Jews through his paternal grandfather who was born in the Cape Verde Islands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Gomes
Hmm. Yes. Picking Rick Warren is reaching across the big political divide, but picking cousin Gomes is like hitting the jackpot, with the number of constituencies who can claim him as one of theirs.
posted by Abstentus at 12:23 PM
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