[Vision2020] Postcardgate: final thoughts

[Joe Campbell]

I feel bad about my initial post, copying the words of Lloyd Knerr,
the Pastor at Bouma's Freeze Church, and turning them back on the
folks at Freeze Church. This is the kind of thing that works well if
you're commenting on a philosophy paper but not so well if you're
talking in an open forum about someone's religious beliefs. I'll just
say a few more things to set the record straight and then I'll go back
into exile since I'm up to my neck in work and the real reason for my
initial post was to avoid doing it.

1/ I apologize if I offended anyone from Freeze Church. I don't think
being a member of Freeze Church or Christ Church or whatever -- that
is, a church with a dogmatic pastor who disrespects all religious
views other than those like his own -- makes one unfit for office, or
an otherwise bad person. I really don't mean anything against the
members of those churches and if their pastors would stop talking, so
would I. Most of those folks are likely decent human beings, Bouma
included. Of course, not all the members of these churches are decent
human beings but that's true of all churches. If all you know is Mr. X
is a member of Church Y, in general, that's not enough to pass
judgment on Mr. X.

2/ I think in general it is inappropriate to ask a political candidate
about his religious beliefs. It is irrelevant whether Obama is a
Muslim or Bouma is a Christian, for instance. Many Republicans are
hypocritical since they say the former is relevant yet the latter is
irrelevant and that kind of hypocrisy drives me up the wall. Note,
however, that I said it is "in general" inappropriate. When the pastor
of your church claims that Mormons who say they believe in God are
liars and you are a candidate for state senate and have not spoken out
against your idiotic pastor, it is perfectly appropriate to ask
whether or not you share those beliefs. Bouma is way off base by not
talking about this issue. I think that people are right to draw the
conclusion that he does share those beliefs and if he doesn't, he
should set the record straight. If you go to a church that practices
hate speech and then run for election, you should expect some fallout.

3/ The Bouma postcard is a sleazy campaign trick, up there with the
Christ Church bigot sign (followed by similarly slimy letters to the
editor from GMA leadership) and the 11th hour, slimy letters to the
Daily News editor that cost Gary Schroader the last election. But one
important difference is that NO ONE thought the postcards were real.
The postcards were a clear parody. That doesn't justify the postcards
but to say this stunt was worse than the other crap I noted is absurd.

4/ I consider myself to be very religious, though currently I don't
belong to any particular denomination. I have a problem with calling
myself a "Christian" since most Christians don't speak out against the
current dogmatic, overly political form of Christianity that is
practiced in our country. And getting worse by the day. I don't have a
problem with Christ but unfortunately his name has been co-opted by
people who are either power hungry or have nothing going for them but
the fear of death.

5/ I have problems, too, with otherwise well meaning
liberals/progressives whose eyes gloss over when issues of religions
come up, who put all religions in the same pile because they haven't
given the matter a lot of thought. Other than a steadfast belief in
God, the only religious view I hold firmly is that of religious
skepticism: No one knows jack about the matter. Not Christians, not
Jews, not Mormons, not atheists. If you think otherwise, contact me
offlist, we'll have a conversation and I'll show you that you're
wrong.

We all, or most of us at least, have our opinions about religion and
most religious views should be respected. Most but not all. Which
ones, you might ask? The ones that respect the others. The clearest
indication of whether or not your religious view is acceptable is
whether you allow others the right to hold their views on the matter.
For this reason I have an intolerance for those who group all
religions together, whether they think ALL religions are irrational,
or ALL religious topics are off base, or ALL questions about a
candidates religious beliefs are off limits. Not all religions are the
same. Some are dangerous and some are not in keeping with the basic
tenets of our democracy. I understand that well meaning
liberals/progressives find the topics difficult to speak about but
that is precisely why so many power hungry people have been able to
exploit the general fear of death and use religion for their own
profit and political gain. That is why we are in such a mess. Better
to talk about the issues in public in the uncomfortable, clumsy way
that I've been doing than to remain silent and let lunatics run the
asylum. We need to talk more about religion, not less.

6/ I'm relatively certain that most of you don't give a rip about what
I think but I had to get this off my chest.