From Bob Carlton, who passes along this musing on Sarah Palin’s speech and its many criticisms of Barack Obama:
Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.
Martin Luther King, Jr? Community organizer. George Wallace? Governor.
You get the idea.
Word.
I’m quoted in the Montreal Gazette. Or, more accurately, this post is. See, googling yourself does pay off.
J.K. Gayle has a fine post up summarizing the history of women who have run for office. I knew all but one of the names; I learned today for the first time of Frances Farenthold. Good stuff. Also, see Reclusive Leftist for an excellent take on the “unconscious bias” that favors Obama over Clinton.
At Feministe, and at Elaine’s place, discussion has broken out over the question of how a married woman can best introduce her well-meaning but at times infuriatingly sexist husband to the basic insights of feminism. (The conversation is broad enough that it need not be limited to those who are married, and indeed, another thread has started about how to raise very young feminist daughters.) Despite some attempts at hijacking by the usual trolls, the discussion has been excellent; do check out Elaine’s post and the Feministe threads.
The last time I got involved in a discussion like this in the blogosphere, I said something idiotically pompous (perhaps at Punkass Blog, perhaps at Violet Socks) about being a “professional” who “did feminism for a living.” It was one of my many low points on the internets, and I do repent of it. The fact that I am paid to teach gender studies courses means that I am privileged enough to earn money for doing justice work, but it hardly makes me either wiser or more personally invested in the cause than other activists. But what all of these years and years of teaching feminism to often suspicious audiences has taught me is that there are indeed a few effective ways to “reach” the well-intentioned but misguided. Continue reading ‘On “engendering” change’
My friend Richard Mouw has a nice post up this week on faith and citizenship, just in time for the Independence Day celebrations. Some excerpts:
Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with having a national flag in a place of worship. As a reminder of our national “place” and as a stimulus to reflect seriously on what it means to be Christian citizens, a flag can be a rather innocent symbol.
But it is difficult to assess this issue properly without also reckoning with the constant danger of nationalistic pride. We are often asked to offer to our nations the kind of allegiance that we should direct only to God. A national flag seldom serves as a mere reminder of the fact that we are citizens of a specific nation. It is a powerful symbol—even a seductive one—that can evoke feelings of loyalty and pride that are not proper for Christians. And when a national flag stands alongside the so-called Christian flag, we can easily be led to think that God and Caesar have equal importance in our lives.
That makes good sense.
To be a “patriot” is to have affection for the “fatherland.” The explicit analogy to the parent-child relationship is a helpful one. It is a good and natural thing to love our parents. But our love has gotten out of bounds if we think our parents are literally the best parents in the whole world—so wonderful that everyone else also ought to value them as the world’s greatest parents.
That’s the kind of out-of-bounds thinking that takes hold when nationalistic feelings get to be excessive. People start to think that their country—which they quite naturally have very affirmative feelings toward—is the best country in the world.
Christians need to work hard at keeping patriotic feelings within proper bounds. There is nothing wrong with my loving my country simply because it my country—just as I love my parents simply because they are my parents. But this does not put my country beyond criticism.
Amen, amen, amen.
Though I no longer worship with the Anabaptists, I still don’t pledge allegiance to the flag. If I have to choose between my Christ-informed conscience and Caesar’s call, I’m rejecting Caesar. And Caesar is Caesar whether he seizes power with his legions or whether he is installed by the Supreme Court or whether he wins a popular landslide. The fact that a country is a democracy with stable institutions gives it no greater claim on my loyalties as a Christian than if it were a murderous dictatorship. Please understand, I’m delighted we do have these relatively solid and fair institutions in our country. But the relative goodness of the United States doesn’t mean it comes any closer to claiming my loyalties as a Christian than would, say, Zimbabwe or North Korea. Some Caesars are better than others, but they’re all still emperors of this world.
I’m proud to be an American the way I’m proud to be a Californian, the way I am proud to be the son of Hubert and Alison Schwyzer. But there’s a difference between my saying “America is my favorite country in which to dwell” and my saying “America is the best nation on earth.” I’d rather live in California than in, say, Scotland. (I know both very well.) But I’d rather live in Scotland than in Mississippi (and yes, I’ve been all over the Magnolia State). My loyalty is more to place than to anything else.
I’m not an entirely rootless cosmopolitan. I do feel more at home some places than others. I have two passports, and I’m fond of using them both (usually on the same trip, to the annoyance of the airlines and, once or twice, the befuddlement of Homeland Security.) But in the end, I’m only a loyal citizen of a Kingdom that is not quite yet. And while I will follow Caesar’s laws save where they call on me to do an injustice, and while I will pay taxes to support Caesar’s state, and while I will even pray for Caesar to have wisdom in all things, I will not pledge my allegiance to anything or anyone other than the ruler of that Kingdom.
Here’s a blogging meme for you: What quotation, from any source other than Shakespeare or the Bible, most resonates with you today? What quotation most resonated with you in your teenage years?
When I was a teenager, my favorite quote (it was in my high school yearbook) was from Thoreau:
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Today, my favorite at age 39 is on my office wall:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
–Philo of Alexandria
Share in the comments or at your own blogs.
UPDATE: I forgot my other contemporary favorite:
Christians have never dealt well with the inner darkness of the redeemed.
– Walter Wink
Ain’t that the truth.
Not trying to start another flame war — heavens forfend — but someone’s got me thinking.
Whoops — some images on this site may not be work-safe. Also, any comments on that post need to be on topic and civil. She raises some important points that I’m mulling,and I think some of my readers might appreciate.
After reading my post below on instincts, my mother shared with me this quotation from GB Shaw’s “Devil’s Disciple”. Here, the stern and puritanical Mrs. Dudgeon responds thus to someone who has suggested that she find feeling in her heart: My heart! My heart! And since when, pray, have you begun to hold up our hearts as trustworthy guides for us?
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