04-26-2008, 12:41 PM
I caught it last night too - very interesting interview.
He certainly was far from the "raving nutcase" he's been made out to be (no big surprise)
It was very interesting to see his "God Damn America" comments put back into context with
the rest of the sermon - comments on how America had treated Native Americans, Japanese during WW II etc ...
As he pointed out the basis of "damning" someone / something is condemning them, which in the religious tradition
is creating a separation from God or being unworthy of preservation by God.
As he was pointing out, we (the USA) had in the past treated many of it's lesser poorly.
Perhaps he picked a particularly raw time to make this proclamation (right after 911) but at the
same time it was a time when peoples eyes were being opened to the fact that not everyone loved us.
When Moyers asked him about Obama's "distancing" himself from him I thought his comments about
"he's a politician and says what he needs to say, and I'm a pastor and say what I need to say" very true.
All politicians say what they need to, even the ones we like. I would find it easier to vote for one
that are realistic about where we are and what needs to be done. Instead we get happy talk
about "vote for me and I'll fix everything" This comes from both parties.
Pastors need to speak the truth and sometimes that truth is unpopular and we don't like it so much.
Sometimes we have to be challenged and have it pointed out that we as a nation are not always perfect
and that we can all do better than we have at times in the past.
Anyway - that's the message I took away from his "rant"
He certainly was far from the "raving nutcase" he's been made out to be (no big surprise)
It was very interesting to see his "God Damn America" comments put back into context with
the rest of the sermon - comments on how America had treated Native Americans, Japanese during WW II etc ...
As he pointed out the basis of "damning" someone / something is condemning them, which in the religious tradition
is creating a separation from God or being unworthy of preservation by God.
As he was pointing out, we (the USA) had in the past treated many of it's lesser poorly.
Perhaps he picked a particularly raw time to make this proclamation (right after 911) but at the
same time it was a time when peoples eyes were being opened to the fact that not everyone loved us.
When Moyers asked him about Obama's "distancing" himself from him I thought his comments about
"he's a politician and says what he needs to say, and I'm a pastor and say what I need to say" very true.
All politicians say what they need to, even the ones we like. I would find it easier to vote for one
that are realistic about where we are and what needs to be done. Instead we get happy talk
about "vote for me and I'll fix everything" This comes from both parties.
Pastors need to speak the truth and sometimes that truth is unpopular and we don't like it so much.
Sometimes we have to be challenged and have it pointed out that we as a nation are not always perfect
and that we can all do better than we have at times in the past.
Anyway - that's the message I took away from his "rant"