This article is from one of my favorite writers, Walter Williams. My favorite quote from the article has to be, "For the most part, white bigots are no longer respected among whites and I look forward to the day when black bigots are no longer respected among blacks." I think the outright bigotry of some blacks toward whites it the dirty little secret that the left chooses to ignore in discussions about race. And yes, Walter Williams is black....
Is Disagreement with Obama Racism?
by Walter E. Williams
Former president Jimmy Carter said, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man." That's from a man who earlier referred to Obama as "This black boy" on the Jim Lehrer "News Hour." New York Times social critic Maureen Dowd said, in reference to Rep. Joe Wilson's shouting "Liar" during Obama's address on health care before the joint session of Congress, "Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it." Washington Post's Howard Kurtz said he "began to suspect that race was a factor for at least some critics when I heard them shouting about 'the Constitution' and 'taking our country back.'" Kurtz asked whether the massive tea parties and other public protests reflect a "distinct discomfort with the country's first black president." House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, New York Gov. David Paterson, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, and other leftists claim that racism is behind criticism of President Obama.
(snip - click on the title to read the whole article!)
Americans should disavow and not fall prey to the racial rope-a-dope being played on us by the nation's race hustlers.
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Thank goodness for reasonable people in the media!
----Katie
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Does Disagreeing With Obama Make You a Racist?
Of course it does!
(To check out the very funny blogger that created the flow chart, click on the title!)
---Katie
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Rest In Peace
The photo above is of Jim Pouillon, an anti-abortion protester who was shot and killed outside Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan, early Friday morning. Am waiting for Obama's statement.....
---Katie
Expecting your "Bound Conscience" to Be Respected?
Check out this quote from a "revisionist" blog. If you think you are going to be allowed to continue objecting to sexually active, unmarried pastors (gay or straight) and rostered leaders in the ELCA, think again!
"We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal." —Karl Popper, "The Open Society and Its Enemies."
So I guess the only thing they won't tolerate is intolerance....hmmm.
Click on the title for the discussion over at Stand Firm.
Hat tip to Eric Swensson!
----Katie
"We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal." —Karl Popper, "The Open Society and Its Enemies."
So I guess the only thing they won't tolerate is intolerance....hmmm.
Click on the title for the discussion over at Stand Firm.
Hat tip to Eric Swensson!
----Katie
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
A View from the Other Side
I've had people ask me how the ELCA can justify their recent actions. Here is one pastor's point of view.
Dear Friends,
You have read two eloquent pastoral letters in this issue, one from Mark Hanson, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, and one from B. Penrose Hoover, our own bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod. As your pastor, I feel that I also ought to share my thoughts with you about what was decided at the churchwide assembly regarding ordination of gay and lesbian persons in long-term committed same sex relationships.
In his “Prefaces to the Old Testament, “ Martin Luther said, “Here [in the Scriptures] you will find the swaddling cloths and manger in which Christ lies.” In “Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, he said, “Whatever does not teach Christ is not yet apostolic, even though St. Peter or St. Paul does the teaching.”
No matter which side of the debate one might take, As Lutherans we see the Bible first and foremost for what it teaches us about Jesus. And I believe that what Jesus taught, preached and lived is very instructive to us in this situation.
First, Jesus never said one word about homosexuality. He did, however say a great deal about self-righteousness. In Matthew 7 we read, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” .
Second, Jesus could, and did challenge long accepted and deeply held religious beliefs and practices. He healed on the Sabbath; in the gospel lesson for August 30 he challenges the practices of ritual washing and declared that there were no forbidden foods. In the next few verses he healed the daughter of a gentile, a foreigner.
Third, Jesus chose as his followers, tax collectors and other sinners. He accepted women as worthy of respect in a time when they were considered chattels. Indeed, in John’s gospel a woman, Mary Magdalene, was the first person to see the risen Lord on Easter Sunday.
From this we learn that Jesus was not afraid to challenge accepted practices. He was not afraid to make waves. He was not afraid to befriend those who were considered to be outcasts by the religious people of the day.
Yet, Jesus preached a high, even impossible standard of morality. He taught that all of us are liars, adulterers, and murderers, if we’ve every even thought about those things. He spoke very plainly against divorce and remarriage. He taught that we must love our enemies and forgive endlessly.
For me, what we learn first from Jesus in regard to the decisions of the churchwide assembly, is that we are all sinners, and that we are all desperately in need of God’s grace. No matter where we stand on these issues, none of us is good enough to judge those who are on the other side. Second, we are already doing things that are contrary to the literal interpretation of Scripture. It’s hard now to remember, but ordination of women was just as controversial 40 years ago as are the issues we are facing today. We also accept divorced and remarried people as members of the clergy because we believe in God’s forgiveness and grace. We can do these things because we believe that as times change, the Holy Spirit can and does speak to us in new ways.
Third, as a very practical matter, these new rulings do not change the process by which a congregation calls a pastor. Authority to call a pastor rests with the congregation. No congregation will be forced to call a pastor that they do not feel is right for them, for any reason.
You will hear many things said about these issues in the coming weeks and months. However each of us may feel about these issues, let us remember the life and teachings of or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and struggle to act in love to God through love to neighbor, as he would have us do.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Pat
-----
One thing I will take the time to dispute - congregations who consistently refuse to call a openly gay pastor will face displeasure and negative consequences from their synod. Perhaps it will not be right away, but eventually synods will not tolerate that type of discrimination any more than they tolerate churches who will not call a minority or a woman.
---Katie
Dear Friends,
You have read two eloquent pastoral letters in this issue, one from Mark Hanson, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, and one from B. Penrose Hoover, our own bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod. As your pastor, I feel that I also ought to share my thoughts with you about what was decided at the churchwide assembly regarding ordination of gay and lesbian persons in long-term committed same sex relationships.
In his “Prefaces to the Old Testament, “ Martin Luther said, “Here [in the Scriptures] you will find the swaddling cloths and manger in which Christ lies.” In “Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, he said, “Whatever does not teach Christ is not yet apostolic, even though St. Peter or St. Paul does the teaching.”
No matter which side of the debate one might take, As Lutherans we see the Bible first and foremost for what it teaches us about Jesus. And I believe that what Jesus taught, preached and lived is very instructive to us in this situation.
First, Jesus never said one word about homosexuality. He did, however say a great deal about self-righteousness. In Matthew 7 we read, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” .
Second, Jesus could, and did challenge long accepted and deeply held religious beliefs and practices. He healed on the Sabbath; in the gospel lesson for August 30 he challenges the practices of ritual washing and declared that there were no forbidden foods. In the next few verses he healed the daughter of a gentile, a foreigner.
Third, Jesus chose as his followers, tax collectors and other sinners. He accepted women as worthy of respect in a time when they were considered chattels. Indeed, in John’s gospel a woman, Mary Magdalene, was the first person to see the risen Lord on Easter Sunday.
From this we learn that Jesus was not afraid to challenge accepted practices. He was not afraid to make waves. He was not afraid to befriend those who were considered to be outcasts by the religious people of the day.
Yet, Jesus preached a high, even impossible standard of morality. He taught that all of us are liars, adulterers, and murderers, if we’ve every even thought about those things. He spoke very plainly against divorce and remarriage. He taught that we must love our enemies and forgive endlessly.
For me, what we learn first from Jesus in regard to the decisions of the churchwide assembly, is that we are all sinners, and that we are all desperately in need of God’s grace. No matter where we stand on these issues, none of us is good enough to judge those who are on the other side. Second, we are already doing things that are contrary to the literal interpretation of Scripture. It’s hard now to remember, but ordination of women was just as controversial 40 years ago as are the issues we are facing today. We also accept divorced and remarried people as members of the clergy because we believe in God’s forgiveness and grace. We can do these things because we believe that as times change, the Holy Spirit can and does speak to us in new ways.
Third, as a very practical matter, these new rulings do not change the process by which a congregation calls a pastor. Authority to call a pastor rests with the congregation. No congregation will be forced to call a pastor that they do not feel is right for them, for any reason.
You will hear many things said about these issues in the coming weeks and months. However each of us may feel about these issues, let us remember the life and teachings of or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and struggle to act in love to God through love to neighbor, as he would have us do.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Pat
-----
One thing I will take the time to dispute - congregations who consistently refuse to call a openly gay pastor will face displeasure and negative consequences from their synod. Perhaps it will not be right away, but eventually synods will not tolerate that type of discrimination any more than they tolerate churches who will not call a minority or a woman.
---Katie
Confessions of a Lutheran Refugee
This is a good read. I don't completely agree with the view of women's ordination, because I believe that you can find scriptural support for both sides of the issue.
Confessions of a Lutheran Refugee
Lars Walker
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (as you doubtless know) decided, last month, to bless same-sex relationships, and to allow open homosexuals (if monogamous) to serve as clergy. I'm sure this action will lead to a perceptible (possibly dramatic) exodus of conservative churches and individuals from the denomination. I approve of this, and encourage it.
Still, I can already hear the accusations coming from the ELCA liberals and homosexual activists—“This isn’t about truth! It’s about hate! You people just can’t get past your homophobia!”
And in a sense, I understand the criticism. One might reasonably ask, “Why now? Has this problem come up all of a sudden (like the unpredicted tornado that knocked the cross off the steeple of Central Lutheran Church, a convention venue, during deliberations)? Why strain out this camel, when you’ve swallowed so many camels already?”
Please click on the title to read the rest.
----Katie
Confessions of a Lutheran Refugee
Lars Walker
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (as you doubtless know) decided, last month, to bless same-sex relationships, and to allow open homosexuals (if monogamous) to serve as clergy. I'm sure this action will lead to a perceptible (possibly dramatic) exodus of conservative churches and individuals from the denomination. I approve of this, and encourage it.
Still, I can already hear the accusations coming from the ELCA liberals and homosexual activists—“This isn’t about truth! It’s about hate! You people just can’t get past your homophobia!”
And in a sense, I understand the criticism. One might reasonably ask, “Why now? Has this problem come up all of a sudden (like the unpredicted tornado that knocked the cross off the steeple of Central Lutheran Church, a convention venue, during deliberations)? Why strain out this camel, when you’ve swallowed so many camels already?”
Please click on the title to read the rest.
----Katie
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