I am appalled that Barack Obama, for whom I gave up so many weekends knocking on doors, has decided to have Rick Warren deliver a prayer at his inauguration.
I do not like Rick Warren. I do not care that he gives up a bunch of his salary for charities (although this is a good thing to do). And I do not care that he has "gay friends" or helps those suffering from the ravages of the AIDS virus.
Rick Warren is a bigot. Anyone who believes that our gay or Lesbian brothers and sisters should be denied the right to marry is a bigot. Plain and simple. And there is no place in the Christianity that I practice and believe in for bigots.
But I have also been appalled today to read comments that are no less bigoted than statements I have read from right-wing nuts.
Prejudice is unacceptable no matter what its foundation. And hatred directed to anyone based on that person's religion is, to me, no less hateful and wrong than hatred directed to someone based on his or her sexual orientation.
It's all bigotry. And it's all wrong.
There is such a thing as progressive Christianity. And there has been such a thing for a long time.
It was progressive Christians who fought to abolish slavery in this country. My great-great grandfather was an abolitionist, in Massachusetts, and he participated in the Underground Railroad. He was also ~ and also because of his religious beliefs ~ a suffragist. In the nineteenth century.
Progressive Christians also worked to make civil rights for our African-American brothers and sisters a reality. Let us not forget that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a minister.
Progressive Christians worked tirelessly to end the war in Vietnam. Let us not forget the work of Rev. William Sloane Coffin (to whom I am distantly related).
I would also like to remember the hard work and activism of Louise Ransom, a pillar of her local Episcopal Church (and the mother of two friends of mine), whose son, 2nd Lt. Robert Ransom, Jr., was killed in Vietnam.
And, please, let us not forget the amazing diaries and work of our own pastordan, right here on this site.
In the last decade or so, right-wingers have attempted (with, unfortunately, a great deal of success) to co-opt and "rebrand" Christianity for their own ends. They have attempted to remake the religion that means so much to me, and that has informed and shaped my activism and beliefs, into a narrow-minded, selfish and wrong-headed set of principles that bear no relationship whatsoever to the principles that shape my faith.
I am very grateful to the Christian activists (and Jewish and Muslim and atheist activists) who continue to work for change in this country and around the world.
I was deeply saddened to read comments in diaries at this remarkable site (which I love and value so very much) today that bashed Christians for no other reason than our religion. And no, I am not going to link to them, because I don't believe in call-outs.
We are progressives. And bigotry of any kind should never be acceptable.