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Defining Terms Helps to Avoid the Politics of Demonization
Atheist - One who does not believe in any God, spirit, supernatural force, divinity, etc. An Atheist's Dissection of Obama's Speech
At Pastor Dan's request, I am writing a detailed response to I must be honest and reveal that my previous comments and posts about his speech were based on excerpts, and not the full speech. Senator Obama told PD that many of the criticisms of his speech have come from people like me who have not read or heard the entire speech. So I went back and watched the speech a few times and read the full text to see what I was missing. I am actually more critical of the speech now than I was before, and taken as a whole I found it to be a self-contradictory mess. Meanwhile, back to some further thoughts from me about the unfolding drama over Obama's speech. There seem to be three main kinds of response to Senator Barack Obama's recent discussion of faith and public life and the Democratic Party. One is agressively dismissive from those who simplistically oppose all mention of religion in public life. (This is in my view, extremely counter productive, coarsens political discourse, plays into the hands of the religous right, and violates the spirit of the constitution itself.) The next kind of response I notice, is ga ga enthusiasm. This tends to come from people who are enthusiasts for all things "of faith" and from Democratic partisans who have determined that in order to peel off the anti-religion label (stuck on the party by the religious right, and certain clueless enablers), the party shall declare that religion is, in a word, good. The third general kind of response is thoughtful critique, one that acknowledges that Obama has good things to say about religious pluralism, but there are parts of what he says that are in apparent conflict with the culture and pratice of religious pluralism itself. As these issues heat up -- and they will -- as we enter the campaign season, let me underscore that here at Talk to Action, we have no interest in becoming a forum for theism vs. atheism -- as a matter of fact, that debate is off topic and we will be agressive in ensuring that we stay on topic. (Obviously off topic comments and diaries will be deleted.) We also do not wish to become a place for promotion of the politics of faith or opposition to it per se. Our site topic is the religious right and what to do about it. That said, there are aspects of the emerging discussion where Talk to Action can make important contributions. The religious right has been very effective at driving the discussion of the proper role of religion in public life for a long time. That is one reason why it was so distressing that Sentaor Obama adopted one of the of the main frames of the religious right in his speech. Whether or not a religious left is an effective counter to the religious right, and if so, what is effective, or ineffective about it, is a good discussion to have. But one reminder as we go forward: all people have a right to politically organize; whether left or right; religous or not. That right is not up for discussion on this site. Part of taking action in response to the religious right means using our knowledge effectively. All of us here at Talk to Action are aquiring knowledge and perspectives that have the potential to dramatically change public discourse in this area, and in so doing, change the way that we enage the religious right in defense of religious equality and constitutional democracy.
Let's do it.
Defining Terms Helps to Avoid the Politics of Demonization | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Defining Terms Helps to Avoid the Politics of Demonization | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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