Obama's religious affiliation
by
K Rothi
01/07/2008, 9:44 PM #
Mr. Hitchens clearly has no idea what the United Church of Christ is about and also seems oblivious to the more general history of Protestant institutions in America. Wow, isn't it strange that Obama, whose father was African, might find religious meaning in a congregation that celebrates African heritage? How bizarre. My own grandfather went to church 100 years ago in a rural Minnesotan church that celebrated his Norwegian heritage... so much so that they didn't start conducting services in English in that congregation until about 30-40 years ago. As a matter of fact, nearly every Lutheran church in America had a cultural affiliation at that time, mostly German or Scandinavian. No one seemed to think that was weird. Garrison Keilor makes a living off of that history. Interestingly, I was recently in Brooklyn, NY, and happened to walk by a Lutheran church that was Arabic speaking. You know those Lutherans - a regular hotbed of religious crackpots, obsessed with Sven and Ollie jokes. Better watch out for them. I wonder if they tell Sven and Ollie jokes at the Arabic Lutheran Church?
Its just the way it is in congregations - they develop a character of their own and people tend to gather with others they feel comfortable with. So why not an Afrocentric UCC congregation? I see nothing odd - or threatening - about that whatsoever. The beautiful thing about the UCC is that as an organization, they value all people no matter what walk of life they come from. If a man with close relatives in Africa wants to align himself with a Christian congregation that pays attention to African issues, seeks justice for African countries and celebrates the African-American experience then cool for him that there is a congregation out there that makes him feel welcome and valued. My own UCC congregation seeks justice for the people of Darfur (as well as gays and lesbians, people who are homeless and people without health insurance), creates a welcoming space for all the people in our community - just as Obama's congregation does for the people in his community. The UCC has its roots with the Pilgrims (another hotbed of radicalism threatening the core of American culture that we had all better watch out for), the fight for women's sufferage and the civil rights movement.
UCC congregations believe that Jesus has called us to follow in his footsteps, actively seeking social justice where there is none and uplifting the downtrodden. This can be done either on a broad basis or in a very focused manner. It sounds like Obama's congregation has chosen a more focused approach and there's plenty of that kind of work to be done in the African-American community. I'm certain that with a bit more in-depth research, one would probably find a fine-tuning of what his congregation means when they claim to be unabashedly Afrocentric and that it has nothing to do with being "the chosen race."
Give me a break - K. Rothi
