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Easter doesn’t erase suffering
As Jake Morrill told the children in his congregation about the grief felt by the friends of Jesus after his death, one by one the children surprised him by talking about people they knew who had died.
Easter doesn’t erase suffering, but transforms it. Kids don’t need to hear that everything is bright and happy and pastel-colored perfect. They know too much already. They need to know that, no matter what heartbreak the day brings, that’s not how the story ends. Probably doesn’t hurt if adults hear it, too. (Facebook, 4.23.19)
Nobody’s occupied territory
Theresa Soto has created a light-hearted and direct video to share with the congregation with which they will candidate, helping the congregation to understand Theresa’s disability. (YouTube, 4.25.19)
Politics and religion
Jordinn Nelson Long warns about the immobilizing fear of being seen as too “political.”
The conservative end of the spectrum has never worried about whether it’s being political—since the late 1960s it has been intentionally, relentlessly, and calculatedly political . . . and one of its core learnings was that it could effectively shame progressives into silence by waving “politics” at the left, and particularly at mainline faith communities, like a badge of dishonor. (Facebook, 4.23.19)
Doug Muder asks if impeachment is the right answer for our current predicament.
About 40% of the public doesn’t believe in the American system of government any more. They are fine with a lawless, dishonest president, as long as they believe he’s on their side. . . .
If you were confident that [Trump] faced a landslide loss in 2020, and that Republicans might anticipate that and not renominate him—would you feel better about waiting for his term to end?
I would. In large part, my urge to impeach is driven by my fear that the electorate can’t be trusted to repudiate Trump. (The Weekly Sift, 4.22.19)
Adam Dyer suggests that the Democrats need to get to know the diversity of their voters they need, particularly black voters.
If Democrats or anyone with a conscience really is serious about finding an antidote to Trump: The Sickness, they must completely reconceive of what it means to run for and then hold public office. Trump won on a cult of personality squarely aimed at flattering male whiteness. . . . The Democratic field of liberal and progressive candidates would do well to recognize that it must actually have a real relationship with the diversity of black communities as individuals, just as they must have a real relationship with Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ people, conservatives and even white people in all their diversity. None of the Democratic candidates can afford to take for granted that their brand of “liberal” will automatically speak to black voters…without actually speaking to all black voters. (spirituwellness, 4.25.19)
Kim Hampton draws on her political science background to caution Democrats against courting the white vote, since the Democrats have not won the white vote since the election of Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.
It is not my place to say whether Joe Biden (or Pete Buttigieg or Beto O’Rourke) is the right person to be the Democratic nominee for President.
It is my place to say that if Joe Biden is chosen as a way to reach out to supposedly “gettable” white voters, that is a losing cause. In the best case scenario, the ceiling for any Democratic candidate when it comes to the white vote is 45%. Because, as history and political science show, there is a white aversion to civil rights in practice, if not in theory. (East of Midnight, 4.25.19)
The world is full of smelly feet
Dan Harper discovers that not only is “The World Is Full of Smelly Feet” a real hymn title, it is also included in a collection for junior choirs.
If the junior choir I was in sang this song — which we wouldn’t have, since it was a Unitarian Universalist church — but if we had been told to sing that song, my buddy Barry and I would have been laughing so hard we probably would have been unable to sing. Maybe some of the serious older girls would have sung it, but I can’t even imagine them getting through the lyrics with a straight face. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, 4.19.19)