On Friday, January 21, I wrote, in reaction to Dr. James Dobson's anti-SpongeBob anti-tolerance remarks (that he was somehow in a position to make, and be taken seriously at a black-tie inaugural dinner): Thinking about all of these things, I didn't feel like laughing any more. I felt like screaming--or weeping. But I also realized that what religious progressives (really all non hate-based religious people) needed to do was to speak, and to write about our values. More than that--and this is the tricky part we really need some help with--we need to find a way to be heard. Well, today I got to enjoy reading the words of a member of the mainstream media outing himself (*snark*) as a member of the religious left. No, he didn't call himself that per se. I don't imagine there is any name we could all agree on, as we're something of an unruly, free-thinking bunch. But Keith Olbermann, in his remarks on his blog, certainly sounds like "one of us", even if we as a group don't generally apply a label to ourselves. In his most recent entry, Keith Olbermann describes the spam e-mail campaign that Dobson incited against himself and three other journalists. He then reported that Focus on the Family had followed up with a piece by Gary Schneeberger entitled “Influencing Olbermann”. I recommend reading Olbermann's entire blog entry, but wanted to draw special attention to this part: ...Mr. Schneeberger now tries extra-sensory perception. “…When it comes to lobbying liberal journalists like Olbermann, the sad reality is that getting them to acknowledge - let alone to respond respectfully - to our point of view is the longest of long shots. Theirs is a 24/7 secular world - in most newsrooms, especially those in big cities, about the only time you hear the word ‘God’ is as the first part of somebody’s second-favorite swearword.” Wow. Talk about creating your own reality. My newsroom is in Secaucus, New Jersey - population 15,931. “Focus On Family” headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colorado - population 360,890. And not to let the facts get in the way of FOF’s prejudice, but I happen to be a religious man. I believe in God, I pray daily, and if I’ve ever gotten any direct instructions from my maker, they were that I’ll be judged by whether I tried to help other people, or hurt them. Also, that true belief should not be worn like a policeman’s club, nor used like one. And, finally, that I’m in big trouble for helping to introduce funny catchphrases into sportscasting. The producer of Countdown - Mr. Kordick, you’ve met him here, the guy who goes on vacation and celebrities die - is not only a religious man of the finest kind, but actually sings at Church-related events out in the community. And there are many others on the staff who are similarly spiritual, although, admittedly, none of us is pushy nor self-congratulatory about it. I might also say that I feel a little disappointed in my workplace. Mr. Schneeberger, who claims to have spent a dozen years in “secular newsrooms,” writes of all of these “God Damns” flying around the ones he knows so well. I honestly think I’ve heard that phrase used at MSNBC once or twice in the last year. I feel short-changed. Where did Schneeberger work, The Sodom and Gomorroh Picayne? .... More importantly, at some point, some of these people are going to wake up to find that the great secular assault they see on their children was, in fact, a bogeyman created to hide their own bad parenting. If they can’t convince their own kids of the appropriateness of their religion and values, then the religion, the values, or the convincing, must not have been very good. Ask my folks if I was an easy sell - yet most of my tenets turn out to have been their tenets - not my teachers’, not television’s, not the secular world’s. .... Schneeberger finishes his piece with the hope that I’ll experience the same kind of epiphany he claims to have in 1997. “Let’s pray, if he ever does, that he comes up with the right answer - and not because it may lead to fairer reporting. But because it may lead to a redeemed life.” Hey, guys, worry about yourselves. You’re spewing hate, while assuming that for some reason, God has chosen you and you alone in all of history to understand the mysteries of existence, when mankind’s existence is filled with ample evidence that nobody yet has been smart enough to discern an answer. You might try keeping it simpler: did you help others, or hurt them? I’ll be happy to be judged on the answer to that question, and if it’s a group session, I don’t expect I’ll find many members of “Focus On Family” in the “done ok” line.

I have a blog entry at The Village Gate entitled "Speaking Up for Tolerance" that mentions the SpongeBob flap as well as the PBS program that was censored because it involved a family with two moms who make maple syrup. When I first read the story, I must have just skimmed it, or maybe the first article I read about the program was not that clear on the matter. Because I somehow had the idea that the episode of "Postcards From Buster" featured a pair of lesbian cartoon rabbits. It doesn't. Apparently, like the cartoon Arthur that this program spun off from, this program includes live-action segments. A real human family that had taped a segment of the show was told that they were somehow too "offensive" to be seen on a show on PBS. Knowing this increases my anger and sadness exponentially. I shared some thoughts here on the the moral value of teaching the inherent worth and dignity of every person. One of the seven principles Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote is, "the inherent worth and dignity of every person". I truly believe that is what we should be teaching all children-- even if that does not fit with the "values" of their parents. I truly believe this is a value that needs to be promoted, because it contritbutes to the well-being of society as a whole, and is vital if we have any hope of peaceful existence in a diverse world.

I hate to give any additional attention to the hate-based perversion of Christianity espoused by James Dobson of Focus on the Family, especially now that the SpongeBob flap has become yesterday's news. But, at the same time, while this is fresh in my mind, I wanted to address some issues this raises for religious progressives. For anyone who somehow missed this story, Keith Olbermann did a segment on it on Friday. Click here to read his column about Dobson's remarks and the children's video to which he was referrning. And click here to read the statement given on the Focus on the Family web site as to why James Dobson and his organization are publicly denouncing a children's video designed to promote tolerance. The other day, I wrote a diary on the Daily Kos entitled Cartoons and tolerance: view from the "religious left". I am not a member of the clergy or in any way a known spokesperson for religious progressives, but I just felt compelled to at least say that James Dobson does not speak for this Christian. And I wanted to revisit the dialog we have from time to time about what we can do to make the message (even the existence) of the religious left more visible to the general public. As one commenter asked: What can be done? The religious right seems to be organized and have strategy meetings every 6 weeks or so. Is that something that could be organized with a progressive agenda for the religious left? Pastordan, who, among other things, writes the Religion News Roundup on Kos, commented I'm thinking that somebody needs to get a group together to actively cultivate the religious left message. Maybe we can get it funded by some sympathetic billionaire? I am aware that there are groups out there such as the Clergy Leadership Network and Faithful America, as well as any number of smaller groups and denominational efforts. I think the UCC is doing a phenomenal job of presenting its open, inclusive Christian vision. (Chuckling as I type this--I just visited the UCC web site to make sure I had the URL right, and found an updated home page, with a picture of the yellow porous one, accompanied by the caption, "SpongeBob - You're Wecome Here"." There is also a news release entitled, SpongeBob receives 'unequivocal welcome' from United Church of Christ.) But it still seems like a smattering of voices here and there. Of course I do not expect us to speak with one voice. But even with all of our voices combined, I don't think the religious left (and center) even comes close to the level of media presence and public awareness that has been achieved by the religious right. How to begin to address this--your thoughts?

Yesterday we heard about James Dobson and, er, shall we call it Spongegate? No--that would be taking his words far more seriously than they deserve to be. I had a bit of fun myself, speculating on where these right-wing ideas about characters like Tinky Winky and Spongebob might originate. Today I read Keith Olbermann's column, Will Spongebob make you gay? and watched the video that Dobson claimed, as reported in Olbermann's column "had been included in a pro-homosexual video which was to be mailed to thousands of elementary schools to push a tolerance pledge by kids, including tolerance of differences of what Dr. Dobson called "sexual identity."" If you haven't seen the video yourself (it was shown last night on Countdown), the column has a link where you can view it. Keith Olbermann commented after showing the video, "By the way, not only did I not see any sexual identity in that, I didn't even see very much of SpongeBob either. Although Winnie the Pooh wasn't wearing pants." As I waited in an insanely long line to buy groceries this evening (we are supposed to get a lot of snow this weekend) I thought about the video, which is a version of the 1979 disco hit "We Are Family", and its message of tolerance, diversity, and the idea that we are all family. I believe in that message--those are my values. Thankfully, I have found a local church, which is a member of the Center for Progressive Christianity, and the people there share those values as well. And I thought about James Dobson and the distorted, hurtful brand of Christianity that he espouses and preaches. I thought about the fact that he rails against and is prepared to blame those pushing a "tolerance agenda" for the downfall of society as he knows it. But I'm sure he does not see that he bears any responsibility when a gay man dies as a result of a hate crime, or when a gay teen commits suicide. I thought about how distubing it is that this man continues to get airtime, that he would even be called upon to give an address to members of Congress at a black-tie, inaugural event in Washington D.C., and that the name James Dobson is being repeated in news stories this week, again and again, in the same breath as the word "Christian". Thinking about all of these things, I didn't feel like laughing any more. I felt like screaming--or weeping. But I also realized that what religious progressives (really all non hate-based religious people)needed to do was to speak, and to write about our values. More than that--and this is the tricky part we really need some help with--we need to find a way to be heard.

Has everyone here heard about BlogPac? I've been seeing the name here and there, but hadn't had a chance to really look into it. Howard Dean recently did a conference call with them. Being a longtime "Deaniac", I took notice. But I didn't really decide I needed to look into this thing until I saw their latest effort: From There is No Crisis The Blog Political Action Committee has launched a major online offensive exposing the manufactured Social Security "crisis". BlogPAC, a collection of Democratic bloggers and blog readers, is joining the battle, with an online media campaign that refers to the attacks against Social Security's solvency as "fraud". "Fact is, There Is No Crisis," said Markos Moulitsas. "And there is no projected crisis anytime in the near future. Or far future." "We want to provide tools for citizens to engage in the political process on this critical issue," said Matt Stoller "President Bush's consistently fraudulent claims need to be rebutted by the American people, and that's what's going to happen with thereisnocrisis.com." Read more about the There Is No Crisis here. Click here for Bob Brigham's diary, BLOGPAC and Social Security: An Open Source Press Release, to learn about the strategy and how you can get involved.

I have a diary on Kos today about Rep. John Conyers and the legacy of MLK. At the end of the diary, I have linked to other King-inspired diaries that were posted this weekend. One of the diaries, A Little Inspiration on Dr. King's Birthday, links to the mug shots of both Dr. King and Rosa Parks, which can be found on The Smoking Gun web site. When a commenter noted, "I don't want to see them like that", storwino, the blogger who wrote the diary responded, I guess that's my contrary, and negative, nature showing itself and that I find more power in the challenges my heros faced than in the successes they won. That's why I like these photos. They remind me of the very real dangers and degradations that these heros of mine faced. I want to remember that they are/were real people who walked the earth with dirty feet just as I do. I also mentioned the comment to my husband, who is not religious in any traditional sense, and has described himself as a member of the Church of the Restful Sabbath. He said, "They probably didn't want to see Jesus on the cross like that either, but now they've got one in every church." It is sobering though. I am dedicated to working for social justice, but am I willing to be arrested if that is what it comes down to?

I love this quote. I haven't read it for a while, but I just found it again when I was searching for a sermon I heard Rev. Mark Belletini give at First Unitarian Universalist Church several years ago, entitled Dr. Martin Luther King's Theology. I love it because it is full of hope *and* it speaks of such a radically different kind of mandate than the one Bush claims. From The Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King... I am convinced of the reality of a personal God. It is a living reality that has been vindicated in the experiences of every day life. God is a living God, with feeling, will; responsive to deepest yearnings of the human heart. (God is the one who) is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. This is our hope for becoming better human beings. This is our mandate for seeking to make a better world. I had a nice talk with my priest yesterday. Of course, it's always enjoyable to sit down and have coffee with another person who thinks of The Daily Show as a better way to find out what's really going on in the world than watching "real" news shows. But on a deeper level, he reminded me again of the prophetic hope expressed by people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who surely experienced far darker times than what we are experiencing right now in the United States. As did Martin Luther King. Living *my* life, as a White female who has never suffered the kind of oppression that King or Tutu experienced, I have a hard time imagining that I could ever feel the kind of hope, faith, strength, and compassion that they expressed. But when I look to the examples they set, I realize that I need to set the bar a bit higher for myself and at least *try* to come closer to that ideal.