Copacabana

This present darkness

Um okay. Here's my issue with Father Pfleger: while I totally understand backing up your friends -- I have friends that say crazy shit all the time and I do tend to back them up because shared experiences sometimes trump wacky theories because theories change as people mature and grow -- jumping around in the pulpit of a Catholic church is really strange. Priests are generally sober and sedate servants of God -- they are in fact intended to be interchangeable within a parish -- and so having a super charismatic personality preaching Elmer Gantry-like from the altar is really odd. (By the way, my Dad was fond of calling Mike Huckabee Elmer Gantry which I thought was just hilarious...). It reminds me of the scene at the end of The Quiet Man where the priest in the Irish town instructs his parish, to help the local Protestant pastor make a good impression on his boss, to cheer for the Reverend Playfair "like you was all Protestants." I'm joking of course -- I often felt great envy for the spirited sermons of some Protestant churches that I never really experienced growing up Catholic. However, and I can't be sure, but it just feels like old Father Pfleger is really just in this for the attention which is incredibly counter to Christian teaching -- um, the sin of pride anyone? And that's really, really offensive to me. The separation of church and state works both ways man. I don't need no politickin' in my pulpit. And yes, I understand how loaded that is coming from a Catholic because of the power of Rome but some of us can dream...

In any event, one key element of backing your friends with crazy theories is acknowledging that their theories are crazy and it's not the theory you support but rather that you believe that this person is in the midst of learning (as we all are) and your hope is that they do. It is true, however, that people "damning" things in church and spitting vitriol against Jews is pretty much in line with the flavor of people like Westboro Baptist Church who have the same "anti" message only they seem to concentrate on homosexuality and it splits radically from what I know of the Great Unifier (God). It's all hateful and divisive and anyone who's been in a room where this kind of "we hate" rhetoric gets thrown around knows how quickly things can escalate (just look at the post on Mexico declaring war on the emo kids). I would even go so far as to say this kind of thinking is the cause of pretty much every non-righteous war the world has ever seen. Notice I think some things are righteously battled over. I just draw the line at self-righteousness. And I know it when I see it. And Father Pfleger might as well be wearing a t-shirt that says "I have all the answers!" Dude, really, neither you, Farrakhan nor Rev. Wright do so please, do us a favor, and just be humble for half a second. You may find that that is where some of those answers you think you have actually lie.

And I digress. Happy Friday.

Addendum -- Zimmer and I, while discussing his overthrow of a small, South American country came that to the conclusion that he disregards Diablo Blanco as his official dictator title in favor of El Bombastico. Which reminded me of a song. So here's your Friday musica.

posted by Lola @ 10:15 AM