Those Gatekeepers At Work
I've read this Lori Sturdevant column a few times. I'm still trying to figure it out.
Is it a shot at the Strib's "Church and State" story about Michele Bachmann's appearance at Mac Hammond's Living Word Christian Center?
At a church not far from the one at which Michele Bachmann declared herself "a fool for Christ" last weekend, religion and politics recently found a very different intersection.
Close to 500 people turned out at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Maple Grove on Oct. 12, for one of seven regional rallies under the all-caps banner ISAIAH.
Is it a paeon to those "Non-conservative evangelicals" for whom the Strib has been doing a rain dance, trying to conjure from the ether this past few months (trying, the cynic might say, to dilute the political and demographic juggernaut that are the conservative evalgelicals)?
But I'm old enough to recognize the intersection at which ISAIAH is trying to set up shop. It's the spot where the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements thrived in the 1960s. Back then, the word "Christian" wasn't automatically followed by "conservative" in political conversations. And those conversations weren't always, or even often, about matters of personal morality.
The peace-and-justice Christians of 40 years ago seemed to go underground, 'long about Ronald Reagan. But many of them kept their faith and bided their time for a comeback. ISAIAH leaders say that time is now, and in Minnesota, they are the comeback vehicle.
Is it a plug for a shopping list of pet causes?
Still, something is stirring when 400-plus suburbanites stream into a church on a school night to talk about the need for more mass transit, battered women's shelters, school funding and chances for immigrant kids to go to college.
Or is it a campaign plug for some candidates the Strib deems acceptable?
Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, a crowd pleaser and big fan of ISAIAH, was there, as was his challenger, DFLer Wendy Wilde.
I know! It was a shill for a party the Strib has been promoting?
But only one of the major-party candidates for governor appeared -- and Peter Hutchinson's presence wasn't enough for a group that's promoting more citizen interaction with public decisionmakers.
But wait...it could just be a bad case of wishful thinking...:
Add that churchful to the goodly number of Minnesotans who've been annoyed this fall by the refusal of GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and DFLer Mike Hatch to share a stage with Hutchinson.
I don't think a "goodly number" of Minnesotans know who Peter Hutchinson
is, or for that matter that the Independence Party exists. I'd be amazed if 30% of Minnesotans knew that Jesse Ventura "belonged to" (hah) the party.
Another possibility - it's a muffled sign that Sturdevant realizes she works for an institution whose relevance and importance is decaying by the decade, and she's projecting that upon a couple of groups that have never been relevant, except in the rarified world of the wonk and the self-righteousness addict:
Understandably, the big boys' debate dodging has Hutchinson in a lather . But it's also ruffling ISAIAH. Hear Sarah Gleason, chair of the group's legislative strategy team, on the gubernatorial no-shows in Maple Grove: "This is what makes people cynical. It gives them the feeling that they don't have an opportunity to be heard or to help shape their future. In a democracy, that feeling is deadly. It's what we're trying to overcome."
Democracy will fall if the major candidates don't trudge out to debate in front of a group of liberal sanctimaniacs?
Finally - maybe it's Lori Sturdevant's homage to the art and craft of liberalblogging:
ISAIAH's organizing slogan this year is "Faith in Democracy: Renewing the Promise." Minnesotans would be seeing a different campaign right now if the two big parties shared that goal.
"Why do Pawlenty and Hatch hate democracy?"
Perhaps Sturdevant is ill, and her editors had to assemble a column from pieces cut out of half a dozen other columns. If so, get well soon!
Other possibilities?
Posted by Mitch at
October 24, 2006 06:19 AM
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Interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a church before whose website advertised annulment proceedings but didn’t mention “weddings” or “marriage.”
Posted by: Thorley Winston at October 24, 2006 09:28 AM"ISAIAH's organizing slogan this year is "Faith in Democracy: Renewing the Promise." Minnesotans would be seeing a different campaign right now if the two big parties shared that goal."
The Goal of what? Organizing a slogan?
Posted by: Terry at October 24, 2006 10:00 AMI would have to disagree with this statemetn, "I don't think a "goodly number" of Minnesotans know who Peter Hutchinson is,"
Polls show he is hovering in the 5-9% range, based upon 2002 voter turnout of 2,282,860, his vote totals would be in the range of 114,143 to 205,457.
Posted by: Fulcrum at October 24, 2006 11:28 AMDon't worry Fulcrum, Mitch doesn't concern himself with facts, he just snipes at columns with innuendo.
ISAIAH has been a well respected compassionate christian movement for quite a long time, but if it doens't say conservative, it must be wrong and sanctimonious. There sure aren't any sanctimonious conservatives out there, at least we're certain of that.
ISAIAH worked to get the Minneapolis housing council to promote work-force housing - a proposal whereby developers got additional unit allowance in a development space as long as a percentage (between 15 and 30 percent) were affordable to the mean income in the community. No significant cost to taxpayers (sewers and power grid costs but it was more than made up for by predicatable increases in total tax base. The only thing it did was impact per unit profit, but was more than made up for by total profit in the development.
They also worked on trying to ensure aliens, legal or not, would have driver's licenses. Not because they loved illegal aliens, or illegality, but rather because the illegals are going to drive, either with insurance or without it. To get insurance, they need a license. The evidence overwhelmingly supported that they'd get insurance if they had a license, in part because it meant that they'd not have to abandon their car an run if they had an accident (they'd have insurance) and because it also meant a traffic stop, or an accident, wouldn't result in them being deported.
Those vile, hateful sanctimonious ISAIAH members thought actually having insured, tested drivers, or providing houses that were affordable, with a net zero cost to communities, and larger overall profit, might actually work. They didn't accuse anyone of being hateful. They didn't invoke any sanctimony at all, they simply tried to find a solution.
Whether their solution was workable is open for debate. Accusing them of being sanctimonious, when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and James Dobson have made BILLIONS of dollars accusing everyone else of hating God, being bad Christians, and of embracing Satan is yet another jewel in the Crown of King Hypocrisy. ISAIAH may be disappointed that Pawlenty and Hatch didn't bother to show up, what were they supposed to say? "Gosh, we sure wish the Gov had taken the time to be as respectful of the voice of compassionate christians as he is of the voice of shrill hate-filled ones?" I'm sure that would have been seen as less sanctimonious by King Mitch.
Posted by: ted at October 24, 2006 07:30 PMTed you are such an ASS. I bet you don't know first hand one frickin thing James Dobson has ever said. Not one. When they're the left's "Christians" they're "compassionate". But when it's Evangelicals, they're mean-spirited nutcases, selfishly hoarding the millions of dollars made off the gullible. It's pure BS. You look at the churches that actually help the poor-here and around the world-and you'll see that it is Evangelical Christians from conservative churches. I dare you to check it out.
I'm sure many of the members of ISAIAH have (as is so often the case with leftists) their "hearts in the right place", but their proposals are undermining the rule of law and common sense.
Plus, do they have to use my favorite book of the Bible for their name...?!
Posted by: colleen at October 24, 2006 08:18 PMFrom Bachmann's bio:
"Michele and Marcus have also opened their home to 23 foster children, all of whom are now graduated from high school."
That sounds pretty compassionate to me. I think she's maybe done her part.
Posted by: RBMN at October 26, 2006 01:52 AM"We are one in the spirit we are one in the Lord"
Come on Colleen, sing with me now. " We are one in the....." Colleen, you're not singing.
No ? Too busy slinging epithets ? ah well. Maybe next Sunday then.
Posted by: phipho at October 26, 2006 06:36 AMEr, Phipho? Christians routinely disagree about temporal issues, especially political ones.
They also disagree about theology.
We get to do that.
Posted by: mitch at October 26, 2006 09:00 AMSorry Mitch,
I just found it amusing that Colleen couldn't resist calling Ted an ass as she touted her brand of theology as the morally superior one. I had to giggle when she threw out the "we help way more poor people than YOU LIBERALS!" line. I also will admit that its a lot of fun watching Colleen get all worked up and tell somebody they don't know the first "frickin thing" about religion. It was the funniest post I have read in quite some time. I had a mental image of Colleen smacking the crud out of some poor hippy while screaming "CHRISTIAN ?! CHRISTIAN?! I'LL SHOW YOU CHRISTIAN!" Then again it was a little early in the morning and maybe the caffeine hadn't kicked in yet. I'll re read her post and let you know if its any less comical.
Posted by: phipho at October 26, 2006 07:54 PMnope, still makes me laugh.
Posted by: phipho at October 26, 2006 07:56 PM