Yesterday's Quotes Revisited

The second quote that I posted a couple of days ago from Cornel West struck me, in part, because of some troubling things that have gone on recently at the church in Menard. A little over a week ago, one of the men got up and gave a sermon on how wonderful and godly (or godlike) he thought George Bush was. Even though I wasn't there, this bothered me a lot (there may have been a scene had I been there; I'm not always as patient with people as West suggests I should be). If you know me very well, you probably know that my political ideas are usually pretty different from Bush's. For starters, I'm close to being a socialist (this summer, I plan to do enough study to figure out if I actually am one) and am definitely a pacifist. These little things alone don't mesh with Bush's policies. The thing is, though, the political differences aren't really my biggest problem with this sermon. There are a lot of things that make me angry about the praise of Bush in church.

Primarily, I fear that the incident demonstrates all that West is warning about in these quotes. Praising Bush and the nation in church seems to me to clearly be idolatry. The church certainly isn't trying to question the worldly powers that be. This church is clearly not a countercultural one fighting with hope against "the deadly tides of wealth inequalities, group xenophobia, and personal despair." Caesar seems to be good enough for the church. And it's little wonder to me that a church that spends its time worshiping a guy who, among so many other things, has mocked Karla Fay Tucker at her death and revived the nuclear weapons program in the US has nothing but despair to offer the surrounding communities.

Of course, none of this is original. Menard's definitely not unique in this case. But it's awfully sad. It's particularly sad to see this hitting in Menard so hard right now. The local church has been improving in the last few years, but I fear that the unquestioning acceptance by the church (except for my parents) of this sermon bodes ill for the church's ability to grow much closer to the sort of Godly community it could and should be.