This essay speaks to my experience over the past 30 years. I joined a UMC church in 1990 over being raised in a SBC church which my ancestors founded post Civil war. Not only that I answered a call to ministry in the UMC shortly after joining.. I kept my democratic leanings unspoken but obvious. Over the past 30 years I and my family have been made to feel excluded because of our denominational and political choices. With Obama's election the covert racism became overt. I was saddened and surprised by my birth family's support of Trump. In 2017 I was told I must not be Christian because I vote for Democrat's. Did I mention I'm a UMC pastor? After thiselection I've learned that I and other Democrats are scum and demonic. 2020 has brought to full firm what I've sensed since 1990, me and my family aren't welcome and don't belong.
My brother and I are double organ transplant recepients. This experience is one of many that concerted my theology and political ideology. Sadly, it hasn't had the same effect on my brother. Thank you Diana. I find your writing inspiring and thought provoking.
Your sharing your insight and statistics give so much clarity to religious order in this extraordinary time of upheaval the world is experiencing. In my small rural area of North Carolina for the past 3+ years, I have been flummoxed by this "all or nothing" attitude regarding religion and politics. For the first time in decades in my denomination in much larger cities I have felt "out of place." Never have the numerous changes that have occurred in my 75 years made me uncomfortable as in some local churches. In one Episcopal church the priest gently broached politics and religion and no longer serves there. I was brought up to "never bring up religion and/or politics," yet where do we go during this pandemic, also entangled with politics? To church! Compassion reigns, no matter what, to our fellow congregants. With gratitude always, J
WOW....I'm saving this to re-read (and probably re-re-read). And sharing it with a couple of people I think would benefit from reading it, too. I'm a social historian (MA in soc/cul history, focused on the 19th C) and so much of what you wrote rang historic bells for me. And finally, I'm one of those people who shopped for a "community of commonality," moving from a tight-knit/top-down Jewish community to a more socially aware and inclusive mainline church where the "messaging" (Sunday forums -- and sometimes sermons -- and church and community-focused activities speak to/for/of me.
Assuming your observation on the relative split of the religious (particularly white evangelical ) between Trump and Biden, what are your thoughts on the spike in total voter turnout? Did white evangelicals vote in higher numbers in 2020 than in 2016? Did Trump have to rely on higher total turnout among them to make the election as close as it was given that white evangelicals are declining among the population overall? (See your post “Nothing is as it was”). If so what are the implications of having to rely on ever increasing total turnout of a declining portion of the population for both both politics and religion in US?
This essay speaks to my experience over the past 30 years. I joined a UMC church in 1990 over being raised in a SBC church which my ancestors founded post Civil war. Not only that I answered a call to ministry in the UMC shortly after joining.. I kept my democratic leanings unspoken but obvious. Over the past 30 years I and my family have been made to feel excluded because of our denominational and political choices. With Obama's election the covert racism became overt. I was saddened and surprised by my birth family's support of Trump. In 2017 I was told I must not be Christian because I vote for Democrat's. Did I mention I'm a UMC pastor? After thiselection I've learned that I and other Democrats are scum and demonic. 2020 has brought to full firm what I've sensed since 1990, me and my family aren't welcome and don't belong.
My brother and I are double organ transplant recepients. This experience is one of many that concerted my theology and political ideology. Sadly, it hasn't had the same effect on my brother. Thank you Diana. I find your writing inspiring and thought provoking.
Your sharing your insight and statistics give so much clarity to religious order in this extraordinary time of upheaval the world is experiencing. In my small rural area of North Carolina for the past 3+ years, I have been flummoxed by this "all or nothing" attitude regarding religion and politics. For the first time in decades in my denomination in much larger cities I have felt "out of place." Never have the numerous changes that have occurred in my 75 years made me uncomfortable as in some local churches. In one Episcopal church the priest gently broached politics and religion and no longer serves there. I was brought up to "never bring up religion and/or politics," yet where do we go during this pandemic, also entangled with politics? To church! Compassion reigns, no matter what, to our fellow congregants. With gratitude always, J
WOW....I'm saving this to re-read (and probably re-re-read). And sharing it with a couple of people I think would benefit from reading it, too. I'm a social historian (MA in soc/cul history, focused on the 19th C) and so much of what you wrote rang historic bells for me. And finally, I'm one of those people who shopped for a "community of commonality," moving from a tight-knit/top-down Jewish community to a more socially aware and inclusive mainline church where the "messaging" (Sunday forums -- and sometimes sermons -- and church and community-focused activities speak to/for/of me.
Blessed are the peacemakers, who remember the union of polarity, for they will be called children of God, honoring and respecting their origin.
Assuming your observation on the relative split of the religious (particularly white evangelical ) between Trump and Biden, what are your thoughts on the spike in total voter turnout? Did white evangelicals vote in higher numbers in 2020 than in 2016? Did Trump have to rely on higher total turnout among them to make the election as close as it was given that white evangelicals are declining among the population overall? (See your post “Nothing is as it was”). If so what are the implications of having to rely on ever increasing total turnout of a declining portion of the population for both both politics and religion in US?