Elizabeth, it has nothing to do with RELIGION.

It only has to do with two things: a "moral compass" who says "God Damn America". That's the only reason this became a problem.

The rest is completely irrelevant. Nobody in their mind would or should question Obama's religion, unless that religion calls for destruction of the state and live human babies for dinner.

Beautiful post, Elisabeth. I'm in the same boat in many ways. Religion is so subjective, and no one agrees on it, ever. That's why we are supposed to have the benefit of a separation of church and state.

It's unfortunate that freakin' tools like Lalo won't just leave it alone and feel that they have to spray their never-ending hypocrisy all over a nice sentiment such as yours.

This is a great read, very clever and creative.

When you put it that way, it all does seem like mainstream media has turned into looney tunes, and less and less of us are taking ABCCBSCNNNBCMSNBC so seriously any more.

Thank you. Enjoyed.

Pass on the flag burning bit. Ok with it in principle ...in reality? Its pretty pathetic.

It's about rhetorical orthodoxy, heresy, and who is entitled in America to be pissed off, and about what.

More than anything else, though, the resulting hysterical reactions from the Right Wing punditry (and certain Left Wing partisans who shall remain nameless) seem to me to be about who really "owns" America.

Wright's criticisms of America were received in the exact same fashion that, say, harsh criticisms that I might make about feminism would be received. I might be able to say something true, and maybe even insightful, that presents some aspects of feminism in a less than attractive light - but in a very real sense, I don't possess the critical token that I need to in order to have my criticisms considered on a completely level and totally equal playing field within that community. I'm not a women, so in a very real sense, I can't be a feminist in full and complete standing. I'm at most a fellow traveler, a sympathetic friend. I'm not whining about that, or complaining about it - it's simply a fact.

The Heresy that Wright committed was that he criticized America, in very stark and unflinching terms. Religious nutjobs like Hagee, Falwell, and Robertson have made their careers by proffering such criticism (i.e. that America has brought her troubles on herself through her iniquity), but because they are white, male, and religious, they get a pass. Wright, as a black man, does not. He's not a member of the ownership class - at best, in the lizard brain, he and his ilk are not much more than glorified tenants, and their right to be here and partake in the American dream is statutory only, and of a lesser type than the God-given rights that the lizard brains possess. Ultimately, goes this unspoken lizard brain orthodoxy, his kind really doesn't belong here.

Of course, this attitude doesn't just extend to blacks. According to the argument in hand, it also applies to gays, immigrants, women who wish to do something other than stay at home and raise children, liberals, atheists, and all manner of such undesirables. We all are essentially guest workers here, and our rights come at the neo-Aristocracy's pleasure.

See how that works?

Obama keeps talking about Wright. Today on The View he said that his former pastor had acknowledged that his contoversial remarks were "inapppopriate". Does anyone have any evidence of this? Because right now it appears that the Senator is trying to bamboozle us. He might even be lying.

When I said I've heard "worse than that", I didn't mean that I'd heard it in a church.