I approached today's interfaith service with a grain of salt. OK, let's be truthful...a bucket of salt would be closer to the way I was feeling. Knowing that several folks in Pagan leadership had sent e-mails to the Obama "people of faith"outreach, and that none of us had received a response, I was prepared for disappointment.
Joyfully that's not what I got.
First of all, religious symbols, always powerful in the way they show the mindset of event organizers, were all but invisible.
There was a globe, a mandala, and some stars. No cross, no Star of David, no calligraphic verses from the Koran. All these images which might have indicated the supremacy of "People of the Book" were nowhere to be seen.
Clergy with significant parts of the service included Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist (they're pantheist, right?), but nowhere was there the sort of heavily trodden path of "we're Christian and everyone else had best keep out of our way" that is often seen in so-called interfaith observances.
Led by convention CEO Rev. Leah Daughtry, who is pastor of a church in Washington, DC, the service stressed equality, peace, social justice, and free speech (with one of the speakers plainly disagreeing with the Democratic Party platform plank on a woman's right to choose).
The high point for me, where Rev. Daughtry proved how inclusive she had planned the service to be, came when she stated, "We are created in the image of our Creator, whatever we call Him or Her." Acknowledgment of the feminine divine truly demonstrated how inclusive the Democratic Party is, and made me proud to be a Democrat.
As Rev. Daughtry said, "The Democratic Party may not be perfect, but it's perfect for me."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
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7 comments:
I'd like to think that regardless of the lack of response, your inquiries helped shape a more inclusive service. Blessed Be on your path this week!
Wow, that was a real high point! It might seem like a small thing, but it feels to me like the/a goddess was invoked at the DNC, if not in so many words. That's a Big Thing. Watching with great interest.
Many thanks for representing not just Maine values and interests, but Pagan ones as well. It's been exciting to be able to follow your journey at this special time in the history of our country. May this be all you hoped it would be, and more.
If you get a chance, could you post a picture of your t-shirts with the antlers?
Thank you for blogging this... after reading this and seeing Michelle Obama's wonderful speech I am fired up and ready to go... I feel a part of my party, something that has been lacking somewhat with all the pandering to evangelicals.
Thanks for representing us. I'm part of a listserv on myobama.com called Pagans for Obama. I find it astounding that there is a Pagan group, not to mention at least three out Pagan delegates (you being two), supporting a candidate for President of the US!
This group would like to know if Barack knows we're here, but not at the expense of costing him votes from intolerant and/or ignorant voters.
I'm ever so thrilled that you're there. I, too, watched the speeches tonight (missed our own Nancy Pelosi), and plan to be glued to the TV, Internet and KPFA/Air America and C-SPAN coverage of the convention every night this week. Forget Burning Man! ;-)
Blessings,
Macha
Rita:
I am so pleased that this society is beginning to treat Wicca with the same respect as other establishment religions. My younger brother is Wiccan; I have forwarded your blog address to him.
On another note: Buddhism is actually agnostic; technically, it isn't even a religion. At least, that was not what Buddha intended. Daoism, or Taoism is more pantheistic.
I hate to rain on your parade, but sometimes a dash of cold water can serve as a wake-up call: We've taken such GREAT strides that an "interfaith" program that includes only 3 Abrahamic religions and Buddhism is considered fulfilling the term "interfaith"? And as much as I deeply appreciated Leah Daughtry's comment that the Creator could be a "he" or a "she" the fact that this is considered an unusual statement some 30 years after the spiritual feminist movement began speaks volumes about the persistance of patriarchal thinking--probably more so in religion than in other areas.
To top it all off, we were treated Monday night to a "Benediction" by Don Miller, billed as an author and speaker on "Christian spirituality," who addressed deity as "Father God," a term rarely used. Usually "Father" or "God" or "Lord" is enough to get the idea across. But no, Miller had to be SURE that we understood that God is Father and NOT Mother. (As a side remark: Christian Scientists and some non-Pagan metaphysical groups address deity as "Mother-Father God" or "Father Mother God," but this apparently isn't where Miller's at). I can only conclude that at this point the Democrats are more concerned with wooing evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christians than they are about excluding women of a variety of religious paths--including not only Pagan, but also, for example, Christian and Jewish, who have been working for decades to achieve degendered and/or inclusive "god" language.
Seems the Democrats need some education on this topic. Maybe some of you are attending the Women's Caucus and could bring this up?
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