tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post2030065899387841680..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Political Faux PasAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-49641814512111077662010-06-14T18:43:41.555-04:002010-06-14T18:43:41.555-04:00Kurt, the website isn't that helpful - it is m...Kurt, the website isn't that helpful - it is maintained by the adminstrators, seminary, and committee people in Chicago after all - but it should give you some idea. I dislike the Church-tree concept in general, as it stresses organizational and historical theological connections leaving out cross-fertilization and cultural elements. http://www.covchurch.org/home/who-we-are/history<br /><br />The denomination remains strongest in the upper midwest (originally Swedish, after all), though there are plenty of other regions that have plenty.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-75645242443119057872010-06-13T23:24:35.932-04:002010-06-13T23:24:35.932-04:00Thanks for featuring my comment so prominently! I...Thanks for featuring my comment so prominently! I feel honored.<br /><br />I must confess to being unfamiliar with what a Covenant Church is, but it certainly sounds like a fascinating environment. I've had a hard time finding a church that feels right to me in the city where I live because they're all either too liberal or too conservative, and I don't feel like I fit in with either one. (I grew up Episcopalian and would probably describe myself as "old-school Episcopalian," that is, before it was overtaken by political correctness in all its forms.)<br /><br />I also have to wonder if I have particular political blind spots of which I am unaware, but I like to imagine that I don't really, as I don't feel like I fit in too well with many "tribes" at the moment--or at least I haven't found the right one except through various blogs I read. When I fancied myself more of a liberal, I was always editing everything I said around my conservative family members, and now that I agree with them more, I find I am always editing everything I say (or remaining quiet) among the left-leaning folks I work with or whom I know from school. I reflected on some of my difficulties with these matters five years ago in response to <a href="http://neoneocon.com/2005/12/30/to-speak-or-not-to-speak-coming-out-as/" rel="nofollow">this post at Neo-neocon</a> and now that I think about it, that may have been one of the first times I clicked over to AVI's website to read and comment on <a href="http://assistantvillageidiot.blogspot.com/2005/12/using-humor-to-tell-your-friends-youre.html" rel="nofollow">this post</a>.<br /><br />wv: unsurKurthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279716810659531943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-20211003853789049872010-06-13T22:32:56.323-04:002010-06-13T22:32:56.323-04:00They were unsuspicious, thought they were among me...<i>They were unsuspicious, thought they were among members of their own hive, and spoke accordingly, without regard to whether it was offensive.</i><br /><br />This is not confined just to churches. I recently dined with cousins in NYC. One cousin and her husband do not discuss politics much with me any more. Over the decades we had discussed politics somewhat. Over the years we have agreed to disagree, though I also note that in recent years she and her husband are more willing to see that the other side has some merit. But we basically do not discuss politics because politics is not what holds us together. My cousin and I share a long and intense history, we are fond of each other, and I see her husband as the best possible match for her. We can find plenty of other things to discuss besides politics. <br /><br />By contrast, my cousin’s brother and his wife often interjected politics into the conversation. I have never been close with this cousin. Before he married we never discussed politics. I surmise that his interest in politics is prompted by his wife, who once sent me a handmade Xmas card with her handwritten note confined to “ I’m so sorry that Kerry lost.” She made the assumption that like all right-thinkers, I agreed with her, or as you put it, belonged to the same hive. <br /><br />Similar assumptions at this dinner brought forth interjections of politics. Most I did not respond to, and the one time I did, the reply was even more ignorant and annoying. I closed that discussion with “that’s not accurate,” and my cousin left it at that. <br /><br />I now wish I had worn my Che T-shirt to the dinner with my cousins. I have decorated it with Argentine slang which disparages the Great Che. The cousin I am closer with accepts that I know more than the average bear does about Latin America. I wonder if I could have baited my other cousin and his wife into a discussion in which they would have not had much firepower. I guess I was rather annoyed at their gratuitous political comments! (They did not make their political comments to annoy me, but annoy me they did.) Perhaps because I am not close with that cousin, I see little negative consequence in a political disagreement. <br /><br />I would be similarly annoyed at someone bringing up religion. Perhaps it is because my Fundamentalist Christian grandmother and my Buddhist sister devoted some efforts to convert me to the One True Faith.Gringonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-22302404703831553462010-06-13T20:44:00.302-04:002010-06-13T20:44:00.302-04:00I have no idea where you are or what happened, but...I have no idea where you are or what happened, but this is beautifully written and well thought out.Normahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11502895616873273470noreply@blogger.com