E-mails from the Christian right, or the alternate title, What we're up against

[Cant trust em]

So my brother-in-law is the most progressive person I know. His parents are democrats from Virginia. Somewhere down the line his older brother became a born again Christian and a rabid Bushophile. Clearly this apple has fallen pretty far from the family tree. So my sister is sending her Republican brother in law some pictures of the kids. There are a few of them playing and getting haircuts, etc. The picture below started some inter-family controversy though.



What's wrong with that picture, you might ask. What a cute picture of a little kid's first introduction to the political process. Well there is a problem with it. My sister supports Barack Obama. Oh no! Here is the response that came back in the e-mail.


Sarah, Thanks for the updates of pictures on the kids. They are beautiful.

I did have a problem with one of your pics sent to our kids. We attend a church that welcomes all ethnicities and backgrounds. In fact we particularly enjoyed attending a mass given completely in spanish. Our church even supports amnesty for all. However, we can not support or endorse someone who attends a church with a mission statement that clearly does not address the needs of our country and welcomes no one outside their own ethnicity. We tend to term that intolerant. We believe Christianity is for all who wish to come to the Lord not for specific countries or ethnic groups. Sorry for the tone but this doesn't seem to be what you and Chris are about. Love, JD

The following is from Obama's Church website. Feel free to check out who you support. http://www.tucc.org/home.htm

About Us
We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.
The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.
2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.
3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clearly there are a lot of problems with this e-mail. Censorship, logical fallacies, ignorance, you name it. We're currently deciding about how punchy we want the response e-mail to be. Is it worth stirring up a shitstorm in the family just to make a political point? I think so, but it's not my brother that I have to deal with.

[rox63]

1. Debunked here

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/church.asp

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Please use snope's.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/church.asp

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_obama.html

Added a second debunk site

[liberal N proud]

3. Hope you are responding with the debunked information

[BanzaiBonnie]

4. Just let him know that

someone is lying to him. And that is not Christian at all.

And send the Snopes info with that.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Yawn....

I've been hearing the same race-baiting and fear mongering for several months now...so have millions of others. It sure seems to be hurting Senator Obama in all those primaries. :sarcasm:

Of course we'll see a lot of this crap and I suspect if Obama is the candidate there'll be a bunch more emails circulating about his religion, ethnicity, drug use, libido and any other fear tactic that gets attention.

The problem with those that live in these E-mail worlds is they've gone to the well one thousand times too many...and the more its sent around the less effect it has. So let 'em spam...it just means they're scared of losing.