BIG IDEAS

I think I’m less stunned that Reverend Ike passed away than I am that he was only 74 at death. It seems like he’s been around forever. Rev. Ike’s star burned brightest eons ago ago, peaking when Flip Wilson had a TV show, Redd Foxx was the King of Prime Time and Richard Pryor was lampooning him in the movie Car Wash.

The mention of comedians is no accident. Rev. Ike never appeared to take himself that seriously. as a result, he never came under some of incredible scrutiny that some of today’s most popular televangelists experience. The man was an innovator of sorts, though certainly not the first to preach prosperity. He was in the direct lineage of Daddy Grace and others who saw money as a gift –and birthright- from God.

He did, however, come up with ingenious money-wrenching programs like “prayer cloths” and “prayer coins” - premiums for prayer. His greatest legacy, and the thing that kept investigators and critics off his back is that Rev. Ike was obvious. There was no healing, no unwieldy promises. He wanted to be rich and he wanted you to be rich. and the quickest way to make him rich was for you to send him money so he could pray for you to be rich. Pretty simple, really. Not necessarily a two-way experience, but at least you couldn’t say he was lying.

Can’t say anyone’s going to miss the guy, but he is well remembered.

It didn’t occur to me until I talked to one of my employees who is a Jehovah’s Witness that the Witnesses do not participate in voting. I knew about not celebrating holidays and birthdays - but voting?

It led me to several questions that I’m still getting answers to in dribs and drabs, things my colleague can articulate and things that have to be backed by tracts from The Watchtower. It’s all been a pretty interesting exercise for me since I spent most of my life turning down the TV and acting like I wasn’t home when a Jehovah’s Witness came to the door. Now I actually have to listen to one AND read Watchtower. Journalism sucks sometimes.

Does that mean that Prince and Michael Jackson didn’t vote either? I love Prince, but he’s just so much less cool right now if he doesn’t vote, religion or no religion.

Stay tuned for that story - maybe next week or so.

Here are some of my questions:

1. On Election Day, people were cheering in the streets and expressing great pride in the not only their ability to vote, but the person they were voting for and what it meant to history. How did it feel to be out that mix? Was it a historic or happy event for you, or were you still neutral?

2. How do you square enjoying the religious freedom enjoyed in this country which was won by a war and the political process, and not exercising the right to vote to maintain that freedom if it were ever challenged?

3. Similarly, would a challenge to your religious freedom be a reason to change the rules?

4. If, as I understand it, the religion believes that God’s will be done so man’s attempts to control the word don’t matter, do you then believe that the eventual election of a Black President was part of God’s plan?

5. Each day you make free-will decisions that have impact on your life and have consequences, from deciding to pay the mortgage to deciding to got to work. If God’s will be done in matters of state, won’t his will be done in the making of any decision?

That’s a start. Said employee handed me a Watchtower to answer Question #1, but that’s led to all the others - and more.

By the way, every company should have at least one Jehovah’s Witness, if only to cover the phones on Christmas.

Hey Kids: I’m back on Big Ideas after a crazy week in Denver. If you haven’t already, check out my Inside/Outside the DNC blog.

Now, back to the future.  A woman called me a few minutes ago and asked a question that would have never occurred to me - the kind only another Mom would ask of Gov. Sarah Palin. It’s a simple question, really, but the implications is damaging.

Her question: “If you knew your 17-year old unmarried daughter was pregnant and the world would expose it if you decided to take the Republican VP nomination, why would you say yes?

While the Republicans have thrown the fact that Palin’s daughter, Bristol, is keeping the baby as a sign of moral turpitude, the question remains. From a mother’s point of view,  is ambition and serving the party worth the kind of scrutiny that the National Enquirer will put on your precious child?  And if ambition does trump family, is that reflective of conservative Christian values?

Dear Senator,
Now that you’ve quit Trinity, you’ll be looking for another place to call your church home. As you’ve suggested, wherever you go it’s going to be tough on the pastor and the congregation. Anything said from the pulpit will be scrutinized, and every utterance the pastor has made on video or in print will be gone through with a fine tooth comb.

You don’t need that kind of hassle. No, my friend, you need to just go a whole other route. No more shouting, no more histrionics, no more politicking from the pulpit.

May I suggest a lovely solution: The Episcopal Church. And no, I don’t mean AME, they’re still a little loud. I mean the full-on candles, incense, altar boys and stained glass Anglican experience. It’s been the default solution for “quietly political” Black folk for nearly two centuries now. The list of powerful and influential Episcopalians is miles long. But you won’t find any on those militant lists, that just wouldn’t be polite. Episcopalians don’t agitate, they negotiate.

Here are a few more reasons: Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t checked out Brian Gilmore’s brilliant piece on Dr. King, Vietnam and the relevance to Iraq, you should.

To make the point even more, listen to the link below of the full version of King’s anti-war speech, which won him more enemies than all of his prior civil rights activity combined.

King On Vietnam

The “Honorable” James David Manning, PhD, has been making these videos and sending them over YouTube for a bit. And this is one of his more tame sermons.
Don’t you love how he keeps repeating “Oh I’m not making these statements because I support Bill Clinton or anything…”

And what’s a man with the “word of God in his mouth” doing watching big breasted white women on You Tube? Clearly he doesn’t get out much. Hate to tell you, Pastor, Obama Girl is a 34C at best.

It’s the last line that’s the most scary. “Obama is an emissary of the Devil. I’m your last hope.”

We’re doomed.

Hmmm. Is there a story cartoon producers won’t touch. Guess not. Apparently someone in Hollywood is seeing the huge cash crop that is the Christian community (evidence by Mel Gibson and Tyler Perry) and running pretty fast to make family friendly Christian fare.

My only question: Wasn’t the original movie enough of a cartoon? It was a wonderful movie, and all the low tech special effects are a necessary part of the charm of the original. Between Charlton’s Heston’s over-acting, Yul Brynner’s accent, the film manages to be funny, touching, poignant and highly effective in sparking a sense of wonder that makes you want to actually read the Bible.

But this? If you look closely, they’ve used (pretty bad) computer animation to basically duplicate all the effects in the movie. Seems a waste. But you be the judge:

As trailers go, gotta say I prefer this version.

There was a time at HBCUs when doing step routines without being a part of a fraternity or a sorority would get you laughed out of the cafeteria for being a wannabe, or beat down by Big Brother Hambone in back of the athlete’s dormitory. But with dance troupes like DC’s StepAfrika, and the movie Stomp the Yard emphatically making the connection between stepping and African culture expression, many more non-Greek affiliated groups have taken to using stepping as their default style of performance. Now comes a relative new twist, again with roots in the HBCU campus — Stepping for Christ. Several groups have started popping up in chirch performances and on You Tube - Steppers in Christ, Alpha Omega and others. A unique and interesting twist, particularly for those GDIs who used to look on from the sidelines wishing they could have all that fun stomping and hollerin’. Of course, depending on what church you go to, people have been doing this already for quite a while. They just used to call the nurse when it happened.

Fred K. Price Gets Angry

We skipped church many a Sunday saying we watched Fred Price instead, but have not checked him in a few years. Seems he has some strong sentiments on reparations. What else have we been missing all these years?

Blogging Hurricane Dean

A bunch of Caribbean bloggers have been following the storm’s progress as it blows through the area. Latest is that it might hit along South Padre Island in Texas and then on to Cancun. Oh no! Does that mean no Girls Gone Wild Back to School edition?! The market value of tequila stock just dropped way way down.

The Gospel According to Bob

The Anglican Church of Jamaica wants to add Bob Marley’s tune, “One Love” to the standard hymnal. Everybody in Jamaica loves the idea. The Anglican Church (of England) - not so much.

Misunderstanding in Morocco

A Black Peace Corps volunteer is surprised to find racial insensitivity in North Africa. Where’s he been?