amen!

just last night as i was doing dishes after a meal well-consumed, i found myself singing: "oh, lord, won't you buy me a mer-ce-deez benz." now i am known to get some bizarre, random songs stuck in my head, but i could not tell you where in the world this one came from... i don't think i've heard it since the 1980s.

anyway, this song caused me to think... (and rarely does that happen) ...about how well this captures religion -- or at least christianity -- in this era. this is a time when christianity is being used as a weapon to divide and conquer the american people. it is being used as a tool to support greed and hypocrisy at every level. when i think of christianity, i think about what i learned in the few visits i made to church in my formative years. (coming from several generations of agnostic, i don't claim to be an expert.) every church i went to spoke about the mission of jesus -- how he saved lepers, fed the poor, comforted prostitutes... this does not sound like the kind of man who would choose to argue over stem cells or the rights of homosexuals when children were hungry and people were dying. rep. senfronia thompson says it better than i ever could in molly ivins' article on the creators syndicate. for those of you who disparage texans for being the worst kind of republican (and, yes, we are unfortunate to have a very prominent texan misrepresenting us on a global scale), i say, take a look at these lovely ladies.