Amy Sullivan an equal-opportunity peddler of Dem stereotypes on religion

Amy Sullivan talks about why Obama opted for a black church like Jeremiah Wright’s:

In his books, Obama says he might not have become a Christian — his mother was a skeptical secularist and his absent father an atheist — if not for the special character of the black church. “Out of necessity, the black church had to minister to the whole person. Out of necessity, the black church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from collective salvation,” he writes in “The Audacity of Hope.” It also matched his intellectual curiosity. “Perhaps it was out of this ... grounding of faith in struggle that the historically black church offered me a second insight: that faith doesn’t mean that you don't have doubts.”

Between there and her second most recent, and second most recent, Washington Monthly posts, she perpetuates stereotypes about Democrats, white Christians and black Christians all at the same time, from claiming, “many Democrats find religion offensive,” on.

I’m going to do another takedown on Amy here. There are true multi-ethnic churches led by black pastors who also question Rev. Jeremiah Wright. And, as for understanding “black Christianity” in sociological terms, and the call for black and white Christians to understand each other, end “the most segregated hour in America,” etc... well, that understanding and reaching out need to go both ways. Amy, if you can show me examples of Rev. Wright “reaching out,” I’m ready to listen.

Hey, if not, if he wants to run a shtick called “black Christianity,” that’s fine. And, yes, Mitt Romney should have gotten drilled about the long racist history of Mormonism. Neither religious view would be considered “orthodox Christianity” by most laypeople or scholars, ignoring that “orthodox Christianity” itself was a four-century accretion, at least.

Now, a personal anecdote to all of this, Amy.

When I was still religious, I played the organ semi-regularly at a Lutheran, mainline Protestant church in Flint, Mich. The church was about 50-50 white black. The white pastor had what would certainly be considered for the conservative wing of Lutheranism a pretty “black” preaching style, and somewhat, a style of worship in general. And, he was married to a black wife.

He commented on real world daily social issues, etc. But, he was never bombastic, let alone a bomb-thrower.

In short, Amy Sullivan, beyond the stereotypes you perpetuate about “many Democrats,” aren't you perpetuating another one about “black Christianity”?

Oh, if you think Amy’s a twit on her guilt-the-Democratic-Party religious writing, or in general, show her a little “love” at her e-mail address.