Sick of Bush

The Washington Post, in another of its seemingly drug induced takes on the Bush administration, presents an analysis of Bush's latest crony appointment with this headline, Strong Grounding in the Church Could Be a Clue to Miers's Priorities.

Excuse me - "the" church? Did I miss something? Ignoring such trivial differences as Catholic and Protestant, what happened to the Baptists, Methodists, Christian Scientists, Seventh Day Adventists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Nazarenes, Pentacostals, Unitarians, Congregationalist, Quakers, Menonites, Amish, Shakers, Mormons, Church of Christ, Church of God, Presbyterians, happy Holy Rollers of all persuasians, etc., etc., etc. There is no such thing as the church. If this were the eleventh century perhaps that phrase would make sense. Today one has to ask - what church? What do they believe? Does it make a difference?

Because I can assure you - despite both claiming to be "Christians" - that what a Baptist (Southern or otherwise) believes is not what a Methodist believes. This should be obvious. So why are we given such childish crap as talk about "the" church as if it makes any sense? It doesn't.

Harriet Miers belongs to the Valley View Christian Church of Dallas, TX - one of those independent mega-churches that seems to exist as a unique part of our current fractured world. The head pastor, "Dr." Barry McCarty, has a PhD in Argumentation and Debate, and has been associated with various Baptist and Church of Christ congregations and colleges. What he actually believes now and where he fits on any religious belief continuum is not clear. His church is fundamentalist and conservative - but its website is pretty vague about specific points of doctrine. According to the Post:

At Valley View, pastors preach that abortion is murder, that the Bible is the literal word of God and that homosexuality is a sin -- although they also preach that God loves everybody.

Pretty schizo. This is the church Miers chooses to attend. She was reared a Methodist but was baptised in this church as an adult. So, what does she get here that she didn't get from the Methodist Church? I think we should really care. It is going to make a great difference in our lives if she is confirmed - and I have no wish to be subjected to any more fundamentalist prejudice. This is the Twenty-first Century. Do we really want to relive the Middle Ages?