So, What Did I Miss?

Catching Up From a Week Off SubStack

We’ve spent this past week helping our son and family move from the Indianapolis suburbs to the Philadelphia suburbs so our daughter-in-law can start a new and exciting job. Thankfully, the days of loading U-Hauls and such are far behind us. Nevertheless, there were multiple trips to Lowe’s, Starbucks, and other places to support them as they prepared. Moving is always tough, especially when you have a three year old and an eight month old tagging along. We drove the second car so could stay together as a family. Their truck arrives on Monday and we’ll head back to Colorado (the dogs will be happy).

Tom Oord: Before we left home, I got word that the Church of the Nazarene handed down their verdict regarding my fried Tom Oord, a well known philosopher and theologian who served at Northwest Nazarene University until forced out a decade ago. As I had written previously, the CON had elevated their stance on social issues to “doctrinal” status and then used that to go after pastors who didn’t toe the line on LGBTQ+ issues. Tom had put together an edited volume, “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming”, which already resulted in another friend of mine, Dee Kelley, having his credentials taken away just for suggesting that this issue was worthy of debate. I contributed an essay to the supposedly offensive volume.

A number of friends had provided testimony on Tom’s behalf. However, the reviewing body had refused to entertain any conversation about the elevation of social issues or to even consider that a diversity of opinion exists on the topic among faithful Christians. Given the constraints placed upon their review, those in power had no trouble reaching their predetermined outcome. They decided that Tom’s actions made him “guilty of conduct unbecoming a minister and of teaching doctrines out of harmony with the doctrinal statement of the Church of the Nazarene.” What was especially onerous was their decision to not just revoke Tom’s ministerial credentials but to remove his denominational membership altogether!

This is a deeply concerning step (which apparently happened to another friend). Membership isn’t something that operates at the denominational level but as a statement of commitment to a congregation within the body. To take the step of unilaterally removing membership opens the door for other kinds of actions by leaders who don’t like diverse positions held by people in the churches. Where else could this happen? Advocacy for reproductive rights? Calling out Christian Nationalism? And to what end? If the Church of the Nazarene continues its decades long decline in North America, but does so through increasing homogeneity of thought, is that supposed to be a good thing?

J.D. Vance: Newly named VP candidate Vance was in the news this week over his comments that the Democratic party was made up of “childless cat ladies”. He corrected his statement on Megyn Kelly’s show by apologizing to cats! He continued to argue that people without children are not sufficiently invested in the future of the country and that maybe people with children should have more voting power (by giving them as many votes as they have kids). He had also suggested that people would call him racist for liking Diet Mountain Dew.

Katelyn Beaty had an excellent response to Vance’s position yesterday on her SubStack. She wrote:

I’m not a parent, but based on observing family and friends over the years, the experience of parenting seems like one long lesson in letting go of control. And the more Christians try to “use” children to fulfill our personal, national, or civilizational projects, the more we lose sight of our ultimate hope: in the coming kingdom of God. That kingdom is built not only through procreation and child-rearing, but also and ultimately through evangelism and baptism.

The natalist position of Vance and his ilk are the natural outcome of decades of argument that the traditional family is the central pillar of society and that any variation from that ideal naturally leads to a breakdown in social cohesion. This was debunked thirty years ago in Stephanie Coontz’s The Way We Never Were. It is as if we froze a Dick-And-Jane image of mid-20th century America and organized policy positions as if it were normative. It wasn’t then and isn’t now.

The National Association of Black Journalists: Of course, I can’t skip Trump’s performance at the NABJ convention. It was the most combative exchange by a candidate ever. Out of the gate, he complained about the supposed lack of deference and took offense at questions that asked about his actual statements and policy positions. He used the situation to raise his bizarre argument that Kamala Harris “became Black”. He had clearly prepared to drop this line since it’s now part of the rally speech.

Anyone who has more than a vague sense of American society understands the way race operates as a Master Status. If you need to know how that works, remember that at one point the decision rule was that one Black great-grandfather meant you were Black. Or that the constitution of the US said that you were only worth 3/5ths of a White citizen. Can you imagine what would happen if Harris said that she wasn’t Black but was of East Asian heritage?

Of course, Trump’s view of race ossified with that full page ad about the Exonerated Central Park Five. He will make the most of his preferred narrative that appeals to the worst instincts of his base while driving away swing voters.

It’s Weird: Thanks to Minnesota governor Tim Walz for giving us the way to talk about all of this. The positions being taken to control people’s freedom is, he says, weird. It’s not how most people approach the questions of gay rights or family structure or race. What these stories all tell me is that some segments of our political and religious landscape are truly afraid of diversity. The only strategy they know to pursue is to yell loudly and stomp their feet and refuse to address what’s in front of them. It won’t work. Diversity is a central component of American society and attempting to deny that flies in the face of that fact.