At one of the meetings I was required to attend for my Latino Outreach grant, there were a number of "faith" grantees—churches and church-affiliated groups who are doing secular work in their communities. I really didn't have a problem with these good people prefacing every sentence with, "Praise Jesus," but now that I'm thinking about it, I was a little ticked at the one woman who—after praising Jesus, of course—always added, "Coming from a Christian, family-centerered perspective..."
What was the point of that? First of all, I think she ought to have left her superiority complex at home in her own family-centered, Christian abode. Since she obviously wasn't making this statement for the benefit of the other faith grantees, I can only assume she was doing it to lord (get it? get it?!) it over those of us who may very well spend the afterlife surrounded by white-hot flames. Second, it was plainly divisive and, frankly, insulting. I was tempted to stand up and say, "Coming from a godless, vulgar, and violently family-hating perspective..."
*strikes the Angry Little Asian Girl pose*
(Now I'm thinking maybe I should have done what my Uncle M. used to do. Maybe I should have held my arms straight out to the side so that my body formed the letter "T" and yelled, "'T' is for tanga!"
3 comments:
I went to an entire wedding like that once. Praise Lord, God Jesus, Amen after every other word. Even my mother who prays every day and goes to church every Sunday said that it was God overkill.
Watched a Southpark rerun the other night about how just about everyone goes to hell, except for the Mormons. Hell was a rocking party, and God was Buddhist. Amen.
OMG, I gotta see that episode.
I just think it's sorta funny when people feel compelled to remind you (or maybe they're reminding themselves? I don't know) of their extremelycloseaffiliation with God. It's so...suspect. Just like with showing skin, less is usually more...
You should have said, "God Bless America," and went into your Republican housewife mode -- next meeting maybe you could wear a red, white, and blue St. John pantsuit complete with flag pin.
Hmmm, now seriously... the outreach doesn't sound too secular to me if that's how the grantees are talking. Is there state or federal money being given out? The lines are still fairly clear as to separation of church and state... ;)
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