I get tired of evangelical Christians’s idea of left behind. I get tired of hearing how much money other evangelical Christians make off the idea, too. I think, “Just leave me behind already.” It’s what I like to think of as Left Out Front. I don’t buy into their reality anyway, so I anticipate quite a nice world without that particular influence. Maybe not a world without problems, but let’s deal with one thing at a time.

I figured that just to show I know it’s Sunday, I’ll mention This Week in God, a segment from the Daily Show. Rob Corddray’s (formerly Stephen Colbert’s) God Machine landed on a left behind video game in which righteous Christians blow up unbelievers (minus one point) and save others (plus two points). In an Alternet review of the game, you will find all sorts of fun prayer requests from the makers of the game–as well as hundreds of hostile comments, many with local Utah relevance. Remember that violence is cool as long as the Right people come out on top, way up top, soaring into their clouds.

It is any wonder that self-declared righteous are so eager to get their hands on real guns then find and kill an enemy? Their virtual realities prepare them to believe and participate in their other realities. Or maybe their virtual realities make them crave realities that they have to create in order to find that deep satisfaction in this nasty material world.

Happy Sunday.

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A Baptist minister wonders this week in a USA Today opinion piece “What if we’re wrong about homosexuality?”

1. Duh
2. OK. Now spread the word.

I hope Oliver “Buzz” Thomas does talk to other religious leaders about the mounting scientific evidence and setting the record straight (so to speak) as he mentions in his article. It takes people willing to speak compassionately in the language of their peers in order to crack hardened views. Given the interesting title of his upcoming book, 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can’t Because He Needs the Job), it looks like he is willing to be one of those people.

The minister says:

Religion’s only real commodity, after all, is its moral authority. Lose that, and we lose our credibility. Lose credibility, and we might as well close up shop.

I’m not sure this is true. Maybe this is just his fear because he has been taught and teaching this for so long. There are liberal religious and non-religious traditions that maintain credibility without an attempt to claim moral authority. Ethics and justice don’t look for the same sort of One True [fill in the blank] as do the religions of moral authority.

Even John McCain has said this week that homosexuality is not a defect, contradicting a recent Department of Defense document on “Physical Disability Evaluation” for troops separating from the military.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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With apologies to the great UU choir directors I have known, I have to tell you a joke—because it is just so completely apt.

Why do Unitarians sing so badly?
Because they are always reading ahead to see if they agree with the words.

It’s not even all that funny. If you know Unitarians, just nod in acknowledgment.

Earlier I mentioned that one of my favorite political songs is Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now.” I might have mentioned it a couple of times, and I might mention it a couple more. One fine commentor suggested other music if I like Steve Earle. It’s not about the sound and the style, and it’s not so much that I like Steve Earle, though I’m sure he’s great. It’s about the story he tells.

I was walkin’ down the street
In the town where I was born
I was movin’ to a beat
That I’d never felt before
So I opened up my eyes
And I took a look around
I saw it written ‘cross the sky
The revolution starts now
Yeah, the revolution starts now

The revolution starts now
When you rise above your fear
And tear the walls around you down
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now

Yeah the revolution starts now
In your own backyard
In your own hometown
So what you doin’ standin’ around?
Just follow your heart
The revolution starts now

Last night I had a dream
That the world had turned around
And all our hopes had come to be
And the people gathered ‘round
They all brought what they could bring
And nobody went without
And I learned a song to sing
The revolution starts now

Sarangel Music (ASCAP)

What this song tells me is that revolution is work. It isn’t domination. It is cooperation and community. That’s a story I can believe. I read ahead, and that’s a song I can sing.

Apparently I’m not the only one. Actually, I’m sure I’m way behind the curve on this one. Listen to Steve Earle’s show The Revolution Starts Now on Air America late Sundays or by podcast. I listened to last week’s show with Dick Cavett. It was like a trip back to my musical infancy watching music on his show.

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