perhaps I'm losing my mind...

but lately on the my alumni board, the big "to do" has been this mess about Obama and his pastor. About which my basic feelings are:

- Since when is it my responsibility to make sure someone else thinks the same way I do?
- I have some family members who don’t think the same way I do. Should I write off any and all of their good qualities because of their bad ones? Or because I should be afraid of what other people may think of me for being associated with them?
- Why hasn’t the Catholic church crumbed to the ground in the wake of a bunch of priests jerkin’ off little kids behind the lectern? Because as warped and dangerous as I think it may be, there are plenty of people out there who believe in the message of the church despite whomever "god’s representative" is who is giving the message.

One of the responses to me today was:
Go to Obama's church website, www.tucc.org, then go to the about us, read that, then tell me that it doesn't sound similar to a Ku Klux Klan message.

To which I responded with:
Easy enough. It doesn't sound similar to a Ku Klux Klan message. The message of the Ku Klux Klan is based on the idea that whites are the ones responsible for building the greatness that is this country and that whites should be the only ones to benefit from said greatness. A concept that is inherently false, thanks to the fact that for a period of time, those who did build this country’s foundations were forced to until someone finally spoke up and said, "oh my god, black people are people, not property." Nowhere in the "about us" section did I get the impression this church thinks blacks should be the ones running the show because they deserve it and because they're the superior race. Which is pretty much the opposite of Ku Klux Klan thinking."

Yet another person responded to me with:
So what do you think the headlines would be if a white candidate was a member of the congregation that "trust in God through cultural expression of a WHITE worship service and ministries which address the WHITE Community" It is exactly KKK-ish. It also runs against the premise that the black/African-Americans have been demanding. Equality. Yet this church seeks to specifically separate blacks from other individuals. Apparently, after all this fighting for equal rights, they found out that it was a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence - now that the fence was taken down, they found out its only greener because of the weeds.

What the hell? Am I the only one who sees some similarities here with the whole Bush / Hitler comparison? The simple sight of W’s face makes me violent and I think he’s the most incompetent president this poor country’s ever seen. But I think the Bush / Hitler comparison is kinda nuts. Kinda like this one. In what world does comparing this guy’s church to an organization who, throughout history, has used pure violence to accomplish their mission of racial purity, make any sense?

Is it just me? I’m entirely open to hearing other arguments here so hit me with whatever you’ve got. But right now, I’m just not understanding.