Perhaps it's a minor point, but the New York Times has a rather surprising mistake in its story on same-sex marriage yesterday:

As a Christian -- he is a member of the United Church of Christ -- Mr. Obama believes that marriage is a sacred union, a blessing from God, and one that is intended for a man and a woman exclusively, according to these supporters and Obama campaign advisers.

So what's the problem with the story?

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I am a long time member of a United Church of Christ congregation.

There are some here who are happy about Obama cutting ties with Trinity UCC, and I have to say that I am hurt by this development.

I've never been to Trinity UCC.  I think I've spent six hours of my life in Chicago, not counting time spent at the airport or Greyhound station.  I can't speak about any specific churches in the denomination, because we take a congregational approach and each congregation is independent, and local churches set their own theological policies.  However, there are a few things about the denomination as a whole that I would like to share.

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Whenever we hear the Republican Media Machine talk about Senator Barack Obama's `pastor' Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the careful reader notices that the United Church of Christ is mentioned in full. There is a reason for that. In order to break the Nazi-ish tactics of the Republican propaganda machine, (and people who have done higher level public relations studies in University know the GOP tactics are based very much in practices developed by the Nazi regime), progressives need to understand the subtext of right-wing conversations.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) was one of the only liberal-leaning congregations to speak out against the politicialized, right-wing brand of Christianity developed by Charles Colson, Ralph Reed and the Christian Reformed Church when the power of the Christian Right was at it's height. Many United Church of Christ pastors even compared the Christian Right to the anti-Christ, which, if one reads scripture closely, does describe the anti-Christ as being very close to the Christian Right. (This is not a marginalized idea among Christians outside of America).

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If Obama were to become the Democratic candidate the Republican playbook is clear.  Ed Rodgers has already tipped the Republican hand.  They are going to go after Obama's roots and his fathers Islamic faith.  Obama will be charactorized as a sleeper agent for Islamic terrorist jihad.

Politico offers the preview up:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/100 7/6314.html

It is a sick and twisted story but one that is not expected.  Republicans will not let our first serious African American candidate pass easily.  It has to be expected and unfortunately in light of the 'Call Me' ad against Ford in '06 (whose writer now workes for Giuliani) it may be effective in many parts of our racially challenged nation.

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