Opinion: Rush Limbaugh sacks himself

by MARK FRANEK

The scene last Sunday [September 28] on ESPN’s “NFL Countdown” must have struck a bad chord with more than just the liberal media. What other explanation could there be for the “cacophony of outrage” (Limbaugh’s own words) directed at his ill-chosen, wobbly-fired bomb against Eagles lead-man Donovan McNabb (over-rated because the media wants a black quarterback, including black coaches, to do well).

Huh? This is certainly not the tightly spiraled commentary we’ve come to know and love from ESPN and ABC Sports. Even Dennis Miller could have thrown a better zinger (though it would have gotten lost in the lights since few would have known what he was talking about).

But everyone knows what Limbaugh was talking about even though he rushed to defend himself in a statement released by ESPN: “My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated.” Challenge.

If Limbaugh thinks that somehow there is a media conspiracy propping up McNabb when there is empirical evidence (statistics and loads of copy) to the contrary, then he is a misinformed sports commentator. After week two, McNabb was the worst-ranked quarterback in the NFL and the media — especially in Philadelphia — weren’t shy about reporting it. Limbaugh’s comments don’t make any sense coming from a highly visible front man on ESPN’s payroll.

Second: If Limbaugh honestly thinks that his comments were not motivated by race, then he is an ignorant sports commentator. In Limbaugh-logic, here’s what you have: Blacks in the sports world must have it easier than whites because they are protected by the liberal media. Just tell that to the half-dozen or so other starting quarterbacks who are black, including the black coaches and executives in the NFL. (It won’t take you very long because there are so few.) If you want to talk about race, then let’s really talk about race.

There is a lesson to be learned here and it all boils down to this idea: Words matter. They may not be deeds, but they matter. This is a concept even my 11th-grade students understand who come from all parts of Philadelphia. They realize — just like most Americans — that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but there is a time and a place for everything. There is a public and private persona (and different rules for each arena), and what you post in your locker may not be appropriate for the student message board.

After the dust clears from this brouhaha, Rush Limbaugh will go back to his overtly politicized rightwing radio talk show where he will beat the airwaves into a frenzy over why the liberal press tarred and feathered him.

But people in the replay booth know better. After reviewing this play from all angles, the evidence will show that there were no fouls. Limbaugh sacked himself. Most of us ticket-holders have known all along what ESPN has just discovered — Rush Limbaugh is the one who is over-rated.

I have a suggestion for the ESPN management team: Next season get someone in there who really knows a thing or two about politics and football: Arnold Schwarzenegger, if he’s still available.
Mark Franek is the dean of students at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia.

Opinion: an issue of justice, not judgment

by THE REV. LINDA NOONAN

As a bisexual woman, a Chestnut Hill resident and an ordained minister of a church in this community, I must respond to the comments of my colleague David Seip (Opinion: Another Perspective on Sin, October 2, 2003) in addressing the question of the church’s attitude toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

I am honored to be co-pastor of the Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church, a congregation that has taken a public stand — in opposition to the wider denomination of which it is a part — to affirm the full participation of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered (l/g/b/t) persons in the life and leadership of the church. We have more than 20 openly l/g/b/t persons active in our church life, as well as programs in children’s religious education, arts, ecology and Bible. We see this as an issue of justice, not judgment. And we are enriched to worship as a diverse community, experiencing the gifts that people of different life experiences bring, recognizing that no one person or tradition or culture can know all there is to know of spirit. This United Methodist congregation employs me as its co-pastor, even while I am ordained in the United Church of Christ.

I do not presume to speak for God. But I am personally convinced that the church — a community of spiritual seekers — must be a safe and affirming place for all, particularly those for whom the dominant culture can be inhospitable, intolerant or downright unsafe. To take seriously the life and teachings of Jesus and the call for justice in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is to understand all of creation as sacred. Our task, as people who search for meaning, spirit and community is to respect and seek out that of God in all people and in the world around us. It is to understand that there are many paths to God and respect the ways in which people choose to journey toward and understand the divine. It is to respond to the mystery and gifts of life given to us by caring for ourselves and working for justice in the world.

Excluding people on the basis of what we understand to be sexual orientation or gender identity — as so many churches and denominations do both in policy and practice — seems to me to be not only contrary to the larger message of many faith traditions which include Christianity, but dangerously arrogant.

The Bible is an important resource for people of the Jewish and Christian faiths. Because of this, it is also a site of contested interpretation about not only what it says about social issues, but the contexts out of which these verses were written. Rev. Seip would represent one perspective. But in the traditions of interpretation in which I stand, there are parts of the Bible that call me to celebrate the gifts of l/g/b/t persons to church and faith.

I do not see the Chestnut Hill Local as a place to carry on an argument over biblical quotations or scholarship. I simply claim a long and broad tradition that affirms that “in Christ there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28) and that God is always enlarging our understanding of the meaning of human sexuality.

I have officiated at many unions of same-sex couples as well as heterosexual couples. I have blessed and baptized their children. I will continue to do so. I will do so not only because I believe it is right, but I believe that I and my own faith community have something to learn from every couple and family who make commitments to one another out of a response to and trust in God’s deep, broad and limitless love.

There was a time, in our not-so-distant past, that white churches barred people of color from walking through their doors to worship God. I pray that we won’t be caught guilty, in our day, of a similar form of bigotry, exclusion and theological supremacy.
Linda Noonan is co-pastor of the Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church.