"We Play Both Kinds Here…Country AND Western!”

Some additional reflections on my "small-town deep-Southern" upbringing, some forty to fifty years ago (--and, yes, I promise to get over this very soon and move on). I was recently watching that old “Blues Brothers” movie, and hearing that line from the bartender at “Bob’s Country Bunker”--that we "play both kinds of music here...country and western"-- has brought back some pretty strong and vivid memories. As I’ve already mentioned, my hometown was largely Southern Baptist, with much smaller populations of Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. It was not until I joined the military, as a young adult, that I ever (knowingly) got to know any Catholics, Episcopalians or Lutherans, or had the pleasure of being friends with someone of Jewish faith.

The religious (and to a large extent social) makeup of my hometown was similar to the selection of barbecue sauces at a local restaurant—mild, hotter and torrid. (Yes, they played all three kinds of music.) My parents and I attended the “relatively mild” First Baptist Church, but others in our family belonged to those “hotter and more torrid” congregations…with no disrespect (that I know of, at least) we called them “holy rollers.” I remembr quite well how their congregations would dance and scream, and the ministers would slam their Bibles down on the pulpit in their sermons. I never heard of any of them actually “picking up poisonous snakes” as a show of their faith, but I guess it could have happened. Perhaps some of you will recognize some of what I'm talking about here. For better or worse, the environment in which I was raised was definitely one of "variations on the same theme."

In another post, I talked about “positive liberty” and “negative liberty,” and I suppose my eventual migration to liberal religion came from a need for both. There was definitely a “negative liberty” component—I had seen, first-hand, the hypocrisy that grew under the surface in that “Godly” community. The same people who made such a fuss about how evil it was for a person to mow his lawn on a Sunday saw no problem with their “Klan rallies” (which took place in a field behind my house. Though I kept my distance, I can still recall the glow of those big bonfires and the blaring loudspeakers on a crisp winter night).

My church had a youth group called the “Royal Ambassadors” (I don't know if they still exist or not), and one of the strongest of all my childhood memories was the “initiation” ceremony they had, where new recruits (like myself) were expected to run through a gauntlet—a belt-line is what they called it--of exuberant boys beating you with their belts. I remember actually being slightly injured by it—but arguably the worse part of it all is that it occurred inside a church.

On the other hand, there were also far more pleasant memories, of caring, and compassion, and friendships, and I did like being a part of the church's music program (in a children’s choir), and those church summer camps were pretty enjoyable as well. I certainly wouldn't want anybody to think that it was all bad. (OK, I'll admit, however, that I probably could have done without some of that seemingly endless preaching…Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings…and, if that was not enough, there were those out-of-town trips during the week to multi-night “revivals” in other churches. )

While reflecting on all of this, I saw a news story, in the past week or two , about a U. S. Congressman from Southern Virginia (I believe his name is Goode), who was warning of the dangers of allowing more immigration of Muslims into the United States, and of more Muslims being elected to public office. As it turns out, the Congressman’s statements---and his steadfast refusal to retract or apologize for any of them---were met with overwhelming support from the voters back home, in the small towns which he represents. (Stories like that tend to make me want to scream from the rooftops "can't we all just get along?" )

Obviously, even now, in this information and internet age, and in a nation which now is home to more than 300 million people of so many varied ethic, and cultural, and religious backgrounds, a few things are just so deeply engrained that they are slow to change. Though the “Klan rallies” may have become less numerous, and those “beltlines” may have been toned down a bit over the years, in some places they are still perfectly satisfied with going on playing “both kinds of music,” while at the same time (it seems to me) they often miss the very core-message of the religious leader they so fervently claim to worship, a message of "unconditional love and of walking humbly together," even with our inevitable differences.

As the years have gone by, I have become all the more convinced that we UU’s--and religious liberals in general--represent an attempt at creating and growing something ultimately far healthier and wholesome than dogmatic provincialism—not just an exercise of “negative liberty,”for breaking free from those aspects of religion that seem so objectionable to us, but also the “positive liberty” to use our precious freedom as a "means, rather than an end"---as a sort of “enabler” to help us to do whatever we can to grow a less brutish and more loving, a less provincial and more open and accepting, less self-righteous and more respectful, peaceful and civil world...a home to many different rhythms and melodies.