Might Hillary Clinton Become A Guest Pastor In The Methodist Church? What A Brilliant Idea!

Hillary Clinton speaks at Union Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, in October 2016.

Hillary Clinton just might become a preacher. The Atlantic writes that's what she told Bill Shillady, Hillary's longtime pastor, at a photo shoot for his new book focused on the daily devotionals he sent Hillary during the 2016 campaign. The story has legs, according to former Newsweek editor Kenneth Woodward who said that Clinton told him in 1994 that the idea of becoming an ordained Methodist minister was on her mind "all the time". She requested his confidentiality, however, saying "It will make me seem much too pious."

Religion is on Hillary's mind, however, and I doubt it's only because she seeks to rehabilitate her public image, as suggested by Hillary's critics. Hillary clearly sees the way right-wing Christians are demanding that theirs is the only valid American faith, when America worships at least four visions of God, according to an ongoing 2010 project at Baylor University by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, one that has really caught our eye at AOC. The original research surveyed in-depth 1,648 US adults. But the online research -- which I took -- covered over 100,000 people.

We must broaden the definition of God in America, because the right-wingers who have cloaked themselves in religion and its most rigid beliefs are not the only religious people in America.

Two books are slated to come out of Clinton world early this fall: 'What Happened',Clinton’s personal account of the election, and 'Strong for a Moment' Like This, Shillady’s book of devotionals. Shillady, who runs the United Methodist City Society in New York, wrote the book at Clinton’s suggestion; he said his is the only book for which Clinton has agreed to write a foreword. Clinton and her staffers read and approved the copy ahead of time, writes The Atlantic.

My pleasure of discovering this article came in validating Shillady's devotional to Hillary the day after she lost the election. He wrote:

Jesus completed the excruciating task of giving up his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. It was his faith and belief in his heavenly Father, that gave him the grace and peace to submit to Friday. While death had seemingly won, Jesus knew better. When he said, "It is finished," it wasn't meant to be a statement of concession. It was a declaration that a new day was on the way.

Friday is finished. Sunday is coming. Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.

As for Hillary attending the seminary, that's doubtful, according to Shillady. 

 “I think it would be more of … her guest preaching at some point,” he said. “We have a long history of lay preachers in the United Methodist Church.”

Since the election, “I think her faith is stronger,” Shillady explained. “I haven’t noticed anything different, except that I think she is more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her.” I will pursue this discovery of Hillary's current thinking to see if there is any way that Anne of Carversville can contribute to a new project, one that acknowledges the importance of religion in American lives, while working to educate and communicate that the vision of God in America is not singular. ~ Anne

Watching 'The Crown' With the QE2 Falling Apart In Dubai & John Boehner's Tears Long Gone From Trumpworld

Watching 'The Crown' With the QE2 Falling Apart In Dubai & John Boehner's Tears Long Gone From Trumpworld

Could we agree that any woman trying to lead the free world, who cried in prime time, would be run out of Dodge? I finally tuned into the Netflix series 'The Crown', and I assure you that the young queen Elizabeth will be steely and duty-driven -- keeping it together when her father dies. And that is exactly how the second episode ends, with Elizabeth burying her adoring love and grief for her dead father deep in her heart, now masked by royal obligations to her public and the entire British Empire.

Watching 'The Crown' knowing that the electoral college voted on Monday for Donald Trump as America's next president, I can't help thinking about Republican John Boehner's arrival as Speaker of the House.  He wept through his 2010 60 Minutes interview, a reality that did not amuse me in the least, given the Republican agenda for America. In fact, those tears are typically called a charade when a damsel in distress turns on the floodgates.

Indeed when I wrote about Boehner's intentions to lead the charge against abortion and contraception rights in America, it was after after watching a chilling meeting with his chief of staff Mick Krieger accepting one of those tiny plastic babies in perfect form meant to represent a six-week old embryo. In reality, those cells and molecules are a blob about the size of a pomegranate seed, and I don't mean to be disrespectful in any way. But it's another example of post-factual information suggesting that these perfectly formed cereal box creatures (I am not making this up. Republicans put them in cereal and candy boxes at state fairs) are in any way representative of the actual pregnancy process.  To me the meeting signalled the hell that poor women in America would go through as Republicans ripped away not only abortion rights but also access to contraception and general health care for women living all over America in impoverished communities. There is no satisfaction in saying that my instincts were correct.