This is a tale of two rallies, or more precisely, one rally and one march. Both brought together religion and patriotism, one from the perspective of left-leaning politics, the other from the political right. One focused on recognition of individuals for their virtues; the other focused on public policy. The one aspect of both rallies that was painfully, shamefully obvious was the racial divide. One was overwhelmingly European-American, the other overwhelmingly African-America.
People do harm out of their own pain. When we see people causing harm to other people, we ought to ask ourselves and ask them: “Who hurt you?” Sometimes the answer to that question is difficult to know. The answer to the question may be entangled in several different strands of personal, political and historical factors that are too complicated to disentangle. We are perplexed by a Gordian knot of our own psychological pain that cannot simply be undone by the stroke of a sharp sword and an indiscriminant mind.
Opposition to the Park 51 Community Center revolves around the sensibilities of people who lost loved one on September 11, 2001 and the sensibilities of a nation that suffered one of the most horrific attacks of its history. When someone we love dies, the world is never the same. Even if they die full of years with their family surrounding them with love and prayers, the pain is palpable. Even if we have a grave site to visit, their passing leaves a space that can only be filled with memory and hope. It is especially difficult when the someone that we love dies suddenly, violently, needlessly. It is difficult not to have a place to visit, a headstone to talk to, a stream of water, ocean, a green field, or beautiful landscape to visit and remember the moment we scattered the ashes. There is nothing that anyone can do or not do that will make the ache stop. And our tears have a will of their own.
The controversy over Park 51, captiously misnamed the Ground Zero Mosque leads us to ask the national question: “Who hurt us?” I say: A group of terrorist criminals hurt us, not Islam itself. (I have written about this in two blogs at the Washington Post On Faith blog and at God’s Politics.) Most people know with their rational minds that this nation was attacked by criminals whose actions were a desecration of Islam and all that is holy. Islam teaches that Allah is merciful and compassionate. He is all powerful. Logic tells the believer that an all powerful God does not need humankind to kill. Islam teaches that God wants us to compete as in a race toward all the virtues. Yet, when we seek an answer to the question of who hurt us, we find it difficult not to lay responsibility at the foot of Muslims. We see them as different, as dangerous and Other. Thus, we do not want to see an Islamic Community Center anywhere near ground zero in New York City. Our pain is still too raw and too real. And the political exploitation of this pain is an abomination.
However, I think something more may be at work here, something beyond the willingness of people to set aside the Constitutional protections of freedom of religion in this case in the name of wisdom, propriety and sensitivity. There is something more than a culture war or clash of civilizations at work here. I think the pain that many Americans feel at this moment is the fear that the September 11 signaled the end of America’s supremacy in the world.
I love Jon Stewart. He makes me laugh. After a long day of reading and thinking and writing about the ethics of public discourse, and considering the various issues that are the subjects of our national and international conversation, I need a laugh. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central allows me to have a good laugh before I turn out my light and go to sleep. The segment “I Give Up” on the August 4, 2010 program at once makes me laugh and shows the absurdity of what Stewart called “craven political expedience.”
The people were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They had come to the conclusion that they wanted a government that protected their health and wellbeing. They organized from coast to coast to tell their representatives that they were taking the blindfolds off and were no longer going to stand for their elected representatives serving the interests of the gas and oil industry at their expense.
It was a movie that woke the people in Gasland. The movie told the story of a group of faceless executives who had come into the lives of the good people of Gasland and offered them and their neighbors money to allow oil and gas companies to inject thousands of gallons of water and toxic chemicals into the ground to extract natural gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing. They were given money for the rights to use this method of extraction on their property. They did not know that the chemicals would contaminate their drinking water, that natural gas would come out of their taps so that they could light the water on fire. They did not expect muddy water to flow from their taps as a result. They did not expect to have to buy water from Wal Mart. They did not expect that they would be afraid that their homes would explode underneath them.
On the Sunday, July 11th edition of ABC’s “This Week”, the moderator, Jake Tapper, asked a panel of pundits their opinion of Sarah Palin’s online advertisement for her political action committee where she speaks about “mama grizzlies.” The female grizzly bear is noted for her fierce protection of her cubs. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post called the ad “vapid “and “platitudinous”. George Will countered by saying that on the “vapid meter” it did not compare with a sentence in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
I respectfully beg to differ. Will’s judgment regarding the sentence served only to betray his own stunning supercilious ignorance. The sentence: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” derives from both Hopi wisdom and from a poem by the late Blackwoman activist, professor and poet June Jordan -”Poem for South African Women.” The poem has been set to music by the a cappella singing group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Writer Alice Walker used the last line in the poem: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” as the title for a book.
This has been a difficult few months for proponents of marriage equality. Most recently, Hawaii’s Governor Linda Lingle vetoed a bill that would allow gay marriage. She said the issue ought to be decided by voters. Last November, voters in Maine overturned the legality of same-sex marriage. The New York legislature said “no.” The issue may have influenced the outcome of the governor’s race in New Jersey. However, the Washington D.C. City Council voted to allow same sex marriage. When I consider my own history as an African-American woman, I am so glad that during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s there were judges and legislators willing to stand for equal protection under the law even before the general public was ready for racial equality. I am so glad for a faith that believes that my LGBT brothers and sisters will one day receive justice.
When nations make decisions that keep a cycle of violence going, it is appropriate to bring critique to bear on those decisions. When nations make decisions that help break the cycle of violence, that helps to move the world one centimeter, one inch, closer to just peace, it is appropriate to give that decision its proper respect.
When the government of Israel decided to ease its policy regarding the flow of goods and humanitarian aid into Gaza, it was a decision worthy of recognition and of gratitude. For years, critics of the policy, both inside and outside of Israel have called on the government of Israel to ease the restriction against Gaza. Gaza has been described as a big prison. The blockade is violence. It is structural violence that deprives people of the materials they need to support a decent standard of living. Such violence is a violation of human dignity. Peace will only come when people have the material they need to sustain life and the spiritual and psychological security that brings joy into life, when they can create the conditions that make life worth living.
Much that was on the list of things that could not be brought into Gaza were items that denied both sustenance and joy to people in Gaza. This kind of violence invited retaliatory violence and hatred. To deny people pipes for clean water, cement to build houses and chocolate is an injustice. It is not what ordinary people deserve, even if their leadership is unwise in its rhetoric and policies. Peace will come on earth the instant everyone begins to do justice no matter what the Other does.
This new policy of the government of Israel is more just than the old policy. It is full of caveats and caution, but such is reasonable for a nation whose primary concern is security. The six steps the government plans to implement are sensible and welcome. In a statement issued June 20, 2010, Israel committed to:
This is the last year of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World 2001-2010. I was reminded of the concept of a culture for peace this week while watching a Charlie Rose interview with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Charlie Rose June 9, 2010) He spoke of the various paths to peace between Israel and Palestine. He spoke of Israeli security. However, he also spoke of a culture of peace that was now dominant in the West Bank.
He said that a culture of peace has spread among his people, but that continued occupation could make them step away from this rationality. He spoke of the establishment of security that has provided an environment conducive to economic development. They teach peace in schools and preach peace in the mosques. According to Abbas, Palestinians on the West Bank have moved “from a culture of violence to a culture of peace.”
The dead do not need us. They do not need our visits to their gravesites where flesh and bone feed the earth. They do not need our flags, flowers, work of grave maintenance or the libation of our tears. They do not need our pilgrimage to their mausoleum or to the place where we scattered their ashes.
The dead do not need us. They do not need our war movie marathons, super sale days, parades, picnics, concerts, fireworks or a moment of silence at 3 pm.
Thinking about BPs response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we hear one of its representatives say: “Alternatives are currently being progressed.” This is what Doug Suttles, Chief Operation Officer of the Exploration and Production Division of BP told Matt Lauer on the Today Show on Monday, May 24. A more straight forward response would be: “We do not know how to fix it.” The federal government officials should say the same thing. Instead we get awkward statements in the passive voice and talk about the federal government applying more pressure to BP. Until we have better answers, we ought to stop off-shore drilling.
When Celeste Zappala’s son, Sherwood Baker, decided to join the Pennsylvania National Guard, he assured her that the most violent duty he would have to perform would probably be to confront his parents at a peace rally that got too rowdy. Zappala has always opposed violence and war. She taught these values to her son.
He was a social worker. However, after Sherwood started to have some financial trouble, the National Guard seemed to be an opportunity to earn extra money. He could pay off his college loans and make a down payment on a house. He and his wife were starting a family. They had a young son. It was also an opportunity to serve in a branch of the nation’s armed forces whose primary mission was to help people in times of trouble. “The National Guard never goes to foreign war,” Zappala thought. “Nine-eleven changed everything.”
We are hearing much these days about the founders and their views on taxation. Many people who oppose “big government”, deficit spending, and taxation are warning against socialism. They argue that current tax policy amounts to a redistribution of wealth, that it is class warfare, that it is unconstitutional and against the original intent of the founders. This is a kind of ancestor worship.
The Nuclear Security Summit that brought leaders of 47 countries to Washington, D.C. to discuss ways to secure nuclear materials is a just peace means to a just peace end.
Just peace theory holds that peacemaking is a day by day, step by step process. It begins with the understanding that respectful and equitable relationships between individuals and between nations will provide a structure that invites cooperation rather than conflict. And, when disagreement does happen, when interests collide, there is a method to find a satisfactory solution for all involved. The goal is to work together to find a way to build a better world.
I have particular movies for particular holidays. For Halloween, I enjoy Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Thanksgiving is just not Thanksgiving until I see the original Miracle on 34th Street. I pull out A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve, but I prefer the version with George C. Scott playing Scrooge. My Easter movie is Irving Berlin’s Easter Parade.
The original trailer for the movie called it “the happiest movie ever made.” I do not know about that, but it makes me happy. I first saw it as an afternoon movie on television when I was a girl. From time to time as an adult, I would see it on television, and I would stop what I was doing to watch. Now in the age of DVDs, I can watch it whenever I like. And there are times even when it is not Easter that I need a little Easter.
Conscientious objection is as old as the first human being who faced another human being who was intent upon doing h/er harm and refused to respond with violence. It is as old as the first human being who looked upon a battlefield littered with the dead and dying and concluded: “this is madness” and refused to participate in organized slaughter. Conscientious objection is as old as the human awareness of right and wrong. Selective conscientious objection is as old as the first warrior who refused an order on the battlefield, who refused to shoot the enemy, or who walked away from a war s/he deemed unjust.
Truth is an essential component of peace and of peacemaking because it is necessary to the establishment of justice. No justice; no peace. On Sunday, March 21, a group of some 80 commissioners will hear testimony on conscientious objection in war. The public session will be held at The Riverside Church in New York City beginning at 4 p.m. I am one of the commissioners. (http://www.conscienceinwar.org/)
Fox News host Glenn Beck has created a firestorm by calling for Christians to leave congregations that preach and teach social justice. According to Beck, this is code for a socialist agenda. He has said that the one idea that Nazis and Communists have in common is the concept of social justice. Many Christians, and I would dare say many non Christians, are outraged by such statements. It is clear that Beck has neither a clear understanding of what social justice is or what most religions require of believers. Moreover, social justice is not only a requirement of faith, but it is a duty of citizenship.
Abortion is a difficult subject. It has divided our nation for many years. It requires us to think about difficult questions. When does life begin? To whom is the state primarily responsible, the woman who is its citizen or to her unborn child? How do we balance our moral obligations to both? What is the role of believers in the respect and the protection of both the mother and child?
Listening to Republican rhetoric on healthcare reform legislation, one would think the Democratic leadership in Congress and President Obama were about to commit extreme violence upon the people of the United States. According to Republicans, “the American people” do not want healthcare reform as crafted by the bills that have already passed both houses of Congress. The Republican refrain is we ought to start over. In the weekly Republican address, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said Democrats intend to use a “procedural trick” to “ram through” healthcare reform legislation.
In President Obama’s first State of the Union Address, he spoke of a loss of faith in our nation’s biggest institutions. He is correct. Faith is a fragile thing. It is intangible. We cannot measure it, or weight it, or know what color it is or how it smells or tastes. We cannot tell by touch the texture of it. Faith never stands alone. It walks hand in hand with doubt. “I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24). When faith is broken, it is very very difficult to repair. Faith, like love, requires courage because we expose our vulnerabilities when we believe.
