Showing posts with label society. Show all posts

The necessary obligations which we feel we must meet grow overnight, like Jack's beanstalk, and before we know it we are bowed down with burdens, crushed under committees, strained, breathless and hurried, panting through a never-ending program of appointments. We are too busy to be good wives to our husbands, good homemakers, good companions of our children, good friends to our friends, and with no time at all to be friends of the friendless.

But if we withdraw from public engagements and interests, in order to spend quiet hours with the family, the guilty calls of citizenship whisper disquieting claims in our ears. Our children's schools should receive our interest, the civic problems of our community need our attention, the wider issues of the nation and of the world are heavy upon us. Our professional status, our social obligations, our membership in this or that very important organization, puts claims upon us.

We're weary and breathless. And we know and regret that our life is slipping away, with our having tasted so little of the peace and joy and serenity we are persuaded it should yield to a soul of wide caliber. The times for the deeps of the silences of the heart seem so few. And in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is.

from inward\outward

From Introspective Comics:






































http://ryandow.com/ic/2007/03/11/everyone-else/

The Rally to Restore Sanity and or Fear

I was one of the lucky ones that went to Washington DC and attended the "Rally to Restore Sanity and or Fear." Since people have been asking how it was, here's a blog post. I'm going to start with my impressions of what the rally was about and was trying to achieve and then I will talk about the experience of being at the rally itself towards the end.

Was the rally political? Yes, insofar that politics is understood to be "a process by which groups of people make collective decisions." This was a rally designed to influence people's opinions and behaviors to improve how we work together as a society. Specifically, it was trying to get us as a nation to realize that the way the media chooses to report news and the way that politicians and pundits choose to relate to their constituents runs counter to the way we run our lives and is doing us a disservice. I'd say the rally was more about chastising the media than chastising politicians, because the media is supposed to serve as a buffer between politicians and the people. In short, the media is not doing their job by ratcheting the energy and fear up while neglecting to use editorial discretion to filter out the crazy.

Was the rally partisan? Not in the traditional sense of being for one political party over another. This seems to be where there are a lot of misconceptions in the media. Without rehashing the same discussions about the Daily Show in general, what I can give are my impressions from the rally. I was inspired to make a difference and to ratchet my own sometimes confrontational attitude back a little bit. I did not feel energized to go out there and vote Democrat or for any other party. The feeling I had, though fun and positive, was a marked contrast to how I felt being in Grant Park for Obama's election night rally. (pictures here) This rally made me realize that I miss having honest conversations about politics and society with honest, rational people who might not agree with me. At the election night rally, there was a sense of anticipation, victory and joy. At the rally to restore sanity, it was refreshing to see so many people looking for a more reasonable dialogue and a fun time. There wasn't the euphoria from the Obama rally, but there was a happy release hearing Jon Stewart say so clearly what I was feeling, that the political and media structures were getting out of hand, and working counter to the needs of the people.

This isn't to say that the rally didn't slant a bit to the left. How much you feel it slanted depends more on what you perceive to be progressive than on the content of the rally. I would describe it being mostly moderate, with much of the slant to the left from the rally attendees more than the rally presentation itself. In the interest of full disclosure, I also believe that in the last 20 years, if the facts of an issue would be examined without spin or hype, then the facts themselves would appear to lean towards the left using current standards. While what was said at the rally applies to both political parties and the media, I believe that the conservative end of the political sphere is more guilty of slanting issues and distorting data. But that's another discussion altogether.

The rally also reinforced for me the power of satire and of the jester. While Jon Stewart's speech at the end of the rally succinctly stated what his vision was and his hopes for how it would affect society, it was really the rally as a whole that drove the point home. It often gets overlooked that people's responses to politics and issues are not solely rational, but influenced by a variety of factors. While it can be said over and over that the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists, that doesn't penetrate into the mind in the same way of the back and forth of Colbert and Stewart, attempting to defuse Colbert's increasingly irrational fears. By bringing out Kareem Abdul Jabbar, a household name for decades, as an example of how normal and accepted Muslims have been in our American culture, it brings it home in a different and more meaningful way. By using comedy, in enables us to examine our own fears and perhaps laugh at ourselves a bit more.

In a personal example, talking about the rally with my father earlier this week, the comedy made a deeper impression on him than any article I could have quoted to him. A self described independent and tea partier and a regular Fox News watcher, he was biased against the rally. By focusing on the humorous aspects of the rally, it enabled him to hear more, as he found it funny. Later in our conversation, as he'd say something unintelligent about Muslims in America, I would drop Kareem's name as a reminder. It seems to have worked. That, and giving him the facts about the proposed Muslim community center in New York City, versus the "victory mosque" on Ground Zero, but again, that's another discussion.

I don't mean to make the rally out to be a pure beacon of reasonableness and sanity in a chaos of pundits and politics. Except for the competing trains bit (peace train vs. crazy train vs. love train), most musical acts had a new album coming out, and except for the Roots, weren't that impressive. The myth busters bit, while fun (if you could hear them) was a bit of pandering to the geeky crowd. Some of the logistical critiques of the rally (poor soundsystem, lack of coordination, inadequate facilities and an overwhelmed transit system) were legitimate, though the unpolished flow was a nice change from the well choreographed political events and seemed to add a bit of legitimacy.

The thing that pleasantly surprised me the most was the diverse ages of the rally attendees. I thought it'd primarily be 20 somethings but there was a large showing of middle aged and elderly people. Also seeing a rally with a larger percentage of people of different races was nice, though it was still largely white. As I'm sure many of you have already seen, the signs were fun and inventive, (here's my pictures). Though there were a few that ripped on the tea party, Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell and George W. Bush, for the most part they were reasonable and as asked, brought down a notch. I did get the sense from some people that this was the closest they were going to get to a major rally for the left, and treated it as such, but mostly it was a place for moderation and sanity.

As always, it was great to see so many similarly minded people gathered in one place. Though things weren't as polite at the Obama election night rally, people were still pretty cool despite the crowds. It was amazing to see the metro trains so packed for hours before and after the rally. I wonder how many people actually came to DC to attend the rally, not just how many people actually made it to the rally.

Do I think this was a turning point? I hope so. But, if it is, it won't be a crashing wave of sanity and reasonableness, as that kind of energy seems to run counter to the whole point of the movement of calming things down. I was heartening to hear Keith Olbermann is shelving the "Worst Persons In the World" bit, and amusing for Glenn Beck to both try and minimize the rally and link it to his rally as well. With the election coming so close to the rally, it overshadowed many immediate responses, so it will be interesting to see how things settle out over time.

Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today

Today I don’t have to think about those who hear “terrorist” when I speak my faith.
Today I don’t have to think about men who don’t believe no means no.
Today I don’t have to think about how the world is made for people who move differently than I do.
Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m married, depending on what state I’m in.
Today I don’t have to think about how I’m going to hail a cab past midnight.

Today I don’t have to think about whether store security is tailing me.
Today I don’t have to think about the look on the face of the person about to sit next to me on a plane.
Today I don’t have to think about eyes going to my chest first.
Today I don’t have to think about what people might think if they knew the medicines I took.
Today I don’t have to think about getting kicked out of a mall when I kiss my beloved hello.

Today I don’t have to think about if it’s safe to hold my beloved’s hand.
Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m being pulled over for anything other than speeding.
Today I don’t have to think about being classified as one of “those people.”
Today I don’t have to think about making less than someone else for the same job at the same place.
Today I don’t have to think about the people who stare, or the people who pretend I don’t exist.

Today I don’t have to think about managing pain that never goes away.
Today I don’t have to think about whether a stranger’s opinion of me would change if I showed them a picture of who I love.
Today I don’t have to think about the chance a store salesmen will ignore me to help someone else.
Today I don’t have to think about the people who’d consider torching my house of prayer a patriotic act.
Today I don’t have to think about a pharmacist telling me his conscience keeps him from filling my prescription.

Today I don’t have to think about being asked if I’m bleeding when I’m just having a bad day.
Today I don’t have to think about whether the one drug that lets me live my life will be taken off the market.
Today I don’t have to think about the odds of getting jumped at the bar I like to go to.
Today I don’t have to think about “vote fraud” theater showing up at my poll station.
Today I don’t have to think about turning on the news to see people planning to burn my holy book.

Today I don’t have to think about others demanding I apologize for hateful people who have nothing to do with me.
Today I don’t have to think about my child being seen as a detriment to my career.
Today I don’t have to think about the irony of people thinking I’m lucky because I can park close to the door.
Today I don’t have to think about memories of being bullied in high school.
Today I don’t have to think about being told to relax, it was just a joke.

Today I don’t have to think about whether someone thinks I’m in this country illegally.
Today I don’t have to think about those who believe that freedom of religion ends with mine.
Today I don’t have to think about how a half-starved 23-year-old being a cultural ideal affects my life.
Today I don’t have to think about how much my life is circumscribed by my body.
Today I don’t have to think about people wanting me cured of loving who I love.

Today I don’t have to think about those who view me an unfit parent because of who I love.
Today I don’t have to think about being told my kind don’t assimilate.
Today I don’t have to think about people blind to the intolerance of their belief lecturing me about my own.
Today I don’t have to think about my body as a political football.
Today I don’t have to think about how much my own needs wear on those I love.

Today I don’t have to think about explaining to others “what happened to me.”
Today I don’t have to think about politicians saying bigoted things about me to win votes.
Today I don’t have to think about those worried that one day people like me will be the majority.
Today I don’t have to think about someone using the name of my religion as a slur.
Today I don’t have to think about so many of the words for me controlling my own life being negatives.

Today I don’t have to think about still not being equal.
Today I don’t have to think about what it takes to keep going.
Today I don’t have to think about how much I still have to hide.
Today I don’t have to think about how much prejudice keeps hold.
Today I don’t have to think about how I’m meant to be grateful that people tolerate my kind.

Today I don’t have to think about all the things I don’t have to think about.
But today I will.

(an interesting reflection on the suffering of others that simultaneously recognizes and subverts the author's privilege)

This weekend was a full one at camp, with a number of different groups. One of the groups is a humanist community. They found us after the camp they stayed at previously changed their rules to only serve Christian groups. While that camp is completely within their rights, I'm glad that this group has come our way, because they have been a lot of fun.

So, at breakfast this morning, a guy comes in wearing a black t-shirt with a large A over the front of the shirt. My mind immediately came up with a scarlet letter joke, and wondered, due to the shape of the letter, if it was a t-shirt for the nerdly anticipated Avengers movie. For both reasons, I looked closer and saw that it was a Richard Dawkins t-shirt. For those of you who don't know, Richard Dawkins is an adamant atheist and secular humanist.

This shirt made me smile, especially on Memorial Day. As a person of faith, I'm glad I work in a place that can be so welcoming. As a citizen of the United States of America, it doubly reminds me of our First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So, thanks to all those who fought and died for our country to preserve the rights that we hold dear. I hope that on Memorial Day, we can be reminded of why these lives were given; because "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." And the right to wear a big, bright A.

(This post was going to segue into my thoughts that we need to establish a Bill of Responsibilities, as many who protest against the Government fail to own up to their complicity in letting the government become this way, but I just don't feel that cynical right now.)

Like many of you, I've been wondering about the upswing in reactionary and inflammatory behavior in recent protests and political events. The Tea Party rallies against Health Care Reform, Republican representatives responses to the same issue, it all keeps building upon itself. The most recent events have me particularly worried.

We have members of Congress being called niggers and faggots. We have their offices being vandalized and windows broken. Some have even received death threats. This is stepping over the line from freedom of speech to illegal activity, some even say sedition. How many of these incidents need to take place before they aren't looked upon just as isolated cases, but symptoms of a larger illness?

What I find most worrying, is the lack of response from the Republican party and other conservative leaders in the face of these actions. In fact, it seems like the conservative idea is to fan the flames. Sarah Palin advises conservatives to "not retreat, but reload." Representative Stupak, a pro life candidate, was called a Babykiller on the House floor. And we can't forget Representative Wilson's "You Lie!" When our political leaders can't be counted on to preserve rational discourse, we stand on the brink of anarchy.

In a broader sense, I think the GOP's obstructionist tactics also contribute to this polarization. Instead of modeling a difference of opinion or a contrary point of view, they are the party of 'no.' That's fine in the short term, and may win them seats in the next election cycle. But I hope that they begin to realize that simply being contrarian is not a political position, and is maneuvering them into being allied with some pretty shady organizations and individuals. It's not a political party, it's an undefined mob, fueled by hate and fear.

Slowly, there seem to be some Republican voices that are beginning to see the problems that lie ahead. A former Bush speechwriter is saying that "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox." Other conservatives have also started speaking out about this. And it's about time.

The growing Tea Party movement isn't a movement. As it functions now, it's a mob. It is a swirling irrationality, fueled by fear. Once the threats to our politicians began, the rage that was barely in check has released itself. This isn't a political movement, this is a back lash. We are looking at a ravenous creature, that will consume all that it can if it is not held in check. One Tea Party protestor, caught on film berating a counter protestor with Parkinsons, admits that he doesn't know what came over him, presumably he was caught up in the mob mentality.

This isn't to say that every Tea Partier is a violent individual. There are legitimate concerns that have been raised about how the government has prioritized various issues, whether you agree with them or not. There are questions about how we will pull ourselves out of this depression and if we will recover the lost jobs and the downturn in the housing market. But, the methodology being used in the Tea Party movement is not one of opposition to the Democratic party, but an all consuming nothing that will tear down whatever it can. It is the responsibility of all of our political leaders to address the needs of the people and not to fan the flames that already threaten to raze our country.

Last night, I went to a play of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol that was performed by a local theatre company. I was really moved by the production. Though I'd heard the story many times before, this time I was struck by Scrooge's lovelessness. His alienation from humanity began when we loved money more than his fiancee. Perhaps what emphasized this more than in previous years was the following quote that was printed on the program guide. The actor who has played Scrooge for over 20 years announced his engagement in the program guide, using this quote:

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness…We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it.What I know about love and believe about love and giving ones heart began in this. - C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I can see a young businessman like Scrooge (or really any of us), looking at the potential losses that are present in love, and deciding for a safer investment. Perhaps as we continue to tighten our fiscal belts during this recession, we can loosen the belts that bind our hearts and give more of ourselves.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

From the wonders of Facebook, an article in the current issue of the Utne Reader has given me new hope of finding more common ground between the liberal and conservative camps. I have long been frustrated by conversations that I have with my dad. Even though we come from similar background and principals, we find ourselves far afield in the political spectrum.

The article states there are multiple moral impulses, some of which are more likely to be found in conservative beliefs, other are more common in liberal beliefs. Essentially, all of these are necessary to a fully functioning society, but each group of people value one set over another and is the source for the disagreements that play out in politics.

It's a short read and well worth it. I find it helpful to remind me that those I oppose are not necessarily ignorant or unfeeling, but that they are acting morally. An interesting subtext in the article is how some of the differences are based in class distinctions, which seems to be a blind spot in liberal academic theories. There also seems to be an assumption that liberals are inclined to be atheists, but that's a topic for a later post.

So, take a read.
http://www.utne.com/Politics/Liberals-Arent-Un-American-Conservatives-Arent-Ignorant.aspx

My friend Sarah forwarded this response to my last blog post. Really, Monty Python does say it best.

This was posted on fark.com by someone calling themselves Ozone, and I intend to use it the next time some tries to scare me with government interventionist propaganda.

"This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

original source here.

Thank you ozone.

A very interesting article was published in the Boston Globe today. Apparently, there is a growing movement to provide nature with legal rights. A town in Maine made it possible for residents to file lawsuits on behalf of "natural assets." This was brought about as a proactive action against the Nestle Company in case they attempted to tap the local aquifer for it's bottled water products.

On one level, this seems to be an absurd over reaction and perhaps even a prime example of the hyper-litigious culture that exists today. On the other hand, two of the ways society can assign value are to place a monetary value upon it and to give it legal rights. The article points out [o]ther nonhuman entities have long enjoyed certain rights under our legal system: ships and corporations are two examples of entities entitled to “personhood,” meaning they can bring lawsuits to court. The notion that corporations are essentially people in the current legal structure has bothered me deeply, both as an expression of structural evil, and as an example of how the idea of inalienable rights has been divorced from the idea of inalienable responsibilites, ie. the social contract theory. But, I digress.

Upon reflection, I think that I'm also intrigued by the theological implications that this debate might open up. The idea of "personhood" in a legal sense leaning closer towards the idea of pantheism or panentheism; endowing nature with divine presence, as well as revisiting the Biblical story of Genesis, where humanity was installed as either caretakers or dominators of nature, depending on how Genesis is read. It also reminds me of the Talmudic debates about the nature of the golem, a humanoid creation of clay, whether it counted as a person for the minyan, the Jewish prayer circle, or the destruction of a golem would be considered murder or destruction of property.

Of course, another argument can be made that we are projecting human values and concerns onto nature by entering lawsuits on their behalf. The article also speaks to this position, and highlights it better than I think I could. A counter to this concern is that a similar issue could be found with ships and people as non-human "persons," as it isn't the bodies themselves, but rather humans speaking on their behalves that actually has the legal standing.

In short, re-visiting how society views nature is a very serious matter, with significant economic, religious, and political repercussions. In so far as it is an extra layer of protection for the environment, I support the effort, though I need to learn more before I'm fully convinced. It does seem like a neat solution to the issue with corporations being legal entities, though. In closing, the article points out another interesting fact, "What’s more, proponents say, the extension of rights invariably seems absurd before it happens. When the economy depended on slave labor, emancipation was unfathomable even to many who abhorred slavery. In retrospect, though, it seems morally imperative and historically inevitable."

With the recent attack on the Holocaust museum and the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, I've been thinking and worrying about a possible upswing of domestic terrorism, possibly prompted by the poor economy, having an African American president, a change in how we pursue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more. I've been less connected to my political and national news feeds since I started my new job, but today I found a number of articles that are reflecting similar thoughts.

Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security released a Bush-administration-commissioned report in April detailing Right Wing Extremism which was thoroughly thrashed by conservative pundits. However, that report is looking to be more and more prescient.

One article I read from the Huffington Post touched on a question I have often wondered about, has the shift in news reporting and the increased exposure of on-air pundits contributed to this climate?

Seeds of Hatred---Reaping the Harvest by Larry Gellman

I think it's well worth the read. One excerpt reads:

" I'm certain that O'Reilly will insist, as Beck did, that it would be both wrong and unfair to link the inflammatory rhetoric and the vicious language of his repeated attacks against Dr. Tiller to the fact that a passionate true believer may have taken him seriously and decided to rid the world of this murderous Nazi abortionist.

But the venom spewers can't have it both ways. In their zeal to make headlines and establish themselves as true leaders of a movement and a party that has become consumed by anger and hate, these "celebrities" have chosen to abandon their civility, reason, and sense of responsibility. They either mean what they say -- in which case those who rid the world of murderers, Nazis, and other liberal villains should be hailed as heroes -- or they don't in which case they are simply cowardly liars committing libel in the name of the First Amendment as they discredit their once-proud movement and/or party."

For more background about the conservative response to the DHS report, read this Daily Kos article.

What bothers me the most is how this low level of discourse is becoming more accepted. As a Christian, I am amazed that so many others who also claim to be a Christian can overlook Jesus' commandment to "love one another as you love yourself." In my reading of the Bible, that seems to be central to the Jesus movement.

My hope is that this type of discourse will consume itself without injuring or killing any bystanders or objects of their rage in the process. My fear is that these death throes may be quite violent, or worse, they might not be death throes at all.

I try to remember to be not afraid.

The following is a transcript of the remarks a dear friend of mine gave on the steps of the Michigan Capital building at a pro gay marriage protest on May 26th of this year. This protest was a response to the California Supreme Court's upholding of Proposition 8. She says it better than I ever could.




My name is Nicolette Lee Calcagno-Siragusa, and yesterday I celebrated the first anniversary of my wedding to the most wonderful woman in the world.

I should clarify – you see we have a domestic partnership in Cook County, Illinois, where we lived before moving here. We entered into that on October 1st 2005 in the Cook County Clerk’s office – very romantic. No rights, no responsibilities – just a certificate & a public record.

Then, on December 28th, 2007 we entered into a Civil Union in New Jersey, where we met and grew up, in the living room of her parents’ home presided over by the mayor. A simple event – an exchange of rings and vows in front of the fireplace.

And then came one year ago yesterday. In the sanctuary of the church where I had served as an intern, presided over by my friend and mentor. We had flowers, and music, and in the presence of our family, our friends, our church, and our God had a “proper” wedding, complete with the breaking of bread during the sacrament of Holy Communion, and the breaking of bread during a fun and festive reception.

For those of you keeping track:
Domestic Partners in Cook County, Illinois,
Civilly United in New Jersey
Married in the eyes of our friends, our family, and our church
And yet considered single by the state of Michigan!

As a member of clergy, I am told that the state respects my ecclesial authority to join two people in marriage – as long as they get to pick the two. I am a firm believer in the separation of Church and State, and it is simply wrong to use the beliefs of a church as justification for refusing same-sex couples the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage on one hand, while on the other hand deny churches and clergy who see unequal treatment as injustice the ability to marry those couples.

I am a member of the United Church of Christ who at their General Synod in 2005 resolved to affirm equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender, stating that the government should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities, and commitment of legally recognized marriage.

I believe in the life and example of Jesus of Nazareth who demonstrated radical inclusivity and abundant welcome. I believe in a biblical tradition that affirms and celebrates human expressions of love and partnership. I believe in a God who is still speaking, and that there is always more light and truth to be revealed.

There are those who would tell us that we are not worthy of marriage. That our families are not as beautiful, that our love is not as strong, that our commitment is not as deep.

But they have not seen how we care for our ailing parents, have not heard us sing lullabies to our children, have not seen us support one another through trials and adversities, have not witnessed the struggles we go through simply to keep our families together.

But the time is coming. A new generation is at hand who has seen, who has witnessed, and who understands.

So I tell you – do not lose hope, do not lose faith. May you always remember that you are God’s beloved children. May the Holy One encourage you in times of struggle and disappointment. And may God strengthen you as you walk on the path of love and justice, for though it is long and winding, I know we do not walk alone.

Hello Blogger,

I know, it's been a while since we've talked. I'm sorry, I should have written sooner. It's just, well, things are changing between us. It isn't you, it's me. I'm not really sure what it is I hope our relationship is anymore. I thought with this time off, I'd be writing more, but the opposite is just the case. I'm not sure what I want to use this space for anymore. Sometimes I felt that this space was just somewhere I'd post stoff that I found amusing or thought provoking. But then I met Facebook and all that changed. Facebook reaches out to more people than this little blog.

I've been thinking that this might be a place where I do some more writing. I've had some stories bouncing around in my head, some autobiographical, some not. At any rate, I just want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you. I just don't know what our relationship will be. Please be patient.


Ok, enough pseudo-dramatic dear-John blathering. In other news, my seminary was recently featured in a PBS special about Seminaries and Sex. A link to the clip will be at the end of this post. Whatever your beliefs about sexuality and faith, I think it's important to recognize that the two are deeply connected and not in an adversarial sort of way. How you experience your sexuality can speak to how you experience the divine, other people, and the rest of creation.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/march-27-2009/seminaries-and-sex/2511/

Once again, I steal any good thoughts from illdoctrine.com

Much love to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the flawed, real human beings that fought and struggled to increase justice and mercy in our world. Society does no favor to King's legacy by reducing it to one speech, or one issue and it does no favor to the rest of humanity to elevate King above his humanity. Dr. King worked to end poverty, bring about reparations for slavery, and an end to war.

Dr. King was a person who was a creature of his time. He may or may not have supported LGBT rights when he was alive, and he may or may not have supported LGBT rights if he were alive today. This is not to minimize the struggles and necessity of LGBT rights, but to emphasize that Dr. King may have had his vision limited by prejudices that are apparant to us today as racism was apparant to Dr. King in his day. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was and is a great man, a person to emulate. But let us not lose sight of the fact that he was also a man, and that what he did and who he became is achievable not just by a select few, but by all of us.

Dr. King was inspired in his own day by Jesus, Mahatma Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and many others. Today, Dr. King continues to exist as an inspiration for those of us alive today and those yet to come. Let us not "white wash" his legacy and our memories of him, thereby making him and what he did for us all unattainable by those who continue the struggle today. Let us see the full spectrum of his character and soul. Knowing that he had flaws, just as the rest of us do, should not be considered scandalous but a reminder that great things can come from any of us, despite of or maybe even as a result of our flaws or weaknesses.

There will always be those that will attempt character assassination of anyone they don't agree with. It is only by embracing the whole person of who Dr. King was will we be able to move beyond this increasing polarization. Just as it is patriotic to say when our country is wrong, so also is respecting the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by remembering that no one is above sin or is perfect.

Alright, if you haven't picked up on it already, I'm infatuated with the video blog website illdoctrine.com. It's run by Jay Smooth, who has decades of cred in the hip hop community. His postings cover a wide range of topics and cover a lot of ground in the hip hop and Black community including culture, politics, and the issues of misogyny and homophobia. I find what he has to say to be persuasive, multi-layered, and spot on. Not to mention entertaining. So, don't be surprised if I keep posting his videos until I get this blogger crush out of my system.

I'm sure you are dying to know why I find this so interesting. I've been a fan of hip-hop since I started listening to music. Some of the first cassettes I had were called Raps Greatest Hits and had tracks from Kurtis Blow, Doug E. Fresh, Erik B. and Rakim. At the time, I was just one more white kid in the suburbs trying to be Black, or as we called it, a wigger. These were also the days of New Jack Swing, which influenced my sense of romance. Anyway, as time went on hip hop's lyrics and style influenced me, and I realized that if I liked this kind of music I also needed to pay more attention to the cultures and influences that shaped this music. This pushed me towards trying to understand racism and poverty in the United States, and started me thinking about cultural appropriation, the taking of elements of a usually minority culture by a more dominant culture.

To this day, cultural appropriation is one of the things that angers me the most, is rarely discussed, and is in reality a much more complex cultural interchange, as mainstream American culture is not totally seperated from the African American, inner-city cultures. So, I have tried to not be just a consumer, or a taker in Randian terms. As a member of dominant society, I must constantly check my priveldge and remember that I must instead work towards cultural exchange, where I give back as much as I take. I don't do this just in regards to hip hop and the Black community, but also in regards to interfaith dialogue, especially when it comes to Native American religions.

So, to bring it all back, illdoctrine has been a great reminder to me of the nuances of hip hop culture and the larger Black communities and I find Jay Smooth can help keep me on track. A good example of this is a piece he did on a church in Chicago putting up billboards telling people to not listen to some rappers. For all you ministers out there, what he has to say about this church's move is something to take to heart and mirrors much of what I learned in seminary about community dialogue.

So check it out. Don't believe the hype (even if it's my hype)

The cover story for the December 15 issue of Newsweek is a well written article about the biblical assumptions that underlie the Gay Marriage debate. The article goes more in depth than most news stories without going so deep that it would bore the non-theologian. Check it out here. It would be a good starting point for a Bible Study or general discussion. I know I plan on touching on some of these themes in the future, perhaps in pre-marital counseling. Gay or not, everyone should have a better idea of what the Bible does say about marriage before they enter into it themselves.

And, if reading a four page article is too daunting, check out this slightly more irreverent take on the same subject.

Thanks to Mark Winters for the Newsweek article. Check out his blog Liberal Believer here, or in my blog list to the right.

I've often maintained that driving in Chicago can be distilled down to one over-riding rule. Every driver assumes that every other driver is going to take their parking spot. My belief is reinforced by this article from the Huffington Post. A tan sedan tried to pass President-elect Barack Obama's motorcade this morning. They were immediately cut off and weapons were drawn on the speedster. Apparently, this driver felt he could ignore the police cars pulling over traffic, as well as the black SUVs and Limousines, it can't be as important as wherever he is trying to get to.

Maybe this is another unanticipated benefit of an Obama presidency, the driving laws might actually begin to be obeyed and enforced. Nevermind, I'm not that hopeful. Only so much can be changed so I'll stick to the CTA.

In California, ballot Proposition 8 is to vote whether to ban same sex marriage. Vote No and protect the rights of all individuals to be with who they love.

I'm very tempted to try to outline the reasons why I feel this way, and refute from a religious perspective how the Bible is being selectively read to justify this issue, while ignoring much greater transgressions in the Bible that affect the "family." Instead, I want to appeal to those Christians who have gotten married, or who are thinking about it. Think about how you felt on your marriage day. Think about what brought you to that day. Hopefully, if you were lucky, it was love that brought you there. Think about your vows and the scripture that was read on your joyous day. Just take a minute and remember how wonderful it felt to be in love. Now, watch this video, and then think about what it would be like to have someone deny your ability to be with the one you love.



If you live in California, vote no on Proposition 8. Whether or not you live in California, donate to help support the struggle against Prop. 8.






big thanks to BL for telling me about the video, and for reminding me to be an ally.

There are a number of people who are a regular part of my life that I don’t know at all.

In life, there are strangers, and there are friends; there are acquaintances and people I could do without; there are co-workers and even some rare few enemies. However, I’m not talking about any of those people, but a different category of people, people I know and I know nothing about them. These are the people I spend a part of my daily life with, yet I don’t talk to. These are the people with whom I ride the bus and train.

I see at least some of you most every day. Sometimes one of you goes missing for a while, and sometimes they reappear and sometimes they never come back. I know very few concrete things about my fellow travelers outside of how they look, what they wear, and where and when they get on and off of mass transit. I have names for some of you: Goldilocks, Snow White, Grimace, Indiana Jones Jr., Anna Paquin, quasi-Casey. For a couple of you, I’ve learned your given names, gaining an almost magical sense of knowing something real about you.

For a boy-man raised in a small town, the silence that exists between us is baffling. Growing up, we’d greet everyone on the street, even the barber’s dog and the man who had chased us off his lawn last week. But in the city, silence is a commodity to be treasured for its rarity. In a rail car full of people, quiet is a wonderful thing. It can give us personal space amidst the crush. As we get on the train with our various levels of wakefulness, it is good to gather our thoughts and selves before the work day begins. Our music, puzzles, and books help preserve our space, yet they also hint at who we really are. I’ve picked up some great books by looking at what all of you read, and for that I thank you. A special thanks to all the Harry Potter readers riding the L; sharing a common book reminds me of our commonalities, whether we are wearing a suit or a skirt, tatters or a tie.

What brings a smile to my face are the few times we do talk. A change to the bus schedule or a rerouting of a bus line and we leave our silence. We check in with one another for collective wisdom and solidarity. One day, a man fell on the train tracks and died, and in the chaos of shuffled schedules and redirected trains, we went from strangers to a strange tribe of lost souls. Through our collective wisdom and ears we eventually found ourselves through a travel detour and through a sad moment, returning to our paths home, again sinking into our comforting silences. Yet, I’ll remember that day for the adventure, the change in pace, and for realizing that Goldilocks has bright blue eyes.

Much has been said about the companions we have on our journeys. Think of Sancho Panza and Don Quixote, Samwise and Frodo, Virgil and Dante, and Silent Bob and Jay. Often it is the companions that make the journey possible, and together they suffer, celebrate, search and find. However, while dramatic, those questing times in our lives do not affect us nearly as much as our day to day lives do. We are revealed in who we are by the rhythms of the everyday march of our lives and how we make our way through our times of travel. In the liminal seats of the CTA we have a twice daily rite of passage, between our work lives and our personal lives. For these daily rituals, I’m armed with my transit card, my shoulder bag, and all of you. Daily acts of politeness and kindness in the morning set the tone of my day and at night balm the strains from work.

So, my anonymous companions, it’s nice to see you again. As one of the many goatee sporting shirts on the train, ponder my half awake stumbling and know that friendliness is nice, though I don’t want to intrude.