Memorial Day

 

Memorial Day is Monday.  I wonder how many of us will take the time during this three day weekend to remember what the day is for?

 

At my Interfaith Church,  I have the fortune to be preaching this Sunday.  I’ll be using Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as a responsive reading.  It has always struck me as unfortunate that we study it as children but then all too often never look at it again.

 

It’s all there.  The slaughterhouse that is war.  The horrific losses that can come on the battlefield.  The tremendous sacrifice that our men and women at arms make, hoping deeply that they have been ordered into battle for a just and important cause.

 

But Lincoln also points out that we the living have responsibilities too.  The title of the sermon and the service is from Lincoln.  “That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain.” 

 

What are our obligations to the men and women who have given “the last full measure of devotion”? 

 

For a start, I think it is by remembering them.  May we all take the time this “Memorial Day Weekend,” amid all the “Memorial Day Weekend Sales” and the vacations and the whatevers, to remember why we have the day. 

 

And may we remember that we owe these honored dead the free and open country that they fought and died for.  A country of the people, by the people and for the people.

 

Not just the rich.  Not just the men.  Not just the Christian.  May we remember that we are a nation of wonderfully diverse people.  And our diversity is our strength, not a weakness.  This Memorial Day, let us keep faith with those who have sacrificed their lives for our “more perfect union.”

Torture with God's Blessing?

 

Interfaith asks of us an age-old question.  It is a question that relates to all of life, not only religion.  Are we what we say?  Or are we what we do?

 

In religious terms, what is the most important: faith, or deeds?  In trite parental teaching, the question is captured by that famous cliché: “Do as I say, not as I do.”

 

Interfaith acknowledges that there are many roads to just action.  One such road is paved by Christianity.  Another is paved by Judaism.  Another by Buddhism.  Still another by Islam.  And so forth.  But Interfaith also tells us that these are merely roads.  Pathways.  We still have to walk them if we are to reach a just world.  The path by itself gets us nowhere, no matter how much we praise it.

 

We are what we do, what we say not withstanding. 

 

Why does this come to mind today?  Because I am thinking of someone who at least at one time was a leader in the Evangelical movement.  He is justifying torture by saying that we should not look to the example of Jesus (a rather strange thing for a Christian to say I should think) but rather to his followers.  “There are lots of things Jesus wouldn’t do because he’s the son of God.” Gary Bauer states.  “I can’t imagine Jesus being a Marine or a policeman or a bank president, for that matter.  The more appropriate question is, 'What is a follower of Jesus permitted to do?'”  And, according to Bauer, torture in a righteous cause is a very Christian act indeed.

 

We have, of course, been down this path before.  It was called the Spanish Inquisition. 

 

Still, I don’t want to single out Christians.  There are Jews who clearly agree with this argument.  And Muslims.  Torture in the name of God, at one time or another, has been a toxic part of every religious movement.

 

But I can’t agree that there is such a thing as “righteous” torture.  We are not what we believe, but how we act.  We cannot preach love and live torture.  This is why I strongly believe that condoning torture brings us down.  Allowing torture is to condone it.  And allowing those who torture to escape responsibility for their actions is to condone it.

 

This is, after all, why we went to so much trouble after the second World War to try  people for war crimes.  It is why we tried some of our own after the Viet Nam war.

 

By what we do, or do not do, regarding those who have tortured in our name, we will redeem or condemn ourselves not only in the eyes of our children, but their children.

 

There is no such thing as “righteous” torture.  We really ought to have settled that.

 

Torture is the antithesis of everything we say we believe.  That is why we have signed international agreements against it.  That is why torture is against U.S. law.  But we are not what we say.  We are what we do. 

 

So, America, what are we going to do, when the former Vice President of the United States not only admits to pursuing a policy of torture, but brags about it?

 

What would the Buddha say?  What would Jesus say?  What would Hillel say?  What do we say!?

 

 

 

Thinking About Taxes and Swine Flu

 

Forgive me going back over a subject, but I’ve been thinking a lot about taxes.  I was on the internet a few days ago, and realized that I could get something I believe I need quite a bit cheaper by ordering from out of state.   Why?  Because I won’t have to pay state taxes on it.  It was, I think, a natural reaction and thought.

 

But it’s really of a piece with what something we’ve talked about before.  What is my obligation to those around me?

 

Buying cheapest may mean an item was made in a substandard factory, where the people who work there aren’t paid a living wage.  Do I really want to support that?  Is getting something for a few bucks less truly worth keeping substandard factories in business?  And is getting something for a few bucks less truly worth putting factories that actually treat their employees well out of business?

 

Related are the stores that sell “cheapest” by paying their employees a sub-standard wage.  Is getting something for a few bucks less truly worth putting retail stores that actually treat their employees well out of business?

 

Beyond this is the question of taxes.  Right now we’re in the midst of, to put it mildly, an economic dislocation.  And, in my neck of the woods (just north of Seattle) and I’m rather sure all over the country, there’s a lot of belt tightening.  And the one thing we keep hearing is “Well, we sure can’t raise taxes.”

 

And because we “can’t” raise taxes, we’re letting education slide, medical care slide, and help for the homeless slide.

 

And when I avoid taxes (as in buying from out of state on through the web), I will indeed get things in effect at almost a 10% discount.  But again, who am I hurting when I take this discount?

 

Yes, there’s also the politics of it, and the need for government to spend wisely and the need for a true, non-partisan “watchdog” to make sure money isn’t being “wasted.”  But we also need to understand what we mean by money being “wasted.”

 

I listen to some commentators and it becomes clear that for many, “waste” means spending money not on “us” but on “them,” whoever “them” happens to be this time around (it varies: sometimes it’s “the Jews,” sometimes it’s “the Blacks,” at any given time, almost any group can become “them”). 

 

Today (warning, we’re shifting gears here) “them” has become Mexicans and/or illegal immigrants.  And what are we blaming on “them” this time?  Swine Flu.  It’s really just part of a tradition we have of blaming the “Other.”   If you’d like to see the evidence carefully gathered and all in one place I urge you to look at an article from msnbc, which not only documents the lunacy of some regarding Swine Flu, but also the rather deadly history of singling out the “other.”

 

When are we going to learn?  Not until we speak up.  Not until those who know better stop shaking our heads and start using our tongues … and our computers.

 

I’m reminded of  line from “The American President” where the President cautions against those who are uninterested in solving problems, just interest in (NOT a direct quote here, folks, I’m not at remembering these things) “Telling you what to fear and who to blame for it.”

 

So what the heck is the connection between paying taxes and the “Swine Flu”???  Our propensity to divide ourselves.  Us and Them.  Always, always, us and them. 

 

Pogo was right.  “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”  Or as FDR said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  But let no one mistake just how dangerous and deadly fear can be.

 

Oh, and I decided not to order from the web.