A Tipping Point on the Horizon

Years ago, I was deeply troubled reading The Handmaid’s Tale, the novel by Margaret Atwood.  After a catastrophic plague, in the Republic of Gilead (formerly the United States), theocratic ideals have been carried to extremes.  Women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money, and are assigned to various classes: the chaste and childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives.  The tale is told by Offred (read: "of Fred"), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be.

Like all stories of its kind, The Handmaid’s Tale is meant to be fantasy, but just real enough to be cautionary. Sadly, we seem to be moving closer and closer to the fantastic here in Michigan.

I have been very actively opposing Michigan HB 5711, 5712, and 5713 in recent months – bills that would, in effect, make it nearly impossible for women in this state to receive abortions for any reason, be it rape or incest, even to save their own lives.  In just the past few weeks, more bills have been brought forth that jeopardize our core tenets of religious freedom in this county.

• HB 5763 would legalize discrimination against adopting parents by allowing adoption agencies the ability to deny a placement based on that agency's "moral or religious beliefs." HB 5764 would protect government funding for agencies choosing to so discriminate. The bills even acknowledge that a religious or moral conviction that could allow an agency to deny adoption rights to certain families does NOT imply "that the proposed adoption is not in the best interest of the adoptee." The obvious targets of this legislation are gay and lesbian, non-Christian, or nonreligious parents.
• SB 975 could allow emergency room doctors and nurses to deny emergency medical care to gay people, women who need a life-saving abortion, and even those with AIDS, for reasons of "conscience." This bill would create the possibility of the unimaginable cruelty suffered by Savita Halappanavar in Ireland a few weeks ago.

To be honest, I would rather spend my time writing sermons, providing pastoral care, and teaching religious education classes.  But my conscience and the spirits of Unitarians and Universalists who sacrificed through the ages to provide us the freedoms we enjoy command me to resist these efforts to create a dystopian theocracy in this state.

Ironically – and I wish I could laugh at the hypocrisy of it all – the sponsors of these bills argue that they are defending religious freedom. And yet they also back SB 59, which would allow people to legally carry a gun into churches or other places of worship, schools, day care centers, sports arenas or stadiums, day care centers, bars and taverns, hospitals, and college classrooms and dormitories. In other words, these theocrats want to use the church to shield their hate and discrimination, but then trample what the church represents when its principles runs counter to their lobbyists’ wishes.

You cannot have it both ways. You cannot live a moral life only when it is convenient or expeditious, or when it benefits you. A truly religious person stands for truth whatever the cost and whatever the consequences, because it is the truth.

And the truth is that it is wrong for churches receiving public funds, and thereby acting as agents of the state to deny any qualified adults the ability to provide their love and care to the 14,000 children needing homes in this state. It is wrong for any medical provider to deny treatment to anyone on any basis – ever. And it is wrong for government to force churches to allow loaded handguns – tools whose primary purpose is to injure and murder other human beings – into their sanctuaries.

Unitarian Thomas Jefferson defined religious freedom in the United States. His writings formed the basis of the separation of church and state, whose tenets include the freedom from the establishment of a state religion, and the free practice of religion by citizens. Any attempt to twist Jefferson’s words to support the withholding of public services on the basis of religious or moral beliefs is a vicious assault on our freedoms and our civil liberties. Jesus would certainly not approve, nor should the teachings of any mainstream, non-fundamentalist religion.

State Senator John Moolenaar, serving the 36th District, and State Representative Jim Stamas, serving the 98th District (both of which include Midland), have both supported or sponsored these bills. They will continue to support these attempts to erode true religious freedom until people speak up. I truly believe that we are approaching a tipping point in this state. And if we say that we promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, then we cannot sit idly by as our legislators rewrite the U.S. Constitution. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for the triumph of prejudice and hate is for good people to do nothing.

The Duty of Conscience

Many diversions have kept me from posting recently.  But, greatest among them towers the virulent spread of an incomprehensible plague; a plague that threatens to leave many of us stunned into hopeless silence.  I wish I was referring to something as simple as a zombie apocalypse.  No, I am writing about the mass psychosis that now represents the Republican Party.  Next Tuesday, whatever you choose to do in your polling place, I can only beg you not to further infect our society with this pestilence.

I didn't always view the GOP this way.  I respect the desire to control the size and influence of government in our lives.  And I admire fiscal discipline.  But this current mutation of the Republican Party leaves Goldwater and Reagan spinning in their graves.  The principles driving this party border on - no, I take that back - they are insidious.

• Mostly middle-aged White men seeking to make medical decisions for young and poor women, parents and children, regarding not just reproductive issues, but basic health concerns.
• Fanatics imposing twisted religious doctrines on the population - rape is a gift from God, but homosexuality is a choice.
• Outright deceit and hypocrisy, bald-faced lying to the people and then shrugging unapologetically with coy smugness when called on their lies.
• Caring only about fetuses, but not children; only about troops, but not our veterans; and always about wealth and the wealthy and never about workers or families, children or the elderly.
• Proudly displaying complete ignorance of the most basic scientific principles, while denying global climate change and evolution and continuing to commit us to unsustainable and dangerous environmental policies.
• Placing the right to own automatic weapons designed only for mass killing above the basic right to affordable medical care.
• Giving corporations the rights of human beings and continually violating the rights of real humans.
• Proudly holding our government hostage, costing this nations millions of jobs and access to health care, all for their own political advantage.

I am an Occupier, so I don't trust the Democratic Party much more.  Both parties are corrupt tools of the 1%.  And I will continue to fight in the future for a system of government that is compassionate and fair.  But, this is not the time to vote for a third party candidate.  While I share many concerns of Greens and Libertarians and my more anarchist allies, the time for a protest vote is not now.  Barack Obama is by no means perfect - illegal detentions, drone attacks, "clean" coal - but the alternative, a Romney presidency, makes me think of the worst dystopian visions.

We must come together and vote down the current iteration of the Republican Party, the party that worships ignorance, religious dogmatism, mean-spiritedness, and the most short-sighted expedience.  After the election, we can then begin again the hard work of making both parties understand that we are done putting up with business as usual from our politicians.

Please, people, you have not just a right of conscience, but a duty to act upon your conscience.  Justice and fairness will not be handed to you.  You must fight for them.  And on Tuesday, your best weapon is your vote.

A Community of Loners

I walked alone through the woods. Only the distant sound of engines and the narrow, sandy trail before me recall that human civilization lies not far away.

Shriveled ferns now cover the forest floor and the once abundant mushrooms have nearly vanished. A squirrel hops calmly in the distance. A rustling reveals the striped back of a chipmunk in the brambles.

A snake wriggles across the path and freezes in expectation of my departure. The hated snake; so reviled in our culture. The image of Evil and of the Fall. And yet, this little fellow wants nothing of me other than to be left free to pursue his life.

A few bright green and healthy ferns defy their surroundings. One tattered mushroom, then another nearly perfect specimen boldly stands watch in the grass. They stand alone. And yet, they are not alone.

They share with each other an energy, a spirit of living in the midst of the declining season. Here with the snakes and ferns and mushrooms, I am among a community of loners, an army of life energy battling the forces of conformity and resignation to Fate. I am a Chaplain in a hospice of hope and perseverance.

I walk in a hospice because, after all, everything must eventually die; that is, the organic shell binding us to this particular reality will one day cease functioning. But, everything thing exists forever in the Spiritual Realm.

My path joins a much larger trail. At the junction, a bench invites me to sit and jot notes. Two women on horseback ride up. As they pass, one inquires, “Are you drawing?” A short time later, a father and his young son approach. “Is he fishing?” I hear the child ask. “It’s a nice day for reading,” the man poses to me. A young woman comes up. She commands her spotted spaniel to “Heel!” several times. I feel for the animal who clearly wants to know, “Can I come over and greet you?”

What exactly am I doing?

I am feeling empathy for creatures no free to pursue their wishes and whatever brings them joy. I am experiencing and learning all the time, letting the omniverse speak to me; and I am actively seeking out that mystical voice. I am also creating my own interpretations of those messages.

And I am in solidarity with the fighting ferns.

Get in the Game!

Recently, I have found myself at odds with my dear mother’s teachings.  All my life, she instructed me that if I couldn’t say something nice about someone, not to say anything at all.  Well, Mom, wherever you are, I’m sorry.

After fighting against the outrageous assault on reproductive freedom taking place here in Michigan for the last few months, I didn’t think I could get angrier.  I was wrong.  The recent comments by Rep. Todd Akin and others like him who emerge from under similar rocks have left me beyond furious this week.  The brainless and unwarranted dogmatism of these elected officials staggers the active mind.  I simply cannot comprehend the mindset of a nation that condones murdering children in other lands for oil, despoiling the earth our children must live in despite overwhelming evidence to its impact, increasing easy access to mass killing weapons that daily steal us of our loved ones – but – willing to trample our most intimate privacy and every woman’s right to self-determination and medical care, all to protect a blob of cells that happen to possess human DNA and absolutely no evidence of anything resembling human personhood.

Men!  Football season has arrived and it is time for you to get off the bench and into the game!  Rise up in solidarity with your sisters and daughters facing this reactionary siege of anti-intellectualism and hatred.  Stand with your wives and mothers whose most sacred rights are being raped by hypocrites who have sold our representative democracy to stuff their off-shore banks accounts with the billions of a handful of hyper-wealthy extremists.  Ally yourselves with all women – your elders and children, your neighbors and friends, your sexual partners – being shackled by modern-day moral slavers whose insecurity regarding the power of women, their minds and their spiritual strength turns them into single-minded assassins of the very freedoms and democracy they were elected to defend and the well-being of our country.

Tell these uneducated morons that they are wrong.  Tell these zealots that their personal religious views must be checked at the door when they represent us in our government.  Tell these partisan robots that you will vote them out in November and elect people who will listen to the voices of women.  Tell these theocrats that they are not “pro-life;” they are anti-woman, anti-family, and anti-freedom,

Reaching Out with Love

To the Editor, Midland Daily News:

Dear friends, I am deeply troubled.  The doors of the first Unitarian church in Midland had barely opened in 1885 before letters to the editor slammed them for heresy.  And now, more than 125 years later, recent letters again condemn people in our community with different religious beliefs (see third letter and here).

Every prophet throughout history has taught one lesson in common…Love. Love of mother and father.  Love of our children.  Love of our enemies.  Love of all our neighbors, be they rich or poor, White or Black, man or woman, gay or straight, believer or nonbeliever.  Why do you preach hate and intolerance when your own scriptures teach gentleness, kindness, and hospitality?

You have neighbors who love you. Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic – and yes even Atheist – neighbors who love you.  And I love you.

We ask nothing but to be allowed to live our lives freely, with respect and dignity.  We do not ask you to change your beliefs, merely to permit us to have our own.  People of faiths different from yours are not evil.  Atheists are not evil.  Evil is the void in a heart where Love should reside.

If you share this Love, I invite you to visit http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/.  Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness Love’s power to stop oppression.  It is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and people of all faiths and beliefs are welcomed to join.

Rev. Jeff Liebmann
Midland

The Larger War

After attending the Michigan Women's Power Assembly event today in Lansing, I have reached a conclusion. The "War on Women" is just one campaign of an even larger, and if possible, even scarier war.

While standing in the House gallery speaking to a young woman, a man came by and shoved her aside as he walked by (there was plenty of room to pass us without any contact). She rebuked him for putting his hands on her to which his companion replied that she should get out of the way. When I challenged them about their rudeness, these two brave patriots keep walking away.

Later, I spoke to a woman in a wheel chair from a group called Mothers of Lost Children. Her abusive ex-husband had broken her back and then somehow managed to convince a judge to obtain custody of the children. Another woman told me that her ex-husband artificially inseminated her against her will when she threatened to divorce him, in an attempt to trap her in the marriage.

The more stories I hear, the more incredulous I become about the state of our nation. I cannot even begin to fathom how women today keep their sanity living in this hostile and misogynistic society. And yet, I have decided that the War on Women is, in fact, just one large campaign that is part of an even larger, more insidious war against the soul of the American people.

• Government officials routinely raid undocumented immigrants' homes, whisking parents away from children in the dead of night. They receive no due process, and are treated like animals for years before eventually being deported. 
• Loving adults who happen to be of the same sex still cannot marry in most places, and face thousands of disciminatory and often heartless laws. 
• Millions of hard-working Americans cannot find work that pay a living wage, while the 1% continue to export jobs overseas with inpugnity. 
• The Emergency Management Law in Michigan has single-handledly wiped out representative democracy for most African Americans in the state. Across the nation, voter restriction efforts target the poor, the elderly, and other oppressed minorities. 
• Politicians are hell-bent to ensure that tens of millions of Americans receive no health care insurance. 
• The obsession over fetal life consumes the majority of legislative agendas, while these same politicians cut public school funding, work to wipe out family planning resources, and continue to support capital punishment, the American war machine, torture, and unlimited access to guns. 

We are facing a war against decency, a war against dignity, a war against our core liberty. In summary, we are defending ourselves from a War Against Love.

The antagonists in the War Against Love lie without shame, abuse without remorse, rationalize any moral indiscretion, and steal in the name of justice. Their agenda is the total submission of the American population, using the full might of our increasingly paramilitary police forces to crush even the most peaceful and law-abiding opposition with tactics of humiliation and violence. These forces have unlimited funds because our highest court has given corporations the rights of people without any of the responsibilities. And like unruly children with absentee parents, they are taking full advantage of the situation.

This blitzkrieg seeks to pick us off one at a time, just like every other brute horde throughout history. Immigrants, gays and lesbians, the poor, labor unions, racial minorities, religious minorities, women, the elderly - one by one, they seek to isolate us, set us against each other, and conquer us. And with each battle, America loses one more shred of civility, of compassion, of its vision as the land of the free and the home of the brave.

America, please wake up! If you are sitting at your computer reading this in the comfort of your home thinking these issues don't affect you, then you are deluding yourself. You are your brother's and sister's keeper. As Jacob Marley said in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," 

"The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

Frogs Redux

The morning after the frog serenade found me on the path once more. I felt somehow compelled to return to the site to experience the amphibious aria again.

Splashes accompanied me as I walked along the pond. Unlike other local wetland areas, the turtles here seem skittish and retreat to the water as I come near. The area laid still and quiet. The morning was more humid than I had expected and the mugginess seemed to repress activity.

I passed the place where I had picked up a handful of molted Canada Goose feathers the day before. Then up a rise and I heard it begin – the distant tones blurted in rapid succession from hundreds of throats. Unlike yesterday, I did not just smile – I actually laughed out loud at the sound.

As the volume increased, so did the activity around the pond. This morning, frogs were hopping around unconcerned and it was now the turtles’ turn to sit still in observation. Unlike before, I could see little green heads popped up all over the surface of the water, the sun picking out each singer clearly in the algae-laden pond.

Motion drew my eyes upward. I saw a Loon swoop past, and just seconds later a graceful white Egret flew in the opposite direction. I hardly had the chance to appreciate those views before an even larger figure attracted my attention yet higher. Overhead, there it was, the B-52 of birds – a Bald Eagle. I had seen examples at the Pittsburgh Aviary, but never in flight. The massive wingspan seemed to dwarf the surroundings.

Once the majestic bird left my sight, I returned my attention toward the never ending din from my frog friends. I saw movement in the leaves just a few feet below where I stood. I moved carefully around, but could not pinpoint the cause of the unnatural shaking. I moved to the other side of the tree trunk before me and stooped to see a muskrat busily munching away, clearly oblivious to my presence.

All the while, the frogs continued their racket. They sounded like a crowd of old men laughing at a dirty joke that I could not understand. I began to wonder if these other animals were attracted to the site just as I had been. Could this gigantic noise coming from such tiny creatures actually lure other animals?

I suppose the answer lies in whether or not one believes that animals do things for reasons beyond satisfying basic needs – food, shelter, procreation. Of course, that raises the question, “What qualifies as a basic need?”

I know that laughter qualifies for me. No matter how good things get, I must have fun. Is it so unreasonable to imagine that animals find each other funny? When you think about it, if anything, the frog orchestra should chase other animals away. Predators could sneak up more easily under cover of the croaking. And the noise would certainly attract attention from far around.

I believe that dogs and cats clearly show pleasure when scratched just right, or when snuggling with us on the sofa (especially if they are not supposed to be there). So, why can’t other mammals, birds, and turtles have the same emotions? Humanity certainly does not own a monopoly on feelings.