Driving in the car with a man whom I had just met, he was talking to me like he did not know what I had been or who I was. Maybe he did know who I was and thought I needed to be "reformed." He was telling me about how Christians in China have to be very careful. That if one teaches the Bible, one can be killed. I have heard the same story, but I have also heard much recently that the Chinese government has kind of adopted a "Don't ask, Don't tell" about practicing the Christian faith.
But the lecture on Christianity in China lead to another lecture on the virtues of the Christian faith, in his mind. According to him Christianity is the only faith that has given women equal rights. All other faiths have suppressed women. I did not want to get into any major discussions of World History with the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans who all had women gods and women priest. I did not want to try to venture into the oriental religions as I do not know much about them myself.
And I was very pleased with myself that I kept my tongue and did not point out to him that his Southern Baptist still do not want women to be preachers; that the Roman Catholic Church has been trying to shut up the American nuns, and will not let women be Priest. That as a Presbyterian I have a personal memory of the fight to allow women to be Elders and Ministers. Jesus was very progressive in his day in the treatment of women, widows, children, and foreigners, but the history of those who followed Jesus does not indicated that they have been more progressive in the treatment of women. St. Paul tries to limit the involvement of women in worship.
The defense of Christianity is a worthy thing, but to do it with inaccurate information does not help the cause. As Linda Fairstein in her series of mystery stories with Alex Cooper, the woman who tells her story about being raped had better be honest in all parts because if it is shown you lie or misuse the facts in one small place, the jury will think we are lying all the time.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
What Hypocrisy!
There has been a stream of criticism on the television about the lack of leadership in Washington to solve these major financial issues. I think that is true. I think neither the House nor the Senate has the kind of leaders who can work out some compromise.
I think is grossly unfair to blame President Obama for the stalemate as I have heard many do. Because Obama does not have, even as President the power to make things happen as CEO's in other companies do.
I think it is grossly unfair of the many CEO's who have been quoted as saying that Obama has failed to produce leadership when the leaders and CEO's of the auto industry were not able to reach solutions without going into bankruptcy court. The CEO's of Wall Street banks were not able to find a solution to their self created problems without getting help. The Airlines were not able to find solutions to their financial issues without going into bankruptcy court.
It is a pretty arrogant group of people who can look at Washington and claim a lack of creative leadership when none of them were able to find "creative leadership" to resolve their problems without outside help. Congress and Obama had nobody to come in and give that outside help. There are 500 arrogant stubborn people in Congress and Obama cannot even make his own Democrats stay in line let alone get the Republicans to cooperate.
It is a classic example of hypocrisy to hear business leaders talk about failure of leadership.
I think is grossly unfair to blame President Obama for the stalemate as I have heard many do. Because Obama does not have, even as President the power to make things happen as CEO's in other companies do.
I think it is grossly unfair of the many CEO's who have been quoted as saying that Obama has failed to produce leadership when the leaders and CEO's of the auto industry were not able to reach solutions without going into bankruptcy court. The CEO's of Wall Street banks were not able to find a solution to their self created problems without getting help. The Airlines were not able to find solutions to their financial issues without going into bankruptcy court.
It is a pretty arrogant group of people who can look at Washington and claim a lack of creative leadership when none of them were able to find "creative leadership" to resolve their problems without outside help. Congress and Obama had nobody to come in and give that outside help. There are 500 arrogant stubborn people in Congress and Obama cannot even make his own Democrats stay in line let alone get the Republicans to cooperate.
It is a classic example of hypocrisy to hear business leaders talk about failure of leadership.
ANOTHER REMINDER OF THE POWER OF EVIL
And so it drags on for another day. The two sides continue to demonize each other. The solution to the problem is that the “other side” ought to just give in and give up. Both sides wrap themselves up in the “arrogance of righteousness.” One side even claims that they have “God on their side.” Perhaps both of them ought to go back and listen to one of Bob Dylan’s great songs about “God on our side.”
But that is one of the great disguises of evil, to make itself look so much like the good. One of the great powers of evil is to be able to make a second level good into an absolute good. To take a minor and make it a major. To take a good cause like “debt reduction” and make it into an absolute when the absolute ought to be “to govern for the good of the country.” The power of evil has the splendid power to make those who are remaining steadfast feel like they are saints. They are being persecuted for righteousness sake. Both sides claim the high road, and believe themselves to be doing good. Evil enjoys watching this kind of fight between two committed sides.
Because it has the ability to look so much like the good, there has always been the temptation to think that evil can be easily overcome. If these two good intentioned sides would just talk to each other, we could easily solve this problem. Boehner has been quoted as saying, all Obama has to do is come down to the House and give in. Reid has said all the House has to do is pass a budget without Health Care restrictions.
In fact, it is one of the worst mistakes that continues to be made in Western Civilization since the age of Enlightenment. It is the quick and easy assumption that evil can be simply and painlessly overcome. “A weak awareness of the power of evil is the simple, shallow, optimistic notion of the West.”, so said Gardner Taylor, one of this country’s great Black preachers. It is the arrogance of education that all we need to do to achieve the good is to get more people education. But education only makes the evil ones more skillful. Look at Osama Bid Laden. Education is good but it does not eliminate evil. Wealth, Fame, Military Power, Democracy, Political power, none of them are able to overcome evil. Certainly religion has not been able to overcome evil.
One of the greatest problems with American protestantism is that its major public expressions completely avoid dealing with the problem of evil. If you listen to Joel Osteen evil is just a lack of effort and faith in yourself. All the prosperity gospels discount evil as quickly as possible. Bad things may happen but with a little faith and effort you can over come them.
Someone once suggested that all evil needed to succeed was for good people to do nothing. Well, that is pretty simplistic as well. The power that religion does give is the power not to pretend that evil can be overcome. Evil is around us, in us, in our systems, in our economy, in our lives, and we ought not to pretend that we can just deal with is easily and quickly. The best way to deal with it is to acknowledge it and ask each other to call it to attention when we see it. What is happening in D.C. right now is simply evil and it obviously will not be overcome easily.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Celebrating the ordinary
Not many of us who were around at the time will not remember the shock, the confusion, the horror, the stunned reaction to the events of 9/11. Some have criticized President Bush for the way he sat and continued to read at the day care, but most of us did not know what to do or what to make of it or how to react to the news either.
Now we mark the day by pausing and remembering the victims, the first responders, and the families of the victims. We are still suffering the consequences of that attack with two wars in the Middle East that have become longer and more costly than Vietnam. There is another crisis in the Middle East that is pretty much the same struggle all over again.
But some of us mark this day by a celebration of the little ordinary things. The ordinary normal things that are the context of our lives. The silly little things that those who were killed in the attacks will never be able to share again. The early morning cup of coffee with the newspaper in hand. The comics and the sport page. The sport page filled with young people working hard and trying to become the best they can become. Celebrating the constant flow of competition. To watch the birds at the feed, to see the young off to school, to get the "Obligatory picture of the first day of kindergarten" of the grandchild. To read a few pages in a good book. To watch and listen to the station of one's choice on the early shows.
Maybe it does not seem like a great show of respect or honor maybe, but it seems to me it is the absolute most appropriate way to honor them. To enjoy, to celebrate, to share the ordinary, normal, routine activities of our daily lives is what they would all have wanted to share. These are the things that the family miss most. The morning huge, the first kiss, the packing the lunches, the mowing the grass, the going to work, the coming home, the fighting the traffic, that french fries and the coke. The beer at the end of the day. To honor their lives and to remember their deaths by living ours and enjoying the ordinary average routine of life. They were wonderful ordinary people, and in a lot of ways we remember that by pausing and appreciating our own good ordinary life.
Now we mark the day by pausing and remembering the victims, the first responders, and the families of the victims. We are still suffering the consequences of that attack with two wars in the Middle East that have become longer and more costly than Vietnam. There is another crisis in the Middle East that is pretty much the same struggle all over again.
But some of us mark this day by a celebration of the little ordinary things. The ordinary normal things that are the context of our lives. The silly little things that those who were killed in the attacks will never be able to share again. The early morning cup of coffee with the newspaper in hand. The comics and the sport page. The sport page filled with young people working hard and trying to become the best they can become. Celebrating the constant flow of competition. To watch the birds at the feed, to see the young off to school, to get the "Obligatory picture of the first day of kindergarten" of the grandchild. To read a few pages in a good book. To watch and listen to the station of one's choice on the early shows.
Maybe it does not seem like a great show of respect or honor maybe, but it seems to me it is the absolute most appropriate way to honor them. To enjoy, to celebrate, to share the ordinary, normal, routine activities of our daily lives is what they would all have wanted to share. These are the things that the family miss most. The morning huge, the first kiss, the packing the lunches, the mowing the grass, the going to work, the coming home, the fighting the traffic, that french fries and the coke. The beer at the end of the day. To honor their lives and to remember their deaths by living ours and enjoying the ordinary average routine of life. They were wonderful ordinary people, and in a lot of ways we remember that by pausing and appreciating our own good ordinary life.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Stupid Things I Have Seen Recently
Of course, there are decisions and events that I do not agree with, but which can be argued wisely and cogently. While I do not believe we need to be bombing Syria by ourselves, without international support, I have read strong rational arguments for that action. But sometimes there are just plain stupid decisions made. The last couple of weeks there have been two glaring ones:
1. The decision to override the Governor McCory's veto of the drug testing for welfare benefits. The Governor thought that was an unproductive bill. Two states, Florida and Colorado, have already done that and discovered that the number of people found to be doing drugs was smaller in percentage of that population than the general populations. The program cost both states money. It did not reduce the amount of welfare benefits by enough to cover the costs of the test. So here you have the governor telling the legislature that this was a bad move; the evidence from two different states showing it was a bad move, and the N.C. Republican legislature going ahead and overriding the veto. Just plain stupid.
2.The second action was from South Carolina at a Wild Wings Cafe. A family gathering of 25 people had come to Wild Wings to have a "going away" party for one of their members. They waited in line for 2 hours to get seats enough for all of them. They were seated as a group, and no sooner had they been seated than the assistant manager came and told them they would have to leave. Why? because one white customer felt "threatened" by them. My label of stupid is not on the race issue. It is the plain economic issue for the manager. 25 customers versus 1 customer. Which makes the larger impact on your bottom line? Why didn't the manager just ask the one white customer to leave if he/she felt threatened? Is that what we tell people? If you feel uncomfortable in your surroundings, then it is wise to get out of there? As a PR problem Wild Wings has it big time. But it was just plain stupid of the Assistant manager.
Ken Copeland and his ministry telling his people they need only trust God for their good health and not get vaccinated or do to the Doctor is another stupid thing as far as I am concerned but I will let them have their measles and hope they don't give it to others.
1. The decision to override the Governor McCory's veto of the drug testing for welfare benefits. The Governor thought that was an unproductive bill. Two states, Florida and Colorado, have already done that and discovered that the number of people found to be doing drugs was smaller in percentage of that population than the general populations. The program cost both states money. It did not reduce the amount of welfare benefits by enough to cover the costs of the test. So here you have the governor telling the legislature that this was a bad move; the evidence from two different states showing it was a bad move, and the N.C. Republican legislature going ahead and overriding the veto. Just plain stupid.
2.The second action was from South Carolina at a Wild Wings Cafe. A family gathering of 25 people had come to Wild Wings to have a "going away" party for one of their members. They waited in line for 2 hours to get seats enough for all of them. They were seated as a group, and no sooner had they been seated than the assistant manager came and told them they would have to leave. Why? because one white customer felt "threatened" by them. My label of stupid is not on the race issue. It is the plain economic issue for the manager. 25 customers versus 1 customer. Which makes the larger impact on your bottom line? Why didn't the manager just ask the one white customer to leave if he/she felt threatened? Is that what we tell people? If you feel uncomfortable in your surroundings, then it is wise to get out of there? As a PR problem Wild Wings has it big time. But it was just plain stupid of the Assistant manager.
Ken Copeland and his ministry telling his people they need only trust God for their good health and not get vaccinated or do to the Doctor is another stupid thing as far as I am concerned but I will let them have their measles and hope they don't give it to others.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Conflicted
It appears that everybody has a reaction to the Zimmerman verdict. There is great anger on the part of many and there is rejoicing in the minds of some. I am conflicted and confused.
I am disappointed in the verdict. I was convinced that the verdict would be a manslaughter decision. The "Stand Your Ground" law is a mistake and a major step back to an old west mentality where everybody carries a weapon and we see who is the fastest draw. When the event first happened and there was the possibility that Zimmerman would not even be charged with any crime because of that law, there was a great outcry of injustice. The demand was that he be arrested and charged with a crime. Eventually that happened. He was arrested and has been tried.
So we have had the trial and the jury that was accepted by both sides of the legal proceedings found him not guilty. That surprised me. That disappointed me, but I have been disappointed by the decisions of lots of legal trials. Hedge Fund managers get off from fraudulent activities. A major scammer in the Health Care in Alabama was found not guilty. Mafia bosses walk away from lots of crimes. Cases are dropped because they do not have enough evidence to convict an obviously guilty person. We live and die by that "reasonable doubt" clause. North Carolina was very progressive for a few years with a Racial Justice act that allowed those condemned to death to reexamine their cases if race was a major factor in their sentence. The Republicans have since rescinded that law. But the legal system has disappointed lots of us lots of times.
One of the times I was very surprised and disappointed by the legal system was the O.J. Simpson trial which had lots of the same dynamics involved as this trial, and it was a decision that was celebrated by the same people who are upset by this decision. It is not a perfect system. We are not perfect people. We are still a society that has deeply flawed elements in it when it comes to race relations. We are all racists. Those attitudes will continue to be reflected in our behavior. We have to continue to look at them and talk about them. We will have a lot more of these kinds of events: Hispanics against whites. Asians against black, Arabs versus Jews as our society continues to become multicultural. To claim we have made no progress in out ability to talk about them is to ignore the obvious. To think that we have solved the problems is just silly. All parents have to tell their children, be careful who you hang out with, be home before mid-night, consider what you wear and what people will think about you when they see you, say "yes sir and no sir" to adults and do be smart, see trouble, walk away, call 911. Those are not unique to any racial group.
I am old and frustrated that so many of the fights that have been fought still have to be fought again. Our civil liberties are like a little clearing in a jungle and we have to keep fighting all the vines and weeds that try to grow up in the clearing.
The Zimmerman-Martin case almost did not have a trial. There was a demand for a trial and that was held. The jury has spoken. The decision is not the one we wanted, but many of the people who "wanted a fair trial" were really just wanting to have a legal confirmation of their immediate opinion that Zimmerman was guilty. The trial was held. The verdict was given. I will put this in the O.J. Simpson file of cases I was shocked by the decision and move on.
I am disappointed in the verdict. I was convinced that the verdict would be a manslaughter decision. The "Stand Your Ground" law is a mistake and a major step back to an old west mentality where everybody carries a weapon and we see who is the fastest draw. When the event first happened and there was the possibility that Zimmerman would not even be charged with any crime because of that law, there was a great outcry of injustice. The demand was that he be arrested and charged with a crime. Eventually that happened. He was arrested and has been tried.
So we have had the trial and the jury that was accepted by both sides of the legal proceedings found him not guilty. That surprised me. That disappointed me, but I have been disappointed by the decisions of lots of legal trials. Hedge Fund managers get off from fraudulent activities. A major scammer in the Health Care in Alabama was found not guilty. Mafia bosses walk away from lots of crimes. Cases are dropped because they do not have enough evidence to convict an obviously guilty person. We live and die by that "reasonable doubt" clause. North Carolina was very progressive for a few years with a Racial Justice act that allowed those condemned to death to reexamine their cases if race was a major factor in their sentence. The Republicans have since rescinded that law. But the legal system has disappointed lots of us lots of times.
One of the times I was very surprised and disappointed by the legal system was the O.J. Simpson trial which had lots of the same dynamics involved as this trial, and it was a decision that was celebrated by the same people who are upset by this decision. It is not a perfect system. We are not perfect people. We are still a society that has deeply flawed elements in it when it comes to race relations. We are all racists. Those attitudes will continue to be reflected in our behavior. We have to continue to look at them and talk about them. We will have a lot more of these kinds of events: Hispanics against whites. Asians against black, Arabs versus Jews as our society continues to become multicultural. To claim we have made no progress in out ability to talk about them is to ignore the obvious. To think that we have solved the problems is just silly. All parents have to tell their children, be careful who you hang out with, be home before mid-night, consider what you wear and what people will think about you when they see you, say "yes sir and no sir" to adults and do be smart, see trouble, walk away, call 911. Those are not unique to any racial group.
I am old and frustrated that so many of the fights that have been fought still have to be fought again. Our civil liberties are like a little clearing in a jungle and we have to keep fighting all the vines and weeds that try to grow up in the clearing.
The Zimmerman-Martin case almost did not have a trial. There was a demand for a trial and that was held. The jury has spoken. The decision is not the one we wanted, but many of the people who "wanted a fair trial" were really just wanting to have a legal confirmation of their immediate opinion that Zimmerman was guilty. The trial was held. The verdict was given. I will put this in the O.J. Simpson file of cases I was shocked by the decision and move on.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Moral Monday - Women's Health
This Monday was focused on the suddenly passed legislation in the N.C. Senate that was a very restrictive bill on Women's health options. The crowd was much bigger than the first Moral Monday on Clergy Day, and it was made up of a lot diverse groups. This one had a lot more older women and their husbands than the first one I attended, and I think there were less African Americans in attendance. If it is any indication of the size, at the first one I went too, I easily found people I knew. At this one I did not run into anyone I knew.
As I was walking back to the car after the rally, I was carrying the sign I had held up all evening. "United for Women's Health." I passed a young woman who was walking to her car in a parking lot. She saw my sign, and as we walked passed each other, she said loudly, "Abortion is not women's health." It took me by surprise and all I could say on the spur of the moment was "Well, that is a large debate."
That debate is at the heart of much of what we are talking about. Abortion is not a good thing. Abortion is an act of violence that is not wanted by anyone I know. But the question is who gets to decide that question. There were good posters which read, "If you want to make health care decisions for women, go to med school." The question is who is going to decided whether or not an abortion is the final solution to a horrible situation.
It is a large debate because those who want to make that decision for women, who want to say when and how and if a woman can have an abortion, also want to make the decisions about whether or not a teenage girl can get the morning after pill. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also refuse to allow the teaching of birth control, the pill, and condoms. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also do not want to provide help to single moms who carry the child to full term and have the child. The people who make these rules about abortion have these funny ideas about sex and how it works so that they believe rape cannot cause a pregnancy. The people who want to make the decisions about when, who and how a woman can have an abortion have been primarily men, like bishops, popes and priests, like Senators and Representatives who are old males. As somebody in Ohio in their state legislature suggested, Men ought to be required to have psychological counseling before getting Viagra.
It is a large debate because there are just so many factors, so many issues to be considered. All the things that the anti abortion people say about abortions are probably true. All the horrors of an unwanted, unloved, unhappy, child are also true and very obvious for long term cost to family and society. So how are we as a society going to balance all these issues. I am united for women's health care because I believe that in these kinds of complicated situations the person closest to the situation, the woman, ought to have the power to make that decision. For a political party which wants to get government out of our lives, they have had a pretty aggressive agenda of getting themselves right in the middle of telling lots of people what they can and cannot do.
As I was walking back to the car after the rally, I was carrying the sign I had held up all evening. "United for Women's Health." I passed a young woman who was walking to her car in a parking lot. She saw my sign, and as we walked passed each other, she said loudly, "Abortion is not women's health." It took me by surprise and all I could say on the spur of the moment was "Well, that is a large debate."
That debate is at the heart of much of what we are talking about. Abortion is not a good thing. Abortion is an act of violence that is not wanted by anyone I know. But the question is who gets to decide that question. There were good posters which read, "If you want to make health care decisions for women, go to med school." The question is who is going to decided whether or not an abortion is the final solution to a horrible situation.
It is a large debate because those who want to make that decision for women, who want to say when and how and if a woman can have an abortion, also want to make the decisions about whether or not a teenage girl can get the morning after pill. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also refuse to allow the teaching of birth control, the pill, and condoms. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also do not want to provide help to single moms who carry the child to full term and have the child. The people who make these rules about abortion have these funny ideas about sex and how it works so that they believe rape cannot cause a pregnancy. The people who want to make the decisions about when, who and how a woman can have an abortion have been primarily men, like bishops, popes and priests, like Senators and Representatives who are old males. As somebody in Ohio in their state legislature suggested, Men ought to be required to have psychological counseling before getting Viagra.
It is a large debate because there are just so many factors, so many issues to be considered. All the things that the anti abortion people say about abortions are probably true. All the horrors of an unwanted, unloved, unhappy, child are also true and very obvious for long term cost to family and society. So how are we as a society going to balance all these issues. I am united for women's health care because I believe that in these kinds of complicated situations the person closest to the situation, the woman, ought to have the power to make that decision. For a political party which wants to get government out of our lives, they have had a pretty aggressive agenda of getting themselves right in the middle of telling lots of people what they can and cannot do.
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