Paris Shootings - January 7, 2015

Twelve human beings were killed in Paris yesterday.  They were killed for speaking their minds openly.  In the aftermath, "Je suis Charlie" has become the rallying cry for journalists throughout the world: "I am Charlie".

Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of Democracy.  When human beings are muzzled, tyranny takes over.

And yet, what is Freedom?  Does it come with no responsibility, no consequences?

Be clear, no one deserves to be killed for one's words!  No one deserves to be persecuted for one's words (or cartoons in this case)!

In turn, I believe that with every right comes a responsibility.  I live in a world peopled by seven billion other human beings.  I am not alone.  What I say and do matters.  Everyday, somewhere, a politician is called to task for something he or she said.  He/she can continue to say the perceived offensive words, or he/she can desist.  The consequences may well decide his/her political future.  By calling these individuals to task no one has denied them the right to speak, but it has also made clear that with this right comes another one, equally sacred, that of rebuttal. Those who understand the complexity of our world will respond in such circumstances with integrity and courage.  Others, a small minority of our world, will not.  Paris is but one example of the deep, polarizing anger simmering in many parts of our world, angry individuals who need very little to set them on a course of utter destruction.

The questions begging for audience during this awful time are these: Do we continue to speak our minds without thought of what we are saying and how it is being portrayed, or do take pause to consider the outcome.  Do our comments make the world better?  Safer?  More humane?  Are we the only ones who may be put in harm's way by our actions?

"No man is an island.  No man stands alone."  As the song says.

There are many ways to stand up for human rights.  For justice.  For tolerance.  To stand against poverty. Isolation. Hatred.  Misunderstanding between cultures.  Any of which could provoke a similar outcome.  It is not that we should not speak our mind, it is that we should do so with the outcome in mind.

It is true that freedom of speech cannot be abridged in an open society, but Freedom is not the right to do anything we want any time we want.  Each person with that right is tasked to use it responsibly.

We create the world in which we live.  Within that world, each of us holds certain things dear.  If nothing is sacred.  If everything is open to assault, then are we really free?  Should we really be targeting the Prophet, the Koran, Islam, Moslems?  Is it not the radical and angry individual who causes wars, panic and death?

I absolutely condemn the actions of the gunmen in Paris!  But this conversation cannot be one-sided.

Why does terrorism persist?  What are its roots causes?  Do we really believe that killing or maligning the problem, by whatever means, will make it go away?

There has to be more!  There must be more!

An open letter to Pope Francis

His Holiness, Pope Francis, PP

00120 Via del Pellegrino

Citta del Vaticano

Dear Pope Francis,

This letter is being written in response to the recent Synod in Rome.  I pray that you receive it and that is does not fall into a discarded pile of correspondence in some remote corner of the Vatican. 

I don’t believe that Jesus asked for permission to bring love and tolerance to the world.  I do not believe he waited until the Romans or the Pharisees caught up with his teachings.  I believe he took action, instead, and welcomed all to his table.  For this he was tortured and hung on a cross.

Jesus was an activist—a fearless voice in the midst of staid minds and misguided hearts.  He stood against the Romans.  He did not hesitate.

When is the Catholic Church going to re-embrace the gospel of Jesus?  “Love one another as your Father in heaven loves you.”

If the Catholic Church turned its energies and its frustrations toward poverty, inequality, war, greed and disenfranchisement, instead of whether a loving couple is heterosexual or gay, perhaps the world would change faster.  Move faster toward the light and away from the darkness.

The recent meeting of Cardinals in Rome is admirable.  It is a step forward.  But it is too little, too late, for those who want only to be loved as they are.

If not now, when?  If not you, Pope Francis, who?

Democratic process is noble.  Being an American, I understand it completely.  But the tortured process of majority rule too often tramples the minority who are crying from the desert of their hearts to set us free.

A Church that denies communion to divorced people; who chooses to love the sinner and despise the sin, as if the two can be separated; and who sees birth control as an evil tool, does not understand the world in which we live.

Jesus did not found a church, he exemplified a lifestyle.  He welcomed all, loved all, forgave all, and cherished all.  If he were here today, gay people, transgender people, divorced people, struggling families, and those who make unwise choices sexually would not be excluded, or even singled out.

We are all prodigal sons and daughters.  Judge not lest you be judged.  One cannot preach love with one breath and then layer that love with caveats.  Love is all or nothing.

The great masses of humanity are waiting for a new voice.  A new heart.  A world that embraces all, so that all can heal.

Can you be that person?  Can you take that step?  Those who are not ready for such courage will perhaps be left behind.  Not all followed Jesus.  But those who did, lived, and died, not for him, but for his heart.  His courage.  His willingness to lay it all on the line.  To Jesus, death was not too great a price to pay.  It was a short life.   But, 2,000 years later his teachings have not been forgotten, nor the depth of his love forsaken.  Sadly, many of the churches of this world have lost their way.  

I was baptized Catholic.  I no longer practice.  I cannot be part of any organization that says they follow Jesus and yet cast aside half of humanity because they “judge” them to be unworthy of a place at the Table.  Most heartbreaking of all, you ask those of us on the outside looking in, to wait.  But you see, Holy Father, I cannot wait for acceptance one second longer.  Jesus has already accepted me, and he did it without a church or a synod.  He did it because it is the only way love works. 

In the end, perhaps Jesus did not found a church simply because he knew that, once your formalize love it dissolves in your hands.

An open letter to Starbucks

Dear Starbucks,

It appears that you are gearing up to deliver your coffee to "keep up with the Joneses", so to speak.  What if an eclectic and forwarding-thinking company like yourself stood fast and chose to sidestep the rat race?  

A coffee shop to me is an intimate setting where I can go with friends, or alone, to talk, philosophize, or write the great American novel.  Now you have drive-ups.  Next, door-to-door delivery.  

At the top of "corporate mountain" you will find there is nothing of value—just billions of dollars and gray hairs in its pursuit, and even that does not guarantee longevity.  

Be excellent at what you have started.  Be satisfied with what you've achieved.  End the vicious competition cycle that serves no one, least of all your employees and your customers.  Be different.  Start a new trend.  Change the world—again.

An Alternative to the Islamic State and others like them

The Islamic State now wreaking havoc on the Middle East and the West has chosen one way to change the world.  It is neither an unfamiliar nor particularly new idea. Throughout human history similar ideologies have bloodied their way across the world seeking to establish lasting power through fear.  

To us, looking from the outside in, the Islamic State appears to be the consummate evil amidst a cauldron of like-minded horrific acts.

I propose that the Islamic State simply mirrors a world that has created the "space" for such horror.  Children are allowed to learn to shoot guns.  Clever entrepreneurs call it fun and offer a burger on the side.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is out touting his next Terminator movie.  Does the world really need more violent films?  Is violence really "entertaining"? Does it improve our world, provide our children with good values and respect for life, teach more lasting and humane ways to solve conflict?

I would like to offer an alternative to the Islamic State.  I propose that instead of killing people, they might consider providing schools, hospitals and good paying jobs.  I propose that if they want to leave a lasting mark on the world, they lay down their arms and take up generosity, inclusion, tolerance and compassion. 

Impossible!  Many of you might say.  But I say, why not?  

Our response to the Islamic State to "follow them to the gates of hell" (Joe Biden), is what we've always done—throughout all of human history.  We build a bigger gun, a pilotless plane, a long-range missile, precision strikes, and we believe that eventually we will win the war against terror.

Terror is not new.  It has been around forever.  If we want such groups to disappear, we have to build an alternative for the people who are joining their ranks. 

The leaders of the Islamic State, or any armed band, do not cause the havoc they espouse.  Their Followers do.  Give them a reason NOT to be a part of the carnage.  This is the only way terror will stop. In other words, Osama Bin Laden did not strap on a bomb and blow up anything.  Al Qaeda recruited willing souls to do it for him.

You want a more peaceful world, build it.  Offer an alternative to future suicide bombers that they can’t refuse.  Don’t tie it to money.  Tie it to humanity.  To inclusion of all disenfranchised peoples.  Nobody gets left out.

As long as we always reach for guns to solve our problems, or, as in the case the Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, economic sanctions.  Nothing will change.

Humans are smarter than they know.  They can build weapons that will destroy the world. Such a sad use of our immense talent.

What if we built a world that could annihilate war and spread peace?

Actually we can.  If we want it bad enough.

Pastor Fred Phelps

Baptist Pastor Fred Phelps passed away on March 19, 2014. He was a man of God on a mission of hate.  Beyond that, I know very little about him.  

The question that troubles me is not what he did, but why he did it.  What made him feel so strongly about this one particular issue that he would devote a good portion of his life in its pursuit and hopeful annihilation?

Fred believed that God hated gays.  God hated gays!  Why?  Some childhood encounter?  A hatred passed from parents' to son?  A literal interpretation of the bible?  A mind off kilter with compassion and reality?

We do not know and we may never know.

Now that Fred is gone, his church may or may not continue. For the sake of Fred's family and followers, I hope it does not. I am not worried about gay people; they will survive. They know that prejudice and disenfranchisement are part and parcel of their struggle for equality.  

After death, I believe that we are called to account for our lives, not by a tribunal fixed on punishment and mandatory repentance, but by a group of souls whose single mission it is to help us look at our actions as humans and determine what went wrong and how to do better the next time around. Harmful acts do not go unnoticed on either side of the "veil".

This afterlife review, of course, does nothing for the living left behind—those who followed Fred and those who suffered at his hands.  It does, on the other hand, provide those willing to do so, another way to examine his actions in the hopes of not repeating them again.

We'll leave the Bible and other such religious books out of this for now.  This is ground upon which no one consensus can be found.  We'll set aside the fact that Fred did not make friends by his actions and that most who knew or encountered him, found his words and actions offensive and downright mean.

But Fred did do one thing that we cannot deny.  He put hate right in your face! He shouted it at every opportunity!  Fred wasn't weak in his beliefs.  He didn't back down in the face of overwhelming opinion against him.  Fred had a goal and he pursued it without flinching!

So, you must be asking, where am I going with all this?

It's very simple, really: If we had the same drive that Fred did, but turned that conscientious resistance against hate and exclusionism.  If we taught our children that it is wrong to hate another person because they are different from us.  That to judge is to assume what we cannot know unless we have walked in the shoes of the one we judge.

If we taught our children that one person's actions do not speak for all persons' actions.  That the color of one’s skin, the country of one's origin, and the beliefs of one's heart are what make our world rich, creative, and hopeful.

Yes, there are people who do awful things, but the majority of people do not do awful things.  Yes, Fred spread a lot of negative energy around.  If we do not want other Fred's to appear at our doorstep, then at our doorstep, before we set one foot outside our house, we must determine that we will be kinder, more thoughtful. That we will get the facts before voicing concern and dissent.  

Fred showed us one way.  Sadly, there are many groups who follow in his stead, individuals who believe that they have the formula for the perfect world or society. 

You want a world without hate?  Start with yourself.  Not one of us alive is without fault.  It is the height of hubris to believe otherwise.  

When religious belief runs counter to "do not judge, do no harm" - February 25, 2014

Arizona has passed a law that allows ones' religious belief to override fairness, tolerance and basic humanity.  I.e., based upon your religious belief, you may refuse to serve gay people. 

Now it is up to the Governor to sign or veto this legislation. Meanwhile, a growing number of groups and individuals are standing in opposition to the law. Ten years ago few would have batted an eye or raised a finger in opposition. We have come a long way, and by the response seen in Arizona, people of conscience are finally saying "enough".

The central focus of this particular issue is homosexuality.  But the foundation of the argument is ones' personal belief system and how far its influence can extend to disenfranchise those human beings it deems unworthy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Again and again I am troubled by religious organizations that ostracize those groups or individuals who do not meet their idea of "normal" or "pure".   I am also troubled by the aforementioned's "hate the sin, love the sinner" pronouncements, which, if they are taken at face value, would de facto rule out the Arizona law.  

But all of this analysis aside.  The real issue here is the Why?  The Deep Seated Why?!  What is it about homosexuality that bothers people?  Sex between members of the same gender?  Marriage between members of the same gender?  Fear of the unnamed unknown?

In the end, no one has the right to discriminate against another person.  No one.  Short of criminal behavior, no one has the right to decide what behavior is good and what is bad.  No one has the right to name whom we can love, marry or, sleep with.  

Civil rights and gay rights are not separate rights; they are enumerations of a compendium of inclusive “Human Rights”.  Men and women of every creed are suffering and dying for these same rights throughout the globe, while we, America, the supposed bastion of tolerance and equality, seem uncertain of what the term “Human Rights” really means.

In the mind of this writer, it means equal rights for All Human Beings.  (I would not exclude our animals and our environment in this statement either, lest we get the impression that equal treatment and material provision has a beginning and an end point.)

If Human Rights are denied to one person or group, all of us are jeopardized.  We cannot, and must not, allow our world to discard those we do not like, love, or whom we consider damaged.  If our laws do not protect all Human Rights, they cannot in truth say that they protects any human rights.  For Human Rights, once compromised by enlightened nations, become no more than lifeless pieces on a chess board, where, in the end, we are left with only winners and losers.  

In the Extreme

Over the past few days, guns have brought terror and death to Norway, Texas and Washington State.

The reasons for these acts of violence are varied and complex, but all have been meted out at the hands of a fellow human being and not one can be recalled, nor their dead and wounded made whole again.

I believe that there is more good than evil in the world.  I believe that this singular truth is what keeps us from the Biblical Armageddon so many predict is our ultimate destiny.  Most of all, I believe that our civilization still has time to rise from its darkness to embrace the light.

In this vain, I also believe that evil will continue to ravage us for some time to come. I believe this because profound acts of violence, while singular in their horror and timing, are symptoms of a deeper darkness that we encounter each day, but never stop to name.

We only need look to Washington DC, the seat of one of the most powerful governments ever known to humankind.  Witness the grandstanding, finger-pointing, half-truths and perpetual division. Consider our political campaigns where real issues always take a back seat to mudslinging and one-upmanship.  

Explain our hostility toward illegal aliens, while we selectively forget that the vast majority of us are descendants of the very same moniker.

Why are gay men and women still denied the full benefits of our Constitution? 

The murders that have bloodied our communities and bowed our heads are not isolated events.  They have grown from seeds so faint and so non-descript that we have lost sight of their relationship to the brutal harvests they bear.

When you degrade another person and do it in front of your children, you set the stage for hatred to live one more generation. 

When you name yourself and your culture superior to another, you perpetuate the idea that equality and tolerance are only for those who meet your standards.  When you believe that your way is the only way, you exclude, disenfranshise and create enemies instead of allies.

The end to violence and terror begins where you live, work, play and dream.  It begins with you and me.  What we sow, we reap.  Sow hate, you will reap hate.  Sow fear, you will reap fear.  Sow intolerance and you will reap intolerance.  Acts of violence are the end result…they may erupt out of nowhere, but they were sown in “fertile soil” long before they saw the light of day.

Love, peace, tolerance, compassion and humanity cannot be preached.  They must be lived!