Best be careful about what you Shofar for …
Deception, Delusion and Diplomacy
Posted: September 14, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: American Diplomats, Campaign Season, Libya
This is not new, inciting the Muslim world. We all remember incidents in the not so distant past that set a match to the fuse: A book, a film, a cartoon. In fact, anything from the West or Israel that is presented as disparaging the prophet Muhammad will do it. Usually the response includes imams issuing fatwahs, protests, flag burnings and sacking embassies.
The most recent film of this genre was highly successful. It disparaged Islam in such a way that the magic button was pushed. In a digital age when information is passed on with a click, it went viral. First it got ugly. But soon enough ugly turned to tragic; life was taken.
The poser behind the film project was not a Jew, not someone from the West, but rather a shady character from the Coptic Christian community, a transplant in the United States. The minority Coptic community has in fact been broadly persecuted in the Muslim world, especially northern Africa. The culprit wanted payback through a smear. What he got was something bigger and nastier than he may have imagined.
Because Muslims in most of the non-western world do not live in democracies, places where freedom of speech is the norm and protected, they often assume that any slam coming from the West is somehow legitimized by authorized governing authorities. Such is not the case, of course. Any yahoo can put out some derogatory product and we who live in the United States shrug our shoulders and say, “Freedom of speech. I may not agree but he has the right to say it.” That’s how we are all protected, whether what we have to say is rational, fair or inflammatory. But that’s thinking here, not there.
There is no excuse for such violence. But people who want to make trouble know how to pull the pin on that religio-political grenade. That’s why it’s important for our State Department to interpret to those societies that Americans in general and our governing officials in particular do not authorize such religious incendiary language or media products. In a free society they are permitted. That simple fact has to be presented. Just because an idiot pastor decides to have a Koran burning it doesn’t mean that all Americans think that’s a really fine idea or that the governor has declared Koran burning day. Our diplomats must explain such things across the cultural divide.
As for a response, our leaders must remain firm as regards any harming of Americans for any reason. Justice, however defined, will be sought and those responsible punished. The impostor film maker will be exposed and prosecuted. And steady heads will see us through this crisis until the next one takes its place.
Oh, and by the way, our national response in such moments is delegated to our present duly-elected office holders. We have one diplomatic corps, one state department and one president at a time. Those persons are designated for the United States of America. In the height of an election season it is easy to confuse a national emergency with another political opportunity for candidates to take the podium at press conferences. But now is not the time. The world needs to hear a unified American voice. Politicos must resist that inclination.
Has the response of the Muslim street been excessive and indefensible? Of course. But we still don’t know what makes them tick. It’s worth finding out.
When the diagnosis came, many things stopped
for practical reasons, mostly
There wasn’t time, or it didn’t matter that much
or I would pick it up later, like a penny that fell out of my pocket
Chess went on vacation, the pieces untouched
sitting lonely on the board, frozen in time
But it was not because of energy or time
recreation postponed until another day
Chess stopped because the part me that
plots and schemes, corners the opponent
calculates board position and works ahead
anticipates and projects and corners
just lost interest.
Unlike other pleasantries, the strings strummed
whistle piped or bike ridden
chess went on a much longer sabbatical
Because I felt so guilty, having abandoned the game
I tried it again the other day
The pieces weighed a thousand pounds each
and I could hardly move them square to square
It is not because I need medication quick
or can’t move other things in my life
because I can.
No, it is this, this game, these pieces
what they require of brain and spirit.
And I wonder if the part of me that must be a certain way
to be good at chess
is at cross purposes
with being different in the rest of my life
Our plans and scheming have their limits
severe ones, those illusions of control
and the part of me that knows this more
laughs at chess like the gods laugh at grasshoppers
The game has suddenly become so small
that I don’t have interest in finding it
under the microscope
the board a postage stamp, silicone chip
a little cell of a checker box
that floats on an immense sea of mystery.
Spending time figuring out my mind in this way
seems so beside the point, even as an amusement
a distraction, the little conquest for the tabletop
I haven’t found much room left for that
even in a game.
The myth of kings and queens, rooks and bishops,
lowly pawns in their courses
has been broken
and the game of true intellectuals
isn’t so smart
anymore
With the Conventions Over
Posted: September 8, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: Conventions, Jonathan Haidt, Political Polarization
Well, they’re over. Political conventions these days hold no special surprises; the decisions have already been made. Rather, they are occasions to rally the troops and persuade a watching public why they should place their trust in one party or another, one candidate or another. Ever so often some substance creeps in. But the content of such televised events is most usually light, with oratory and rhetoric heavy.
To make sense of the increasing polarization – and there is – I revisited Jonathan Haidt’s insightful book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.
In 2007 Haidt and others sponsored a conference at Princeton that addressed this issue of polarization. Part of the outcome was a clear description of everything in American politics that led to our present dilemma. It resonated as true to form with me.
“We learned that much of the increase in polarization was unavoidable. It was the natural result of the political realignment that took place after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The conservative southern states, which had been solidly Democratic since the Civil War (because Lincoln was a Republican) then began to leave the Democratic Party, and by the 1990s the South was solidly Republican. Before this realignment there had been liberals and conservatives in both parties, which made it easy to form bipartisan teams who could work together on legislative projects. But after the realignment, there was no longer any overlap, either in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. Nowadays the most liberal Republican is typically more conservative than the most conservative Democrat. And once the two parties became ideologically pure – a liberal party and a conservative party – there was bound to be a rise in <polarization>.”
This trend has only been reinforced by our present ability to isolate ourselves within cocoons of like-minded individuals – either electronically, according to news channels, or physically, in a Whole Foods culture or a Cracker Barrel one.
Hence, one of Haidt’s key ideas of the book: Moral systems both bind and blind. They stick us together and simultaneously screen out any truth that might be outside our narrow worldview. In a polarized world, everyone goes blind.
We still need people of conviction, to be sure. Fighting for the good cause is important. But in this time we also need to find ways to heal our democracy. “Blessed are the peacemakers” could be our marching orders. Who is willing to stand in the breach and articulate a the third way, creative solutions and values common to all? It’s not easy. You’ll catch flak for it. But how else can we move away from this stalemate?
Some of my young friends shrug their shoulders and say it’s irreparable, the product of history that can’t be fixed. Maybe they are right. They are some of the same ones who are just creating parallel solutions alongside the old ones. Maybe they have something. Maybe we need to demonstrate a third way rather than be part of the intractable problem. Centrifugal force spins us to the edges. But some will be called to stand in a dynamic center of the revolving turbine. They, along with the Spirit, may be our hope.
A gem from St. Theophan in The Art of Prayer:
“Complete serenity of mind is a gift of God; but this serenity is not given without our own intense effort. You will achieve nothing by your own efforts alone; yet God will not give you anything unless you work with all your strength. This is an unbreakable law.”
Many of the great spiritual guides and writers have described the same paradox; without dependence on God we can do nothing, without our own determined effort the grace goes unused. It is a dance of the spirit. And I have witnessed this phenomenon in my own life and in the spiritual lives of others.
At times I have navigated under my own steam, depending on my own power of mind or will to move forward, to solve the problem or create the future. The result has not generally been a good one. But I have also succumbed to just the opposite, a kind of inactive reception of a grace that is wasted on me. That doesn’t work either. Finding the balance is the trick.
Many of us recently marveled at the Olympic prowess displayed by so many world-class athletes in London. They deserve our regard. Much of their performance seemed superhuman to us mere mortals. Of course, they were gifted with such ability. No amount of time or effort would have allowed me, for instance, to do any of that. You wouldn’t see me up on the uneven parallel bars or running the hurdles. Never did, never will. Abilities of this magnitude are given. Some have it and some don’t.
But none of those naturally gifted athletes would have been at those Olympics in the first place if it were not for years of dogged effort and determination, a tough training of body and fine-tuning of mind. The gift was matched with serious effort.
So goes the spiritual truth: Nothing is achieved by our own efforts alone; if we believe so, then the spiritual flame is extinguished. But the twin is liken unto it; the gift will not come unless we work with all our strength. There is room for neither pride nor sloth.
And we are left with the dual prayer, one for each pocket of the garment:
Without you, O God, I am nothing, I do nothing.
I make of your gift an offering of my life.
Both. At the same time. Together.
So, you’ve been asking for it! Here it is, the Sex Sermon from Broadway Christian Church, August 26, 2012:
This morning the congregation I serve had lots of sex in church. Ok, not what you’re thinking. The topic of the day was making sense of sexuality through a faith lens, in particular same-sex relationships. At one point I suggested that in order to get over our anxiety about saying the “S” word in church we just say it in unison, which we did. That was interesting. What a liturgical exclamation!
What led to the suggestion was the observation that we can talk about sex everywhere in the culture except church. What does that say to our children, our youth, when we send sex packing away from our faith communities?
The test of the day was from that ancient blusher, The Song of Solomon. There is no escape from its deep eroticism, however it has been used metaphorically to express rapture with God. We began a journey of exploration in the Bible, recognizing that there is no one “Biblical perspective” on sexuality and marriage, but only perspectives. The only option is to become interpreters of complex texts.
Sex belongs in church. We need to model healthy, faithful and reasonable conversations for our children and youth. Because if we don’t, others will. Do we really want an disembodied religious experience that excludes a life force as powerful as this? If so we will continue the downward spiral into irrelevancy, the church as soul without a body, a phantom.
The Gift that Keeps on … Taking
Posted: August 22, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: Payday Loans, Predatory Lenders
Just yesterday I was working with a person who was struggling with finances. A whole series of events led to a desperate decision: go down to the corner payday loan shop on the corner. They were cordial and helped her obtain her loan in quick order. The problem was what came next. She was shocked by the interest and payments. It would be impossible to get out of this obligation. In fact, it worsened her original situation.
Payday lenders target the working class and poor folk, the most vulnerable communities, and trap them with impossible debt. In Missouri, these predators charge an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 445%. It’s one of the highest averages in the nation, 26 times the rate cap in Arkansas, where lenders can’t charge more than 17%.
Trapped families pay fees upon fees for what was presented as quick fix money. It sends them toward certain financial oblivion. There are now more payday lenders in Missouri than McDonalds and Starbucks combined.
And where do these profits go? Usually to large out-of-state corporations. Our Missouri families are charged triple digit interest rates and millions of dollars are drained from our communities.
What should we do? Like other states, we should act to cap the rate. The FDIC recommends a reasonable 36%. It’s long overdue.
We can’t avoid economic crisis for every family in Missouri. But we can prevent the vultures from circling over the wounded body laying by the side of the road. That we can and should do.
From Above the Hills, the Ocean and Time
Posted: August 16, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence
It was just at the dawn of the 20th century that a young New Englander by the name of Edna St. Vincent Millay submitted her first poem of note. Those in the poetry world recognized greatness immediately and her visible career as one of America’s great poets was launched. The poem was titled Renascence and its over 200 lines were based on her experience of sitting on a mountain above her beloved Camden, Maine, and looking to the hills at her back and Penobscot Bay and its islands before her.
Kathy and I visited that very site in our own recent travels. It is not difficult to imagine her inspiration at the sight. But with all the imagination in the world one is not given Millay’s crisp elegance of verse. That is a gift, something to be savored and tasted like the mountains and sea that accompanied her pen to paper those many years ago:
All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I’d started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.
vitalwholeness 