Nice to Meet You, Kansas. Let’s Talk About Abortion.

Hey, Kansas. You and I don’t know each other very well. I moved here only five months before the pandemic took over our lives, and we didn’t have a chance to get acquainted. Although it has been almost nine years since I last posted on this blog and the biographical facts need updating, I invite you to scroll through. It’s still a good introductory representation of me—a queer, Black, Christian, woman engaged in professional ministry. I plan to be here for a while, so we will have plenty of time to go deeper.

As a newly-arrived pastor in a new town, I was advised by several colleagues to give myself time to settle in, before deciding where to get involved. There is plenty of opportunity here and only so many hours in a day. Sometimes, the calling comes right through the door, presents itself, and cannot be ignored. That happened to me last week.

On Friday, the Kansas House voted 86 to 38 in favor of HCR 5003:

A PROPOSITION to amend the bill of rights of the constitution of the state of Kansas by adding a new section thereto stating that there is no constitutional right to abortion, and reserving to the people the ability to regulate abortion through the elected members of the legislature of the state of Kansas.

Kansas, you and I need to talk. This is not the right move for us. I do mean “us”, because for all my newness, I am here now and I am a part of you. 

I am neither a medical nor legal expert. My area is people. I have sat with people while they wrestled with whether or not to have an abortion. I have journeyed with people as they lived with whichever choice they made. The continuous legal wrangling has no impact on their decision; they ultimately choose what is best for them in their current circumstances. The ongoing debate, however, does add mental and spiritual anguish. We, “the people”, need to treat each other better than that.

Perhaps we start by admitting that there is more at stake here than the regulation of a medical procedure. “If we lived in a culture that valued women’s autonomy and in which men and women practiced cooperative birth control, the abortion issue would be moot.”¹ So, let’s talk about autonomy.

Kansas Christians, I am talking directly to you now, especially those of you who consider yourselves progressive and social justice minded. A person’s bodily autonomy, no matter their sex or gender identity, is sacrosanct. I am reminded of the gospel story about the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years (Mark 5:25-34). She had spent everything in pursuit of healing and was only getting worse. Then she heard about Jesus. She went and found him. She said to herself, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” She did and she was. Jesus noticed, and they had a conversation. She told him her story—everything that had led up to that moment; how she had done what she needed to do to care for herself, to take care of her body. And Jesus blessed her for it.

How can we be a blessing to those whose bodies are deemed in need of regulation? I call on my siblings in Christ to have this conversation, in your own spaces and with other religious communities. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg wrote a piece titled “The right-wing Christian movement shouldn’t control the abortion narrative”. Progressives and liberals need to speak, type, and write ourselves into the story. Otherwise, our silence will speak for us.

We are called to care for one another. That care includes advocating for one another’s rights over our own bodies. Let us educate ourselves on the available resources, such as those provided by Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and make ourselves known as supporters and allies. Let us prepare ourselves. Assuming the measure does get onto the ballot, we have a good year and a half of work ahead of us. So, let’s get ready.

^[1] Christiane Northrup, M.D., Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom (New York: Bantam Books, 1998), 383.

Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay 

Sheep and Goats on Sunday Morning

On ABCs This Week with George Stephanopoulos, an “all-star panel of experts” gathered at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia to discuss economic recovery in the US.  The six-member panel assessed the efforts that have been made thus far, and offered their opinions on what needs to happen to restore the economy.

As the discussion turned to the disparity in wealth acquisition, Stephanopoulos posed a question.  “We know this whole debate about income inequality is going to be at the center of this campaign as well…How worried should we be about inequality?”

In response, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google spoke quite well about education, growing the middle class and youth unemployment, but it was his own personal feeling that stood out.

“From my perspective, there’s a fairness argument.  I personally believe that the top 1% need to share more.”

•  Miller Center Panel I: State of the Economy (video)
• Miller Center Panel II: Economic Challenges Ahead (video)

Remember sharing?  In the well-known excerpt from Robert Fulgham‘s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, the first lesson is “share everything”.  Our parents and teachers told us this over and over.  The lesson did not seem to take.

Our country has become much too concerned with possession.  David Walker, former Comptroller General and another member of the Miller Center Panel, summed it up.  “We are not discharging our stewardship responsibility.”

People of faith know that we will be judged by how we treated “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31-46).  Do we feed the hungry or clothe the naked?  Do our economic policies?  We ought to keep that in mind when we go the ballot box.  Because just in case you are wondering, “Are we our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers?” (ref. Genesis 4:13), the answer is yes.  Yes, we are.

Honor Thy Mother Earth

On Saturday, Jesse Jackson Jr. held a “symbolic groundbreaking ceremony” on the site of the proposed Peotone airport, almost 50 miles outside of downtown Chicago. The Federal Aviation Administration has not approved the proposal. Chicago’s mayor and the heads of the major airlines support expansion of O’Hare International Airport instead. Jackson and other supporters of the new airport believe the project will bring more jobs.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. This has been a major buzzword lately. Want to get a bill through Congress? Tie it to jobs. Want to sell tax breaks for the wealthy to the American public? Promise them jobs. Want to destroy farmland? Just say “jobs”. Opponents of the proposed airport fear that it “will threaten their way of life on family farms that have operated for generations”. Farming
provides jobs, too.

Jackson’s ceremony came on the eve of Earth Day, the one day a year when we are reminded of our connection to the planet, our dependence on it, our responsibility for its care. Destroying farmland to build yet another airport does not honor our connection to the Earth.

In both of the Creation stories, the Earth came first (Genesis 1:1 and 2:1). When humankind was created, God said to “be fruitful and multiply; and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 2:28 NRSV).

We have gotten carried away with the power implied in that order. Yes, “subdue” means “to bring under submission” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary). It also means “to bring (land) under cultivation”. In other words, it is our divine duty to help the land to be fruitful and multiply.

This fight over the Peotone airport seems like another skirmish in the classic struggle between industry and agriculture.

We have to choose. More airports, more jet pollution, more paving of farmland isn’t “progress” anymore.

If we honor the Earth we’re going to have to change our travel plans and get closer to one another and the land, before all the land is paved over.  

Silence Speaks Volumes

Kids say the darnedest things.  On Friday, April 20, however, many young people won’t be saying anything.  They will be taking part in Day of Silence, an annual “student-led national event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools”. It started in 1996 with 150 at the University of Virginia and continues to grow. In 2011, the event included students from New Zealand, Singapore, and Russia.

 

Indie folk artist ani difranco sings, “God’s work isn’t done by God. It’s done by people.” (Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up) Taking a stand against what’s wrong in the world – that is the work, and we are all called to do it. Not all of us can organize an action that turns into a worldwide annual event. We each have our individual strengths and talents. Whether we start something new or join a work already in progress, whether against harm or to fill a need, everyone can do something.

So tomorrow, as students around the world say nothing, ask yourself this: How will you speak up?

March, Christian Soldiers

On May 20th and 21st, Chicago will play host to the NATO Summit. We are the first US city outside of Washington to do so. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our city. It is also a big chance for us to make our voices heard; to shine an international spotlight on our issues.

Our school system faces a budget shortfall. The unemployment rate continues to fall, but it is still above the “painfully high” national average. We watch in amazement as the economy is blamed for our troubles while our country continues to spend millions of dollars on a war somewhere else. Is it any wonder that protesters are planning to march on the Summit’s opening day?

Protest organizers are calling for

• “Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing and the Environment, Not War!”
• “No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers!”
• “No to War and Austerity!”

…in other words, Justice.

“The people who live there need to see that their kids get schooling, that there is health care, and that the police provide security rather than shaking down the population themselves.”

Isn’t that what we all need? Funny thing. This statement is not from the protest organizers. It is from an Speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the University of Chicago almost two years ago.  And he was talking about Afghanistan.

Jesus asked, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3, NRSV)  Why do we funnel resources away from our problems in order to “fix” others’?

President Obama has pledged to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, and the war has been declining in popularity among US adults.  We are beginning to see the error in our ways, but protests like these are still important. We need to refocus our country’s attention inward, and remind ourselves and our leaders that we cannot afford to turn a blind eye on what is going on at home.

“You hypocrite, first take the log our of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck our of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5, NRSV)  Or perhaps we will find that we have more logs of our own.  

Can you see which way is onward?

I Pledge Allegiance to the Fight

When the characters in Avenue Q sing, “Everyone’s a little bit racist”, it’s cute and funny, and a little uncomfortable. They point to the elephant in the room, forcing us to admit it’s there so that we can deal with it. We cannot pretend that we don’t see color. Color, race and ethnicity are parts of who we are. When we acknowledge that, we realize that these things determine how people deal with each other.

Last month, a 17-year-old black man was shot while visiting his father. George Zimmerman claimed he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense, but the 911 recording tells a different story. Yet, the police department “stands by its investigation”. The story has garnered international attention, and people everywhere are asking, would Zimmerman still be free if Martin had been white?

I want to know why this kind of thing is still happening.

In October 1987, both apartments in my building were robbed. The thief broke in through the basement door and made his way upstairs, taking anything with apparent street value. As a safety measure, our landlord who lived in the first floor apartment, installed brackets on either side of the door and slid a two-by-four through them. Five months later, it happened again. I was the first one home, and had to deal with the police. The officers took one look at the two-by-four, now lying next to the door, and told me that obviously I had a had a boy over and was afraid to tell my mom. They concluded that I had staged a robbery. That was the end of their investigation. They didn’t notice that one of the brackets was bent, or that there were dents in the two-by-four; so they didn’t think that maybe the thief had pushed the door open a little and used some sort of tool to slide the wood out of the brackets. I figured that out, in just a few minutes. Twenty-four years later, I wonder what would have happened if my landlords, the only white residents on our block, had been the ones to talk to the police.

Crimes with minority victims are notoriously mishandled. Similarly, minority prison populations are disproportionately high.  

What happened to “…liberty and justice for all”?

In pre-exilic Israel, the prophets adamantly denounced the injustices in their society. “And what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk modestly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)  They warned repeatedly that God would bring destruction upon them as punishment. They didn’t listen. Will we?

Justice may indeed be blind.  We, however, cannot afford to be.

Stay informed. Get involved.

Applied Research Center – Racial Justice Through Media, Research and Activism

Amnesty International – working to repeal the death penalty

The Sentencing Project – Research and Advocacy for Reform

Black and Missing – Providing an Equal Opportunity for All Missing

Word of God?

If you’re going to use my bible against me, please make sure you read it and put together a cogent argument.

That was my first reaction to Kirk Cameron’s remarks about gay marriage.  In response to a direct question from Piers Morgan, Cameron said,

“Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life til death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either.”

Cameron went on to say that homosexuality is “unnatural”, “detrimental”, and “ultimately destructive to so many, uh, of the foundations of civilization”.  Several other celebrities responded by showing their support for the LGBT community, many of them ridiculing Cameron in the process.  The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation called him “out of step” and accused him of “desperately trying to remain in the public eye by using anti-LGBT rhetoric”.

In his defense, Cameron has asserted his right to “express moral views on social issues”.  He’s absolutely right.  He has a right to say whatever is on his mind.  When he turns to the Bible to support himself, I would just prefer that he get the facts straight.

Adam and Eve were hardly the definition of marriage.  Throughout the Bible, marriage took on several different forms, the least common of which was “one man, one woman”.  It was more likely to be one man with several wives, concubines and consorts.  King Solomon is credited with having hundreds of women.  And “til death do us part”?  A man could dismiss his wife if he was simply not satisfied with her.  (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)

Arguments against gay marriage, and homosexuality in general, too often rely on false statements allegedly taken from the Bible.  Even worse are the biblical references taken out of context.

The reason I decided to enter the seminary was to prepare myself to get into the trenches and fight against the religious rhetoric that is used to marginalize people.  I am studying the Bible from beginning to end, not just picking and choosing a few texts. I believe the time has come to challenge the phrase “the Bible says” that people throw around so casually.  Those of us who are LGBT Christians need to study our Bibles.  We can not afford to have it spoon fed to us on Sunday morning.  We and our non-Christian sisters and brothers are under attack.  It is up to us to learn the features of the weapon that is being used against us; to claim it as our own, and let it shield us.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Apocalypse Not Now

In a speech at The American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference, President Obama argued for a diplomatic approach to dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.  Mr. Obama asserted that “he is prepared to employ a ‘military effort‘ to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon”, but also warned against “too much loose talk of war“.  Sound familiar?

“And you will hear wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6 NRSV) 

Jesus gave this advice in response to the apostles’ request for a sign of his return and the end of days.  They wanted to be able to tell in advance; perhaps so that they could get ready.  The “wars and rumors of wars” are just the beginning.  As the scripture continues, Jesus details many of the things to come, and warns that there will be many false predictions.  He tells us twice to “Keep awake” because we just do not know when he is coming. (Matthew 24:42 and 25:13)

For the President, it must be tough to look at predictions of a nuclear future, to know what is true, and to make decisions for an entire country; decisions that will effect the entire world.  Additionally, the war talk has led to increased gas prices and hampered the diplomacy effort.  I dare say, it’s a little easier for us as Christians, our only task is to keep following Christ’s teachings – using our talents to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit the prisoner.  We just have to keep living our truths.

Are your lamps trimmed and burning?

Golden Rule

Jesus teaches us, “In everything do unto others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 6:12)  We know this today as the Golden Rule.  It seems basic, but to actually follow the Golden Rule takes work. You have to ask yourself, “Would I want this to happen to me?” Then you have to be prepared to act accordingly.

The burning of copies of the Quran by NATO troops in Afghanistan this week is another on a long list of high-profile examples of not caring about the other.

The holy books were among religious and other materials that had been removed from a library at a detention facility “because of extremist inscriptions, and because of an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications,” according to a CNN report.

Afghan religious scholar Anayatullah Baligh said it best.

“I can’t tell you whether Americans intentionally burned the copies of the holy Quran to make Muslims angry or if they did it mistakenly,” he said, but said their “carelessness” was “a crime they have committed against the holiest book of two billion Muslims around the world.”

The Golden ball is being dropped all over the place.  Weeks ago it was the deliberate offense of desecrating soldiers’ dead bodies .  Here it is simply not being mindful and thereby being insenstive to religious others. It’s time for us to pick the ball up and start playing the game by the one Rule that matters.

Walk the Talk

People of faith, including me, need to strive to literally practice what we preach.    It isn’t always easy, but it is important.  All people need to behave with integrity; and, since they are such role models, this is especially important for entertainers.

That is perhaps what bothers me the most about the recent controversy involving rapper Too $hort.  Last week XXLmag.com posted a video interview in which the rapper allegedly gave some rather offensive instructions to young men as to how to get women to have sex with them.  I did not see the video myself.  It was removed from the magazine’s website once the editor-in-chief learned of its content.  I did read some quotes from the interview.

Then I saw the magazine’s apology, which included a statement from the rapper.  In the statement, he claimed that he “was in Too $hort mode”, implying that his hip hop character is a separate identity.  He went on to say, “I would never advise a child or young man to do these things, it’s not how I get down.”  His statement concluded with these words of wisdom.  “If you’re a young man or a kid who looks up to me, don’t get caught up in the pimp, player, gangster hip-hop personas. Just be yourself.”

I understand that an entertainer may be called upon to “play a role” in public, but it cannot be an excuse for such bad behavior.  I will not fall for “it wasn’t me”.  If Too $hort really wants to give back to the community and help young people, as he claims, he might want to live his own advice.