From the Heart Of The Minister - The Unthinkable:
In between my five zoom meetings Wednesday, I spent a part of day glued to my phone switching back and forth between my Facebook, Twitter and New York Times Apps. First, I was waiting to hear the final results of the Georgia Senate runoff. Then I was wondering what Pence and the Republican Senators would do in regard to certifying the election. I had no doubt what the outcome would be, but the concerted actions of the President, Vice President and certain Republican Senators to undermine the integrity of the elections still worried me about the future of our Democracy.
Unitarian Universalism believes in the free and responsible search for truth. We should remember the responsible part. There was a responsible search for election mistakes and fraud and there was nothing of significance found. No evidence was ever presented to the courts that indicated anything wrong. If anything we know Republican controlled states tried to suppress democratic voters. Even so Joe Biden won both the popular and electoral college vote by significant amounts. That is the truth.
The ongoing statements by the current President and Republican Senators that there was widespread fraud and he had actually won the election despite having no evidence created an atmosphere that led to yesterday’s coup attempt on the Capitol Building.
As Unitarian Universalists, “we affirm and promote the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.” The attempt to overturn the democratic vote of American citizens and the attempted coup is criminally seditious and immoral and against my religious values.
I do not understand why there was not more protection or a plan of action to defend the Capitol. We had known for weeks that there was going to be a pro Trump rally on that day. President Trump encouraged his followers to attend and even tweeted in advance encouraging people to attend and writing “be there it is going to be wild”. I would be remiss if I did not compare the preparation for this event compared to the preparation for the Black Lives Matter Event in DC this past spring to protest the death of George Floyd. At the spring event there was significant National Guard troop presence. There were aggressive and violent action taken to remove Black Lives Matter protestors, and there were a significant number of arrests. There was none of this on display this week as these insurrectionists took over the Capitol Building. The only logical conclusion I am left with is that the lack of preparedness was due to the issue that was being protested. White Supremacy was being challenged after the death of George Floyd and the government wanted to eliminate that challenge ruthlessly. This pre-coup attempt rally was in support of white supremacy overturning the will of the people and the government didn’t seem to think that was a risk.
The election of a Jewish Man, and a Prophetic African American Minister as Senators in Georgia which gave Democrats control of the Senate was another visible sign of the changing nature of the shift in power in our country away from white dominance. This fear of the loss of control and power exacerbated an already excited crowd at Trump’s rally. In fact, Trump incited the participants saying with the Senate in the Democrats control now, his Presidential Veto was the only line of defense to protect them. He had lost the election and was still trying to convince his followers he had won.
Rudy Giuliani in his speech the day of the insurrection encouraged the crowd that there should be “trial by combat” and in a speech that followed, the President after wishing that the Military and Secret Service could join them, encouraged his followers to walk to the Capitol and said “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” And then the unthinkable happened. Since he had no legal way to overturn the election, at the Presidents urging, his followers attempted a coup of our government.
So what do we as Unitarian Universalists here in Iowa do about this?
First let us be happy that in the end the coup failed and that Democracy is still standing if even tenuously. Let us continue to vociferously reject attacks on our Democracy.
Second, let our actions be guided by our values. Unitarian Universalist values of the democratic process should have us insist on getting the John Lewis voting rights act passed so there will be an end to voter suppression and gerrymandering, and an end to corporate funding of elections so that the will of all the people will be heard. We need to strengthen our democratic processes.
On a national level and as well on a local level.
Unitarian Universalist principles ask of us to act for peace, liberty and justice for all in a compassionate and equitable way. This requires us to see the overt and systemic racism that is embedded in the events of the last week and the last four and four hundred years. I encourage everyone first to become more educated about these issues and to get involved in our community to work to end the white supremacy culture of violence, power and control that were brazenly on display this week.
We all have fears. I am fearful of losing our democracy.
I am also fearful because people I know are suffering.
Suffering from COVID 19 or the loss of a loved one from this disease.
Suffering from the lack of empathy of our fellow human beings including governmental leaders who will not even wear a mask in public or distance themselves let alone put in place policies and procedures to mitigate the damage.
Suffering from medical issues without adequate or affordable health care and facing the lack of available medical care including mental health care.
Suffering from loss of work due to COVID and a government that seemingly is unwilling and uncaring to act to help in a significant way.
Suffering living with with food and housing insecurity.
I am sure these people who participated in the coup, were fearful. Violence always stems from fear.
Perhaps they are fearful of losing their sense of what they believed about this country, and their position in it. The question is what do we do with our fear? Do we lash out and create harm? Even worse do we let our fear paralyze us and prevent us from acting? I have found the best solution is to face our fear, recognize it, be compassionate towards ourself and then move forward with fear as our companion.
Let us move forward to do the work to change the systems to improve the lives of people who are suffering in whatever small or large way that we can and to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society.
Let us never hesitate to speak up and out about injustice that we see.
Let us be open to hearing the pain of those who are suffering.
Let us wake up each day with hope and a sense of wonder and work to build the world we dream about. That is the only way it will come to be. With us being committed and coming together to do the work that needs to be done. Take a deep breath. Be gentle with yourself.
Remember the words of Unitarian Universalist Minister Wayne B Arnason:
“Take courage friends.
The way is often hard,
the path is never clear,
and the stakes are very high.
Take courage.
For deep down,
there is another truth:
you are not alone.”
With a grateful heart
Rev. Jay
