After witnessing on Monday, Nov. 10, in Washington D.C. with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance to call for justice for the more than 4,100 Americans and untold number of Iraqis killed in the Iraq War, I decided to tell my colleagues just how much the action meant to me.
Here is what I wrote to them:
Dear friends,
From the best place in my heart I thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to witness to the truth and beauty of the Gospel - although I know many of you would not see it in quite that way!
I am so honored and blessed that you trusted me enough to let me be your support person even though I had no experience (other than being in jail). I hope I've earned the right to be so again. I've attached the final version of the support form for your use at another action. (Note: The phone numbers for the GLBT are local to the DC area only.) The forms will be shredded today.
I always consider my time speaking truth to power as a form of worship and I half joke about being arrested as the "sacrament of the handcuffs" - but it is truly only a half joke. I really do see it as a sacrament and an important, if not essential, part of claiming Christ.
I am already looking forward to my next worship service with all of you! What are we doing next?
All blessings,
Linda
And here are three responses I got back:
- I want to say I am a humanist who believes in no god and that all we need to know about how to treat each other and live good, moral lives we already know within ourselves without needing any religion or doctrine to tell us. I usually don't say anything about this on our group listserve and
leave religious comments within our community alone, but I feel the need to do so here. I too look forward to a saner world without religion. John Lennon imagined it and so do I. I would very much prefer to leave religious references out of our future listserve discussions so that no one is
offended - could we please agree to do this?
Respectfully and with love – Maria
- I think yesterday's actions were great, and yes, they did not come from God -- they came from us. However, I personally believe that a bit of "Godliness" is in fact inside all of us. But I would like to support my friends who feel uncomfortable with religion-based language in our planning discussions. Perhaps they are better in one to one personal conversations, or not.
- I agree with Maria that we should be respectful of all by leaving religious references out of our general conversations.
To be perfectly honest with you my first thought was: “Bite me. I'm outta here.” But that struck me as somewhat than Christian and not quite in the realm of peacemaking so I decided to construct a thoughtful and loving response, one that would promote the peace that I truly do want to see for each of us.
Here is my response to those responses:
Dear friends,
I cannot begin to describe to you how deeply hurt I am by your remarks. I am absolutely devastated.
If I had been proselytizing or denigrating anyone because s/he does not think the same as I do, or trying to goad someone into a religious discussion, or not recognizing that there is a difference of opinion (which I clearly did and quite intentionally), you'd have a bone to pick with me. I did none of those things.
In fact I did nothing more than what Michele (another member of our group) did in her e-mail to the group; sharing what the day meant to me and my personal and internal experience of the action and the time spent with all of you. The only difference is that my description contained words associated with religion, and more specifically, Christianity.
If I had used language that reflected Buddhist, Native American, or a Wicken or Pagan spirituality I'm betting no one would have said anything.
Unlike others I am not looking forward to a day when everyone thinks the same way or thinks the way I do. I am looking forward to the day when we can welcome and use our collective differences and diversity to achieve peace. I look forward to people embracing Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Pagan and even Atheist (and everything in between), learning from each one and building a world that each one of us will be proud of and that includes God, the creator, the higher power, or whatever.
I believe that to expect such a thing is in itself a form of violence because it seeks to deny people their heritage, their history, their choice in how they define themselves and how they find their inner peace and how they work for outer peace (I also wanted to add conceited and arrogant but remembered something about discretion being the better part of something or other ...).
And I know that action “did not come from God – it came from us”. That was just an insult. The point is that some of us got there because of God.
It is worth noting that according to Jim Wallace in his book, “God's Politics”, many “religious” people, and he means Christian and Jew, voted for George Bush not because they were particularly enamored by his policies but because they felt disabused, denigrated and dismissed by the left. There was simply no room for them or their values and no one wanted to make a place for them. I have had many, many people thank me for witnessing with my signs that connect peace and non-violence with the teachings of Christ. They thank me for my courage and tell me that I have inspired them to speak out. You would have more people and support if religious motivations were accepted, allowed to be authentic by being voiced.
It is also worth noting that all of the major social justice movements of at least the last 150 years had their beginnings and basis in the faith communities. Everything from child labor laws and abolition to women's rights and civil rights and the peace movement.
Imagine for a moment if Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi or the Berrigan brothers had been told not to use religious language in their discussions with their civil disobedience or resistance action groups. If they were told not to be authentic and had heeded that admonition, we would not have them as role models today.
There simply is no respectful or loving way to tell someone not to be authentic, no matter how softly or gently it is said. It is like tying to kiss your elbow, it cannot be done.
Fr. Bill Prichard, with whom some of us were on trial this past summer, told me about a quote he had heard recently from Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who said that he'd never seen things so bad: “All we have now is the Eucharist and each other” - meaning that all we have is whatever connects us to what is larger than ourselves, our collective humanness and each other.
I've just lost the “each other” part because if you are not welcome to be authentic, you are not welcome.
Pace e Bene,
Linda
Upon reflection I realized that Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and one of the spiritual founders of the peace movement of the 60's, had the opposite problem. He was told to take the peace language out of his religious writings.
I'm glad I don't have to make this stuff up – I'm just not that creative. Saved by reality.
So dear reader, I've put in a call to Sojourners magazine, which looks at politics and culture through a progressive Christian faith, to ask if we can form a national action group that includes people from both the faith and non-faith communities. You can find out more about Sojourner at www.sojo.net.
If you are interested in joining me, please let me know. I'd most grateful hear from you.
Maybe it's just a nicer way of saying, “Bite me. I'm outta here.”
