“What is THE Question?”
Lee Richards
Feb. 26, 2012
I have heard it said quite frequently that the purpose of Unitarian Universalism is not to give people answers, but to help them become comfortable with the questions. I disagree. Of course, I would not accept any answers given me without first weighing them in my heart and mind to determine their “rightness,” for me. But to say there are no answers, or to imply it is not worthwhile to seek out answers, seems a cop-out. Yes, some potential answers may need to be taken with a grain of salt or on faith, but a little faith now and then is probably a good thing. And some answers may seem perfectly legitimate now, but inadequate later under new circumstances or with the discovery of new knowledge. That’s OK, too.
Yes, UUs are more likely to have questions than have answers. Or we may even have a multitude of answers because of all the reading and talking we do. But what caught my attention in this whole concept was the notion that there may be just one single question which is more important than all the others. One single question which matters more than all the others. Maybe there is one question which, if we can determine the answer, will be the key to unlocking the answers to all the other questions. And this is how the search for THE perfect question began.
What is THE question? And could we, as diverse UUs, agree on any one question?
Some questions seem to arise over and over. When I work as a hospital chaplain I frequently hear, “Why did this happen?’ or “Why did God allow this to happen?” For the patient in distress (or the patient’s family) there was no more important question than, “Why?” “Why is the universe the way it is?” “Why isn’t life fair, or just?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why, if God loves us, would God allow us to be in such physical or emotional pain?”
I must tell you that as a chaplain when these questions arise I feel woefully inadequate to reply. I want to respond by asking, “Who told you life should be fair?” but that question would come across as disrespectful and not ease their pain. I have often rationalized for myself that if we did not experience any pain in our lives then we would not be able to appreciate joy or good health; to appreciate life one must comprehend it is finite and limited by death. “Why did this happen?” “Why should it have not?”
Upon one’s death bed — when we realize that there is no more story to be written — the questions are often, “Did I live well?” or “Did I make a difference?” THE question that matters most becomes some form of: “Was my life worthwhile, or memorable?” “What is my legacy?” “For what will I be remembered?” As a minister giving a eulogy, it is my job to try and answer those questions. The story I tell of a person’s life — years captured in a few short minutes — will, I hope, portray a life worth remembering. It may surprise you, but I do believe that everyone makes a difference — no matter how brief or lengthy their life. We usually have no clue who we impact, or in what way, but I know our lives affect others and cause change. In other words, the answer is we all make a difference.
Perhaps, then, THE fundamental question is, “What does it mean to live well?” Most religion and theology is about answering that question. “How do I comport myself so the impact I have — the difference I make — is positive? Obey the ten commandments? Follow the way? Live the seven principles? Observe the eight-fold path?” In answering the question, “What does it mean to live well?” I have yet to discover an honest answer that does not involve attending to others. Living well is not about oneself, being content or in good health, but it is about relating to the larger world. Living well is answering the question, “How will I be in relationship to my neighbor?” All the great religions respond to that question with a simple answer, Love.
Indeed, Jack Kornfield says that the last great question we ask ourselves as we die should be, “Did I love well?” And while I suspect you are contemplating your answer to this right now by thinking of people you have known, I ask you to consider the question in terms of yourself, as well. “Did I love well?” is also about loving, caring for, and forgiving yourself. “Did I love myself?” “Did I love well?”
Now this is one way of rephrasing the most commonly heard question, which is, “What is the meaning of my life?” Discovering the meaning of life is what drives most of us toward exploring philosophy or theology, and it is what breathes life and energy into those disciplines. Discovering the meaning of life sends scientists searching our universe at the micro and macro levels for an answer. Describing the meaning of life is what our artists and poets and songwriters attempt to convey.
Of course, the question “What is the meaning of my life?” makes a major assumption. That question assumes one has already answered “yes” to the question: “Does human life have meaning?” For some folks THE basic question is, “Is there meaning?” Asking, “Does life have meaning?” is like asking, “Why should life be fair?” If life, if our very existence, is merely a consequence of random evolutionary accidents of colliding molecules forming replicating and mutating DNA and happening over several billion years’ time, then does life have any meaning? If basic life is without meaning, then who are we to ascribe meaning to it?
If one takes the stand that life does not have meaning, then maybe THE question is, “Why are we here?” or “Why care? Why bother?” A character in one of Alice Walker’s novels says that THE question is, “Why are the children crying?” Why would we be moved to tears if life did not have meaning? Does not the experience of grief prove that life has meaning? And should we presume that we are the only species to feel grief? Thich Nhat Han says THE question is, “How does the earth feel?” Perhaps in our self-centeredness, we aren’t asking the right questions.
Rather than asking what is the meaning of life, maybe we should ask, “What is my purpose?” What am I to do? How can I help? Who is in need of me? Asking “What is my purpose?” often brings us back to the question, “How will I be to my neighbor?” Yet if you take this approach, you must answer another question which is perhaps even more pressing, “Who is my neighbor?” How you define your neighbor will define both your need to relate, and how you will relate.
I’ve heard one lament that THE most important question following 9-11 is, “Why is it so hard for human beings to understand the reality of pain and the value of kindness?” Or “Why do we fail to anticipate the consequences of our actions?” “Do we learn nothing from history?” Maybe THE question is, “Why do we deny our imperfect humanity?” “Why can’t we accept peace?”
Yet maybe the question that should precede “Who is my neighbor” is “Who am I?” This has been a fundamental question for ages. It comes out of a sense of wonder about the basis of all nature. Questions like “What is true?,” “What is real?” or “Is reality really real, or are we just a dream in God’s mind?” have attempted to define how the universe works, and our place within it. Descartes answered with, “I think, therefore I am.” As questioning UUs, maybe our mantra is closer to “I doubt, therefore I may be.”
In some churches, THE most important question is, “Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?” In other churches, THE question seems to be, “How great is your commitment; how large is your pledge?”
I will admit that immediate circumstances often define what is THE most important question. A few good examples are, “Which way to the bathroom?” “Do you have a valid ID?” “Did you bring a condom?” “Is that smoke I smell coming from the kitchen?” “Did you get the number of that hit-and-run car?” “Do you take (blank) to be your lawfully wedded spouse?” Less seriously, yet perhaps still important, are questions like, “Plastic or paper?” or “Would you like fries with that?”
And just as some questions are more important than others, so can be some answers. “The check is in the mail.” “That ink blot looks like a bunny.” “The car keys are right where you left them.” “True.” “False.” “I do.” “Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.”
While there are many answers floating around to many questions, I guess one has to be careful to match up the correct answer to the right question. Juxtaposing a True for a False, a Yes for a No, could have dire results in certain situations.
Searching for THE question which matters most has occupied humanity for millennia. Phythagorus tried and couldn’t do it. He settled for three questions: “In what have I failed?” “What good have I done?” “What ought I to have done?” Of the three, I actually don’t think identifying the failures is all that important, or even listing the accomplishments. But asking, “What have I not done that I should have done?” is a marvelous question for both hindsight and foresight. If we really can learn from history — or at least from our personal history — then questioning what I should have done helps to answer what I yet should do.
For myself, I have not found that one, ultimate question which places all the others into proper perspective. Nor have I found one answer that unlocks the answers to all the others. There are many candidates for THE question, as you can see. “What is the meaning of life?” “Does life have meaning?” “Who is my neighbor?” “Who am I?” “Why is the universe the way it is? “Why isn’t life fair, or just?” “Did I make a difference?” “Did I love well?” “Why are the children crying?” “Is reality really real?” “What is my purpose?” “Why do we deny our imperfect humanity?” “Why can’t we accept peace?” “What ought I to have done?”
Maybe the answer to the question, “What is THE question?” is “WHAT is THE question?”
In any event, I do not pretend to know THE ultimate question, but I have it on good galactic authority, that THE ANSWER — and you’re not going to like the answer — is 42. “So long, and thanks for the fish.” ( a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
“Sex and Spirituality”
Lee Richards
Jan. 22, 2012
So, the topic du jour is sex and spirituality. Now you might think this was a fun topic to research. And you’d be right. Except, of course, it was limited to either the written word, or movies, or music. No real “hands-on” kind of investigation like Kinsey. Instead, I relied on what others had fleshed out to come to my own conclusions.
I’ll begin with Barbara Silkstone who offered some insight in her book titled “The Adventures of a Love Investigator, 527 Naked Men & One Woman.” A quote from the book sounded as though it might have some truth: “Every relationship is in your mind.” How we feel about our interaction with another person – or more accurately – how we think about that interaction IS the relationship. I love you, I like you, I tolerate you, I hate you, I crave you… are all in the mind. In really good relationships the feelings are mutual, or at least similar, which is to say the relationship envisioned in the mind of the other is close to your own.
But I lifted up this quote because I feel it is about more than how two people interact. The idea that “every relationship is in your mind” can also refer to our relationship to pets and other animals, to nature and the planet, and even to God. I think this goes right to the crux of what ancient mystics struggled with about our place in the grand scheme of things. “Every relationship is in your mind” leaves out the feelings or thoughts of the other, even if the other is God. How do we know what God thinks or feels about us, about God’s relationship to us? Even if one chants “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so” is that really good enough? Can you be sure the bible got it right? Do you have concrete evidence that Jesus loves you, or is that relationship a construct in your mind, perhaps even wishful thinking?
So, too, is sexuality a construct of the mind. How we think about ourselves – about our bodies, about our personalities, about they way we present to the world – is very much in our minds. As an extreme example, consider an anorexic teenager whose skin is so taught as to define every rib and yet she believes she is still overweight. At the other end of the scale, a handsome man or beautiful woman may not perceive themselves as sexy eye candy. “Every relationship is in your mind” – even your relationship to yourself.
Now, obviously, a good deal of what we think about ourselves – about our sexuality – starts with our physical anatomy – what we have between our legs when we’re born. For most of us, the genitalia and the associated hormones go a long ways toward defining who we are – both to ourselves, and to the world at large. Of course, there are some who feel that nature got it wrong – that they are trapped inside a body of the wrong gender – but most of us accept our physicality and the societal concepts of our gender and proceed to make the best what we’re given to work with.
Insert Tab A into Slot B. Basic instructions for the mechanics of sex. Anyone having trouble can find plenty of manuals or instructional videos to improve or refine the process. Every issue of the AARP newsletter has at least one full-page ad saying, “Sex. It’s never too late to learn something new.” And what a bargain! 50% off on three BetterSex DVDs, plus three more free DVDs! Produced by an Institute so you KNOW it must be good information. And their tagline, or motto? “Better Relationships, Better Sex.”
Now consider that company’s slogan – what they are really selling is a method for improving your relationship with your partner, and if successful, it will follow that engaging in sex will then be better. See, there it is again. “Every relationship is in your mind” and this Institute wants you to buy their secret for altering the way you think about your relationship – delivered to your door for a mere $35.90.
See? Sex sells. We are surrounded by sexualized messages all day long. Advertising agencies claim the average American sees or hears 1000 to 3000 ads per day. All of them deliberately intend to mess with your mind, to make you want a relationship with the product or service being offered, and if the message can incorporate sex then it is much more likely to break through your high-level cognitive resistance barriers and grab a hold of your more base reptilian brain to spark the urge, the desire, the want. Like the cartoon on the cover of your program today, the basic instinct to reproduce is so primal that if an advert can tap into it then a response is almost guaranteed.
When the Kinsey Institute issued their two books on human sexuality in 1947 and 1953, they reported that 54% of men think about sex every day, or several times a day, compared to only 19% of women. But that study was done 65 years ago, when TV was in its infancy, before the internet, before the electronic age that blasts us with sexual messages left and right. How could anyone today, male or female, capable of breathing, go through an entire day without thinking about sex at least once?
Andrew Cohen in EnlightenNext magazine poses the question, “Is sex more important than God?” I think it’s a fair question because it appears we spend way more time thinking about sex than we do about our relationship to God, or Nature, or the Spirit of Life, or whatever that greater source of energy is that exists outside ourselves. We are not bombarded by religious messages in the same proportion as sexual messages, so maybe we have made sex more important than God.
Or maybe we haven’t, but those who steer the media think so. Maybe we are the same spiritual beings – religious beings – we’ve always been but the ad agencies and media moguls foist sex at us instead. I think it’s because sex is simpler. We all seem hardwired to want it, and there’s not a whole lot of variation in expression of sex whereas people’s ideas about God or religion or spirituality can vary widely. Designing a message to sell cars using God would be much more difficult than creating one that appeals to our sensual selves.
Perhaps the message couched in sex is easier, more basic, but I think our spirituality is also a basic aspect of our beings. We yearn for connection beyond ourselves, and even beyond our partners. Some of us have found that the climax of the sex act results in an ecstasy that moves us in a way which can only be described as spiritual. Deepak Chopra speaks to this when he says, “Sex is a means of escaping our little self or ego.” That process begins when we engage in sex and put our partner’s needs before our own. Bringing pleasure to another is a wonderful gift, and especially so if we feel love and attachment toward our partner. I’d say pleasuring another is a gift that comes from your spirit.
And isn’t spirituality about feeding your spirit? “Every relationship is in your mind” and your relationship to all around you is what you make of it, how you think about it, how you feel about it. When we give of ourselves – whether through sex or through charitable actions – we get something in return – we feed our own spirit – our own humanity – with the good feeling of altruism.
And yet, there is a darker side I’m sorry to say. When “Every relationship is in your mind” what happens when you lose your mind? You lose your relationships. There was a time when humans lived only long enough to reproduce and rear their young – their children – to the teen years. Now, as human beings live longer and longer parts of our bodies start to deteriorate before others and tragically for many, it is the mind that slips away before the shell of the body. We used to call it senility, now it’s usually labelled dementia or Alzheimer’s – whatever the name it still means a loss of relationship. Parents no longer recognize the children they raised or friends they grew up with. As they lose their memory they lose the connections – the relationships – that helped define their lives. And we lose them, their response to us. It’s a loss that darkens the spirit as their inner light journeys toward eternal rest.
Unitarian Universalism has a reputation for being a sex-positive religion. We talk about it openly, offer programs of sex education to our children and adults of every age, and promote a healthy attitude toward this aspect of our humanity. Like Julia Sweeney in the video earlier, we’re not afraid to have “The Talk.” And all that is a good thing but I hope I’ve shown that it is only a small piece of the larger complex puzzle that makes us both human and spiritual beings. Because it’s not just about the sex, not just about how we feel about our bodies or our performance in bed, it’s about the relationships we nurture in our minds. Our spirituality ultimately rests with how we think and feel about the world around us. We eat. We survive. We reproduce. And the answer to the question “What’s it all about?” is “We relate.” Let’s commit to doing it well.
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“Love Wins”
Lee Richards, at Cobblestone Church
June 26, 2011
My son was raised as a Unitarian Universalist. Like any good UU parent I allowed him to explore, to seek his own spiritual path. As a teenager he was stirred by the rock band services at an Assembly of God church. In college he found the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community of Pittsburgh to his liking, sort of a blended church between Presbyterian and Methodist. Now, as he prepares to go off to India for six months of missionary work, it is the teachings of Rob Bell that inspire him. So who is this Rob Bell guy, and why does his message speak louder than the UUism my son was raised in?
To start, it should be noted the influence that Pastor Bell has goes far beyond just my son. Indeed, Time Magazine named him one of 2011’s most influential people in the world! In February 1999, Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church, with the church originally meeting in a school gym in Wyoming, Michigan. As of March 2011, Sunday attendance at his services numbers between 8,000 and 10,000.
Yet that’s still only a small piece of it. Bell is the featured speaker in NOOMA – a series of short films that explore our world from the perspective of Jesus. These have very high production values and are very successfully aimed at young adults. Plus, Bell is a best selling book author, with titles like Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, and Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality, and Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. He’s done several speaking tours across North America and the United Kingdom. He’s even made several CDs of music, in a style he calls “Northern Gospel.” Rob Bell is prolific, and his message is coming at folks from all angles – not just from the pulpit, but from radio stations, YouTube, newsstands, and most of all, from word-of-mouth as those he inspires share the good news with others.
So right about now you’re probably wondering if we should be creeped out by this evangilist’s charisma, wondering if he will steal our children away from us, and send them down a path of feel-good Jesus religion with sex-is-okay attitudes and starry-eyed staring youth that beam love at everyone around them. Well before you get too riled up, let me assuage some of your concerns by pointing out that Rob Bell is just a 21st century version of our Universalist itinerant preachers who traveled the rural areas and established churches wherever their message was heard. You might think of him as akin to John Murray, Hosea Ballou, or Olympia Brown – each finding a way to spread their message with the tools available to them in their time.
And it IS a Universalist message. John Murray said “You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not Hell, but hope and courage. Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.” Today, we often shorten the quote to just four words – “Not Hell, but Hope.” Rob Bell has taken it even further, expressing the same concept in only two words – “Love Wins.”
With just those two words – Love Wins – he throws hell out the window and offers the hope and courage our youth yearn for in a world that seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. He shines a light upon their own power – he empowers them – to believe that they can make a difference in this world, to defeat those who are creating our living hell and bring heaven to the here and now. In Bell’s theology, heaven and hell exist right here, right now, and we get to choose which world view we’ll occupy. As you’ve heard me say many times before – it is not the physical event or action or statement that matters as much as how we think about it – how we FEEL about it. Whether something is considered to be good or bad – heaven or hell – is in the eyes of the beholder, in the mind of the labeler, in the power of the heart — and Bell speaks to the ones who feel disempowered to show them the way out of their despair.
Bell does do some labeling. He says it is wrong for religions to focus on the next world, on the next life, to establish rules and commandments, and make hoops to jump through in this life so that one must pray to be among the elect few who will be free of suffering in the next. Bell recognizes that people are suffering now, and shows them a hopeful vision of a God who wants to bring everyone to know and experience love. Bell says everyone is saved, there is no eternal damnation, no infinite suffering, no burning in hell for all eternity. And this Hope he offers is not limited to the next life, but is available right now.
Like any good preacher, Bell uses stories to bring his messages home to the listeners. Jesus did the same, so did Hosea Ballou. Consider this anecdote that could just as easily be a story told by Bell…
Ballou was riding the circuit when he stopped for the night at a New England farmhouse. The farmer was upset. He confided to Ballou that his son was a terror who got drunk in the village every night and who fooled around with women. The farmer was afraid the son would go to hell. “All right,” said Ballou with a serious face. “I’ll find a place on the path where your son will be coming home drunk, and we’ll build a big fire, and when he comes home, we’ll grab him and throw him into it.” The farmer was shocked: “That’s my son and I love him!” Ballou said, “If you, a human and imperfect father, love your son so much that you wouldn’t throw him in the fire, then how can you possibly believe that God, the perfect father, would do so!”
Any parent would grasp the significance of this immediately – that God’s love is too great to allow eternal damnation and suffering – and that’s precisely why Universalism grew to the extent it did in the 1800s. And its why, once again, recast in more modern stories, spread through more modern media, Universalism is growing again. It is perhaps a testament to us that our message still appeals, still resonates, still inspires hope. It is our message, but Rob Bell is not our messenger.
We meet here in this beautiful historic cobblestone church that’s over a 175 years old, or in our almost 120 year old edifice in Albion, and feel the intense power of a message of love and hope that has sustained and uplifted multiple generations through all those years.
And I have to wonder where I went wrong. Why did my son leave his UU upbringing to follow a different messenger offering the same message? Are we too staid, still doing what we’ve always done, offering a worship experience that’s the same today as 50 or a 100 years ago? Are we not hip enough, flashy enough, 21st century enough to be taken seriously by the youth and young adults of the post-millennium? Have we clung so much to our history that we’ve stopped looking to our future, and failed to live vitally in our present? Is it because we stopped talking about God and Jesus so much, stopped telling people that heaven is home for everybody, everywhere, every time? How do we tell our story – make our history relevant – for our young people today?
At this point in composing my sermon I decided to go straight to the source and asked my son about his spiritual journey. Here is what he said…
“A really simple answer to how I got to Rob Bell’s theology is that he talks about now. Most Christian writers/preachers are way too concerned with Heaven and Hell. I don’t think that that matters nearly as much as what we are doing right now. I don’t care if someone thinks I am going to go to Heaven or Hell, I really don’t care at all. That matters 0% to me. All that matters in this world is loving people. If someone says that that will send me to Hell, then I don’t care about their opinion, and same with if someone says that that will send me to Heaven. My goal is not to reach Heaven or Hell, it is to do as much good as possible, and I will end up wherever I end up. Worrying all the time about if I am going to get to Heaven or Hell is going to waste my time. That is what I like about Rob Bell, he writes/preaches about this world, he (to my knowledge) is not concerned with if you do this you will go to heaven, if you do this you will go to hell.”
We hear that what young folk are seeking in a church is Hope, and Hospitality, and Relevance. Bell has shown that our universalist message provides that hope, and he’s found a way of delivering the message so that it seems relevant to the generation born after 1980. He speaks of resurrection as more than Jesus on the cross, but a resurrection of the environment, of common people, of flora and fauna. He gives them hope, and then gives them a mission – saying it’s not so much what you believe that matters, but what you do. Good works will result in a better world, result in creating heaven on earth. He says you don’t have to accept Jesus as your personal Savior, or have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to be saved. But if you act with love toward others, toward our planet and its resources, then by saving others you will discover the loving God.
One thing Bell says which resonates with me is the idea that Love is not really love unless it is a choice. No one can be coerced into loving God – you cannot love God because you fear punishment if you don’t. That is not true love. Love beckons, love welcomes, love does not force. I believe this true – not only in speaking about God but also in our relationships with others. I must choose to love, to love my neighbor, to love my enemy, to love myself. And of course, it’s not always easy. We might disagree about politics or how to raise a child or where to invest money or any number of things, but if we are to create heaven on earth, if we are to save this world from destruction for our children and grandchildren, then we must accept the challenge to see beyond our differences and choose to love each other.
Rob Bell concludes his book with these words, “Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, and love is why he continues to come, year after year to person after person…May you experience this vast, expansive infinite, indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about. And may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.”
I could end there, but instead I think I’ll quote Corinthians: “Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.”
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“Privatization as a Religious Concern”
Lee Richards
May 22, 2011
Most of you know this but it’s worth repeating… the common phrase “Money is the root of all evil” is a misquote, and untrue. Rather, “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil” rings much truer. Today we’ll explore what the LOVE of money has wrought.
To begin, there are more millionaires and billionaires in this country – and in the world – than have ever existed before. Even in the difficult, global financial crisis of the past three years, the number of people moving into the top 1 percentile has grown. Is it because there is just more wealth to be had and accumulated? No. The world is not generating greater wealth, but the wealth that exists is being redistributed – moved about – and at a great cost to the majority.
Quite simply, the rich are getting richer and the poor (and middle class) are getting poorer. Speaking for myself, I must say that for a few to gain at the expense of the many doesn’t sit right with my Unitarian Universalist social justice values.
A few figures… The richest ten percent of Americans control two-thirds of America’s wealth. The average annual income for a family in the bottom 90% is $31,000. For the top 10% is $165,000. For just the top 1% it is over 1 million dollars. These figures are shown below along with a chart showing how the increase at the top 1% has been financed by the bottom 80%.
Now I am not against rewarding those who earn their rewards. If someone invents a better widget, or a better way of delivering widgets, then they should duly compensated. But is that the explanation for this shift in wealth or is there something else going on besides a small number of people handling their finances for growth better than the majority of us? Of course there is, and in fact, a lot has transpired to cause this shift.
There are actually dozens of ways that money gets “transferred” from one group of workers to another. And mostly it is legal, though that doesn’t necessarily make it right. Here are few of the techniques, in no particular order…
Tax breaks and tax loopholes. Between the end of World War Two and 1980, the top tax bracket for people with significant earnings remained over 70 percent – and even after deductions and credits they still paid well over 50 percent of their income in taxes. Now the highest tax bracket is down to 36 percent. Capital gains income was taxed at 35% as late as the 1980s, now the rate is 15 percent.
“Not only are rates lower now, but loopholes are bigger. 18,000 households earning more than a half-million dollars last year paid no income taxes at all. In recent years, according to the IRS, the richest 400 Americans have paid only 18 percent of their total incomes in federal income taxes. Billionaire hedge-fund and private-equity managers are allowed to treat much of their incomes as capital gains (again, at 15 percent).”
Tax breaks allow those who are capable of using them to keep a larger portion of their earnings for themselves, but at a cost to society by creating shortfalls in the funding available for federal and state government programs. At the same time, the tax burden on the lower classes rises to offset the loss in tax revenue.
Another mechanism that moves money around is what is often referred to as “Corporate Welfare.” The Cato Institute defines corporate welfare as any government spending program that provides unique benefits or advantages to specific companies or industries. That includes programs that provide direct grants to businesses, programs that provide research and other services for industries, and programs that provide subsidized loans or insurance to companies.
By this definition, the Institute found that the U.S. federal government spent $92 billion on corporate welfare during fiscal year 2006. Among the many recipients were General Electric, Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, and Dow Chemical. According to the Cato Institute there are more than 100 corporate subsidy programs in the federal budget. And many of these corps had record profits and really don’t need any government subsidies. This is clearly a redistribution of wealth from taxpayers in general to the corporations.
Do you know the history of corporations? Two hundred years ago there were very few, and they required a special act of of approval by the government to be formed, and to be approved required showing that creation of the new entity would be a benefit to society. Today, almost anyone can form a corporation with a few hundred dollars on an Internet site, and our laws now require the officers to run the business for profit. Indeed, if they do not, the officers can be held responsible for fiscal mismanagement. It is only permitted for the actions of a corporation to benefit society if doing so does not negatively affect the profit bottom-line.
Another way money has been moved from one sector to another is through government bailouts. In an effort to keep various banks and companies afloat after making bad investments, the government stepped in with 700 billion dollars. Where’d it go? Well, $10 billion went to Morgan Stanley – and they turned around and handed out $6.44 billion in bonuses. Goldman Sachs got $10 billion and paid out $6.85 billion in bonuses. Remember I said that folks on the lower rung pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes – and that tax money is then being given back out in bonuses, and worse, to people who likely don’t deserve to be rewarded for their business behavior. That $700 billion bailout constitutes a huge transfer of taxpayer money to some of the wealthiest Americans.
Of course, there are many other mechanisms of wealth redistribution but at some point I know your eyes will glaze over if I keep on like this. So let me focus in on one that will feel closer to home than the dealings of Wall Street. Privatization.
It’s like this, we expect our governments to provide certain basic services, but if taxes do not produce enough revenue to fund these services, then the private sector is ready and willing to pick up the slack so long as there is a profit to be made. Our armed forces are supplemented by private mercenaries, aka Blackwater – now known as Xi Services LLC – a limited liability company! Our returning veterans are welcome to apply, and if not with Xi, then with other contractors who work as border patrol, or in privately run immigration detention centers, or one of the 264 private correctional facilities – prisons – in our country.
Public schools are struggling, so rather than fix the problems, people figured out there was money to be made in creating charter schools. State and federal highways are being privatized, along with bridges, seaports, and airports. Even workers in the federal government face being replaced by private employees – it was Bush’s stated goal to replace half of all federal employees. Makes me wonder if he had stock in Kelly Temps?
Plant and animal DNA is being privatized because there is money to be made but only if genes are patented and “owned.” Water – perhaps the most important element and resource on the planet – is also being privatized, and at an alarming rate. If you consider that 2 billion people live in water-starved regions of the planet, and that every 8 seconds a child dies from drinking dirty water, you’ll begin to see why controlling the water can be so profitable.
And, of course, there is privatization of health care facilities, such as nursing homes. Time was, we looked to our governments to protect and care for those who could not readily care for themselves. From young children in orphanages, to the mentally handicapped or disabled, to our elderly and infirm. It was part of our social contract – something we could be very proud about in our democratic society. While nobody really enjoys paying taxes, we understand that the public good requires public solutions. We expect a fire department or police officer to be equipped and ready to respond on a moment’s notice to help in a crisis. We expect the roads to be passable in winter, the schools to teach anyone who enters the door – in short – we expect a working infrastructure that only government can provide.
I’m sure some will be quick to argue about government inefficiency, and graft, and corruption. But these negatives are not unique to public institutions – they occur in private businesses as well. The difference is oversight and accountability – a public eye that can help keep things working on the straight and narrow by answering to public scrutiny and the vote of the electorate – all of which is absent from the privately-held and run business.
You see, the drive behind privatization is profit. No one would want the headache of running a large nursing home if there wasn’t money to be made. The largest company in the U.S. doing this is HCR ManorCare – which manages over 500 facilities. HCR ManorCare has been so successful in creating a profit that they caught the attention of, and were bought out by, the Carlyle Group in 2007. How might one make a profit with a nursing home? – perhaps by raising prices and/or reducing costs. Reducing costs might be accomplished by paying lower wages and decreasing employee benefits, using fewer employees, providing lower quality meals – all things that would result in decreasing the level of care.
So let’s put all of this into perspective… There is a massive redistribution of wealth from the bottom up that has been occurring over the past 30 years. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy, but how you get there matters. In a fair and free society getting rich does not cause anyone else’s impoverishment. This is where the religious aspect comes into play.
You’ve been discussing our UU values with Susan Daiss over the past couple months. You’ve thought about what it means when we say that we affirm “justice, equity and compassion in human relations.” No one is saying that life must be fair, and for sure, many times things will happen in life that don’t seem fair. But if we are to live into our professed values, then we will see to it that everyone has a chance to live a life without distress. That basic needs will be met. That opportunities for advancement beyond just the basics will be made available. That every person will be treated with dignity, regardless of age, race, gender, or ability.
Therefore, if some redistribution to the poor is needed, it is entirely justified. Two billion people in the world today live on less than $2 a day, if you can call it living. And yet, worldwide, there are 937 billionaires. Really, is there not enough to go around?!
And really, even if we are not billionaires, or millionaires, is it not part of our social contract to ensure that we make our legislators understand the will of the people is to not put a price tag on the value of life.
Attending church, Free.
Paying your taxes, XX number of dollars.
Knowing you will have a convenient and safe nursing home available to live out the end of your days, Priceless.
“Super Powers”
Lee Richards
May 1, 2011
What would it be like to have super powers? To be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, run faster than a speeding train, stop a bullet, shoot fire from your eyes, fly in the sky, or turn invisible? Haven’t you ever daydreamed about being more than you are? Been intrigued by the idea of being able to travel through time and space like Doctor Who, or stomp cities into oblivion like Godzilla? Maybe to shape-shift – change your body into some other animal or object? Perhaps have a Midas touch so everything turns to gold, or platinum, or silver?
Such desires start at an early age. Of course, our culture is keen to indoctrinate our youth with all sorts of super, or supernatural, beings – whether they be Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Transformers, or Superman, or Wonder Woman. We love to tell stories about beings with super powers, and always have. Take a quick look at history…
The Phoenix bird rises from the ashes. The Minataur guards the labyrinth from which no mere human can escape. Hercules has superior physical strength with which to slay fire-breathing dragons. Pegasus and angels fly high above us, while demons lurk below us. Let the genie out of the bottle and get three wishes, but let Pandora out of her box and all hell breaks loose! The song of a mermaid might lure to your death, the look of Medusa turn you stone, a vampire will suck out your life-blood. More recently, we have the Incredible Hulk, X-men (and women), and a whole slew of Alien beings, from Mars, from infinity and beyond!
Yet, beyond the imaginary are the REAL beings to whom we are wont to ascribe super powers. The firemen who put their lives on the line to save others, the quarterbacks who can lob a ball into a receiver’s sweet spot time after time, doctors who extend lives with surgery or miracle drugs, and of course, the voices that can inspire others to action and change – like Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Theresa, and Mahatma Gandhi.
We like our heroes, and we want to believe they are expressions of humanity’s best nature – quite literally super, or superior, beings. In fact, we like heroes so much that we often turn a blind eye to their flaws. We don’t want to consider that a being with super powers can make mistakes, or have an Achilles heel, yet just like real life, reality is not all black and white, either/or, right or wrong. With great power comes great responsibility, but even those with great wisdom don’t always choose wisely.
In the earliest days of our species, being able to harness fire to heat a cave and cook meat was a history-altering super power – something humans had but not other animals. Later, we learned to use that fire to transform iron into tools and weapons. More recently, we harnessed the fire of nuclear reactions for both good and destructive forces, although our control of this super power is obviously still in its infancy.
I believe science is a real super power when you look at how much has changed over the centuries. From being able to examine other planetary worlds close-up-and-personal, to magnetic imaging inside a living being, to peering inside a strand of DNA – we are coming to better understand our place in the universe. Science has helped us live longer through better foods, safer transportation, better medicines, and the ability to communicate knowledge across continents in just seconds of time. It is science that gave us the power to resurrect the dead – from heart attacks or accidental drownings, or to redefine what death really is. And hopefully, science will help lead us back from the brink of self-destruction from global warming, pollution, and other ills of our techno-dependent society.
If you consider science or knowledge to be super powers, how do you feel about money or wealth? The U.S. currently has over 400 billionaires – people who have accumulated all the cookies, so to speak. Does acquiring great financial resources mean that there people have super powers compared to the rest of us? Is wealth only measured in monetary means, or can one have wealth without having two nickels to rub together? Maybe the superior being is the one who appreciates a simple life for what it is, rather than building a treasure that, after all, you cannot take with you in the end. Who might know the greater wealth – Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond, or Donald Trump at his Palm Beach mansion?
Our bodies have super powers, do they not? Consider that a human heart can beat over two and half trillion times in a 70 year lifespan. Our skin can be deeply burned, or ripped and slashed wide open and yet it will self repair. We are equipped with stereo color vision, can learn to read and speak multiple languages, detect up to 10,000 different odors, and adapt and refine the remaining senses when one is lost through accident or disease. I think our bodies hold astonishing super powers.
Knowledge, or at least the access to it, may be one of the greatest super powers. We support the concept of public education because we believe our children – everybody’s children – need to be able to read and write, to know their history, acquire problem-solving skills, and learn how to work and play together with others. The internet has become a fantastic resource for knowledge – as well as misinformation – but our youth need to develop their own mental powers in order to use it well.
Is charisma a super power? That certain “Je ne sais quois” that most people seem to lack so we marvel when we encounter those who do have it. Charisma can be used to inspire others to action in good ways, but it can also deceive, as in the case of Adolf Hitler. This small man presented as having superior power, and so others surrendered their power of self-will to his control. We must never forget that super powers can be used as a force for evil as well as good.
Yes, there is a power that arises in group situations that may be good, or evil, and that power can lure others to the group’s cause – whether Nazism or Ku Klux Klan, or maybe more benignly – Scientology. But the power of a group of protesters marching for justice can also turn minds to the side of greater good – be it for civil rights, or for peace, or to end a dictatorship. Egyptian President Mubarak was forced to abdicate because of the power of the people, and more especially, because of the power of non-violent protest.
But if a large crowd has super power, does that mean a lone individual does not? Heck no, far from it. Sometimes all it takes is one person to stand up and say “The emperor has no clothes” or “This isn’t right.” Sometimes a single photograph, such as the point-blank execution of a prisoner in Vietnam or a young girl fleeing from napalm that has burned off her clothes – the power of a single image can change public opinion. A poem, a letter to the editor, a song, a flower placed into the end of a gun muzzle – one person can make a difference. One person can have super power.
This congregation knows very well the power of its voice – as it’s accomplished the removal of a cross from a public building, and reached out in solidarity to a local mosque that was attacked. Even now, several members are standing up to say that privatization of the local nursing home is not right. These are incidents I know about, but I’m sure there are many, many more in this church with over a hundred year history. Sure, this congregation may be small at the moment, but it holds great power for its size. Remember Margaret Mead’s famous quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Like this church, our denomination has wielded much power and influence for its small size throughout history. Both Unitarians and Universalists have been prominent leaders at every turning point in our nation’s history. But of course you know that a UU minister does not have super powers. Our ministers ‘come from the congregation’ ‘to serve the congregation’. They receive training to be better able to serve the church’s needs – but that does not make them “better” or superior to anyone else. I do not have the power to change your heart or mind – only you can do that, and only if you want to do so. I can hold your hand when you are grieving, help you strategize a problem that’s befuddling you, offer a prayer of blessing for your new child, or say some words of comfort when a loved one has died. Perhaps most importantly of all, I can challenge you to be your very best, to become your own superhero.
So if you’ve been longing for x-ray vision, or the ability to exhale fire, wish you could read people’s minds, scale a wall like a spider, sprout wings and defy gravity, or just stay awake through a long and boring sermon, then more power to you! Cherish those dreams because they’re lots of fun, but also come to know the real powers you were born with – to learn, to live, to laugh, and to love. Now those, those are super powers.
“It’s Our America”
Lee Richards
June 29, 2008
I am a product of my time. In the 1950s I learned to duck and cover should an A-bomb attack occur. Commies, of course, were everywhere, listening to everything. They were even starring in our motion pictures at the cinema, or so McCarthy told us. Our soldiers went off to defeat the Red Menace in Korea.
It seemed to worsen in the ’60s. Small countries threatened us. Close-by small countries like Cuba, which could become a base for those A-bomb carrying missiles. And halfway around the world…small countries like Vietnam demanded our attention, and again, our soldiers went off to defeat the Red Menace.
Here, in this country, large segments of our population were demanding equality, respect, and justice. Marches, protests, even riots were breaking out. And Rachel Carson sounded alarms for the poisoning of our environment. Unsettling times, for sure.
The ’70s saw Vietnam go into meltdown – and our government with it – as we learned the extent to which our top politicians and leaders were willing to commit crimes to further their ambition. Prices for oil, and energy in general, shocked us into a temporary awareness of a future where we might have to do without. At the end of that decade, the name Three Mile Island was suddenly burned into our brain cells as one nuclear power plant became critical. We finally now knew that atomic energy would never be so cheap that it need not be metered.
In the 1980s our military was active around the world – Honduras, Grenada, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia, Bolivia, Iran, Kuwait, Liberia, Libya, Lebanon, and even Italy. Economically, we had double digit inflation, hostile takeovers, and Black Tuesday. A new word, and new fear, entered our vocabulary – AIDS. Cable and MTV brought us Rap and punk, and anti-family sitcoms like Roseanne and Married…with Children.
Things have been no better with the 1990s, or with the advent of this current millennium. Indeed, many people would say things have grown even worse.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I think it safe to say that in my 55 years, there has never been a time when everything was OK. There has always been a war – or armed conflict – somewhere. There has always been poverty, hunger, and starvation – somewhere. There has always been inequality, disenfranchisement, lost freedoms – somewhere. Pollution, and disease – somewhere.
What am I supposed to do with that? I’ll tell you what I did. In the mid ’70s I dropped out. Literally. I dropped out of college in my senior year because I saw no point in finishing my degree. I looked around and beheld a world spinning out of control, and decided I didn’t want to be a party to it. I sought withdrawal to a subsistence farm to quietly grow my own organic food, and live as much as possible off the grid, out of sight, out of mind. I envisioned no future for our society, or the world as whole, and so I turned my back on it, deliberately choosing not to bring children into this God-forsaken world. Why should I, after all, expose them to the hazards of a life that might end prematurely when it all caught up to us and cockroaches became the most intelligent beings left alive?
Yet here I am, today, no longer a recluse, and far more of a public figure than I am personally comfortable with. Speaking out against all that is wrong, trying to make a difference. Trying to heal horrible wounds that we have left on our own country, and on others around the planet. Taking responsibility, and demanding that others accept responsibility for their actions. I’ve adopted the mantras “if there is to be peace on earth, let it begin with me” and “think globally, act locally.” What happened?
Well, in the early ’80s I guess you could say I got enlightenment. It finally sunk in that to not be part of the solution really was to be part of the problem. If I did not act for change to the better, then I was living as egregiously as someone who was wantonly polluting, or denying another a resource, or raising a gun against a fellow human being. My silence and inward focus was as much to blame as any direct action to cause harm to all creatures great and small.
Kermit told us once that “it’s not easy being green.” I’d have to say that, at times, it’s not easy being an American. Sometimes I think we may have too much freedom, sometimes not enough. Our democracy allows us to pick and choose others to represent us, but that becomes corrupted by people and corporations with money to throw around and favors to buy. We all presumably have the freedom to acquire wealth, fame and power if we are willing to work hard enough, or buy the right lottery ticket, or guess the right answer on a game show.
Being an American implies great freedom, but our media is complicit in sharing only the information they deem “salable” or palatable, rather than reporting the facts, however depressing – or enlightening – those facts may be. How can we be expected to act responsibly if we are denied the truth to guide our actions?
I grew up believing in an America where freedom and justice – expressed by that icon Superman as “truth, liberty, and the American way” – was the hallmark of our nation’s image. But the truth was far from that image, as I outlined a few moments ago. During my lifetime there has never been a single year in which we did not fire a weapon against an “enemy” somewhere in the world. Even as close as the last primary elections, some people were denied the right to cast a ballot. Millions of people around the world die each year from the effects of poverty while we are literally killing ourselves with our excesses. Minorities are swept off the streets and sent to prison at great costs to our society. Indeed, I wonder if we can really call ourselves civilized if this is how we treat human beings, treat them without humanity.
Yet, in spite of all this, I am an American. I still find tears in my eyes when a flag is marched by in a parade, and a sense of pride still – inexplicably, but still – fills my chest when a patriotic song is played. Sure, there have been times when I wanted to run away from it all again – to flee to another country and deny my U.S. citizenship. But then I’d be part of the problem once more, instead of part of the solution.
In the early ’90s I tried to appeal to people’s minds through politics – hoping to prod and lure them to vote for leaders who truly had the interests of the planet at heart. But eventually I came to appreciate the idea that one must change the heart first, and then the mind will follow. My humanism found a home in the Unitarian Universalist church, and it is from here that I hope I can change hearts.
The Fourth of July is almost upon us. I want to be as proud of being an American as I am of being a UU. But I know can’t do it alone. I need to feel that others are concerned enough to stand up and make their voice heard. I need to hear other patriotic voices demanding peace and justice, kindness and compassion. I need to know I am not alone in the wilderness but that, instead, we are a united force acting on behalf of ourselves and others to correct what’s gone wrong with our great American vision.
As most of you know, I have children. I finally decided that part of my acting for change was to believe strongly enough, positively enough, that this world will be habitable, that we will not destroy each other, that there might someday be peace and goodwill on our earth. My children deserve that chance, just as yours do. It is up to us, as Americans, and as Unitarian Universalists, to make that happen.
If our flag and our holiday are to mean something, then let them mean we have not surrendered to greed, we have not turned a blind eye to others in need, we have not forgotten our principles and purposes for the sake of our individual selves, we have not sat down in silence but have instead stood up to demand a change for a better world. Like Clara Barton, let us defy the tyranny of precedent and act to improve the present.
Let us reclaim our patriotic pride by making this a nation worthy of it. I know we can do it. Let’s make it so.
