My sermon (UU) on the rise of fascism in America.

[intheflow]

Here's the sermon I gave yesterday calling the congregation where I work to action against the rising fascism in the US. It got an overwhelmingly good response in a pretty non-political congregation, so I'm posting it here for you all. Feel free to distribute it if so moved, but please give me the credit for writing it.

Evil and Prophecy and Transformation: A Sermon in Three Acts
by Jinnie Trabulsi
Student Intern Minister
Foothills UU Church, Fort Collins, CO

ACT I: Some definitions.

Would everyone please look at the centering thought printed in your order of service and repeat it aloud with me:

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources {including} words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.

This is the second source that Unitarian Universalists cite as an inspiration of what draws us together week after week. And yet it is a complex source, and I believe it requires some unpacking.
Let’s start with the easy part, a definition of evil. What is evil? Would you know it if you saw it? Are people evil?

One of the great challenges of our faith is that we are called to love everyone. To believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, our first principle, demands that we see each person with love. The Universalist aspect of our history stressed that a great and loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. But then, what about Hitler and Mussolini? Were they inherently worthy human beings, undamned in the eyes of God?

I put to you this thought: they were each inherently worthy individuals, diseased of mind and soul, to be sure, but still human beings. Alone they could have done little to harm humanity. But they did not work alone. They were able to inflict much suffering on millions of people because of the structures of evil that allowed them to rise to power. That is the key phrase from our source: “power and structures of evil.”

Unitarian Universalist ethicist and theologian James Luther Adams spent time in Germany in the late 20’s during Hitler’s rise to power. He believed Hitler was able to rise to power with the support of some Germans, yes, but also as much by the passivity of much of the German population. You’ll recall that Germany was in a severe depression, and many people escaped from their lives by joining a variety of clubs, such as German folk singing clubs. In the void of citizen involvement with the political process, a relatively small number of people were able to gain almost exclusive control of the government, of the press, of the military, and eventually of the people. It was the system that brought evil to Germany in the 20th century. A system that included active participation by large numbers of people who thought they were doing nothing; their nothing became an action. It created a void which was filled by an evil structure, namely fascism.

I do not mean to suggest that individuals are not personally responsible for their actions, nor that they should not be held accountable for their actions. But I am saying that nothing exists in a vacuum, especially evil. Evil arises when good people allow it to rise.

OK, enough about evil for the moment. Let’s move on to a lighter topic: prophetic men and women. What does that mean, prophetic men and women? As you may or may not remember, I’ve been preaching a series this year on the sources. I chose this source for this service because it spoke of prophetic women and men, and my full intension was to preach about prophetic women for women’s history month. But I’ve changed it so that I’ll be talking about a prophetic man, and later will be my own prophetic woman.

The man I’m referring to is James Luther Adams. He wrote,

“Religious liberals… long ago abandoned the… idea of predicting the future by means of interpreting the Biblical prophecies. In conformity with the findings of modern historical research, we have held that prediction is a secondary and even unimportant aspect of Old Testament prophecy. Accordingly, we say that the prophets were primarily forthtellers and not foretellers; they proclaimed the action of God in history; they disclosed the meaning of history. We see the prophet as one who stands on the edge of a community’s experience and tradition… viewing human life from a piercing perspective and bringing an imperative sense of the perennial and inescapable struggle of good against evil, of justice against injustice. In the name of the Holy one, the prophet shakes us out of our pride and calls for a change in heart and mind and action. With fear and trembling the prophet announces crisis and demands ethical decision here and now.”

That certainly sounds like a good description of a Biblical prophet—someone thousands of years ago running around say that God was talking to and through that person, demanding action by humanity. Obviously delusional!

But prophetic vision didn’t end with Micah or Ezekiel or even Jesus. It has existed throughout the course of Christianity, even unto our own UU history. When Michael Servetus wrote his treatise “On the Errors of the Trinity” in 1531, he was a prophetic voice for our Unitarian heritage. When Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay on civil disobedience, he was prophesizing a vision of the free human soul that inspired Gandhi and King. When Julia Ward Howe crusaded as an abolitionist, when Dorthea Dix fought for prison and mental health reform, they were working out of the prophetic vision. To seek the cessation of suffering, to right wrongs and injustices. They were all called by God to speak the truth to power, to fight for the least among us, to “challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.”

This is not easy stuff. Before I go on, let us take a few moments of silence to meditate on evil and prophecy.

(Break)

ACT II: I am a prophet.

Curse ye sinners! Oh, ye of little faith, repent! Repent!

OK, not really. :silly: I just always wanted to say that from a pulpit. And to add a little levity to the topic. Plus, when I’m nervous, I make jokes. Adams said, “With fear and trembling the prophet announces crisis and demands ethical decision here and now.” And I’ll tell you, I have some fear and trembling about being a prophet. Being a prophet isn’t easy. Prophets are not generally popular people. What I have to say is hard to say, and will be hard for you to hear.

I believe we are living in the early stages of fascism. Now I know that’s a trigger word. Most of us can’t hear it without relating it to Hitler and Nazism. But that does not automatically make it exclusive to Germany in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Are we so very confident that it cannot happen here? Mussolini himself said that fascism occurred when corporate and political power merge. And I fear that is exactly what is happening in the United States today.

Lest you think I’m over reacting to the political scene, let me run through what have been identified as the 14 points of fascism by political scientist Dr. Laurence Britt:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

I can connect the current political situation in the United States with all these points. But I’ll spare you and concentrate on just three to illustrate why I feel they apply here and now in our time.

Corporate Power is protected. One need look no further than the bankruptcy law that seems to be sailing through congress. For the past 30 years, the banking industry has been engaged in predatory lending practices, giving credit cards to everyone under the sun. And if you’re at your card limit, hey, no problem—a call to your card company and they’ll raise that limit for you on the spot if you’ve paid your bills on time. But if you lose your job in this economy, if you become catastrophically ill and can neither pay your hospital bills or mortgage, well, there will be little recourse to you if the bankruptcy bill passes. The corporate powers that lent to you must be compensated, and they will be charging interest at rates up to 20%, as you or your spouse or children work to repay the debt.

Likewise the corporate powers at Enron have gotten off virtually scott-free from it’s plundering of employee pensions. Oh, one or two people have been sent to jail, but the employees have not been protected or compensated for their losses.

This point is the strongest point I have for not putting the onus for evil on the current Administration. How can I blame a Republican-controlled congress for social ills when so many Democrats go along in protecting corporate interests over citizens’ interests? It is a structure of evil that allows corporate profit to trump citizens’ rights to redress.

Controlled Mass Media. OK, time for a cogregational poll: How many people have heard of Karen Ryan, Michael McManus, Maggie Gallagher, and Armstrong Williams? {Among roughly 250 congregants, five had heard of Ryan, two McManus, three Maggie Gallagher, and nine or ten people knew of Williams.} They all have one thing in common: they have been paid to promote propaganda over the past four years. McManus and Gallagher are journalists who contracted with the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the Medicare plan that changed senior prescription coverge a few years ago, and were paid $10,000 and $21,500, respectively . Williams was paid a whopping $240,000 by the Department of Education to promote No Child Left Behind. The Karen Ryan case is even more insideous. She owns a public relations consulting firm which was hired by the government to produce video news releases—basically press releases on video. Unfortunately, they were not clearly noted as government press releases, and in fact were produced as legitimate news segments supporting No Child Left Behind and the Medicaid changes. Many local stations throghout the country, receiving these video press releases, aired them as though they were straight news.

Again, what is the evil? The government’s producing press releases that end with, “Reporting from Washington, I’m Karen Ryan,” or the local stations that chose to air the segments? Is it the government paying journalists that’s troubling, or are the journalists at fault alone? Both are at fault, working in a structure of evil. The individuals must be held acocuntable, but individuals are part of the problem that extends to many individuals who work within the structure.

And of course looking at these individuals today, in one sermon, does little to address the larger problem, namely—why don’t more of you know these names? Why, that would be because of a tightly controlled media that is gatekeeping what is widely known and what isn’t widely known. Only five conglomerates own 90% of all U.S. media—that’s newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. A million channels of cable and nothing’s on? That’s because of the gatekeepers who decide what airs and what doesn’t, as well as who gets interviewed on the nightly news and who doesn’t. Again, this doesn’t have to be a vast conspiracy plotted by six men in a back room, but a system that rewards stockholders in the media franchises that don’t want to rock the cultural boat for fear of losing dividends.

Finally, there are Fraudulent Elections. Again and again I hear from people that it would be impossible to have a fraudulent election in the United States, because too many people are involved in elections here. It woud take such a vast conspiracy network that it would be impossible to do. But this simply is not true. Our last two presidential elections are in question, largely thanks to electronic voting and corporate media control. Our elections are no longer public, did you know that? The owners of the two largest voting machine companies in the United States, Diebold and Election Systems and Software, are both large Republican contributors. Walden O’Dell, the president of Diebold, even went so far in 2003 as saying that he would help deliver Ohio to president Bush in the 2004 election. I was not comforted when I watched a video clip of a NY Republican Representative Peter King, in an ungaurded moment early on election day, say, “It’s all over, the election’s over. We won.” How can you say that, asked the reporter who was interviewing him. He replied, “It’s all over but the counting. And we’ll take care of the counting.”

Did you know that the Associated Press had full control of the exit poll results, but won’t release it because it is proprietary information? Did you know that most electronic voting machines feed their information directly through modems into tabulation computers whose software and programming can never be checked by citizens because that’s considered proprietary information? Are you aware that a few Democrats in Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate these charges of fraud? If you don’t know the answers to even one of those questions--if you’ve never even heard of these problems--consider what that says about media control, corporate control, and election fraud.

Okay, everyone. I don’t know about you, but talking and thinking about this takes a lot out of me. It’s a lot for me to say, it’s incredibly painful to hear. Aren’t we the good guys? Isn’t this a democracy? Isn’t this America?

Time to breathe. Time to stop the sermon and give our heads a rest. Please join me in a moment of reflection.

(Break)

Attic, by Jill Sobule (sung a capella by the minister)

Would you have hidden me in your attic?
That's the question, I'd like to know.
Would you have climbed up to serve me dinner?
Well I hope so.

When the jack-booted men
Wore those great uniforms
Would you have wanted the blackest?
Would you have hidden me in your attic?

If, let's say, in some cafe
We saw the tanks roll by,
Would you take my hand and lead me
Cross the border line?

Would you have hidden me in your attic?

If the neighbors accused me of casting spells,
And bowing down to the gods in hell,
You would leave me there alone?
Or would you cast the very first stone?

You'd be there to ease my pain,
Or pack me on that awful train?

Would you have hidden me in your attic?
That's the question I'll never know.
Would you have climbed up to serve me dinner?
Well I hope so.

ACT III: Transformation

I went down to Washington, DC to protest the second inauguration of President Bush. Now, all may know my political inclinations, but I’m not trying to sway your opinion one way or another. I believe I’ve already made clear that this is not a partisan idea, all are implicated in this struggle. I only bring it up for an illustration.

These protests are wonderfully creative. People sing, have drumming circles, create giant puppets—it’s a sight to behold. Well, there was this couple I kept seeing all day that I wanted to talk to, but never quite had the opportunity. They had made and were wearing giant butterfly wings made from cardboard and intricately painted. But then on the Metro, riding back to my car, the butterfly guy sat right across from me. Naturally we started talking. He told me that he really wasn’t interested in laying blame for the election. He was more interested in envisioning a new future and transforming the present to realize a hopeful future. He was interested in transformation—hence, the butterfly wings.

Let me read again from James Luther Adams:

“A church that does not concern itself with the struggle in history for human dignity and justice, a church that does not show concern for the shape of things to come, a church that does not attempt to interpret signs of the times, is not a prophetic church. We have long held to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, the idea that all believers have direct access to the ultimate resources of the religious life and that every believer has the responsibility of achieving an explicit faith for free persons. As an element of the radical laicism we need also a firm belief in the prophethood of all believers. The prophetic liberal church is not a church in which the prophetic function is assigned merely to the few. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which persons think and work together to interpret the signs of the times in the light of their faith, to make explicit through discussion the epochal thinking that the times demand. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which all members share the common responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior (both individual and institutional), with the intension of making history in place of merely being pushed around by it. Only through the prophetism of all believers can we together foresee doom and mend our common ways.”

You see, you are all called to be prophets. So let me talk about prophetic activism.

Now I know we all have a million things vying for our time and attention. And activism is another trigger word, isn’t it? Activism is standing on street corners shouting, “Hell no, we won’t go!” and holding signs that say “Honk if you believe (blank)!” Activism is the World War I vets marching on Washington to demand their benefits during the Depression. It’s the suffragettes who made human chains around the White House demanding the right to vote, and when one woman was arrested, another took her place. Activism is King’s march from Selma to Montgomery. Oh, yes, that’s activism, and it’s an incredibly important activism. I want to put a plug in again for next Saturday's march and rally in Old Town to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It’s incredibly important that we have as many people as possible attend those types of events.

But I want to talk about other kinds of activism, too. Four days after I arrived in Colorado was September 11th. So when the chance to take a class in seminary called “Praying for Peace and Justice” came up in winter quarter, I took it. For our final paper we had to interview and write about a “quiet activist.” There are many ways to be a quiet activist. The woman I interviewed was writing a book about the history of peace activism in America. Other people wrote about people who engaged in rigorous prayer practices, or started online petitions, or conducted letter writing campaigns.

Letter writing is an important quiet activism. A letter to the editor of a local newspaper will allow you to report or correct misconceptions or exclusions from community news sources. Letters to elected officials do not have to be long. One or two handwritten lines to a handwritten official about your support or opposition to pieces of legislation will carry more weight than 100 signatures on an online petition, or 20 emails, and will cost you less than five minutes and a 37-cent stamp. You will probably get a letter back from that official that is completely devoid of any reality of what you wrote, but your letter is on file. When you get that return letter, especially if it’s devoid of your concerns, it’s important to write a follow-up letter saying letting them know that their response was not sufficient to address your concerns.

Talking to people is a kind of quiet activism. Witness to them, be your own prophetic voice in the community. A bit of conversation amongst reasonable people can have untold ripple effects.

And then there are the arts. There’s the Jill Sobule song I sang earlier, Attic. I don’t think of Sobule as a particularly political singer/songwriter, but she does not shy away from speaking truth to power in some of her music. You see in this sanctuary that there is some art I had brought in to adorn the pulpit. This art was done by local artist Carl Lantz, who had made these wooden sculptures with a hearts in the middle of them and written poems to accompany the pieces. He was moved to change the direction of his art after September 11th to focus on these “heart pieces” because he felt as though we, as nation and as a planet needed to reconnect to our common humanity. In the foyer and in the library there are paintings and pastel drawings by area artists Betty Cummings and Joel Rutstein which depict images, some graphic, taken from news photos of the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, and Sarajevo. The two artists were in a sketch group together, but the pretty landscapes they were painting were not feeding the holes in their souls that grew larger every time they watched the news and saw the suffering unfolding in the world. They had to paint what they saw, they had to exhibit it, they had to be prophetic witnesses to the world around them, gently forcing others to see and not deny the pain and evil that can result when good people do nothing. I invite you to view this art after the service and allow it to touch your heart. I hope it will break open your heart. For it is only when something is broken that it can be mended.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” King also said that he viewed his work as fighting for the soul of America. I challenge you all to continue his fight, as prophetic voices speaking the truth to power about the structures of evil which perpetuate injustices. And to witness to those truths with words and deeds that cry out for justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.

Go in peace and love. Amen.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Pretty good preachin' there

It works well as an essay, too.

Not many people know about Michael Servetus and J.L.Adams and William Channing and other pioneers of Unitarian and Universalist thought. This might be a good forum for you to try out ideas about the history and traching of these prophets. Although the finer points of Trinitarian thinking (and its errors) may be beyond the philosophical interest of most, the emphasis on ethics and social activism is the main religious and spiritual concern of a lot of us here.

And you do understand that you're never going to be invited to the National Prayer Breakfast writing stuff like that, right? :)

--p!

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Oh, by the way ...

You may find this guy's approach to Christianity worth looking at -- he seems to have integrated Fundamentalism with an ethical, universalist faith. I posted a thread about it earlier:
Randy Constan: The Man, The Pixie ... The Evangelist?

I was impressed. The pixie outfit may not be as commanding a symbol as the Roman collar, but I think you'll agree that it's the thought(s) that count.

Here's his pixie website and his ministry website.

--p!

[intheflow]

4. Cool, I'll check it out later

when I finish writing my finals. I've spent too much time playing on DU already today! :P

[intheflow]

3. Not being invited to National Prayer Breakfast is

only a bonus for getting the opportunity to preach stuff like this! :D

I actually have little interest in debating trinitarianism vs. unitarianism. Until someone can claim that they, personally, have died and spoken to God, then any discussion about the nature of God is all speculation imo.

But the idea that humanity has the power to create a more peaceful, loving, and socially just world here on earth is what my ministry is all about. If you can't use religion in a democracy to promote the common good of humanity, then what is the point of religion at all? It becomes a control mechanism--and thus another injustice we have to fight against.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. emailing this to friends

they will appreciate what you've said.

[aneerkoinos]

6. Thank you

Very good sermon.

Can we find in our hearts and minds the love and forgiveness that Hitler, Bush, Cheney, etc deserve from us, lest we don't get consumed by our own hatred?

Should we start a thread dedicated to prayers for Bush and rest of the gang of corporate slaves, slaves to greed and power and fear?

Any takers?