Rev. Luken's speech at the
Clergy Luncheon on September 9, 2004
at the Unitarian
Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock
Welcome to our annual
luncheon and thank you all for coming and joining us this afternoon. It
is always great to be with colleagues and friends from different faiths
and traditions, its one of the things I cherish about the Interfaith
Alliance, especially in these divisive times- (that and the free lunch
of course). The first thing they told us in seminary was that they don’t
pay you much, but you get to eat. I know this is not an easy time of
year for many of you with the new year kicking in and all that goes with
it, especially so for the Rabbis, with the High Holy Days fast
approaching. So again, thank you for taking the time to be with us
today...
To torture
and old cliche, we live in interesting times. These last three years,
particular have been as eventful as any in a generation. As we go about
our daily lives as citizens, as clergy and as people of faith and
goodwill, it is becoming harder and harder to ignore the thunder clouds
rolling across the horizon. A storm that is emanating from the
battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, from a school in Russia, a refugee
camp in the western Sudan or Gaza, a nightclub in Tel Aviv, to the
streets of Manhattan, the convention halls of Boston and New York, to
the detention camps at Guantanamo. The air is electric with the impetus
of this gathering storm, and within those converging forces, as within
the howling winds that surrounded the prophet Elijah, there speaks a
still small voice, quieter in some ears, louder in others, but
persistent and certain nonetheless, telling those who have the ears to
hear that this is our moment. The struggles going on all around us, are
our struggles and the decisions that must be made are ours to make.
Because, for better or worse, ready or not, a new day is breaking into
dawn and we must decide, all of us, what that day will bring. Whether we
will choose, as individuals and as a nation to move forward together,
courageous enough in our convictions to risk peace abroad and
compassion, diversity and justice for all at home, or whether we will
choose instead to let our fears, and our righteous rage continue the
cycle of repression, militarism and despair that has so sadly
characterized these past few troubled years. Today as we approach the 3rd
anniversary of the Terror attacks of 911, people all over this country
and indeed the world are looking for guidance, for direction, and for
strength as we face this brave new world. As we decide, in this, perhaps
the most important election in our lifetimes. what sort of America we
will be and what kind of world we will share.
But the sad
truth of the matter is, that with a few notable exceptions, some of whom
we are privileged to have with us in this room today, they are seeking
that guidance elsewhere in places other than their faith. And who can
blame them. For even as we gather here today, the language, the symbols,
the sacred texts of our faiths, from the Bible to the have been
appropriated, stolen, their message of compassion, peace and universal
fellowship twisted into justifications for terror, militarism and
tyranny; not only in the Middle East, or somewhere “out there” in some
ravaged and suffering place whose name we can’t pronounce and whose
cries we’d rather not hear, but right here in America as well. In
courthouse rotundas in Montgomery, in school boards in Kansas, in
political campaigns organized in churches, in the scapegoating of
minorities and gay Americans and the state sanctioned persecution of
Muslim immigrants, and perhaps most frighteningly of all, in a leaders
who claims that he is anointed by Almighty God to bring his own vision
of freedom to the world. Apparently by whatever means he sees fit.
Is it any
wonder that progressive, open-minded, dare I say, liberal people are so
hard to find in our houses of worship and our meeting halls? Is it any
wonder that the influence we might once have had has so badly waned? The
prophetic voices of faith that spoke so clear and true in a generation
ago, have been drowned out by the shrill sounds of a new generation with
a new and very different message. The Kings and Kennedy’s have been
usurped by the Robertsons, the Ashcrofts, and the Falwells, and the
urge to justice, fellowship, and of hope replaced by self-righteousness,
imperiousness and fear.
For too many
Americans, religion has become a synonym narrow mindedness, and
oppression, even terror, and religious people are those who try to push
their own symbols on the general public, people who attack the
constitution, wage wars on unbelievers and slaughter the innocent. While
the voices of the mainstream faith, the once dynamic progressive spirit
that so many of us here represent, have been relegated to the sidelines.
I was interviewed by French television at the march in New York on
August 29th, and the reporter expressed surprise to see
Christian clergy opposed to the war and the neo-con agenda. To her,
Christian and right wing politics were synonyms in America, as they are
to too many people here in America and all over the world; and we can
draw similar, unfortunate analogies with the other great western faiths
and ideologies as well.
That is what
makes organizations like this so important and so necessary. Because we
represent an opportunity to reclaim the moral voice of faith, a chance
for diverse peoples to work together to preserve that diversity, to
defend the wall of separation of church and state that protects freedom
of expression for minority as well as majority traditions and
philosophies, and to stand up for the principles that have made this
country the most vitally religious and civilly free nation in the world.
Because we know that religious faith is not irrelevant, nor is it a
weapon with which to divide, oppress or destroy those who differ from
us. Rather it is the center and the margins, the beginning and the end;
integral not just to the private lives of individual believers, but to
everything we do, public and private, as citizens and as a people.
Our civic
values are nothing if not rooted in the teachings of our respective
faiths, whether they be religious or secular, and indeed this nation of
ours, this United States is, in its most noble aspirations and its
foundational values, is a reflection of the struggles of diverse groups
of religious refugees to safeguard those very things which are now under
siege buy our own government. Things like freedom of conscience and
expression and worship, due process and justice and liberty for all.
This week in particular, as we approach the 3rd anniversary
of Sept 11, as we look back at the incredible rush of events that seem
to have emanated from that fateful nad terrible day., we can see how
fragile those ideas and principles can be, how important the moment and
the message and, how vital our role is, if we will have the courage to
accept it and the faith to risk the comfort of our position and prestige
to honor the calling with which we have been gifted.
For it is
precisely in those times when our very souls scream out in fear and rage
against the horror and the injustice of what has been done to us that we
decide, as individuals, as religious and political leaders, indeed as
nations, what we really believe and whom, as the prophet Joshua asked of
the Israelites on the banks of the Jordan, we shall serve. Whether we
shall decide for faith and hope for a future to be shared by all, or for
fear, a world of walls and violence; of endless war and universal
suffering. Three years ago, we choose to act on our anger and our fear.
Instead of taking the hand offered to us by a sympathetic world, we
chose to go it alone, to rush to war, striking out not only against
other nations and other peoples, but at the heart of our own society and
its founding principles with such onerous legislation as the USA Patriot
Ac and the expansion of the Faith Based Initiative.
In a cynical
bid to remake America in their own image, this administration chose to
hijack the symbols of our nation, and of faith itself to push a
religio-political agenda that threatens to turn our country into the
image of the very forces we are fighting against. Right now, hundreds,
perhaps thousands of people are languishing in prisons from Guantanamo
to Elizabeth, New Jersey without charge or counsel. .Right now, Muslim
Americans are being harassed, even deported without hearing. Right now
our young men and women are dying alongside of men, women and children
on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in site. Right
now, assault weapons are about to be flooding our streets once again,
and right now, over the objections of Congress, the newly expanded
Office of Faith Based Initiatives is re-directing funds away from our
social service systems and agencies in favor of rewarding churches whose
beliefs are more in line with its own by executive order even as the
orange alerts go to red , protestors are shuttled into so-called free
speech zones and we are reminded time and time again that we are at war
and we need to decide if we are on the side of God, or the evil-doers.
I believe
that these developments are more than just a change of direction in the
political winds. Rather, they are part of an agenda to re-make this
nation according to a set of beliefs that is exemplified by a president
who declares on national television that he sees himself as anointed by
God to fulfil his purpose and by political leaders who have chosen to
capitalize on the atrocities of Islamic religio-political extremists in
order to instill fear into the American people and implement its own
brand of religio-political extremism as the law of the land.
And that is
why I believe that we, clergy and all people of faith and good
conscience, whether that faith be religious or secular, have a
particular responsibility to be a part of the movement represented by
the Interfaith Alliance and like minded organizations. That is why we
can no longer keep silent. Why we can no longer hide behind the guise of
respecting all opinions while challenging none. Especially now, while
there are still those who will hear us, and .especially for those of us
in whose name and tradition these atrocities are being committed.
We bear a special
responsibility to stand up and be counted in this critical time; to
shout from our pulpits and in the streets the messages of the prophets,
the words of our respective sacred texts that faith, true faith is about
hope, about love and about trusting in God and/ or the irrepressible
goodness of the human spirit enough to reach out to our fellow human
beings as branches of a single vine, every bit as concerned for the
rights and well-being of people in Mosul as we are for people in
Merrick..
And as
Americans, we bear a special responsibility as well to stand up for what
America means. For the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness for all people, for freedom of speech and dissent, freedom of
association and worship. For the right to due process and equality
before the law. Not just for those who look like us, or agree with us or
worship like us, but especially for those who don’t- citizen and
non-citizen alike. Especially now, as we prepare not just to choose a
president, but to decide what kind of people we want to be, to declare
what we really believe, and what kind of world our children and our
grandchildren will know.
So brothers
and sisters, let us join together, and reclaim the calling with which
we have been chosen. Let us remember that as clergy and as citizens of a
free nation that we are charged to stand firm in the prophetic
traditions of our respective faiths and to stand shoulder to shoulder
for that which we believe. Let us not miss this moment, because whether
we lead, follow or get out of the way, the times they are a changing,
and it is up to us to show our respective congregations, our neighbors
and our fellow citizens the way to trust again, believe again and. hope
again. If not us, then who?
