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To Act Justly
Shortly after I gave birth to my son Nickolas, I heard the story of a mother and father denied family leave, forced by economic hardship to return to work while their child was 2 weeks old, to leave their children in a day care situation they knew was unacceptable. Knowing in a new and precious way the depth of the bond between parent and child, the story of such a separation while that bond was still being formed, and knowing that our society could show such an indifference to the emotional and physical well being of it's most vulnerable, hit me like a blow to the chest.
Even if you consider yourself apolitical, I am guessing that you are also haunted by some image, some story. Something that causes you to talk back to the radio, or turn it off all together. The story healthcare denied to a family member or friend. The beautiful orchards you knew as a child, now paved over, fertile land fallow under a shopping mall. There is something in your experience that has shown you a glimpse of the injustice present in our world.
While I was studying to become a minister, I sought earnestly for truth, for the love which under girds all life, for peace of mind. I followed the inward path of meditation and study, but as one of my teachers, Jeremy Taylor, taught us, whether one chooses the inward path or the outward path, each will eventually lead to the other. And so it happened on my inward path, that I felt my newly forming peace disturbed by the reading I was doing for a class in Asian-American theologies, including the writing of Ronald Takaki which detailed the systematic oppression of Asian immigrants in this country over the course of centuries. This awareness precluded, interrupted peace, and I understood from my own visceral response, that until all are free, none are free. While there is suffering in the world, none of us can truly be at peace.
For this reason, religion must address justice. But different religions address justice in different ways. Many religions hold that all we experience during our lives is but a prelude to our eternal life, or to another incarnation. Injustice in this life is made just in the next. Our Universalist forbearers were engaged in this debate- and one of that movement's founders, Hosea Ballou argued that sin held it's own punishment, that this life held its own balance. Our Humanist forbearers, whether theist or atheist, argued that this life must contain its own justice; they argued that whether or not there was another life to come, what matters is how we act in this one.
The question of justice within the human realm has also been interpreted differently in different traditions. Rev. David Sammons tells the story from his travels in the outback about a woman from an aboriginal tribe who was killed in a truck accident. As the driver of the truck was from another tribe, her tribe set out to avenge her death by killing as many members of the neighboring tribe as possible. Rev. Sammons says that in this context when the Judeo-Christian measure of justice "an eye for an eye" [Exodus
21:27] was introduced, it increased compassion, since only one life could be taken for the life of another. In fact we would still do well to hold ourselves to this standard of justice; a recent episode of Frontline calculated that currently the US has taken 5 afghan lives for every U S killed in the attacks of September 11.
We meet quite a different paradigm in the Christian Scriptures
Matthew 5:39, says:
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
Perhaps the Universalist vision of justice can be inferred image of the divine. To quote historian Earnest Cassara "human beings are incapable of offending an infinite God." An all powerful, loving god demands not retribution but reconciliation.
Perhaps it was easier, when the economy was booming, when scale of potential injustice seemed smaller, to believe in the Unitarian perfectibility of persons, and in their inherent worth. The increase in violence and economic decline cause us to question a theology which served us well in better times. We are too close to these events to be soothed by a theological balance, by the understanding that justice and injustice are co-arising. We turn to our religious community to help one another make sense of the injustice in the world. With the humanists we seek redemption in this life for the suffering it contains.
The atrocities of September 11 and threat of impending war have created widening ripples in our awareness, and have brought to us a greater awareness of the some of the injustices present in the world. We begin to see with Margaret Atwood "the jungles are flaming, the underbrush is charred with soldiers, the names on the difficult maps go up in smoke."
Throughout the history of both Unitarians and Universalists when men and women in our faith have felt that heaviness which comes with an awareness that the world is not just. When those images haunt us, our faith community reminds us that even these difficult images are a gift, reminding us as they do of injustices which are present whether or not we acknowledge them. When an image of suffering clings to us, it represents a deeper awareness of our interconnection with all the beings of this earth. How then shall we be reconciled with ourselves and with the world?
The prophet Micah looks at this same question:
Since many in this community do not believe that scripture provides a primary authority for how we should live, or how we might "do justice", we need a text, a primary source which is rooted in the human experience, which all of us share in common.
To this end I would like to use as a living text the work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to consider how we may work for justice within our own religious Values. The service committee grew out of a 1933 resolution of the General Assembly of the UUA that "we greatly deplore the persecution of the Jews in Germany as a violation of equity, tolerance and humanity." Revs. Charles Joy and Robert Dexter traveled abroad as witness to the conditions in Germany. On their return the General Assembly delegates passed a new resolution regarding the "suffering of victims of religious and civil oppression." In 1939 Martha and Waitstill Sharp, AUA representatives, went to Europe to see what could be done. They worked tirelessly and often at their own peril to help refugees emigrate within and outside of the law. Institutionalizing a structure to continue and support such work, the Unitarian Service Committee was formed in 1940, as a standing committee of the AuA and choose to be a non-neutral proactive force for democracy in the world. It was about this time that the flaming chalice was adopted as the UUSC symbol- the first time the flaming chalice was associated with our denomination. It is estimated that between 1,000 and 3,000 people were rescued by the USC during and after the war, usually in collaboration with other agencies. In 1945 the committee was officially formed, often working closely with its neighbor the Universalist Service Committee, with whom they merged in 1963.
Although the Service Committee does continue to provide a channel for Unitarian Universalists to support relief efforts, their primary work is protecting human rights. For example, the money our congregation raised to support the 9-11 relief effort was directed entirely to partner grass-roots organizations in New York who work with those disenfranchised overlooked by other relief organizations. One such organization was the Stonewall Community Foundation Emergency Relief Fund which supported the partners of Gay and Lesbian victims of 9-11, who were ineligible for employee benefits or government aid. The UUSC also worked with partners to advocate policy change. Subsequently New York state issued a policy change declaring surviving partners of gay and lesbian victims eligible for benefits of aid programs.
The most recent Annual report of the UUSC states that "our Unitarian Universalist tradition gives us the ethical grounding to ensure that those most directly affected by the social change we seek, inform our strategies and activities as equal partners." When I wrote to the service committee to ask exactly what they mean by partner, they explained that A UUSC partner is a grassroots organization that receives support from UUSC in the form of: grants, technical assistance in capacity-building, facilitation of networking and building advocacy skills.
They UUSC divides their work into 5 subcategories, children's rights, women's rights, the rights of oppressed peoples, policy advocacy and relief work. To understand how the UUSC works with a particular injustice, I will focus on just one of their many programs. The UUSC began work on their Texas Migrant Works Project in 1947. An aspect of the most current manifestation of this work takes place at a work camp in North Carolina, where volunteers spent their days learning about the issues and struggles which face farm workers. In the evenings the volunteers shared meals with farm workers, and made personal connections to the people effected by an inequitable system. As the Farm Labor Organizing Committee is working to unionize farm workers at the North Carolina based Mt. Olive Pickle Company, the volunteers handed out leaflets at a local grocery store, encouraging shoppers to boycott Mt. Olive and to support Farm worker's rights . The fundamental situation of migrant workers was not changed in the week these volunteers spent at work camp, but 23 people went back into the world feeling a deeper connection to the migrant farm workers of America, able to advocate for them in more effective ways, and having developed skills for advocating justice in the world.
There are many other areas where UUSC is working right now. Their 3 primary foci for the past year have been ending the food and medicine embargo against Cuba, stemming sex trafficking, and a reform of welfare reform. What all of this work has in common is that it has at its root a belief in the worth and dignity of all persons, the use of the democratic process, the goal of a just world community. Certainly their work takes seriously the Unitarian Universalist principles and purposes. It also points to another source of authority for their justice work, the same source of authority by which many Unitarian Universalists base our theology- human experience. One of the most fundamental principles that runs like a recurring theme thought the work of UUSC, is that their role is primarily supportive to those whom are most deeply effected by that work.
It would easy for an organization empowered to act for the common good, to assume that their own vision of how to serve that good was true and sufficient in all contexts. By asking those actually living with injustice, instead of imposing their own vision of justice, the UUSC is an acting out of the humanist faith in the individual's innate wisdom and dignity. Further, to affirm the democratic process, each individual, each community is empowered to participate in the determination of it's own destiny. We see in the UUSC professed practices a steadfastness to these ideals. Sometimes this means pairing with a local grass roots organization, or going door to door in a migrant farm worker camp to understand the issues that are most important to the workers themselves before helping build a project that concerns their rights. Sometimes it means sitting UU volunteers down at a table with farmers so that the connection is made person to person, so the wisdom of human experience is shared directly with those who would act grounded in that authority.
Let your own experience, then, be the authority and inspiration for your action for justice. I believe that each of us is called to serve the cause of justice, but each of us is called in a different way. When this congregation came together to fight prop 22 the "defense of marriage act" our shared passion and commitment was a voice for justice in this community. When caravans of members of this congregation file into a PIA rally, or a peace march, our common vision of a more just world is a powerful one. In the same way the resources we share with UUSC through our annual Guest at Your Table fund drive have this same kind of power. Our gifts enable just action, and the manifestation of our principles in the world. It is good to know that if the image that haunts you is the trafficking of children, the UUSC is there, not only to act on your behalf, but to help you learn how to act for justice as you feel called.
A colleague of mine, playing on the Christian phrase "Kingdom of God" says that her vision of ministry is "creating the Kin-dom of God on earth," that is to say, a just and peaceful society of equals. Not in some future life, but in this one. There is no peace aside from what we make. This is what those images, different in each person's heart, are calling us to. Not everyone is called to work for peace, not every UU is called to work in partnership with the UUSC, but the stories that pierce your heart are calling you. They are your scripture, your theological authority to make of this world a beloved community.
Endnotes
UUSC Letter:
Dear Rev. Laine,
First of all, let me thank you for preaching about UUSC to your congregation. As I'm sure you know, it takes the support of everyone to make UUSC's important human rights work possible.
There are many ways the members of your congregation can get directly involved in UUSC's work to make a difference...
1) UUSC/Equal Exchange Fair Trade Coffee Program
This is an easy and effective way for any congregation to get involved and make a commitment to human rights through UUSC's programs....by serving fair trade coffee. This program can be as long-term as you want it to be. For every bag of coffee purchased, UUSC partners receive valuable support. You can learn more about this through our Web site at http://www.uusc.org/info/coffeeproject.html, or by calling Kelli Larsen at 800 388-3920 ext. 227.
2) UUs United for Social Justice
This curriculum guide about welfare reform and poverty in the United States is geared towards adults and young adults and a great way for people interested in social justice at home to come together and make a difference. We can send you the curriculum guides that are available now, a new one to be available soon. If it fits your congregation's interests, you could turn it into a longer-term study of poverty in your community, and analysis of ways to alleviate the problems and their causes.
You can learn more about this through our Web site at http://www.uusc.org/info/uusunited.html, or by calling Jackie Ladd at 800 388-3920 ext. 218.
3) Legislative Action and Advocacy:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo have lived in poverty and war for years, with little help from the world around them...except for the support offered by UUs through UUSC and our partnership with Promotion and Help for Women's Initiatives (PAIF). You can learn more about our advocacy efforts around the Democractic Republic of Congo through our Web site at http://www.uusc.org/news/congoaction110802.html. Please also check out our new Legislative Action Center at http://www.uusc.org/info/capwizinfo.html.
Boycott the Mount Olive Pickle Co.
Your entire congregation can support our migrant farmworker friends by boycotting the Mount Olive Pickle Co.
Please learn more by visiting us on the Web at http://www.uusc.org/news/mtolive103102.html or the Farm Labor Organizing Committee at http://www.floc.com/index.htm.
Please visit our Web site often for more Legislative Action Alerts. I encourage you to print them and bring them to church to hand out, and encourage the members of your church to use our Legislative Action Center to send messages to their elected officials in support of the work of UUSC and our partners.
4) Free Speech, Constitutional Rights and Civil Rights
Perhaps members of your congregation would be interested in monitoring your community next spring to ascertain the status of free speech and other constitutional rights and civil rights. We are currently working on a new project, though we haven't officially named it yet...the working title is, "Free speech in contemporary America."
Jackie Ladd, who is the lead on this new curriculum/guide/project, says that it could be a very important project in view of what the administration in D. C. is promoting as far as our rights are concerned.
I'm sure that there will be more on this new project soon!
UUSC Sunday 2003, this spring, will be focused on living the UU faith through UUSC's action and advocacy opportunities. I hope you and your congregation will choose to hold a UUSC Sunday event or service. I encourage you to work with your Local Rep., Hurd Twombly, to plan this event for your congregation's members of all ages.
If you should have any more questions, or need anything else for your service, please feel free to contact me.
Yours,
Rachel Binderman
130 Prospect Street
What is your reaction to this sermon? Please send comments to Reverend Darcey Laine
Reverend Darcey Laine
December 8, 2002
Palo Alto, CA
The danger of reading newspapers, Margaret Atwood suggests in the reading Lauri offered, are those lingering afterimages of horror, of pain, of injustice, that follow us into the safety of our daily lives. Different images follow each one of us. A colleague of mine told me that though her congregation was mounting a passionate campaign for peace, she did not feel that same passion about the threat of war against Iraq, yet the images of children sickly and starving under sanctions there haunted her.
Compassion and peace are elevated in a new model for Action.
Certainly we have also seen the Tibetan Buddhists live principles of compassion on this level, practicing non-violence despite years of violence and oppression toward their people.
"With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be please with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your god?"
Micah 6:6-8
Though the language in the passage is different than that of our usual expression, we find here in the Jewish tradition an idea which seems quite at home in this church- it is not through showy religious practices that one comes to rightness with oneself (and with God, if you happen to be a theist). It is through ones actions- living compassion, justice, and humility. For many Unitarian Universalists the path to peace of mind comes from rolling up our sleeves.
1. The history which follows is paraphrased from that found at http://www.uusc.org/info/history.html
2. "Together, We Can Change the World: UUSC 2000-2001"
3. More information is available at http://www.uusc.org/news/mtolive103102.html or the Farm Labor Organizing Committee at http://www.floc.com/index.htm.
Rachel
Associate for Member Development, UUSC
617 868-6600 ext. 307
800 388-3920 ext. 307
rbinderman@uusc.org
www.uusc.org
Cambridge, MA 02139-1845
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