God Bless America?

WARNING! This is going to be about religion… So if that makes you uneasy feel free to skip this post.

I don’t often write about my own faith. I tend to subscribe to the advice of the late Waite Phillips who once said he’d “rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” Faith is something that should always be seen more than heard. So I find myself watching the loud exhortations by the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, proclaiming his version of Christianity with a increasing feeling of frustration and yes, dismay.

It is tempting in times like these when a national political figure waves their religion around like a cape at bull fight; to reference Jesus’ own words on this sort of thing. How in Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus makes it very clear the “See how holy I am!” crowd have missed the entire point of the practice of faith. Or how in Luke, Chapter 18 Jesus tells the story of how people who claim how their faith makes them better than someone else, are anything but.

Yet I am reminded about a common question that politicians often get asked, especially at events like the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where a common query to would-be Presidents of the United States, is; “What is your favorite bible verse?”

When conservative radio host Bob Lonsberry asked Donald Trump that question in 2016, the resulting word salad was…. Impressive.

"Well, I think many. I mean when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people, look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That's not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what's happening to our country, I mean, when you see what's going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us. And they laugh at our face, and they're taking our jobs, they're taking our money, they're taking the health of our country. And we have to be very firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you."

Um…. Okay.   Wow.

The new Speaker of the House in his own podcast in 2022, framed his Christian faith in terms of a battle that needed to be waged. Saying that God wanted more aggression and less turning of the other cheek. "Obviously, this is an increasingly hostile culture," Johnson told the audience. "We all know that. We need to understand why that is, and we need to commit to do our part to confront it. The kingdom of God allows aggression."

He then referenced Scripture from Matthew 11:12, which according to a more recent translation, states: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."

Johnson sees his elevation to the office of Speaker as part of some divine battle plan. A Christian nationalist blueprint for an America where reproductive rights, birth control, divorce, LGBT people, and all separation of (his) church and the state is done away with.

Also, according to Speaker Johnson, God wants everybody to have guns. Lots and lots of guns. Telling Sean Hannity in 2016 that God is big supporter of the Second Amendment. And he is not alone in that belief. A 2021 survey found that “among Whites who said America should be a Christian nation, more than 4 in 10 named the right to keep and bear arms as the most important right. Not freedom of speech. Not even freedom of religion, but gun rights.”

The concept of “Christian Nationalism” has had a resurgence of popularity on the political and cultural right these days. The belief that the United States is or should be a Christian Nation first and foremost and the secular idea of any kind of separation of (Christian) church and state is the work of the Devil.

A conservative friend of mine recently asked me what my favorite bible verse was. I was tempted to pull out something ridiculous from the book of Numbers just to see his reaction, but instead I answered honestly. Proverbs 3:6

I’ll save you the effort of googling it. It reads: “In all your ways acknowledge God, and God will make your paths straight.”

My friend was really surprised by this, responding that it was an odd choice for a Gay man. Saying “that verse sounds like an endorsement of conversion therapy!” Clearly thinking “make your path straight” could refer to becoming heterosexual. I laughed and said if he was going to take every word in the bible literally, then he was clearly going to hell for eating shellfish and wearing cotton blend.

For me, one of the core tenants of my Christian faith has always been “Emanuel” or God with Us. The idea that we do not walk alone through life. But if we listen for God, we will find God. Not in the Mike Pence “God told me to run for President “way, but in the sense of knowing the right thing to do when it matters most.

Hearing God speak to us not as a booming voice out of parted clouds but in opportunities we find in our path. That verse in proverbs has always been for me, an invitation to be open to opportunities to live my faith, rather than just talk about it.

I remember the bedtime prayer I would say a child. Many of you may have said the same or a similar one. There are multiple variations on it. We said the 1932 Grace Bridges version:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my lord my soul to keep,
In the morning when I awake
Help me the path of love to take.

I have always found the difference from the New England Primer version, the “if I should die before I wake” version to be significant. The path of love wasn’t some celestial escalator to a gated heavenly community in the sky. But rather the choices and opportunities that I would face that next day.   The path of love is the “straight path” Proverbs 3:6 invites us to be open to.

And to be clear, it’s an UPHILL path. Unlike the opposite. The path of pointing fingers at others, the path of “lets build a wall to keep THOSE people out”, the path of some voices mattering more than others because of the color of faces they come out of, or how they vote, or because they don’t come from people who loudly pray as they kneel on the House Floor for the CSPAN Cameras. 

That path is easy. Because that path leads downward.

And like most downward paths, when you start on it, gravity kicks in and helps propel you faster. The more people you can claim are less than, or are less ‘favored’ by your version of God the faster that downhill journey goes. The path of hate, the path of exclusion the idea that the Grace of God is a zero-sum proposition. America is God’s favored Nation so clearly other nations aren’t. That path is very easy.

The path of love is about the work of the Kingdom of God, here and now. Not about building a wall and hiding behind it waiting for Blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian Jesus to magically beam you up and all the people you don’t like are ‘left behind’. 

It is being open to things as simple and as complex, as looking for God in the people and situations we encounter every day. You will find work to do if you follow that "path made straight'. You will find people who are very different from you, who think different, act different and live differently.

Yet being open to a path made straight, can lead to lots of other things. Even to finding a sense of purpose. In the Lutheran liturgy in the service of Baptism there is wonderful moment when the congregation speaks words of welcome to the newly baptized:

"We welcome you into the lord's family, we receive you as fellow members of the body of Christ, children of the same heavenly father, and workers with us in the kingdom of God.”

What has always resonated for me in those words, is the idea that the  Kingdom of God is not, some distant Asgardian realm with glowing sidewalks and flying chariots. But is the here and now, with work to do. The path of love is an uphill one. Accepting that invitation in Proverbs 3 to be open to letting God make paths straight, is to accept that we need to do the work of the kingdom of God here, today.

We often hear religious figures talk about “Sharing the Good news” I have always defined that as trying to live a life were others “see a sermon” rather than hear it. Mike Johnson defines sharing the good news as telling people he disagrees with that God loves them less because of where they were born, who they love or how they vote. 

I like how Luther defined Evangelism as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Its not about having all the answers it’s about helping others look for them along with us.  

Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and I have very different ideas about what “evangelism” is. For him it’s about who and what he needs to oppose. For me it’s always been about what is it that I need to try to do today, to move just a little father up that path made straight,  the path of love.

One my favorite versions of the Easter story is found in John’s gospel. Where after finding the tomb empty Mary Magdalene lingers looking for clues as to where the assumed grave robbers have taken Jesus’ body. Then encountering Jesus, she doesn’t recognize him, until Jesus says her name. It is upon hearing Jesus call her by her name, she recognizes the risen Christ and is given instructions to take back to the disciples, she is given work to do. A path made straight.

In the weeks and months ahead, there is going to be a lot of noise. People like Mike Johnson will loudly proclaim they speak for God. That God has a preferred choice in the 2024 election, and people who don’t agree with that choice are enemies that God wants destroyed. I hope that in the year ahead we can listen for our name to be called. That we look for that uphill path and the work to be done here and now.

If America IS God’s country, shouldn’t we try harder to act like it instead of just saying so?

When the Enemy you Never Met Dies...

 

The Annual Pride Debate...

 Well it's June... So you KNOW what that means.

Like the rainbow flags going up on Market Street in San Francisco , the annual debate over the merits of LGBT Pride celebrations re-surfaces like a perennial weed that just won't stay down.

It's a debate that rages  inside and outside the  LGBTQ community. Inside the community, the question is; does some of the imagery of Pride celebrations hurt the cause of equal rights? Also, in the wake of legal victories such as Marriage Equality; some ask  do we even need pride celebrations anymore?

While critics and opponents of equality love to point to that same imagery as evidence of Gay folks wanting "special rights", and then pull out their favorite chestnut, of asking why are Gay Pride Celebrations acceptable but Straight Pride celebrations are not?

Sigh.... Really? It's like asking why isn't there a "White History Month". I get tired of trying to explain to people who really do know better, just how stupid they sound whey they try to make these types of arguments. But fine, since clearly there is some "genuine" confusion out there as to the reason for LGBT Pride celebrations , allow me to clarify.

States in the USA where you can be fired for being Straight =0
States in the USA where you could have been fired for being Gay = 28
Countries that will execute you for being Straight = 0
Countries that will execute you for being Gay = 11 (actually 12 Uganda just re-joined the list)


Growing up, how many books, songs, television programs, and movies did you see that featured straight couples meeting, falling in love and living happily ever after? Pretty much all of them. Ask someone who is LGBT how many positive images in popular culture they had growing up that affirmed who they are? The answer is, none, or at best few, if any at all.

Thankfully this has been changing dramatically in the past few years.

But until those recent advances, Gay characters in movies and television were either creepy villains or camp comic relief. If you doubt that, you really should check out the groundbreaking HBO documentary, "The Celluloid Closet".It shows clearly the disparity in popular culture where messages about sexual orientation were concerned.

 
The Celluloid Closet - Trailer

Then there is the area of religion. The number of straight kids who have been told they are going to hell simply for being heterosexual = 0. The number of LGBTQ kids who have been told that they are going hell simply for being who they are?  = Too many to even try to count.

To my Straight friends, I have to ask, how many times have "respected" public figures, politicians, pundits and clergy gone on national television demanding that everyone be given the chance to VOTE on your civil rights?

How often has someone told you that not being able to discriminate against you was somehow an attack on them? When was the last time you heard a member of the Supreme Court saying that simply by being allowed to exist, you were "an attack" on the moral fiber of America?

Anyone?? Yeah...I didn't think so...

I have a flash of the obvious for you, EVERY month is Straight Pride Month." There is a word for someone who truly feels that equal rights for people they don't like is somehow an attack on them. That word is "Bigot".

Saying LGBT people are human too, isn't an attack on straight people. Those people who really think it is, are, quite simply, bigots. People who say LGBT Pride celebrations need to be stopped, are in fact, the exact reason they all started in the first place.

In 2023 one would think such battles would be long over, but in the light of LGBT rights victories in the U.S. over the past few years, the American Talibangelicals have turned their sights to new targets; Trans Kids and Drag Performers.

The rhetoric on the American cultural Right Wing,  would have you believe a man in a dress and high heels reading  books to kids, is a greater threat than the LEADING cause of death for children in the United States: Gun Violence.

Are Pride celebrations good or bad for the cause of equality? The answer is both. With visibility comes closer examination.  

Opponents of equality love to show images of drag queens, leather daddies and shirtless men   dancing on parade floats, and scream "See! it's not about equal rights! They just want to recruit your kids into THIS!! They never show the families, advocacy groups, welcoming and inclusive religious denominations, and workplace affinity groups who participate in Pride parades.    After all, that wouldn't fit their desired narrative.

Media coverage is often complicit. CNN loves to show the drag queens and gogo boys, but when straight allies like the CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the largest non-profit health care company in the U.S.rides on a float in the SF Pride parade every year, with over 1,200 employees, their families, friends and colleagues, you'd think we all were invisible.

You never see CNN asking Tony Perkins, head of the certified Hate-Group, the "Family Research Council" on Fox News about the deadly cultural fetishization of guns and violence towards minorities on the cultural right, and how that had led directly to lethal antiemetic and homophobic attacks.

That would be admitting something of an inconvenient truth. 

It's much easier to just point at a group of shirtless men on a flatbed truck or women on motorcycles and say that they are the real threat to families.

I have always said that Pride celebrations are not really for the people who attend them. Instead, they are for the people who cannot attend them. Growing up as a Gay kid in a small town in South Central Wisconsin, there were times when I was convinced, I was the only gay person on Earth.

The constant message from popular culture, religion, family and peer groups was "boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married (or not) and have kids and live happily ever after". There was no happily ever after for someone who felt what I was feeling.

Then, for one weekend in June, I would turn on the TV News and see thousands of people just like me, in places like New York, San Francisco and Chicago saying "No, that's not true, you are not alone, and there is a big wide world out here beyond Sun Prairie Wisconsin. So hang in there .... we're here and we're waiting for you!"

1986 Pride Television Coverage

Now more than thirty years later, I watch coverage like this, and it seems so endearingly cheesy. Yet at the time, it was a lifeline to people like me, living with the fear and isolation of being "in the closet".

Pride Celebrations are the original "It Gets Better Project".

My straight friends never needed to be told that being straight was okay, and that they were okay because nobody ever told them they weren't.  

Pride isn't about celebrating being Gay, it's about publicly showing that being LGBT is just as much a part of the human experience as being straight is. I for one would love to see the day when Pride is obsolete. When that scared closeted gay kid, in some small town doesn't need to be told that he or she is fine just the way they are.

So this month we will see joyous crowds gathering in places like Market Street in San Francisco, Oxford Street in London, Halsted Street in Chicago, and Fifth Avenue in New York City, Hillcrest in San Diego, Montrose in Houston, and so many more.

And there is reason to celebrate. We have a President, and administration that honors the idea of "E Pluribus Unum" - that America is one out of many. So in this Pride Month , it is still vitally importing to add our voices voice to the chorus celebrating the diversity of America and the American Experience.

If for no other reason to let that one scared kid know, it really does get better. There is a world where "boy meets boy" and "girl meets girl", where you can be the person that every fibre of your being is screaming for you to be. A world where yes, you can fall in love and (if they want to) get married, and even live happily ever after...

Happy Pride Everyone.