Counter Point

I go to a pretty liberal church, a Unity church. The people tend to be more inclusive, more open-minded and allowing people to ‘be’. However, last Sunday, the minister said something that irked me. He mentioned the start up of a ‘peace and justice’ team. It sounded kinda lame actually. The team is going to be some outreach type group facilitating peace and justice. Whatever that means. It was vague and as much as there will be plenty of opportunities to intervene on someone or some groups’ behalf, I could not help but think that that peace and justice group would not be at all political. And that is how I see the words, peace and justice. Maybe I am clouded because of the many horrible accounts I have been reading about torture and literally, injustices; militarily, politically and legally.

You see, this is the same church organization that stands behind Marianne Williamson’s campaign for starting up an U.S. department of Peace. The campaign website is made to look all government-y official lookin’. Well, my apologies to my ‘brothers and sisters’ but..I ain’t buying it. This is one of the things they tout on their site;

Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. There is currently a bill before both Houses of Congress (House Resolution 3760 and Senate 1756). This historic measure will augment our current problem-solving modalities, providing practical, nonviolent solutions to the problems of domestic and international conflict.

Domestically, the Department of Peace will develop policies and allocate resources to effectively reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse, and various other forms of societal discord. Internationally, the Department will advise the President and Congress on the most sophisticated ideas and techniques regarding peace-creation among nations.

When reading Jane Mayer’s article on the memo that Alberto J. Mora wrote, you know that there is no chance in hell, that even those supposed Christians in the Republican party will subscribe to a more advanced level of relating to other people(s). They cannot even muster the basics such as the rule of law, disallowing and disavowing torture. “Sophisticated ideas and techniques regarding peace-creation among nations”? I have been thinking of changing churches even though part of me enjoys the one we attend on various levels. I find though that especially people who profess to be spiritual need to speak up for truth and speak up for the underdogs..and there are plenty. It’s not all ‘abortion and oh no, those gay people who want to get married’. There are real, serious issues at stake that I feel the majority of people here in the US are totally oblivious to. Literally, the war is far removed, their self concept as the ‘good guys’ or the fact that there is supposed to be all those rights given in the Constitution, makes them unconscious of the evil and truly morally corrupted forces that are at work, overtly and covertly. Domestically, and internationally.

I am strongly leaning towards going to Austin’s First Unitarian Universalist Church where Davidson Loehr preaches. Hopefully there, I/we will find that common denominator between spiritual and political peace and justice.