Congress Shall Establish No Law...

Here's the most key phrase in the Bill of Rights, "Congress Shall Establish No Law..." By way of codes and interpretation, one of the many things this phrase has come to mean is that public any display of religious faith allowed on public lands must be similarly granted to all faiths.

Yes, I have an example...

This week, in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer, several churches in Berryville are reading the Holy Bible from cover to cover on the town square. Yes, the square is a publicly maintained piece of land.

Here's the rub...

Any faith based religious organization which asks to use the square cannot be denied similar access to the square.

Yes, I have an example...

If a mosque wanted to have a Qaran reading on the square, it cannot be denied out of hand because it's not our faith. This is the same if a synagogue wanted to hold a similar reading of the Torah on the square. Gotta church? Gotta holy book? Get the square.

Yes, I am a Presbyterian Minister, and I want us all to read scripture, particularly I am a fan of the Holy Bible (I'm an NRSV man and don't take stock of the apocrypha but to each his own.), but in this land of opportunity, in this land of equal access; we must be cautious because the doors we open cannot be closed so easily.

What's the difference between a fundamentalist Christian group and a fundamentalist Muslim group on the square? Nothing in the eyes of the law...and that's all our judges are allowed to use in making judgement. When the Congress, or the State, or the Quorum Court establishes and implements law for one, it must be for all.

Remember that great final line from the Pledge of Allegiance: Liberty and justice for all.

As hard as this can be to swallow, this includes unpopular points of view too.

Incendiary Rhetoric

So this is why I have quit watching the news...

A Caucasian woman on FoxNews the other day said that if she were in Arizona and if she were asked, she would be proud to produce documents that proved she was a citizen of these United States. Of course...

1. She would never be asked for her papers, she's lily white, and
2. What would she produce?

This is my question...What document would she produce? Drivers licence? Social Security Card? In America, citizens don't have to carry citizenship papers. We don't! If you don't want to drive, you don't have to carry photo identification. Sure, it's easier to get beer if you have an ID, but you don't have to carry ID and you don't have to buy beer.

Does this mean that in Arizona having a lack of papers is cause for suspicion?

I get it. The issues with immigration are many and complex. Aliens, whether in this country legally or not, take jobs from Americans and jobs that no American (read: Anglo) wants to take. Pretty much everything in this world is more complex than a segment on a talk radio or cable news show.

The problem with nearly every issue in our country today is not so much the foundational issue, it's the rhetoric used to deify and vilify. We are a nation that is heading toward a place where ration is being replaced by reaction.

Thank God that at this moment, there are enough people in each camp that one is not in a position to completely annihilate the other, because if that were true then the opening of "reeducation camps" would not be far away.

If you think I'm crazy, what about the talk of "liberal-left-wing-media" as a form of reeducation. What about local "Tea Parties" and before that "Rush's Bake Sale" to reeducate. Both of these groups are well meaning (GOD let them be well meaning), but there is no longer room for middle ground when the rhetoric is hotter than the surface of the sun.

Remember, it's all good fun until the Hopi busts someone in Arizona and ships them back to England.

Legalism & facebook

Recently, I have seen groups on facebook hoping for the death of President Obama. That's right, people who would never actively do anything to harm or support harming the president are joining facebook groups hoping, praying, and/or seeking the president's death.

They don't necessarily advocate assassination, but they certainly aren't against a rapidly progressing disease.

Please, people, how gross is that?

So yesterday, I asked this question on my status:

I am reading posts advocating death and hate and other posts advocating silencing those voices. Question: Unless there in something in the "Terms of Service," to the contrary; does facebook have the right to censor any voice? Yes, even voices that spew ignorance (I'll let you decide what accounts for ignorance if you'll allow me the same.).

Well, folks were not all pleased with my question, for the most obvious reasons. Later in the day I posted that this question is a legal question for all of the scribes and Pharisees on facebook (and I can certainly be enough of a scribe to ask a legal question). It's a legal question with a legal answer. In this case, as in so many others, this law has nothing to do with love.

An aside: Once in college, I coordinated a graffiti wall for Student Activities on Valentines Day. I let people leave messages for everyone to see all over several bulletin boards in the College Commons. Yes, there was one rule to the graffiti wall: If I found it offensive, it was gone. I would take an exacto-knife and cut out the offending patch and staple in fresh paper in its stead. If any one asked what right I had to do the editing it was simple. It was my program, they were my rules, and the rules were posted, If I was the arbiter of propriety then it was my decision and it's as simple as that. (Yes, I did cut out profane and overly lurid posts.) I set myself up as judge and jury and had the disciplinary action set. You could post as much profanity as you wanted, I would just come back and cut it out. If you didn't like it, then don't post.

I mention this because I know facebook must have something about threatening speech in their "Terms of Service." It's all about enforcement. Outside of this legal thing, I believe there is no place in our world in hoping and praying for death. The Lord is the Lord of life, not the Lord of death. Especially friends in service to God in these groups should know better than praying for the death of any soul.

In the mean time, I just hope that everyone who has joined such a group or made such a post won't be too surprised when the Secret Service knocks on their door and makes their lives miserable for a season or two. As the old song goes, don't cross the river if you can't swim the tide.

In the meantime, a little Elvis Costello asking the musical question this post begs to be answered:

Tiger Woods Nike Commercial With Earl Woods

Well, so be it, here's my take on this Tiger & Earl Woods ad for Nike.

First, let's remember that Tiger is the most reclusive athlete in North America. His yacht is called "Privacy." Hermits think it's nice when they see him out and about. You get the idea, this guy's all about golf, and now we discover, women.

BTW, the first mistress doesn't get to complain about the other mistresses being "the other woman." Just sayin'...

Now, the voice over, courtesy of Earl Woods, Tiger's father, asks the musical question, "I want to find out what your thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything."

Why did Nike and Tiger put this out? If there is one thing we can say for sure about Tiger it is that he will never answer these questions, not in public, probably not in private, and probably not in the deep corners of his mind. It's his nature.

Further, no answer he gives will satisfy our quest for remorse or repentance. That's the world's nature.

So... congrats Tiger, you have done the one thing that can make matters worse, you and Nike asked a question only you can answer, but we know you won't. In the meantime, since Lefty is too big to say so, Phil Mickelson says "thanks."

Brokenness

In the church, the little place that the bread of the Lord's Supper is served on is called a paten. They are usually sold in sets with a chalice and make a lovely set. Such is the vocabulary lesson for today.

Our chalice and paten set is pottery created by an artist from Eureka Springs named Terry Russell. When the original set was in the kiln, the paten cracked. It cracked all of the way though, but not all of the way across the plate. There is also a slight warp in the piece.

Now, this happened long before I came to the church, so I do not know this story first hand, but I share it with you. When the potter saw the crack, immediately the Russell's apologized for the broken piece and said they would replace it. One of the members of the congregation said that that was unnecessary. The broken paten is a constant reminder that we are broken people and Christ himself was broken for us.

Well, the Russell's replaced the paten, but we still use the broken one every year during Lent. Lent is truly the season to remember that we are a broken people, and Easter, the season that follows, shows us that we are redeemed in new life by Jesus Christ. Like the paten, we are made whole.

Amen.

Big Questions-Big Answers

I don't recall what I was watching on the tube the other day, but I saw this collage of questions asked to President Obama. The last question was by Bob Schieffer from CBS News asking, "Was your agenda too ambitious?" What I was watching did not share the President's answers to these questions, so I don't know what followed. But let me try.

I would want the President-ANY President-to answer the question saying, "Hell yes!" We must demand ambition from those who lead this country. We must demand people who seek to serve this nation, and by extension the world, present us with a reason to vote for them rather than against their opponent.

If there is no ambition among our politicians, we all might as well move to Nevada where the "None" option exists on the ballot.

Big questions are important, but give me an audaciously big answer to go with it.

Texas-to-Big Ten Rumors Heat Up

According to this link, the NCAA's Big 10 Conference has its eyes on the University of Texas as a new member. So let me get this straight...

If UT joins the "Big 10" it will have twelve members, and

If UT leaves the "Big 12" (formerly the "Big 8" and before that the "Big 6" with a brief stop in between as the "Big 7") it will have eleven members.

When I worked in Higher Ed, I worked in a federally funded TRIO program. When I left, there were eight TRIO programs.

Names, sometimes they just mean we're not in Kansas anymore. That's either the University of Kansas or K-State.