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By John Stempin
January 21, 2001
There are two things I've
always wanted to do... deliver a sermon and do stand up comedy. So
after watching Don off and on since he married Cara and me... I've
come to realize there is no difference between the two.
I guess this is our lucky day.
It's been less than 24 hours since our Ivy League fraternity brother
has been sworn in as the keeper of the big red button... the leader
of however freedom is measured this week and the intellectual
compass of our country.
How could this happen?
Well... a lot of people have been saying technology. Al Gore lost
Florida because of a failure in election technology. The state that
gave us butterfly shrimp has now also given us the butterfly ballot.
I guess that means we now have president-in-a-basket.
There were swinging chads, pregnant chads and chads punched for that
spooky Pat Buchanan. There were faulty machine counts, missing
postmarks and whole ballot boxes that went missing after disoriented
poll volunteers mysteriously took them home on election night.
Are there some liberals in the room? I don't know if there is or
not... but I'll bet some of you take exception to the result.
Yes of course. Given a proper chance, Al Gore defeats W. and Elian
and Ralph and wins Florida.
Well, I come here with some news.
The problem is NOT with the technology.
It's not technology that lost the election.
The problem is.... with.... us....
You know, that election should have never been that close. It should
have been a landslide for Al Gore, even if his platform wasn't
terribly radical from George W.
It should have been different enough in enough of the right places,
though for the liberally minded.
And all through that pre-determined scripted recount that ended in
the Supreme Court not once did I hear any one... not a pundit... not
a friend... not a fellow journalist... not even anyone here at
Davies ask what I felt was the fundamental question.
"What is wrong with America's soul that we let that man get
elected?"
He's ready to hand over our natural resources to the oil barons...
ready to put the mice in charge of the cheese at the Pentagon... and
ready to pull the lever on even the mentally retarded in the
execution chamber. How did this guy get elected?
Oh yeah. It's the tax cut. Somewhere around half of the nation is
willing to sell out the rest of us for a so-called tax cut. For an
extra 75-dollars in April... or an extra Big Mac every week... we as
a nation said we don't care if our elderly get their digitalis.
Because, hey, we got a tax cut.
What is wrong with our souls?
It's real easy to pick on our technology when the problem is
ourselves.
Look. [PAGER] Here's my pager. A pager can call a doctor to the
emergency room... tell a parent they have a child now to adopt...
and it can be used to sell crack. But the pager doesn't know. All
the pager does is beep when you call it.
Television vomits garbage into our living rooms every day in an
unending stream. So why do we turn it on? The TV doesn't know what
its doing. It's the programmers and the consumers who should share
the blame.
I can use my computer to design a church... or I can use it to check
out rumpus-cam-dot-com. The computer doesn't know.
I put it to you that the digital revolution has actually changed
nothing. It's just a really fancy way to store what's in our heads.
Isn't that alarming?
Now... all the devices I mentioned are what we consider
technology... high technology. But in fact, anything that's a tool
is technology or an expression of technology.
A guardrail is part of highway safety technology. Latex paint is a
part of coating and sealing technology. [pen] This ball point pen is
part of writing technology.
There is a well recognized cycle that's evolved since the industrial
revolution... technology begets wealth which begets financial
freedom. Financial freedom then begets a desire for new and improved
technology. This is the cycle that built America.
Remember that... we'll come back to it in a few minutes after I give
a little Jesus talk.
And I hope the roof is fixed. I would hate for it to come down on me
after bringing up Jesus in a U-U talk but I guess you never know.
Our reading today, the passion of Jesus came from the incomplete and
fragmented gospel of Peter.
You're probably wondering how the crucifixion fits into all of this.
The New Testament is a wonderfully subversive document in so many
ways. Whether it's income redistribution through giving your wealth
to the poor or a prayer in private means more to God than prayer in
public, or dropping that eye-for-an-eye--tooth-for-a-tooth
business... a lot of it was subversive then and it's still
subversive today.
If you doubt me, just try arguing with our ruling conservatives that
welfare is good, prayer belongs at home not in the school, and that
the death penalty is horrendous.
Well, the New Testament also has an unwritten, between-the-lines
subversion against technology. When Jesus calls forward his new
disciples, they drop their fishing technologies and follow Him. When
it's time to cure a blind man what does Jesus do? He spits on the
ground and makes a poultice of mud. That's low tech.
When its time to raise the dead Jesus simply yells into the cave,
"Lazarus, get up!" When he rides triumphantly into Jerusalem, it's
on the back of an ass... he doesn't even take a cart.
Presumably Joseph taught Jesus carpentry but there's no record of
Jesus building anything. And you know what? Jesus didn't command a
single Apostle to write a journal of any of His teachings.
What's up with that?
Why do you suppose the wisest person to ever live didn't want his
message saved forever to avoid its distortion? He knew he was
establishing a Church. He told Peter he was the rock of its
foundation. Could it be he didn't care about written technologies?
And after he fasts and prays in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights
the Devil appears before him offering him every wealth and
technology and freedom the Earth has to offer from that and every
era ... the printing press... the polio vaccine... interstellar
space travel... Pokemon Game Boys... in simple exchange for his
soul. And without batting an eye, Jesus says no.
By the way, I can't let that last example go by without having a
Unitarian Moment... this Unitarian Moment is made possible by a
grant from Skeptics International. "We'd have you as a member but we
doubt your intentions." 1-800-PROVE IT.
So as a Catholic... I was taught that Jesus was the son of God and
one part of three people in one, The Holy Trinity. Jesus is
therefore divine. Well, what was the Devil trying to prove? If Jesus
is an extension of God he already owned everything the Devil was
showing him, didn't he? If you ever find yourself in 4th grade again
and in a Catholic religious ed. class... DON'T ask that question.
Just DON'T.
Jesus does own everything. If Jesus comes to your house demanding
your Elvis Viva Las Vegas Snow Globe collection he can have it,
right?
Why would Jesus want your Elvis Snow Globes? I dunno. That's the
great thing about religion. Sometimes it's a mystery.
Well, the first time Jesus must confront technology in any
significant form it's Roman and it's nasty and it's the most
elaborate form of murder known to the period. Jesus was not stoned,
flogged, choked, strangled, suffocated, stabbed or beaten to death.
Jesus was crucified.
And what happens when the tool of his execution technology is forced
on His back and He must carry it?
As we know from other books of the Bible, finally faced with modern
technology for the day, Jesus collapses under its weight. Someone is
pulled from the crowd and made to carry it for him. Is that incident
a simple historic statement... or is it symbolic as well?
According to Peter at the moment of His death, Jesus utters not the
blasphemous "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" but
something much more Unitarian Universalist. He says "my power, my
power, you have abandoned me."
And where did Jesus lose his power? Affixed to a cross made with
wood working technology, nails smelted with metal working technology
and thorns from agriculture. Mob justice and misapplication of
technology robbed Jesus of his power and his very life.
And as an aside... have you ever thought about the irony in the son
of a carpenter murdered with wood and nails?
Despite everything you read about the great technological
innovations of the Greeks and the Romans, the ancients really
despised the technology-wealth-financial freedom connection. Seneca
wrote the most important inventions of the Roman era came from
slaves because only slaves were interested in making work easier.
The Spartan Archidamus rejected the use of the newly invented
catapult because the only virtuous way to kill your enemy was by
hand... not by remote.
Aristotle held that a decent society should deny citizenship to
craftsmen and traders. The ancients thought little of technology, invention or the wealth
it brought.
So how is it that we got where we are today?
The ancients built their societies on the concept of virtue. Trade
and technology were necessary evils tolerated for creature needs
while average people and their leaders strived for virtue. They
might have disagreed over which virtues, but that only served to
heighten intellectual debate. But by the 1600s, though, the European
concept of virtuous society had fallen completely apart. The primary
reason was religion.
When we light this chalice every time we gather, we commemorate how
our forebears struggled in this horrible time. Thousands upon
thousands of our Protestant soulmates died simply because they asked
so many of the questions that we today take for granted.
When we light the candle we re-ignite their souls and we remember
those who died at the hands of The Church, the state and frenzied
mobs controlled by The Church and the state. The flame resides in a
communion chalice... a communion of our pain and our persecution and
our beliefs and our hope. It's something of a Pandora's chalice.
And all of it... the torture... the murders and the wars... was
about who was more virtuous... conservative religion represented by
The Church... or earnest liberals with questions inspired by Martin
Luther.
So it comes as no surprise the New White World was founded in large
part by those running from the pain and danger of religious tyranny.
They were joined by those looking to make a bigger buck than what
was possible under the yoke of European royalty.
So by 1776 the world was about to be turned on its head.
The great thinkers... Bacon... Locke... Adam Smith... came to the
conclusion the European quest for virtue was broken and it couldn't
be fixed. They argued that if we were free to be fat and happy, we'd
stop killing each other over a God no one had ever met.
They said Science would help us live better and longer. They said
commerce would spread the benefits to everyone even if the
distribution was unequal.
They figured that if we were living to party for the weekend, saving
for a new car, able to pick from at least three outfits to wear
every day, that if we weren't hungry and angry every day we'd be
less likely to impale our neighbors over such issues as papal
infallibility.
And for the most part, they were right.
They argued wealth over virtue. Establishing a society based on
wealth over virtue may not be as noble... but it can be done... and
it could serve as a diversion from the endless battles over
religious symbolisms that can never be completely resolved.
And so when the Americans declared independence they declared a more
perfect union free of onerous taxes to the King of England. They
didn't write a document claiming we have higher virtues and morality
and were tired of being dragged down by the King. It was about the
freedom to make money.
And when they wrote a workable constitution, our founders were
heavily influenced by the wealth and material arguments... and they
called for a nation conceived in liberty and freedom... to get rich.
They did not demand a virtuous society in writing because they knew
it couldn't be done. And as anyone knows, America today on the whole
does some great things but is not necessarily virtuous.
So for the first time since wandering tribes gathered at the Tigris
and the Euphrates... Greed was in.
Europe's religious outcasts... tired of dying... and its antsy
salesmen... tired of taxes... conspired to create a new republic
with a massive firewall between church and state. They wanted that
massive firewall because religious conflict was getting in the way
of making money.
So one group was allowed to worship anyway they wanted... and the
other group was allowed to sell anything any way they wanted and it
was all rolled up in red, white and blue bunting we call patriotism.
But Confucius said: "The gentleman understands what is moral. The
small man understands what is profitable."
And so this division between God-on-my-own-terms and
commerce-on-my-own-terms brought about America's contemporary core
conflict.
It's our schizophrenia between Puritanical right and wrong and using
sex to sell everything. Perhaps the founding fathers weren't the
geniuses our grade school teachers told us they were. Now by the
early 1900s, the salesmen... the politicians and conservatives...
and the entertainers found they could ignite most of Christian
America by trying to mask this conflict by bringing the two
together.
Our political conventions, for example, are equal part sales meeting
and old timey religious revival and that's no accident.
Conservative Christians whipped into a froth because they believe
they are doing it for God will buy anything... from snake oil to a
party platform to a thinly disguised holy war.
Remember the cycle? Wealth-Freedom-Technology?
Well this commercial religious revival got tossed in the social
blender with the industrial revolution and suddenly you could be
Saved for Jesus AND be stinkin' rich at the same time! Such a deal.
Welcome to the modern Republican Party.
But... a rich man has less of a chance of getting into heaven as a
camel through the eye of a needle.
Oh yeah, I know. None of us in this room are rich. Except by the
standards of grinding poverty that highlighted all of human
existence up until World War Two.
We have lost our understanding of our membership in the overclass
because we are now too far removed from just 100 years ago when we
did the laundry on washboards, when we ate spoiled meat because
there was no refrigeration and when we quit the second grade to do
piece work at the bolt factory.
Conservatives who choose to inject their religion into government...
the schools... and court houses have forgotten the lessons enshrined
in this chalice.
[CHALICE] They forget that what works for Christian Conservatives
might not work for the rest of us.
They forget what Locke and Bacon and Smith and Jefferson and
Washington and Franklin knew. That religious devisiveness is
ultimately a drag on profits.
Our founding fathers... many of whom shared UU ideals or were UUs
themselves... would be flabbergasted not on some moral or ethical
ground by conservatives... they'd be disappointed conservatives had
chosen to force their religious views on the rest of us... and... in
the process... lost loads of valuable time that should have been
spent inventing new things to sell.
So what are we doing about using our technology and our wealth to
defend our liberal religious values? By my estimation... and I spend
a lot of time with the media every day... not much. The UU voice is
rarely heard in the national debate. I've been spending a lot of
time surfing conservative religious web sites recently. I disagree
with what they say about us.
We're not a cult. We're not bad people. We're not false religion.
We're not the Devil's church on earth.
We stand for many things dearly American. Many, many things even
conservative say they stand for.
Freedom of worship.
Freedom from crime and fear.
Freedom of expression.
We stand for individual liberty.
We stand against the exploitation of children and the elderly.
We stand against suffering.
We stand against religious tyranny.
And by supporting the International Convention on Human Rights we,
too, deplore excessive government interference in anyone's life.
And yet with the country's technology at our finger tips... where is
our collective national UU voice? With the ability to communicate to
the masses more quickly and easily than any time in history, I have
to struggle to find the UU voice in the national discussion.
It's there, it's just real hard to find.
Well who is going to defend the firewall? Who is going to defend
against religious tyranny? Who will speak for the religious left?
Jesse? Unfortunately, I'm afraid not.
Hey, this is the church that stood at the front of the anti war
movement of the 1960s... that campaigned for equal rights and
universal suffrage and demanded an end to slavery.
We were the ones who hurt the immoral capitalists and business
owners by doing the right thing by pitching in on the underground
railroad.
We have not been afraid to take on the unpopular or even life
threatening thing in the name of virtue.
Where are we now? We're sitting at home watching the new Bush
appointees wistfully recalling the Confederacy.
Did any of you catch that under tow this past week? Two of the Bush
appointees used the Confederacy to make their points in confirmation
hearings.
That's beyond shocking and unbelievable... it's GHASTLY. Really. The
Confederacy.
Where is the national UU voice on that no brainer?
We have a moral responsibility to stand up for what is right.
We have a moral responsibility to defend the voiceless against
corporate America subverting the constitution.
We have a moral responsibility to protect the religious firewall...
to put the flame to John Ashcroft's feet... to put the flame to W's
feet... to put the flame to Washington, DC's feet... before the Jews
and the Muslims and the Buddhists and the Shintoists and the Native
Americans and the atheists and the UUs are forced to publicly pray
to a strange God that's been stapled by political salesmen to
American government and free enterprise.
If Confucius is right... that little men understand what is
profitable... it might make you wonder about the future of the EPA
under the governor of New Jersey.
There is only so much I can do. I am a journalist. Ethically, I have
no opinions and I advocate nothing. But I do stand in control of one
magnificent gate waiting for a well formed UU argument to come
sailing through.
So for those of us fortunate enough to make the national meeting
this year... I ask you to raise the issue... where is the national
UU voice? Where was it during the past election... and where will it
be if we just stand idly by waiting for someone else to pick up the
ball and run.
We are lucky... we have the wealth and the technology and the
freedom to do what our forebears could not. We have a moral
obligation to ask their questions.
For we ARE gentlemen and gentlewomen.
[Chalice] They died so that we could light this candle.
For the next four years, lets not make lighting this candle an empty
gesture.
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