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HATE CRUSHED TO EARTH
by John T. Crestwell, Jr.
10/31/04 at the UU Church of Annapolis  

I bring you greetings from Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Camp Springs, MD where I am the Intern Minister and Director of Outreach.  We are actively engaged in a growth plan to become a more diverse congregation and it is a great challenge that I and the church welcome.  I am thankful to Rev. Muir for inviting me to what is known as one of the great and thriving UU churches in America, and I hope this message from a city boy can give you a bit of food for thought…

That’s right I grew up in Washington DC in a modest apartment.   My mother kept the place very neat and tidy.  We had old furniture and old carpet and old appliances but everything was always organized and clean.  But, with that said, we had a HUGH roach problem.  Any of you suburbanites heard of roaches?  Perhaps a few of you have—maybe? J  Well, you can spray, sweep, mop, you can bomb (yes there’s really a roach bomb); you can put down some boric acid, and try whatever you will, but these are some of the most tenacious creatures I have ever seen!  You may get rid of them for a few days but sure enough you look up and you see one, then 3, and then God knows how many….  Then you have to spray again but you have to use something a bit stronger because they develop immunity to whatever you use if you use it too much.  You mess around using the same thing over and over and you’ll look up and have bionic roaches that are bigger, stronger and faster!  Did you know that scientists say there’s one species that will probably survive a nuclear bomb?  Guess which one?  Yes, you got it—roaches.   Well, you know, it’s funny because our plan to rid the world of the “evil people” is quite similar to eliminating roaches.  What am I talking about?  I’ll get to that in a moment but let me rush on…

In the 1800’s a poet, writer and Unitarian named William Cullen Bryant, in one of his writings titled “The Battlefield,” said a most profound thing:  “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”  This very concise sentence has been used countless times in decades past—to the present— to say that no matter the evil in the world; no matter the hate, the voice of truth will be heard.  You may use your power to oppress the message.  You may use your influence to suppress it.  You might use your money to depress it; and you might kill the body and attempt to exterminate people. But the message of truth will live on, and it will manifest in other individuals and peoples of the world who will carry the message forward.  As it is said, you can kill the messenger but you cannot kill the message.   There’s a similar theme in Christian theology.  You have the term “Theodicy” which says that evil exists in the world but ultimately, God’s justice will prevail.  This agrees with the statement by Bryant— “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”  But Theodicy says that it will rise and rise until “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  Now, this is one viewpoint.  But, you have to think to yourself, if the tide of truth rises, when it subsides, is it not true that it’s opposite, the winds of hate will come in like a whirlwind?  And so, for me, if truth crushed rises, hate crushed to earth rises as well.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about a cycle; a cycle where people promote their truth.  But as they promote their truth there is another side that says what is virtuous to you is vicious to me.  Deep hatred cultivates within the minds of people and cultures, as a result of not having their voices heard.  This hatred is passed on from generation to generation.  It festers and grows.  The messengers from these groups are silenced by varying power structures, and they are often killed and again, what happens is their followers develop an anger that cannot be tempered.  And the cycle of one group’s truth being promoted which becomes another group’s hatred and bitterness—this cycle continues and instead of creating a world that shares a “we are together reality”, the “us against them mentality” prevails…

Our world lives by a mythological construct that in many ways needs to be deconstructed and perhaps reconstructed.  Our present way of life lives by the premise that violence in the human species must exist.  And if violence exists, as a higher species, there must be justifications for us to use primitive force.  Therefore, there has to be clear conceptions in our culture, and in various cultures around the world, that say this is good and that is evil.  The “I versus it” relationship must prevail in this construct where, as Dr. King said well, “we relegate people to the status of things.”   I’m talking about a mythology that says we must use physical muscle to keep control of the masses.  And as it is said, whoever has the power makes the rules. 

It is clear that those who administer their power in our system continue to promulgate the idea that evil must be exterminated; that evil must be eliminated.  If you look at this on the surface, you are prone to say “yes”.  But if you look at the statement in depth something else emerges as we shall see in a moment…

Now, this idea of good and evil, our take on it that is, comes from the Judeo-Christian conception of good and evil.  Our entire moral code is based around this.  God is good, Satan is evil.  But the first problem with this mythology is that life is just not that simple.  Life is not that Black and White.   What is evil to you may not be evil to me.  What you consider good may not be good to me.  If you look at the news in America you can clearly see images that will construct a reality that says Arabs are bad.  But I am sure if you look at the news in the Arab world, you will say to yourself, “Americans are bad”.  Who’s right?  That depends on your worldview doesn’t it?   But whether you’re Arab or American in both mythologies there is that “eye for an eye” mentality that is alive and well!  And what does this solve?  Is there peace on earth and goodwill for all people?  Do you think that there is love, equality and reciprocity on a global scale?  From my vantage point, one group’s truth becomes another group’s lie; and hate creates more hate.  Societies all across the world live with the guilt of civilizations they have wreaked havoc upon because of their truth, yet they/we do not seem to learn the lesson that history teaches, and history tells us that you cannot crush humans to the earth without a deep animosity that lives on and on and on…The hate will come back on you!   What you put out in the universe you eventually get back.  You reap what you sow.

The thing that is remarkable to me is that people think they can exterminate groups of people.  We think that we can get our raid and boric acid and bombs and rid the world of its roach menace.   You kill one roach another one comes in its place.   We kill thousands.  And we keep killing.  And we say that it is for the sake of our own kind.  Kill every roach in the world.   I’m reminded of what John Mason said in 1637 during the massacre of the Pequot (Pecoy) Native American Tribe.  He said, “God laughed his enemies and the enemies of his people to scorn, making them as a fiery oven…  Thus did the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies.”

It is quite outrageous to think humans can wipe out everyone they perceive to be a problem.  Genocide is a sick practice.   Do we believe that?  Do we believe that the quote, unquote, “Evil ones” must be destroyed?”  Be careful what you say!  The evil one could be you.  Yes, I hear a hymn crying in my soul:  “Can I see another’s woe and not be in sorrow too?  Can I see another’s grief and not seek for kind relief.  Can I see a falling tear, and not feel my sorrow’s share?  No, no never can it be—never, never can it be!” 

Then I go on to ask myself, “Are we that primitive?  Are we that basic in nature and substance that we want to annihilate human beings?  Where is the depth of thought?  Where are our reasoning powers?  Is the human condition that sick?”  I will not accept war and barbarity as a virtue of humanity.  I will not accept the idea that violence is necessary and that extermination is needed no matter how you put your spin on it; no matter how you construct your mediated reality, I will not accept it!  When I look at war and murder you know what I see?  I see the images of the dead who’ll never get a chance to enjoy the blessing we call life.   I heard a soldier say, “When I have to take a life, a part of me dies.”  So true if you are in touch with the spirit of humanity…

It’s funny because we call Dr. Martin King a martyr.  We praise Gandhi for his wisdom and sacrifice.  They are icons in the world.  They were prophets of peace and yet we accept violence and war as reality and necessary. We mock these fallen leaders with our foolishness.  

But you know something, we created the mythology and we can change it.  It would call for a radical restructuring of values in the world.  And that transition might prove painful.  But it is quite necessary. We can deconstruct and reconstruct our world to be the place it should be for all souls to enjoy.

We heard from William Whipper (reading) a contemporary of Frederick Douglass.  Douglass disagreed with Whipper’s call for non-violence.  Douglass, an eventual supporter of the Civil War, felt physical force was needed to free his people.  Nevertheless, Whipper reminded us that humans must use the power of reason to overcome a very biological instinct that calls us to use force.  Listen to what he said again: “If humankind ever expect to enjoy a state of peace and quietude, they must at all times be ready to sacrifice on the altar of principle, the rude passions that animate them.  This they can only perform by exerting their reasoning powers.”  You see, force—violence, goes well beyond rational thinking into a very primitive mindset.  Just like when you see a roach you (smack) squish it almost immediately!  It’s instinctive, “Kill that roach quickly!” your brain says to you…  Then you run, emotionally, and get the raid and spray the whole area and you say yourself, “I have solved the problem!” while you cough from the toxic fumes you’ve just inhaled into your lungs.  And a few days, a few weeks later, there are more roaches bigger and stronger.  A rational mind will say, “Your fumigation plan does not work and has not worked in the history of the world.”  In fact, the toxic fumes are infecting your lungs.   Maybe you need a new plan!”  Somebody knows what I’m talking about!

I think about the city I was reared in Washington, D.C.  What does the city government do when the street needs to be paved due to excessive potholes?  They plug them.  And a month later the holes begin to emerge again.  We have to come to see that the entire street must be repaved but not with asphalt but with a new substance, a new material that will be lasting and sure.  We need a new type of asphalt, indeed.   Yes, we need a new type of RAID.  Not the kind of RAID that looks at the other and says, “You are a roach—get away from me.”  Not the kind of RAID that sprays toxins in the air and kills the innocent and injures thousands, but a very special kind that sprays an infectious aroma that invigorates, shares, protects, accepts, nurtures and enhances our world.  And this is the spray we must use in our apartments and houses, at our jobs wherever we are; we must spray the contagious, intoxicating fragrance of love.  The love that respects the inherent worth and dignity of all people!  That’s what we need in our world today!

We must create a new paradigm based upon the words of Emerson who wrote: “All violence all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power,” I add,the absence of humanity and the absence of love.  And Martin King said it well, “Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that.  Hatred paralyses life; love releases it.  Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.  Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”  And of course the words attributed to Jesus, “Peter, put down your sword.”  Yet thousands of years later, as Joseph Campbell said once, “Peter has not stopped raising his sword.”

Let me say this, my position is that we have to be brave enough to stand up and say that in most cases war is unnecessary.  Now, if someone breaks into my house it is my duty as parent and guardian of my family to protect them by any means necessary.  I feel I’m rationally justified in this case.  This is a rare occurrence, statistically.  It makes no sense for me to go and beat somebody up on the street because I suspect they are the person who broke into my house.   Somebody knows what I’m talking about!  How much sense does that make?  Using force is only in self-defense.

The answer for us calls us to look not at what is good and what is evil rather we must look beyond the dichotomy, we must raise our consciousness and look into the eyes of the person we call evil.  That is our challenge.  We must turn enemies into friends knowing all share common needs as people on earth.  And I challenge the leaders of the world to look closely at the families they say they hate. Look at the sons and daughters on the battlefield.  Look in their eyes.  These are people’s children!  Would you sacrifice your children?  How deep is your conviction?  Would you put the ones you love on the front line?   This message today is about recognizing the ambiguity and seeing how dangerous it is to be too emotional and reactionary about whom the enemy is.  I am asking you this morning to search deep within yourself and see that most people on earth simply want to have life, liberty and happiness.  Most want to raise their children, and have their basic needs met.  Most want to work at something they love and to share their lives with people they love. We waste so much time hating.  We waste some much time pointing the finger.  We waste too much time brutalizing folk who are not even the culprits of crimes.  We need to spend time building the spirit of humanity.  We need to spend time repaving our world with the power of love.  We need to spend time “building a people-oriented society, not a thing oriented society.”   We need to spend time trying to find a way to end the cycle of hate, and the cycle of one group thinking they have all the answers.  We need to release ourselves from this reincarnated cycle of purgatorial abuse so that we can find “moksha”— or release, and experience Nirvana— the bliss of living!

That is the challenge.  I heard a song recently that speaks to the moment.  It simply said, “We were meant to live for so much more and we lost ourselves.  We want more than the world has to offer.  We want more than the wars of our fathers.  We were meant to live for so much more but we lost ourselves…  But somewhere I sang a song that said,

“I once was lost but now I’m found.  I once was blind but now I see!”  And so there is an amazing grace that humanity affords if we can somehow get up enough courage to stop the hatred and brutality and create a new vision that embraces instead of erases…  That is the message this morning.  Let it be so!  Amen.

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