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READING
Statement by William Sinkford, UUA President
(November 3, 2004 - Boston, MA) The democratic process is an act of faith: not faith that any one point of view will prevail, but faith that the will of the people will point us toward the Beloved Community. And in this national election, "we the people" have spoken, millions more of us than ever before. Unitarian Universalists lived out our faith by registering tens of thousands of new voters. We can rightly be proud of our commitment to this democracy. We stood clearly and proudly on the side of love. Not only is democracy an act of faith, it is an imperfect process. This national election, like the last, showed us how far we have to go to enfranchise all of our people. But I take great hope from the relationships our congregations developed in this work.
But Unitarian Universalism is liberal religion, not liberal politics. Today, while so many celebrate and so many grieve, I hope that Unitarian Universalists will hold fast to our calling. Political sound bites cannot contain it. Party designations do not describe it. Few votes were cast yesterday without reservations in the heart. Our congregations need to be religious homes where the reality of both joy and grief, certainty and uncertainty, can be present.
In 1964, the Rev. Jack Mendelsohn wrote a book titled "Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age." Today, Jack reminded me that all ages are illiberal. And, thus, in every age, it is the role of liberal religion to offer a Gospel of openness, of healing and of hope. Our profession of faith is that the arc of the universe is long, but, with our commitment, it bends toward justice.
I extend my personal best wishes to President Bush and pray that his leadership will move this nation toward healing. Unitarian Universalists will do our part. We cannot afford to fuel the stridency and divisiveness of this political campaign. Nor can we afford to withdraw. We are an essential part of this body politic. And we will continue our vigilance and our advocacy for the values we hold dear.
There is only one destiny for this nation and its people. May that destiny be one of growing justice and equity in our policies and growing compassion in our hearts.
Good morning!
My sermon this morning is about the election and its aftermath.
I will speak momentarily to those whose candidate and party lost the national election, but I want to begin by speaking to those whose candidate and party won the national election: Congratulations. You should celebrate and feel good about what has happened. I hope also that in your victorious moment you will remember to be magnanimous towards all, as President Lincoln recommended. There are serious divisions in this nation, there is anger after a very negative campaign, and it is important that they be healed. That does not happen when the victors’ only message to the losers is: Get over it! I also need to say to you that most of my sermon today is spoken directly towards those who now feel disappointment, even despair and fear. You, the winners, may not know why anyone would be afraid, but I assure fear exists. It does not matter whether or not you understand why; it matters simply that you understand. Part of community is the effort to understand those who think and feel differently than you do.
And there is something else, as well; fear unacknowledged festers. That is true in any circumstance. For example, as this congregation goes through growth and change, some people will fear and grieve losing what was. Failing to acknowledge that, failing to hear it, failing to listen and respond in a caring way, will only beget anger. Listening to expressions of fear and loss can actually help us to be different than we would have if we simply ran roughshod over those feelings.
To those whose candidates lost I have much to say.
I know that there are fears about the next four years, deep fears.
There are concerns that our wilderness, wildlife and other natural refuges will be pillaged by corporations in such a manner that they will never recover.
There are concerns that our economy is now on track to become just like third world economies, with a narrow class of super wealthy, a shrinking middle income group that knows greater and greater insecurity as health care and pensions disappear, a deepening of poverty for the poor with a growing number of homeless and hungry.
I know that there are concerns that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will now take huge cuts.
I know that there are concerns that human rights are now at greater risk, that a renewed Patriot Act will suppress freedoms and will result in more detainees who “disappear” for years, cut off from families and legal advice, that the courts that have protected us against such things will now be controlled by those who support curtailing freedom.
I know that there are fears that a woman’s right to control her own body is now endangered. One new Senator has called for the execution of doctors who perform abortions.
I know that there are fears that the movement for civil rights for sexual minorities has suffered what can only be seen as an analogy to what African Americans in the south experienced following the end of Reconstruction; there was a blooming of freedom and equality that has been set back possibly for decades by those who pander to hate and bigotry, and that bigotry may spark even greater oppression.
I know that there are fears about our religious freedoms, fears that the Christian Right is out to establish a theocracy and is now several steps closer to achieving that goal.
I know that there are concerns about foreign policy, fear that the draft will be reinstated as we begin a long campaign of invading nations whose governments we don’t like in a crusade—and I use that word intentionally—in a crusade to remake the world in the image we have for it.
Those are some of the fears that people in this room have. I know.
It is important to face them.
It is also important to question whether they are just a little overblown.
Our fears are sometimes much larger than reality warrants. It is important that fears to be proportional to the danger.
There are problems in all of the areas I have mentioned, serious problems. And these problems call for moral and religious responses. But moral and religious responses do not arise out of fear; they arise out of hope and faith and love. Genuine morality and genuine religion are inclusive and inspire a love that encompasses even those who dislike you and even those of whom you are afraid.
Democracy is not just about voting; it is about accepting and affirming the will of the majority. I do not mean by that setting aside your own principles. One continues to work for one’s own beliefs within the democratic structure, with faith that in the long run justice, equity and compassion will sway the hearts of the majority. And one stands for human rights even against the will of the majority, because our republic is about those two things together, democracy and human rights. But in the meantime, one affirms—not accepts, not tolerates, but affirms--the will of the majority.
Some years ago, as this congregation celebrated its one hundred and fortieth anniversary, Ellen McAvoy spoke of growing up in this congregation. She shared how in the nineteen-thirties the majority of the members here--firm economic liberals that they were--really despised the man who was destroying our capitalist system, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
I had a professor at Divinity School who used to enjoy saying that Americans are almost all traditional Liberals in that we almost all believe in individual freedom. The debates between us are not about whether individual freedom ought to exist. Our debates are about where, when and how much freedom there ought to be. Is individual freedom best expressed in economy with absolute free-market capitalism or is it best expressed in an economy where the worst aspects of capitalism are tempered by the existence of the welfare state, or in an economy where both communal and individual rights are protected through environmental regulation?
It is easy to allow distinctions to separate us. It is important to remember that every person who voted last Tuesday was engaging in an act of faith in the democracy that selects the leaders of our republic. As Americans there is much more that unites us than divides us.
As true believers in America and in democracy it is encumbent upon all of us in this room to accept the outcome of this election. And I say now to those who’s candidate lost; you may not understand why those people voted the way they did; I now say to you: It does not matter whether or not you understand why; it matters simply that you understand
More than that, it is important that we celebrate the fact that an election has taken place, a peaceful, genuine and by all accounts fair election.
This thing we call democracy is still a new and fragile experiment. In the history of humankind, this is new. It is remarkable, truly astounding, that we have it and that we exercise it without violence and with respect for the outcome. Whether our particular candidates win or lose, we all ought to celebrate the fact that wee can vote. It is astonishing that we all simply accept the fact that in 2008 there will be another presidential election. That sounds so trite, but I would ask you to pause for a moment and think about that fact. There are people in this congregation who spent large portions of their lives in places where it could not be assumed that there would be free elections. And so as free people, we ought to be proud and we ought to celebrate.
As religious liberals, and especially as people of faith who bear the torch of the Universalist movement, it is encumbent upon us to remind all Americans and all people that love is the most important element in all human relations. Love of those whom we have defeated; and love of those who have defeated us.
F. E.
Gillis
May the
love that overcomes all differences,
that heals all wounds,
that puts to flight all fears,
that reconciles all who are separated,
Be in us and among us
now and always. Amen.
Source:
1997 UUMA
Worship Materials Collection
As religious people, liberal or otherwise, we are reminded to raise our sight, to have a vision not of this election or of these coming four years, or even of this nation, but to have a vision that includes the entire world, to have a vision that sees life in its entirety, to have a vision that rises above this time and place to see the Cosmos, to see the vastness of space and the vastness of time--of past and future as well as of now. As religious people we are reminded that any length of time on earth is a short time, indeed. Then, with that vision in mind, as we struggle for justice here and now, as we struggle for inclusion here and now, we can know that each little step, even the ones that seem to fail, each little act, even the ones that seem futile, each little word, even the ones that seem to go unheard, each of these is an important part of the movement towards a world of love and peace, each of these brings us closer to that sacred and holy time when love and justice will reign. Whether it is tomorrow or in a hundred years or in a thousand years that time will come, that day will be reached. That day is not about candidates, that day is not about parties, that day is not about policy debates that day is about love and justice.
Do not despair, do not give up hope, do not surrender to inaction. Everything you do counts.
And what shall we do?
It is more important than ever that our religious congregations be communities of welcome to those who feel shunned; that if necessary, we become communities of resistance to a society that is ever more oppressive towards some of our brothers and sisters.
But far more than that, as religious liberals and as religious communities it is more important than ever that we proclaim and be living examples of that Gospel found in the words of Jesus, of Amos and Isaiah, of Buddha and of Mo Ti, the Gospel of love, justice and inclusion; that we proclaim and be living examples of the Gospel of love, justice and inclusion.
In the face of hatred and bigotry, let it be our mission to proclaim universal love; in the face of oppression, let it be our mission to proclaim universal justice; in the face of discrimination, let it be our mission to proclaim universal inclusion.
As we do so, let us despise the hatred, the oppression and the discrimination, but let us never despise any person, knowing that the gospel of love, justice and inclusion is a gospel for all, knowing that if we declare it often enough, passionately enough, loudly enough and well enough, then even the hardest and coldest heart will open to its liberating message.
And so now, having spoken to the fears and the despair, now I can say to those whose candidates lost: Get over it! Get over it and get on with it; there’s a lot of work to do.
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