Category Archives: Ecology, religion, justice

Sad

Forty-two people were arrested on Friday during the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq for doing civil disobedience to express their religious opposition to the war in Iraq, down from 222 arrests in last year’s action. (I had planned to attend although not commit civil disobedience — had to back out because of bronchitis.) Very little news coverage, probably because it’s a much smaller action. Both Christian Peace Witness for Iraq and the related Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership are not particularly strong on organization — the sad truth is that spiritual progressives are not really doing much about the war in Iraq, except whining a little bit. Or if we do something, it’s like it is straight out of some 1960’s-era “Manual for Hippie Protests”.

Sigh. Are we spiritual progressives really that ineffectual when it comes to affecting U.S. policy on the war? … actually, I’m not sure I want you to answer that question.

More info on the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq 2008…. Continue reading →

Interfaith peace witness

For some months now, I’ve been planning to head down to Washington D.C. for the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq on March 7 — the weekend just before the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. I arranged to take a week of vacation at that time. Even though I’d call myself a post-Christian, I’m still someone who tries to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and as such I found last year’s Christian Peace Witness to be the most theologically significant opposition to the unjust war in Iraq. We worshipped first, protested second; that felt like the right thing to do. And the protest took the form of standing in witness, in the spirit of what Rebecca Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock wrote in their book Proverbs of Ashes:

Salvation begins with the courage of witnesses whose gaze is steady. Steady witnesses neither flee in horror to hide their eyes, nor console with sweet words, ‘It isn’t all that bad. Something good is intended by this.’ Violence is illuminated by insistent exposure.

Last year’s Christian Peace Witness for Iraq also represented the largest single act of civil disobediecne in opposition to the Iraq War: some 222 people were arrested for crossing police lines and praying for peace in front of the White House.

This year: March 7, 2008

In addition to Christians, last year’s Christian Peace Witness for Iraq included Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and post-Christians like me. In recognition of this religious diversity, this year’s peace witness is being co-sponsored by an interfaith group calling themselves Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership.

Workshops begin on Thursday, March 6, at 6:30 in the evening (along with civil disobedience training, required for those planning to be arrested). Worship services will take place on Friday, March 7, at noon (I’ll be worshipping at All Souls Unitarian Universalist church); and the interfaith witness and nonviolent action will take place at 2:30.

If you can’t make it, why not sponsor an interfaith peace witness in your own community, similar to the Christian prayer vigils that will be taking place. If you are going to the peace witness on March 7, let me know and maybe we can connect at All Souls Church.

Harbor seals

Sunday night’s storm left enough snow to make walking difficult on our habitual routes, so this afternoon I walked along the piers nearest our apartment. I walked out State Pier, past the crane belonging to the Cuttyhunk Ferry Company, dodged a pickup truck driving past the wire and rigging warehouse of New Bedford Ship Supply, watched the Martha’s Vineyard ferry head out of the harbor, dodged another pickup truck belonging to the state environmental police, and went down to the end of the pier to take a look at the harbor in the waning light of a cloudy evening.

When I got to the end of State Pier, I was following a Red-breasted Merganser quite close to the pier when I swuddenly found myself looking into the face of a Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) down in the water less than fifty feet away. It looked up at me, and I looked down at it. Another seal head popped up out of the water next to the first; two more seals rolled up out of the water farther out. The first seal dove under the water, and resurfaced again at a safer distance from the pier; I could hear the second seal breathing, a sort of huff–ffff sound as it exhaled sharply and then inhaled; then it dove under the surface and disappeared.

It is really remarkable to come upon such a large mammal in the middle of an urban environment. And seals are large, typically some five feet long and weighing over 250 pounds — in other words, about the size of a small American Black Bear (Ursus americanus). If I came across a Black Bear while I was walking around downtown New Bedford, I’d doubtless feel a tingling of fear and a little bit of awe; because seals stick to the water, I don’t feel fear when I see them, but the sense of awe is definitely there. I don’t feel that same awe when I look at a merganser or a gull — they’re too different, and I don’t feel much of anything when I look in their faces — but a seal has a real and recognizable face, and it’s pretty much the same size as I am.

I stood watching the seals for quite a while. At one point, I counted seven seals with their heads above the surface of the water, or just having gone under the surface moments before. I stood stock still, and after a while they began to ignore me, and they came in closer to the pier. I listened to a couple more of them breathing, huff-ffff. At last a deepwater lobster boat came close by going one way, and a small tugboat passed close by going the other way, and the seals moved further away from the pier. The light was beginning to fade, so I headed home.

An American in Kenya

Charlie Clements, the head of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) here in the States, is making a trip to Kenya to assess needs for aid following the recent political crisis — and he’s blogging his Kenya trip here. As yet, he has not made contact with any of the Kenyan Unitarian Universalists — I even wonder if any of those fragile new UU congregations (the oldest was started in 2004) managed to survive the crisis intact.

Send off

For the past few days, I’ve had a cold that keeps getting worse. Now it’s down deep in my lungs, and so I decided that rather than risk bronchitis, I better hadn’t go to New Hampshire today.

You see, a whole bus-load of people from New Bedford are heading up to New Hampshire to team up with the Carbon Coalition/ New Hampshire Citizens for a Responsible Energy Policy. They’ll meet up at the Climate Action Center in Manchester this afternoon, and then head over to Saint Anselm College in Manchester to be present outside the site where the televised candidates’ debates will take place. (For the record, the Carbon Coalition is working with the League of Conservation Voters.) Two weeks ago, someone suggested that a bunch of New Bedfordites head up to join the Carbon Coalition. In just two short weeks, organizers Annie Hayes and John Magnan got more than thirty people to sign up.

Even though the two of us couldn’t go, Carol and I made sure we were present at the gathering place to give everyone else a big send-off. By 11:35, people started gathering. As you’d expect, there were a good number of students, from UMass Dartmouth, Bristol Community College, and out-of-town colleges. But the majority of those going were older people: businessmen and businesswomen, people who work in the non-profit world, retired people, and even a reporter for the New Bedford Standard-Times.

Someone from WBSM, one of our local radio stations, showed up to do interviews. From Carol, who used to be a reporter and is still a freelance writer, I have learned that media people appreciate it if you introduce them to good interviewees. So I introduced the pleasant fellow from WBSM to Annie Hayes, since she was one of the key organizers; and to some of the students I know (I saw him interviewing Elise and Dani and some others); and to John Bullard, a long-time environmental activist, whom I knew could give an articulate and cogent overview of why these people were going to New Hampshire.

The bus showed up right on time. Appropriately, the logo of the bus company was a waving American flag –what could be more American than keeping America beautiful for coming generations? –what could be more American than participating in the democratic process? The cargo compartment of the bus got loaded up with signs and chairs and blankets and banners. Everyone filed on and found a place to sit. A few late-comers hurried aboard.

The man from WBSM wondered if he could get a recording of everyone chanting, so since I have a big loud voice I got everyone’s attention and passed on his request. Someone on the bus started chanting something like “Clean air, green jobs!” (Being from New Bedford, with its high unemployment rate, we are all in support of jobs creation and we know that green technology has the potential of creating lots of jobs for cities like ours.) Then someone started chanting, “What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like!”

This indeed is what democracy looks like: a busload of ordinary citizens going to tell the politicians what issues are of greatest importance. We can only hope that the politicians listen to us ordinary citizens, and not to the lobbyists from the oil and automobile industries.

John Magnan, one of the organizers, was the last person on the bus. He politely thanked me for seeing them off. “Maybe you should give us a blessing before we go,” John said. “Oh wait, you’re a Unitarian Universalist minister, I guess you don’t do blessings.” We both laughed. For my part, I figure the only blessing they needed was having some people see them off and wish them well: if you can’t engage in direct political action yourself, the least you can do is support those who can.

If you’re one of the ones who went on the bus, leave a comment and tell us all how it went!

Just want to claw my eyes out….

In the church office today, Linda, the church secretary, mentioned that her allergies are bad.

“Mine too,” I said. “My eyes are itchy.”

“I know,” she said. “My eyes are really bad.”

“I just want to claw my eyes out,” I said. Which will sound disgusting, unless you too suffer from allergies in which case you’ll fully understand why I said that.

“Yup,” said Linda, “claw them out, put ’em in a glass of water, and rinse ’em off. That would be great. I’m using my eye drops all the time. I wonder what’s causing it, though. Usually when we get the first snow, that’s the end of allergies. But not this year.”

“Maybe mold?” I said. Mold is a huge problem in old buildings in New Bedford, because the climate is so damp. “Except that we live in a brand new building with no mold at all, and my eyes have been itching at home, too.”

“Well, I noticed a lot of the trees still have leaves on them,” said Linda.

“Leaf mold?” I said.

“I’ll bet that’s it,” she said.

“You know,” I said, “I thought I’ve had some kind of lingering cold for the past month, but I’ll bet it’s allergies. Itchy eyes, congestion,…”

“…Headaches, tired all the time, fuzzy thinking. Yup, sounds like allergies, doesn’t it?” Linda said. “We need a good cold snap to put an end to this.”

I’ve never had allergies in the winter before. This may be a small but unpleasant side effect of global climate change:– perhaps allergy sufferers will no longer be able to count on respite from allergies in the winter.

The hundred dollar laptop

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has become well-known for its plan to distribute huge quantities of laptop computers to children in the developing world. The non-profit organization aims to improve education by providing inexpensive (US$100) laptops to schoolchildren. The innovative XO laptop design is rugged, it can access the Web easily, and it can serve as an e-book reader allowing schoolchildren to have access to an entire library of e-books for just the price of the laptop.

OLPC has come under a great deal of criticism, particularly from those who say that far more basic things are needed in the schools of developing countries, that laptops are a luxury. BBC quotes the Nigerian minister of education as saying, “What is the sense of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don’t have seats to sit down and learn…?” OLPC replies that small, incremental changes have not changed the educational situation in many developing countries, and then challenges those countries to think big: “You’ve got to be big, you’ve got to be bold. And what has happened is that there has been an effort to say ‘don’t take any risks – just do something small, something incremental’,” says Walter Bender of OLPC in an interview with BBC. Link.

In a brilliant publicity stunt, OLPC invited anyone in North America to buy the XO laptop for themselves — for $400, you get your own XO, and OLPC sends one to a child in a developing country. I took advantage of this offer myself (you can, too, if you do it before December 31). While the XO won’t solve all education problems, I believe it could be an important and cost-effective part of an overall strategy for improving education. And of course, they look so cool that I want one for myself. Indeed, the BBC reports that “the sheer amount of features crammed in to the device combined with its low price may mean questions start to be asked of PC makers who typically charge a premium for portability” (link) — i.e., the XO could change the way we all think about laptop computers. Not surprisingly, both Microsoft and Intel are seeing the XO as a threat to their profit centers. Microsoft is coming out with a version of their propietary operating system that will run on the XO (currently, all software on the XO is free and open-source); and Intel got worried enough that they began developing their own version of the XO which they call the “Classmate” (they have now united with OLPC). Nigeria may scorn the XO, but Bill Gates is taking it seriously.

Of greatest interest to me was the news that, according to the BBC, Walter Bender has acknowledged that “OLPC had done a deal with Birmingham, Alabama, in the US, to provide the laptop for schools in the city.” I’ve been waiting for this to happen: forget Nigeria, we need the XO in the United States! For example, here in New Bedford there are plenty of families who cannot afford a computer at home, let alone afford to buy a laptop for each of their children. This lack of access to computers can present serious educational obstacles for kids, particularly those who want to go on to college. I’d love to start a “One Laptop Per New Bedford Child” program. Again, it won’t solve all our educational problems, but it might get some more kids through college — right now, the percentage of college graduates in New Bedford is an appallingly low 11%, less than half the national average. However, I predict that the response of New Bedford politicians will be much like that of the Nigerian politicians; like Nigerian politicians, New Bedford politicians are generally risk-averse and generally unwilling to take bold action on education.

One last thought: I also believe that one reason the XO will be successful in schools is that it is a totally cool machine. I liked it enough that I ordered one for myself — my dad did, too. But don’t take my word for how cool it is, see for yourself:– the BBC has 9 video clips of the XO laptop in action, including shots of schoolchildren in Nigeria using them. Link.

P.S. Looks like for a mere $29,900, you can donate 100 XO laptops, and designate that they go to New Bedford: Link.

Silver bullet?

Under the title “Is This the Silver Bullet?”, the winter 2008 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) cites recent research showing that narrowing the gap between rich and poor appears to alleviate a wide range of social ills:

What do teenage births, early deaths, homicide, mental illness, underperforming students, packed prisons, and drug abuse have in common? All of them thrive in countries with large gaps between the rich and the poor, report two researchers in the November 2007 Social Science & Medicine.

What is the mechanism behind this? According to SSIR, “inequality exacts its costs by causing people to feel less socially secure and more physiologically stressed.” One result of a wide gap between rich and poor is decreased social mobility, and this can cause persons in less egalitarian countries to feel “deprived,” and can even lead to a shortened life span, compared to poorer but more egalitarian countries. Additionally, a large gap between rich and poor has significant detrimental effects on persons of all income levels — inequality has “a pollution effect” and affects everyone’s health — thus, it is actually advantageous to rich persons to reduce the income gap, to improve their own health and quality of life.

You probably won’t be surprised to know that the United States has one of the worst gaps between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. The policy implications of this study for the United States are significant. Want to improve children’s test scores? The conservatives tell us we must have rigorous testing, the liberals say we must have smaller class sizes, but the social epidemiologists tell us that research shows we should reduce income disparity. Want to reduce crime? The conservatives want fewer restrictions on gun ownership, the liberals want to fund more social programs, but the social epidemiologists tell us that research shows we should reduce income disparity.

Christmas, commercialization, and ecotheology

The December 11, 2007, issue of Christian Century magazine, has an interview with theologian Nicholas Lash. Noting that Lash has written sympathetically about Marxism, the interviewer asks if Marxism is “still a philosophy that Christians need to engage.” Lash responds that there is no doubt that Christians still must engage Marxism:

Those who doubt that Christians still need to engage with Marx are as foolish as those who doubt that we still need to engage with Aristotle, Kant, or Hegel. At the heart of Marx’s analysis of the capitalist mode of production was his insight that it led, with almost mechanical inevitability, to what he called “the universalization of the commodity form,” the transmutation not only of things, but also of all relations, into commodities….”

Lash is British. Here in the United States, as we drift farther and farther to the right, most people simply dismiss Marx without seriously engaging his thought. Thus we have Christians and other religious persons in the United States decrying, say, the commercialization of Christmas (which is simply a specific instance of commodification), but refusing to engage in a serious critique of the capitalist system that has commercialized Christmas — understandably so, because after all it is not a good idea to be branded as a “communist” or a “socialist” here in the United States. Lash addresses the refusal of many U.S. Christians to take Marx seriously:

May I risk being a little polemical here, out of friendly exasperation? I can understand why, in a culture as driven and absorbed by messianic capitalism as is the United States, versions of socialism of any kind are hard to comprehend with sympathy. But please do not drag us [British Christians] in with you. There were, as any historian can tell you, the very closest links between 20th-century socialism in Britain and Christianity, especially Nonconformity…. We do not find Christian socialism in any way difficult to understand, because we remember it.

In my own Unitarian Universalist denomination, which is essentially a post-Christian denomination at this point, I see pretty much the same refusal to engage with Marx. Lots of Unitarian Universalists are worried about the commercialization of our lives, the breakdown in human community, the degradation of the environment, etc. But it seems we are culturally unable to draw on the analytical tools that Marx develops in Capital — tools which provide deep insights into things like the breakdown of community and the devastation of the planet.

Indeed, one of the weaknesses of current Unitarian Universalist theology, as it is practiced in our congregations, is that we pretty much ignore philosophers after Kant. The end result is that our theology, like our social justice programs, tend to be fairly irrelevant to the late capitalist situation. As someone who is concerned with developing a relevant Unitarian Universalist eco-theology, I’d have to say that it’s probably time for us to start reading Marx.