Soapbox

The following essay appeared in the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday, Sept. 7th. 2003. I felt the letter was poorly edited, as they removed the paragraph most important to my thesis. This is the full text as I submitted it.

Editor:

To heck with the needs of the citizens of Alabama. Chief Justice Roy Moore thinks a couple of chunks of rock are more important. And what does that say about Moore: that he is a faithful child of God, or that he likes to get his name in the paper?

What exactly is the great cause over which Christians are asked to take on the Constitution? No one is trying to abolish the 10 Commandments, as Moore claims. The prohibition or removal of a religious artifact or observance is not a denial of anyone’s faith: it is an affirmation of all faiths! No person, Moore included, is ever denied the right in this country to make the Bible and its 10 Commandments the mainstay of their life. Moore’s followers behave as if removal of their “pet rocks” would damage God, yet if you believe in God, surely you believe He is cannot be damaged by mere words or laws of man.

There is another fundamental truth about the separation of church and state in this country that people like Chief Justice Moore conveniently ignore. A display of faith, be it prayer in school, a nativity scene at a government building or the 10 Commandments in a courthouse, does not equal faith itself! External displays do not create internal righteousness. God is not contained in a book, or a monument, and these items should not be revered as if He were.

The Gospel of Matthew admonishes us not to make a show of our worship by standing in the streets to be seen by men, but to keep it a private thing. Moore and his followers have made their worship into a parade, and the focus of attention is them, not God. As they declare their own righteousness for all the assembled TV cameras they not only flout the law Moore is sworn (and paid) to uphold but they act against the Gospel as well.

The proper place for God is not in our laws, but in our hearts. If we keep Him there, then God will be with us in everything we do, be it teaching children, conducting business or interpreting the nation’s code of law. And if God is not in our hearts, then no statue, no engraving, menorah or nativity scene will change that. The power of the 10 Commandments comes from how you live your life, not how you decorate your buildings.

Now churches from all over the nation are being asked to send their faithful to join the circus in Alabama. I have another suggestion. Instead of making speeches and posing for TV cameras, I ask concerned Christians to live their faith as Christ asks, feeding the poor or reaching out to the lost and lonely of this world. Rather than suing the US Circuit Court and turning our laws into a sideshow attraction, pray for peace and work for healing among God’s people.

Chief Justice Moore, keep the commandments in your life, and let the display go. They’re just rocks, after all.

Written for us all, shortly after September 11th. I’m proud to say it was performed at the one year commemoration by the relief department (temporary housing) that my sister Barb worked tirelessly for.
It was written in a spirit of hope. I just wish it seemed a little more true.

Some days feel like roses, and some days taste like ash:
There are days when young men die alone,
When buildings fall and airplanes crash.
And though it’s hard, we must lift our heads
And see what hate has done.
A monstrous task is before us now, but we must not be overcome:
We WILL overcome!

For we must rise up from the ashes
Of this world spun out of control:
We will not succumb to the darkness,
We will not let it into our souls.

We must be united by difference, for freedom depends on us all.
We are citizens of humanity, and we all hear the human call
And answer the call.
Only justice can slay cruelty; only love can lift our fears.
With a flame a faith from caring hearts
This one thing is very clear…

That we must rise up from the ashes
of this world spun out of control.
We will not succumb to the darkness:
We will not let it into our souls.
Evil will not be our master, and hate must Not be our guide!
We owe it to the ones coming after us,
We owe it to the ones who have died… too many have died!

So I’m drawing a line in the ashes of the concrete,
the steel and the blood,
On the hallowed ground that knows hatred and death,
I’m taking a stand,
I’m taking a stand…for…love!

It’s really been two years since that amazing day when the towers, and with them our concept of the world, came crashing down. 2 years since the average Joe on the street came to realize that terrorism makes no distinctions of color or class, guilt or innocence, but sweeps us all away in its tide.

And what a busy 2 years it has been! Lets make a quick review of some of the things we’ve accomplished in 780 days.

The first thing that pops to mind is we all have had our definition of “airport security” changed, and have seen more of our fellow-travelers’ socks than we ever cared to. Also, flag manufacturers have done a brisk business, although thankfully we aren’t all still driving around with those goofy little car flags fluttering from our back windows, or eating “freedom fries”.

In 2001, where did you imagine the country would be on this date? Is this what you hoped for the nation? In 2 years have we had an increase in a feeling of brotherhood in this country? Are we taking care of each other, more accepting of diversity and differences and better cherishing our fellow man? I know homelessness is up, and the brief surge in volunteerism we experienced in the fall of 2001 has fizzled, as people buckle down to the sometimes grim task of just getting by.
Continue Reading »

September 2003
So I’ve got this kid…and he comes home yesterday with the first homework of his junior year. I remember being a junior in high school (I do! Honest!) and in fact I got pretty good grades that year, so flush with triumph from having pointed out to Katie that the capitol of Canada is not Ontario but Ottowa, I felt I was clearly up to the task. He flung down his bag and announced that, for his science class he had to go to a fast-food restaurant and observe for 20 minutes. Eyes were rolled at the abject stupidity of it all.
“There’s no way they’ll let you stand there and watch for 20 minutes!” he complained.
” ‘Course they will” I said dismissively.
“No, they won’t. And it’s not just me: and most of the class seemed to feel that way too, mom.”
I detected a distinct huff in his attitude. The gauntlet was down.

“Well Steve, suppose you walk up to the counter but stand over to the side, so you’re out of the way of the ordering line. When they ask if you need help you say something like ‘Not yet- I’m waiting for someone’ Then you watch what goes on. If they keep looking at you, you make a show of checking your watch and looking out at the parking lot. After 20 minutes you “give up” and order some fries and leave.”
The look on his face told me that he was thinking, “That’s just dumb enough- it might work!” He seemed impressed. Well sure, because moms know everything!

OK, not quite.

I told him I’d take him to Wendy’s and we’d just eat dinner there.
“And when we get back, I need you to help me with my pre-calculus” he said. I looked around to see to whom he was talking.
“What…you mean ME?”
“Well… you’ll know what this stuff is about.” he assured me. What? Not if YOU don’t, pal!
So we hung out at Wendys for a half hour and despite the previously stated impossibility of the task, he completed his assignment. When we got back he showed me this equation-thingy that the teacher gave them to figure out what was wrong with it. I watched him write:

If x=1 and y=1… Then yy = yx. Hey, I get that! So far, so good.

-y² = -yx … Ok

It went downhill rapidly from there. Soon I was face to face with

(x+y) (x-y) = x(x-y) and started to sweat.

“Well here’s your problem: it’s written in some ferrin language” I said. “You call that math? Look at that- there ain’t even hardly any numbers in it!”
“Ha ha. You’re a laugh riot. Please concentrate, mom! I need help.”
Oy. you’re in trouble, son.

So basically he talked me through it, and he found the step in the series that wasn’t equal, but couldn’t explain why. So because I am a reasonably intelligent person, after choir practice I had Ted look at it. There was a lot of “Oh man, I used to know…â€? and “crap, what was the…â€? and I could almost hear the creaking of his rusty brain cells, but suddenly he said,
“Ah! Steve- here, how did you reduce from this step to this one?”
“Umm, divide each side by x-y”
“Uh huh, and in this case, what does x-y equal?”
“Zero…and…oh…oh yeah! “
“And you can’t divide by zero!” I said, happy that SOMEthing at last had been said that I understood! When I looked at it later, over a bowl of ice cream with peaches (which may have helped) I heard a creaking in my own head and started remembering about multiplying or dividing both sides of an equation by the same thing to reduce it, but man, I couldn’t see it on my own. I had gotten hung up on trying to remember how to multiply two parenthetical sets, (which I taught him how to do in Algebra back in 8th grade) and couldn’t get past it.

And this was day 1 of pre-cal! The boy hopefully learned something valuable and hereafter will ask his Dad for homework help in math, and let me handle the normal, sensible stuff, like his “Banned Books” or “U.S. in Foreign Relations” class. I’ll get him an “A” in that one. Not that it makes any sense either, these days.