Standing on the Side of Love: Sexual Justice and Unitarian Universalism

Standing on the Side of Love: Sexual Justice and Unitarian Universalism

Dr Gaye Ortiz

Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church

February 12 2012

It’s been a good week for same-sex marriage here in the United States: first on Tuesday the federal court ruling striking down the Proposition 8 measure that banned same-sex marriage, then the next day the Washington State House of Representatives voting to join the State Senate in approving same-sex marriage. New Jersey’s legislators are expected to vote next week on the issue, Maine could be putting it on the November ballot, and the governor of Maryland congratulated the Washington State lawmakers and said it was time for Maryland to do the same.

According to the Christian Science Monitor’s report on the Washington State measure, it’s not all good news for gay couples wishing to marry, especially in North Carolina and Minnesota, where amendments to ban same-sex marriage are scheduled on ballots this year. However, there seems to be a shifting attitude across the country on the issue that might make it very difficult to stop the overall advance of marriage rights for the gay community. And if there are setbacks this election year, we might do well to heed the advice of Linda Stout, the Executive Director of a social advocacy group called Spirit in Action:

This is a time for boldness –not giving up. It is a time of great courage – not letting our fears stop us. If we just work on small changes, though they are fulfilling and valuable, we will not make long term, big changes in the world. We have to bring all the puzzle pieces together – small changes, individual work and big ideas – in order to create a different world. (SSL Campaign literature)

This is why it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the work that our members who have been awarded the ‘Love Awards’ have done in our community…it demonstrates that the Unitarian Universalists in Aiken practice what they preach; that we may work to make small changes but that big changes come out of that work; and that we are the leaders of change that benefits not only our faith community, but the larger community of this country and indeed, the world.

Just as we recognized with our Love Award today those who “exemplify the values of inclusion, diversity, and equality” (www.ssl.org), we have hope that, when the Welcoming Congregation program is finished here at our church, we will all exemplify those values.

This morning I want to share a message of change, of bold vision, and as we begin our Welcoming Congregation program, I want to call you to stand on the side of love and to share this vision. Now, our legacy as Unitarians and Universalists is progressive thinking on sexual matters: back in 1929 the Universalist Church General Convention passed a resolution in favor of family planning. For over 40 years, UU youth have had the benefit of he sexuality education course Our Whole Lives. Even as the prophetic voice of change, our faith tradition will undergo advances and setbacks as we work to live up to the ideals of our UU principles, but we can keep trying, as our first principle urges us to do, to promote and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every human being.

Sometimes when we consider the sources and history that form our faith traditions, there is much, frankly, that is not helpful. Some of us have come to this congregation to get away from them; some of us still fight with the trauma that was inflicted by the religious upbringing we had, especially in the Christian faith. But it is possible to find inspiration from an informed understanding of what the message of the Bible truly has for us as well as from our historical struggle for religious freedom and social justice.

The Welcoming Congregation program has a number of topics that will help us, over the next year and more, to become a more inclusive and compassionate congregation. They will help us learn more about the issues of oppression and prejudice that exist for those in our community who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning. One of our future workshops will be on the Bible and homosexuality – here’s a taste of that topic.

In the UU Advocacy Manual for Sexuality Education, Health and Justice (1999) the Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner wrote a chapter called “The Really Good News: What the Bible Says about Sex.” In it she provides a systematic survey of both good and bad biblical examples of sexual teachings. Many of us are used to hearing about the evils of abortion and birth control from those in religious and political arenas, with the Bible used as justification for sexual oppression. Haffner says that these issues of reproductive ethics, along with sexual practices of masturbation and oral sex, are not addressed by the Bible.

Haffner states that it is inaccurate to use the Bible’s four verses about same-sex relationships – two in Leviticus and two in the New Testament – “to condemn committed, consensual same-gender sexual relationships” (18), because when quoted as anti-gay rhetoric they are never put into context. For example, Leviticus says that ‘you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination’ (Lev 18:22) but in the same scripture it says that cursing your mother and father is punishable by death (Lev 20:9). It also punishes by exile seeing family members naked and having sex during menstruation (Lev 20: 17-21). There are only four verses that address the same-sex issue, compared to ten prohibitions against having sex with a menstruating woman.

But do we ever hear the bible passages that deal positively with sexual contact and love between men? The story of David and Jonathan in I and II Samuel is a love story: “greatly beloved were you to me,” David says to Jonathan, “your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women” (II Sam 1:26). And “Saul’s son Jonathan took great delight in David”(I Sam 19:1). There is a healthy respect for erotic love and mutual desire in the Bible as seen in the Song of Solomon in which, as Marcia Falk says in the Harper’s Bible Commentary, ‘men and women praise each other for their sensuality and their beauty”:

How fair and pleasant you are

O loved one, delectable maiden!

You are stately as a palm tree

And your breasts are like its clusters.

I say I will climb the palm tree

And lay hold of its branches.

Oh may your breasts be like

Clusters of the vine,

And the scent of your breath like apples

And your kisses like the best wine

That goes down smoothly

Gliding over lips and teeth. (Song of Sol 7:6-9)

The New testament’s I Corinthians, according to Haffner, could be “a central point of study for sexuality education programs from adolescence to adulthood,” because “the centrality of the message of love” is a basic component of all ethically sound relationships: “love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude…it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (I Cor 13: 4-7).

So if there is not a guilt trip to be found for mutual same or opposite sex relationships in the Bible, where does the condemnation of same-sex love come from? Christian history maybe?

Well, thanks to the unceasing efforts of a history scholar, Professor John Boswell of Yale University, we now have a pretty clear understanding that “for the last two millennia, in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Christendom, even in the heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as valid expressions of a god-given love and commitment to another person”; same sex marriage was a Christian rite that allowed “love that could be celebrated, honored and blessed through the Eucharist in the name of and in the presence of Jesus Christ” (www.christianity-revealed.com/cr/files/whensamesexmarriagewasachristianrite.html).

Even though homophobic writings began to appear in the late 14^th century, it seems that consecrated same-sex unions continued to take place up to the 18^th century. There is a pair of Christian saints, Sergius and Bacchus, who were Roman martyrs but who were a male homosexual couple. There is an icon of them from St Catherine’s monastery in Sinai and an early Christian account of their martyrdom written in New Testament Greek that calls them ‘erastai’, or lovers. Their feast day is October 7^th.

Okay - so maybe even Christian history can’t explain the extreme homophobia that is on display in the news so often…and sometimes it goes to great lengths to make the LGBT movement seem to be the enemy of faith. In December Francis George, the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, compared the advance of LGBT equality to the Ku Klux Klan. The Human Rights Campaign condemned his remarks, which were made in an interview with Fox News in Chicago. He was complaining about the plan for the Chicago Pride parade to begin at 10am on Sunday morning when a Catholic church on the parade route would be holding mass, and he said “You don’t want the gay pride movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.” He was asked to clarify his remarks and then he compared the rhetoric of the gay pride movement and the Ku Klux Klan, which he said were both aimed at Catholics. The executive director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev Eric Lee, was moved to speak out against the archbishop’s remarks. He said: “I have spent most of my adult life engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who have been terrorized by racist Klan violence. I am insulted by the comparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort the history of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whose lives have been scarred by the Klan.” (www.hrc.org)

Last year a group of clergy here in the South were inspired by a proclamation supporting gay rights that was written by a Midwestern clergy group; and so they wrote their own and called it “A Southern Proclamation”; it expresses regret for the lack of support that the LGBT community has received in the past from religious institutions, and it pledges to embrace the full inclusion of LGBT sisters and brothers in all areas of religious life, including leadership. Here is the opening section of the proclamation:

As people of faith:

We proclaim God’s love for all, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons and we publicly apologize where we have been silent. As reasoned people of faith we believe that the truth sets us free and we recognize that the debate concerning sexuality is over. The verdict is in. The debate should end. Homosexuality is not a sickness, not a choice, and not a sin. We find no rational biblical or theological basis to condemn or deny the rights of any person based on sexual orientation. Silence by many has allowed political and religious rhetoric to monopolize public perception, creating the impression that there is only one biblical perspective on this issue. Yet we recognize and celebrate that we are far from alone in affirming that LGBT persons are distinctive, holy, and precious gifts to all who struggle to become the family of God. The tenets of all faiths recognize that all people, no matter their color, ethnicity, sexuality or religion, are children of one God and equally loved by their creator. Further, our books of faith ask us to love God, love our neighbor, and to follow the path that leads to true justice.

http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/tag/southern-proclamation/

And so, just as the LGBT community is gaining religious allies, it also has powerful supporters in the civil rights movement, such as the NAACP, speaking out for their rights in the true spirit of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, who said in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/24974.html ).

Just a couple of weeks ago the NAACP President and CEO, Benjamin Jealous, delivered the opening keynote address to the National Conference on LGBT Equality, hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In it he issued a strong call for overcoming the forces of hate and oppression.

Here is a portion of his speech:

As some of you may know, the struggle for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender equality is near and dear to my heart – my brother was a transgender youth who faced discrimination and bigotry.

I stand before you today as an individual with a deeply vested interest in this movement, but also as the leader of an organization with strong connections to the fight for LGBT rights.

For 103 years, the NAACP and our diverse allies have run with the baton first set in motion by the American Revolution. As Fredrick Douglas observed in his speech “Our Composite Nationality”: every nation has a destiny, a destiny which is defined by character, and a character which is usually defined by its geography.  Our nation, bordered by two nations and situated between two oceans is called to be the most perfect example of human unity the world has ever seen.

Our work, the work of the civil and human rights movement is to empower America to be America … to be the most perfect example of human unity the world has ever seen.

That is why whether a child is bullied by a student because of her sexual orientation or gender identity or mistreated by a teacher or principal because of his race, the NAACP and the Task Force must stand up together. Because no child– who is mistreated at school because of what they are –has fair access to a high quality education.

That is why whether it is fighting to end discrimination against LBGT people at work or black people at the bank, the NAACP and the Task Force must stand strong together.  Because when you or your community is the target of any “ism” in the marketplace, ending discrimination is as important as job creation.  And ending the virus of hatred anywhere requires ending it everywhere.

And that is why, in this moment when our nation is in the midst of the greatest wave of voter suppression legislation since before the creation of the NAACP, we must rise up together to beat it back and get America moving toward the future again.

We are in a battle with those who seem more inspired by our nations dim past that its inspired future.

And although these forces are equipped with limitless resources, the ability to influence our elections with no transparency, unedited mass media echo chambers, and even lies-lies created to hurl fear and hate-often where there is despair and uncertainty.

We can never allow ourselves to be discouraged, distracted or divided.

Because history has taught us that we can never win the battle for justice, equality, and freedom when we our soldiers are defined and limited by our individual silos.   But that we can only emerge victorious when we unite for the common good of all.   We emerge victorious, when we build large diverse coalitions who dare to dream bold dreams and win big victories.

So let us move forward in unity and with the collective vision and determination to build the America that we dream for all of her children.

An America where everyone can get a good job,

And where everyone can obtain a quality education.

An America where everyone has access to health care and communities with clean air and water.

An America in which opportunities are afforded to all.

And most importantly, an America in which no matter a person’s race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity— she or he can live in a country free of discrimination—where her or his basic human rights and dignity are respected.

…let us all recall the words of the late great Harvey Milk-who said “It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions.”

Let us remember those words and carry them forward in our fight to justice, equality, and freedom.

(http://thetaskforceblog.org/2012/01/27/naacp-president-ben-jealous-opening-keynote-address-at-creating-change/ )

When we speak out individually and collectively, we can win the fight. When we live out our words, the words of Unitarian Universalists through the centuries who have been standing on the side of love, we can win the fight. We can speak up with the knowledge that ours is a faith that backs us in our fight for justice, equality and freedom. “Love is the message, and we are its messengers.” What’s my message? That I am standing on the side of love.

Let me see you turn to your neighbor and say, “I’m standing on the side of love.” Now turn to your other neighbor and say, “I’m standing on the side of love.” (Angela Herrera, SSL campaign lierature)

As we sang this morning, “Emboldened by faith, we dare to proclaim: we are standing on the side of love” –

May it be so, blessed be, Amen.

Gaye Ortiz

2/12/2012

The Two D’s of Unitarianism: Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin

The Two D’s of Unitarianism: Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin

Aiken UU Church

February 5 2012

Introduction:

This month is always special because of two great Unitarians who were born in February: Charles Dickens on the 7^th in 1812, and Charles Darwin three years earlier on Feb 12^th in 1809.

You all may recall the big celebration for Darwin to mark the 200^th anniversary of his birth, but the Dickens bicentennial is also a big deal – this fall will see a new cinematic production of Great Expectations, two new major biographies are published this year, and there is a major exhibition called “Charles Dickens at 200” at the Morgan Library in New York City, which boasts the largest private collection of Dickens’ papers in the US, including the manuscript of A Christmas Carol. And in London as well as his birthplace, the southern coastal city of Portsmouth, many other exhibits and festivals – in Portsmouth Dickens’ great-great-grandson Mark will present a reading of A Christmas Carol.

I, too, would like to be a part of this creative celebration, and so this service is my effort to give you a different perspective that reflects on how the towering personalities of Dickens and Darwin were shaped by some common elements. These two men, whose achievements have shaped Western culture, lived as contemporaries, but there is no evidence that they ever actually met. We do know that Dickens was impressed with Darwin’s work, but these two might have had a lot more in common than we might think. So this morning we present a purely speculative conversation that is my fictional creation: it might have occurred on the streets of London when one D bumped into the other D, maybe as they were strolling through Bloomsbury, where Dickens and his wife of 20 years Catherine once lived and where they raised 10 children…and perhaps Darwin would have been in London, traveling there from his home in rural Bromley a few miles away, visiting his brother Erasmus who lived near Cavendish Square. Imagine that, after exchanging ‘How do you do’s’ and comments about the weather, Dickens and Darwin saunter over to a nearby park bench and begin to tell each other stories about their early childhood years. Thomas Drake is our Dickens, and Ken Carlson reads the part of Darwin.

Dickens: My father was the illegitimate son of an aristocrat,

and he was a man who enjoyed living beyond his means –

a quality of which my mother learned only after they married!

I was the second of 5 children, and I was sickly but entertaining!

I was always singing comic songs, writing and acting character sketches.

My father recognized something special in me and sent me

off to grammar school, where I excelled – but within two years,

my spendthrift father was sent to debtor’s prison and all of the family – except for me – went with him. I lived in lodgings away from my family and was forced to work long hours with other boys in a shoe polish factory; I glued the labels onto the pots. I was alone in a world of adults, not sure if I could trust any of them…and one of those adults turned out to be my own mother. After my father was out of prison and had released me from the factory, my mother suggested that I go back there and continue to earn money for the family.

Even though my father refused to consider it, I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back. In my more introspective moments I know that the plucky orphans in my stories are born from the experience on the polish factory.

Darwin: My father built a house in Shrewsbury in the early years of marriage to my mother. He was a physician and did quite well; my mother belonged to the Wedgewood family, so our family lived comfortably. I was the fourth of five children, My mother was in charge of the children, the house and the finances, while my father tended to his patients. My dear mother died when I was eight, and my older sisters took over running the household while my father devoted even more of his time to his work. I was sent to a boarding school soon after called The Mount, and its curriculum was almost exclusively given over to the classics, which to me were quite useless. Although my father became quite worried that I had not inherited the intelligence of the Darwin family, I soon began conducting scientific experiments in the shed at the back of our house with my brother Erasmus, and continued to do so until he went off to Cambridge to study medicine. I became fascinated with collecting minerals and insects and bird-watching. I became very fond of hunting, especially when I went off to study at Edinburgh…so much so that my father feared I would become an ‘idle hunting man’! My father and grandfather both had studied at Edinburgh and when I was sixteen I was told it was time to make something of myself.

Dickens: Just as you began your experience with university education, I left school to work as a solicitor’s clerk and then taught myself shorthand. My uncle hired me to transcribe court proceedings and Parliamentary debates for his weekly newspaper. But I also wrote fiction under the pen name “Boz” and soon had a contract for my first novel. When The Pickwick Papers was published in April of 1836 the print run was for 40,000, and by November I quit the newspaper to become a full-time novelist. Five years later – after Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickelby were published - I was the most famous man in England!

My character Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop was based upon my beloved sister-in-law Mary who collapsed and died at home in 1837, and Nell’s illness and death elicited a storm of emotion from my readers: the Irish M.P. Daniel O’Connell, reading the book whilst in a railway carriage, burst into tears, groaning, “He should not have killed her”, and then throwing the book out of the train window!

But even though my aim was to make as much money as possible with my writings – having seen how my dear friend Walter Scott at one point lost all his money and it made me see that this possibly could happen to me – despite that, my contentment was not complete because of the inequities I saw in our society. I was a very lucky young man but felt I needed to do more to help my more unfortunate fellow human beings.

Darwin: I consider myself to have been lucky as well, my friend. I have always had the ability to act upon chance opportunities in life – one of those was when I completed my undergraduate studies at Cambridge and left for a voyage with Captain Fitzroy on the H.M.S. Beagle. As you know, the research that I did, the mentors that I met, and just generally making the best of a bad situation in terms of my health have all resulted in my views and theory on evolution. Although my intention was only to write for my family and never publish this as an academic exercise, there is a little-know impetus that I have had, just as you have in your charitable zeal…and that is my fight against slavery. As you also know, my Aunt Sarah gave more money than any other female donor to the anti-slavery cause – in fact the Darwins and Wedgewoods helped to fund and distribute large numbers of copies of anti-slavery literature.

My first encounter with a slave was while I was still a student at Edinburgh University. I was taught taxidermy by a freed Guayanese slave. I used often to sit with him, or he was a very pleasant and intelligent man. His name was John Edmonston, and he confirmed my own belief that black and white people possess the same humanity. My abhorrence of the slave trade increased on the Beagle voyage: whilst in Rio I witnessed slaves landing on the beach and saw the thumbscrews that were used to punish female slaves. And while staying there I saw a young household mulatto constantly reviled, beaten and persecuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal. I will not even allude to the many heart-sickening atrocities which I heard of, but these deeds are done and palliated by men who profess to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on earth! It makes one’s blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty.

Dickens: At the height of my fame, I travelled with Catherine to see America. With much anticipation to see for myself what I regarded as a trip to a ‘new Eden’, I found nothing but disappointment and disgust at the American way of life. I found a place where privacy and personal liberties were much eroded. And did not hesitate to say so: I had ample opportunity to express my opinions on the subject of slavery whilst touring the South! I dealt roundly with a certain judge in St. Louis and said I was very averse to speaking on the subject but when he pities our national ignorance of the truth of slavery, I told him…that men who spoke of it as a blessing, as a state of things to be desired, were out of the pale of reason; and that for them to speak of ignorance or prejudice was an absurdity too ridiculous to be combated. I wrote to my friend Macready that this was neither the republic I came to see nor the republic of my imagination. In everything of which it has made a boast- excepting the education of the people and its care for poor children – it sinks immeasurably below the level I had placed it upon.

Darwin: Never in five years on my travels had I been able to escape slavery. Once I returned to London Emma and I joined a radical abolitionist circle of family and friends, and I must admit that this group and its discussions influenced my scientific thinking on the unity of the races. The leading pluralist theories of race in the 1850s were used, as you know, to justify slavery. However, my idea of a branching common descent, if you can conjure up an image quite like that of a tree – unites all the races, plant, human and animal alike. And just as the slave-making in ant colonies is an odious instinct, so to is the great sin of slavery in our society.

Dickens: I know of your family’s sterling work in the anti-slavery movement, and I am well aware that the Unitarians like you were involved long before the more famous ‘Anglican saints’ like Wilberforce! I myself was born into an Anglican home and baptized into the faith, but became a Unitarian in my 30s. I felt that the Church’s hand was at its own throat because of the doctrinal wranglings of the various parties. Here, more popery, there, more Methodism – many forms of consignment to eternal damnation! So being disgusted with our established church I carried into effect an old idea of mine and joined the Unitarians, who would do something for human improvement, if they could, and who practice charity and toleration. I deplore those non-Unitarian clergy who fulminate against me because of their emotionalism, ignorance and lack of cultivation, and eve more so those missionaries who make themselves perfect nuisances who leave every place worse than they found it.

Darwin: When I was a young man I thought seriously about becoming a clergyman. And I thought of myself as a Christian when I went aboard the Beagle, but over the years disbelief has crept over me at a very slow rate until at last complete. I have believed that the degree of evil and suffering in the world throws doubt upon the idea of an omnipotent and loving deity. We might well be unique with consciousness and our ability to reason, but this uniqueness evolved, not having been bestowed upon us by a divine creator. I know that within the Unitarian movement in America, both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau have accepted my theory. My idea fosters a deeper, nature-centered spirituality; rather than focusing on the supernatural it evokes wonder and awe because of the amazing diversity and fecundity of the natural world. There is grandeur in this view of life, a larger meaning and a broader ethic.

Dickens: It seems, friend, that we have much in common: the way in which we coped with childhood hardships; the way our youthful experiences helped to shape our curiosity of the world and its inhabitants; our desire to show our love and concern for each other and a sense of solidarity in fighting the evils of slavery, which diminishes the humanity in all of us; and an abiding appreciation and fondness for the Unitarian faith that calls us to a higher vision of people connecting with the sacred in life. May it truly be said – as Tiny Tim observed – God bless us, every one!

Conclusion: Charles Dickens died in June 1870, while Darwin died in April 1882. "It's rare for scientists and literary authors to cross paths. A scientist often spends many hours within the four walls of a laboratory, while many authors never set foot in a laboratory their entire lives. As a result, they generally don't talk to each other."

However, Priya Venkatesan goes on to argue in a 2007 article in The Scientist, that they do talk to each other, albeit indirectly -- scientists are indeed influenced by literary and humanistic discourse, and scientific principles are reflected in literary works. This article argues that Dickens appropriated many of the elements of evolutionary theory into his work: The possibility that creation is through natural order, rather than through the unknown, permeates such novels as Bleak House.

But whatever the truth of intertextuality, I hope that my artistic license, as seen in the meeting of minds we have witnessed here today, has served to lift up our eternal gratitude for the tireless and timeless genius demonstrated by these two Unitarian ‘saints’ who have gone before us.

Gaye W. Ortiz

2/5/2012

Sources for “The 2 Ds”:

A. Adrian, “Dickens on American Slavery,” MLA, Vol 67 (4), June 1952, 318.

S. Baleé, “Charles Dickens: The Show (But-Don’t-Tell) Man.” Hudson Review,  64 (4), 2012, 653-661.

D. Beaudreault. “Charles Dickens: A UU Social Activist.” http://uucov.com/for-visitors/sundays-at-uucov/past-sermons-a-talks/145-charles-dickens-a-uu-social-activist

“Charles Darwin.” http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/darwin/section2.rhtml

“Charles Dickens.” http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/charlesdickens.html 

---“Charles Dickens and slavery.” Goliath Business News. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-9259281/Charles-Dickens-and-slavery.html

---“Darwin on Race and Slavery.” http://commondescent.net/artcles.darwin_on_race.htm

C. Darwin, Darwin to Asa Gray 5 June 1861. Darwin Correspondence Project. http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-3176.

C. DeCoursey, “Darwin and Dickens, 1860-65.”

 http://warlight.tripod.com/CHRISTINE.html

C. Dickens, “Chapter XVI – Slavery,” American Notes. http://www.readbookonline.net/read/2388/11512.

A. Desmond and J. Moore, “Darwin’s Sacred Cause” First Chapter. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/chapters/chapter-darwins-sacred-cause.html

J Hammer, “Mad for Dickens,” Smithsonian Feb 2012, 74.

J. Moore, “Darwin’s Sacred Cause”. The Linnean Society of London Event. www.linnean.org/fileadmin/events2/events.php?detail=161, 3/19/2009.

W. Murry, “Natural Faith,” UU World, Spring 2009, http://www.uuworld.org/assets/php/printer.php

“Of Dickens and Darwin.” http://classic.the-scientist.com/news/display/53975/

http://classic.the-scientist.com/news/display/53975/

M. Timko, “Ebenezer Scrooge’s conversion.” UU World, Winter 2005. http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/2273.shtml

Voyage of the Beagle Ch 21. http://www.kellscraft.com/VoyageOfBeagle/VoyageOfBeagleCh21.html 

All Grown Up? Part Two

All Grown Up? Part Two

Aiken UU Church

January 12 2012

Gaye Ortiz

Friday the 13^th – 2 days ago – was not just another day known for bad luck.  In the northern Texas town of Grapevine, there was a lot of excitement over what an evangelical pastor and his wife were doing on the roof of their mega-church. You may have seen the interviews done this week with Pastor Ed Young and his wife Lisa, co-founders of Fellowship Church and co-authors of a new book called: Sexperiment – 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse.

They say they want to ‘bring God back into the bed’ and to tell married couples that a strong sex life should work to unite them outside the bedroom; they propose that couples have sex for 7 days straight to see the amazing results of such intimacy for their relationships. So to drive home the point on Friday they put a bed on the roof of Grapevine Fellowship Church and began a 24-hour bed-in. Those of us who are old enough to remember John Lennon and Yoko Ono doing the same thing in a hotel room in Canada to protest the Vietnam War remember how much fun was made of them.

Not all evangelicals are thrilled with Pastor Young’s rooftop bedroom stunt either: an article in Christianity Today suggests a profit-seeking motive - but not only does it ‘vault the book onto the bestseller list on Amazon for a day,’ the article declares it is lacking in modesty. And the message of Pastor Young makes the single life look somehow deficient instead of an equal but different lifestyle choice. (Matthew Lee Anderson, “The Trouble with Ed Young’s Rooftop Sexperiment,” 1/12/2012

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/januaryweb-only/ed-young-sexperiment.html)

So the pastor and his wife have come along just at the right time for my sermon today!

Why should the topic of sex and sexuality be brought up in a Sunday sermon? Because it’s a topic that has implications far beyond the bedroom. Our sexual ethic, according to the Religious Institute, should be “focused on personal relationships and social justice rather than particular sexual acts” (Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, http://religiousinstitute.org/religious-declaration-on-sexual-morality-justice-and-healing).

The Religious Institute was founded in 2001 “to promote sexual health, education and justice in faith communities and society” (“About the Religious Institute,” www.religiousinstitute.org). Its mission is “to change the way America understands the relationship of sexuality and religion.” It operates in a multifaith context across the US, partnering with clergy and congregations as well as with advocacy organizations, seminaries, and sexual and reproductive health communities.

Specifically, it promotes:

o   Sexually healthy faith communities

o   Full equality of women and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in congregations and communities

o   Marriage equality for same-sex couples

o   Comprehensive sexuality education

o   Reproductive justice

o   A responsible approach to adolescent sexuality

o   Sexual abuse prevention

o   HIV/AIDS education and prevention

(“About the Religious Institute,” www.religiousinstitute.org)

Now, I can’t possibly get around to talking about all of those points in one sermon! But I will begin with some information about the person who has driven this sexual justice agenda in American progressive religious circles for the past 10 years.

http://twitter.com/RevDebra

The Institute’s Executive Director and co-founder is the Rev Dr Debra Haffner, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and a sexologist. She has appeared on the Bill O’Reilly Show to debate the issue of sex education for elementary school children, and has written recently in the Huffington Post and The Washington Post on the Penn State scandal. Rev Dr Haffner was an adviser to the UUA on the development of the Our Whole Lives lifespan sexual education curricula, in which now over 7000 facilitators have been trained. Debra Haffner also co-authored an online UUA course called “Balancing Act: Keeping Children Safe in Congregations” (Michelle Bates Deakin, “UU Sexologist Debates Bill O’Reilly, UU World, Winter 2007, 49).

Recently the UUA added to the number of competencies – there are now 15 - in which a ministry candidate must show proficiency when going before the Ministerial Fellowship Committee; the addition was the competency ‘Sexual Health, Sexual Boundaries, Sexual Justice.’ One way that I could fulfill the requirement for this competency was for me to take an online course offered to ministry candidates by the Religious Institute, called “Sexuality Issues for Religious Professionals.” My enrollment in this course was then supplemented by going to the fall retreat of the Southeastern UU Ministers’ Association, where the Rev Dr Haffner was the program speaker. I had lunch one day with her, because she was kind enough to offer to sit with the interns attending the retreat, to talk about the Ministerial Fellowship Committee process, since she is on that committee. I completed the Religious Institute online course by the end of last month, and was just notified this past week that I have a certificate to prove it!

One thing that the Rev Dr Haffner says is that sexuality education is a religious issue, and that it is tied in with our religious commitment - as a people of faith - to truth telling: “people should have full and accurate information, not biased and censored” (UU World). In the UU World article about her debate with O’Reilly, one of her comments sounds very much in tune with the north Texas pastor who put his bed on the rooftop this week: she says that she hopes people will see that they can be “sexual people and religious people” (UU World). Religion is better known for its condemnation, constraint or exclusion of people who do not follow its teachings on sexuality. Many people have been hurt and damaged by the refusal of some faith traditions to address the sexual dysfunctions in their own communities and leadership. But when we look at the major faiths, we can see that there are many traditions that celebrate sexuality through their theology, practices and their holy texts.

Native American spirituality, for example, embraces ambiguity in the sexes with traditions that honor ‘two-spirit’ people, and the Hindu tradition recognizes three sexes and divine entities that transcend the categories of sex and gender. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Song of Songs is one well-known example of erotic poetry. In the Christian letter of Paul to the Galatians, the verse that gives hope for an inclusive community says that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). (D. Haffner and D. Palmer, Sexuality and Religion 2020, Religious Institute, 2010, 8).

Our religious faith should help us grow in maturity; it should help us grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. Our UU principles can guide us in this: the first principle promotes respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. The second calls for justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. And for us UUs, we should be accepting of the claim that sexual justice does not stand apart from other forms of social justice: Haffner writes, “Because all injustice is rooted in oppression, religious leaders have a special role to seek to eradicate not only sexism and homophobia, but all forms of oppression that undermine equality and right relationship…” (D. Haffner and D. Palmer, Sexuality and Religion 2020, Religious Institute, 2010, 10)

I would love for the Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church to be able to declare that it is a sexually healthy and responsible congregation. In order to make that a reality, we members and friends of the church should work on what it means to be a sexually healthy adult. That doesn’t mean we can claim to be perfect, but this is not as difficult as you may think. Just as, last week, we talked about being grown up in our approach to conflict, we are called on to accept what, for some, are weighty responsibilities. Some of us grew up and became sexually active in the 60s; it was a time of sexual liberation and experimentation. Some congregations were lax in their sexual mores, and some ministers engaged in inappropriate relationships with congregants.

At that time, issues, such as homosexuality, were thought of in much less accepting ways: in 1967, 88% of UUs thought that homosexuality should be discouraged by law or through education (“Sexuality and the UUA: Fifty Years of Sexual Justice and a Call to the Future,” GA presentation, June 2011).  And in our society some behaviors, such as rape, were not considered to be such serious breaches as we know them to be today: you may know that, until 1993, North Carolina did not consider spousal rape to be a crime.

But today, there are two things I ask you to reflect on that can determine whether you are a sexually healthy adult:

First, do you understand that a person can have sexual feelings without acting on them?

Second, do you only engage in sexual behaviors and relationships that are life-enhancing and not potentially harmful to yourself or others?

The first question – do you understand that a person can have sexual feelings without acting on them? - is about self-knowledge and self-control; the second is about power. The first question asks us to practice restraint and honesty: we may indeed meet someone who is quite attractive, and we could even wonder about the potential for a sexual encounter. It takes a grown-up ability to perceive our feelings and it takes control not to act on them if it is not appropriate.

The second question - do you only engage in sexual behaviors and relationships that are life-enhancing and not potentially harmful to yourself or others? - is about consensual and unexploitative action. If two people share equal power in a relationship and find it mutually pleasurable then that is a win-win, life-enhancing situation. But we know that it is too easy to take advantage of people who are unequal to us in terms of power, who might not be protected, or might not have the level of maturity to engage in a sexual relationship. If your behavior is harmful to yourself or others, then may you find it within yourself to stop any offensive or coercive action.

The Progressive Religious Coalition interfaith celebration of the life of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. that was held in Augusta Thursday night included an offertory; the recipient of the offering was Child Enrichment Inc. I was honored to call for the offering, and while I was composing my remarks earlier in the week, I called and spoke with the executive director of Child Enrichment, Dan Hillman. Although I had already done my research to understand the mission of the organization, he gave me more of the context for why they need the support of the community. The mission of Child Enrichment Incorporated is to provide and coordinate comprehensive intervention, advocacy and prevention for abandoned, neglected, and sexually abused children (http://childenrichment.org/). It was established in 1977 by a group of physicians, nurses, and social workers. Child Enrichment helps abuse survivors, both children and adults, to overcome their experience and to rebuild their lives; some cases go to court and are exposed to media coverage, but most are anonymous and little-known. Dan Hillman said that if I wanted to, I could add something to my offertory remarks that he always adds when he is speaking to people about the importance of the work Child Enrichment does – and it fits right in with my appeal today for us to be ‘grown up’: he said that in today’s epidemic of child abuse and sexual abuse, every one of us needs to be a responsible adult to support the work that needs to be done in the years ahead to protect children and to help heal them. 

So the Rev Dr Haffner stressed during the retreat in November that congregations need to be ready to support their children by having not only sexuality education like Our Whole Lives, but with policies against sexual exploitation or harassment of any kind within the faith community. When she asked for feedback at the end of the retreat, and asked us to tell her one important thing we heard her say, I replied with, “Written policy is your friend”…because she said it at a time when our congregation here in Aiken had just found that out, through the work that has been done on our recent safe congregation policy. Our Safety and Ethics Committee has done a wonderful job, taking its responsibility very seriously, to craft a policy that can help to protect our children and indeed protect all members of the congregation. But the Rev Dr Haffner did also say that there often is resistance from a congregation to the creation and enactment of policy guidelines – it could be the anti-authoritarian strain that lives on in fellowships, or it could be the individualistic streak of the UU culture. But any church that takes seriously its pastoral ministry to its children, members, and friends will want to pay attention to safety issues in terms of sexual health and responsibility.

And let me just mention a few of the issues that might come up in a congregation that might cause anxiety and then, if not addressed, cause conflict – remember that anxiety about sex is one of the most common triggers of conflict? There may be some past clerical sexual misconduct affecting a present-day congregation; there could be inconsistent or incomplete vetting of Children’s RE staff that results in sexual harassment; there could be a limited access agreement with a registered sex offender; there could be a female minister dealing with unwanted sexual comments in a group setting; one thing there could be definitely at the moment is sexual abuse survivors being retraumatized by the Penn State sexual abuse scandal in the news; and there could be congregations experiencing friction from divorced partners who have new partners... and the list could go on. So when we say that a faith community should be sexually healthy, that clearly is the expression of an ideal! We won’t be there yet, but it is worth working towards.

So what are the characteristics that define a sexually healthy faith community? According to the Religious Institute:

o   It has religious leadership that has experience and training in worship and preaching as well as counseling about sexuality issues.

o   It offers sexuality education for children and youth and a variety of services and programs to support the sexuality needs of the adults in the community.

o   It welcomes all people and all types of families into the faith community as full participating members, and values diversity.

o   It has explicit policies against sexual exploitation or harassment of any kind within the faith community.

o   It works for sexual justice at the denomination level as well as in the society at large.

(A Time to Build, Religious Institute, 2002,  http://religiousinstitute.org/study-guide/a-time-to-build-creating-sexually-healthy-faith-communities, 5)

This last characteristic is one that we will acquire next month, when our congregation undertakes the Welcoming Congregation Program, which educates us in how we can welcome diversity and work for sexual justice in our church, in our community, and in the wider world.

One of the assessments that I had to complete in my online course last month concerned this church being a public witness to sexual justice. I think we are making a start here - in addition to the upcoming Welcoming Congregation program, we already play host to the local chapter of PFLAG – family and friends of lesbians and gays. One of the questions in the assessment asked whether the minister – me - was an endorser of the “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing.” I’d read it a while back, but hadn’t signed on to it since coming to Aiken. So yesterday I became a signatory to the “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing,” and I’ve made a copy to put onto the board in the hall. So please do have a look at it and feel free to ask for your own personal copy or make it yourself on our copier.

It’s not a long document and I would like to read it to you – remember that many progressive religious communities find God-language powerful and evocative, not to say persuasive, in claiming the higher moral ground…and it’s okay if you want to substitute in your own mind the phrases you might use instead, such as ‘higher power’, ‘spirit of life’, or ‘the divine’:

Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, 
Justice, and Healing:

 Sexuality is God's life-giving and life-fulfilling gift.  We come from diverse religious communities to recognize sexuality as central to our humanity and as integral to our spirituality.  We are speaking out against the pain, brokenness, oppression and loss of meaning that many experience about their sexuality.

Our faith traditions celebrate the goodness of creation, including our bodies and our sexuality.  We sin when this sacred gift is abused or exploited.  However, the great promise of our traditions is love, healing and restored relationships.

Our culture needs a sexual ethic focused on personal relationships and social justice rather than particular sexual acts.  All persons have the right and responsibility to lead sexual lives that express love, justice, mutuality, commitment, consent and pleasure.  Grounded in respect for the body and for the vulnerability that intimacy brings, this ethic fosters physical, emotional and spiritual health.  It accepts no double standards and applies to all persons, without regard to sex, gender, color, age, bodily condition, marital status or sexual orientation.

God hears the cries of those who suffer from the failure of religious communities to address sexuality.  We are called today to see, hear and respond to the suffering caused by sexual abuse and violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, the HIV pandemic, unsustainable population growth and over-consumption, and the commercial exploitation of sexuality.

Faith communities must therefore be truth-seeking, courageous and just.  We call for:

·         Theological reflection that integrates the wisdom of excluded, often silenced peoples, and insights about sexuality from medicine, social science, the arts and humanities.

·         Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.

·         Sexuality counseling and education throughout the lifespan from trained religious leaders.

·         Support for those who challenge sexual oppression and who work for justice within their congregations and denominations.

Faith communities must also advocate for sexual and spiritual wholeness in society.  We call for:

·         Lifelong, age-appropriate sexuality education in schools, seminaries and community settings.

·         A faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment.

·         Religious leadership in movements to end sexual and social injustice.

God rejoices when we celebrate our sexuality with holiness and integrity.  We, the undersigned, invite our colleagues and faith communities to join us in promoting sexual morality, justice, and healing.

(January 2010

http://religiousinstitute.org/religious-declaration-on-sexual-morality-justice-and-healing)

Why did I sign the declaration? I suppose it’s my ‘little light’ that I can let shine. That light is a metaphor for the truth-seeking that we are called to do; for me that includes the ordination of women and making heard the voices of women in faith communities. Some major faith traditions in the world – including the Roman Catholic faith that I left to become a Unitarian Universalist - still do not allow women to become ordained religious leaders. By my ministering witness as a woman, I can give support to the full inclusion of women in congregational life.

But equally important to me is the need to witness, as the declaration says, to our faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment. Is anyone under the illusion that this is not going to be an election topic? It already is, and certain politicians running for the Republican nomination have already expressed their opposition, not only to abortion, but to birth control. The hard-won victories for women’s reproductive rights from decades ago are under threat in 2012. I want to shine my little light to overcome that darkness.

I sign on gladly to the call for a sexual ethic that promotes the dignity and worth of women, LGBT members of our community, and other people who experience oppression in the search for justice and equality. I believe that we are all called to respond in both a pastoral and a prophetic sense to the signs of the times. Not only should we offer support and counsel to those in our midst who suffer now, our visionary witness to justice should pave the way for our children and help change how this country understands sexuality and religion. We have as UUs led change on many issues in the past – including equal rights for women, the right to contraception and abortion, full inclusion of homosexual, bisexual, and transgender ministers; and marriage equality.

On this weekend of remembering Dr King, we also recall that UU ministers, such as the Rev James Reeb, laid their lives on the line for social justice. Remember singing about how we’ll let our little light shine everywhere we go?

You and I together can let our light shine when we stand on the side of love on the issue of sexual justice.

We can let our light shine when we model progressive religious engagement and commitment to the sexual health of our congregations and our society.

And we can let our light shine when we demonstrate a grown-up respect for body and soul that can help to create a world “of sexual health, sexual justice, and sexual wholeness” (Haffner and Palmer, 36).

We might each only have a little light, but together we will let it shine until we light up the whole world.

Gaye Ortiz

January 2012