Opinion Piece for April 24, 2024

 

Several years ago, I enrolled in a Comparative Religions course at Lake Michigan College.  That overview course did not in any way make me a religious scholar, but it did give me a basic understanding of our religious similarities and differences.  In my estimation, our similarities are more important than our differences. 

Decades before that and while I was living in northern Virginia, I enrolled in a couple graduate level courses in religion and philosophy.  We read and discussed some of the foundational writings of western literature including Plato, Augustine, Luther, and more contemporary writers, such as, M.L. King Jr. and C.S. Lewis.  Having spent two years in the Navy with a ship based in Japan, I also appreciate the musings of Japanese authors like Shusaku Endo, the accomplished Christian author.

Having been raised in one Christian denomination and attended a parochial school as a boy, I understand now that my own upbringing was just that:  my own.  Several years ago, I attended a funeral near Saginaw for my favorite aunt.  She was raised in a different Christian tradition than me.  The preacher at her funeral preached about his understanding of what happens after someone dies.  It was a belief of the after-life I had never been exposed to.  To this day, I am unsure if his is a majority belief in his denomination or a minority one.  I found his understanding to be an interesting concept.

In the spring annually, different religious traditions celebrate religious holidays in unique ways.  I may not fully comprehend the depth of feeling or experience that each group of followers has for their own religious traditions.  However, I do appreciate that in this country we are allowed freedom of religion. So, for those celebrating a wide variety of religious holidays this spring, may your celebrations be blessed.

Some of us will be celebrating for different reasons this week.  For those celebrating the end of income tax season, hurrah it’s over!  Annually, the United Way of SW Michigan sponsors the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in a variety of locations in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties.  I am fortunate to work with dozens of volunteers who have been certified by the IRS to assist taxpayers.  Thank you to the United Way and all the volunteers for their dedication and efforts in helping hundreds of residents of Southwest Michigan with their annual tax filing obligations.   Your efforts bring hundreds of thousands of tax dollars back into the pockets of area residents which in turn benefit the local economy. 

To our taxpayer clients, we realize that tax time is often stressful for you.  We do our best to ensure that it is as painless as possible and to ensure that you receive all the refunds which you are entitled to.  Suggestions for improvement are always welcome.

Currently, in the Michigan House is a bill that has already passed the Michigan Senate.  Senate Bill 632 is a bill that would cap the interest rate on short term pay day loans.  Currently, there is no restriction on interest rates on these loans.  Some lenders may charge 300%-400% APR or more.  For some in our area, pay day loans may not be the lifeline folks hope for, but instead may turn into anchors that weigh them down further.  SB 632 would cap interest rates at 36% APR on the loans.  This is the same maximum interest rate charged to members of the U.S. Military and it is an interest rate higher than most credit cards or other unsecured loans.  In other words, credit card companies still make considerable profit on loans with lower interest rates.    Unfortunately, State Senators Lindsey and Nesbitt voted against the bill.  I get it. No bill is perfect.  However, in my opinion the current status quo is legalized usury.  Based on that and knowing how extreme interest rates hurt people who may be financially struggling through no fault of their own, I support SB 632. 

Fortunately, the office of state representative Joey Andrews has indicated to me that he supports the bill.  The bill is currently in the Michigan House Insurance and Financial Services Committee.  I am hopeful that the committee will hold hearings on the bill and that the full House will vote on the measure in the not distant future.

So happy end of tax season to you all.  Keep those property tax bills, receipts, and business mileage logs.  You’ll need them next April.

Jesus Died for Our Sins?

From my post in fans of John Shelby Spong:

This is solely a hypothesis and is not formulated, researched enough to be a theory.  Somehow my current reading of Jonathan Blitzer's "Everyone who is gone is here" book is making me think about this.

For quite sometime, I have struggled with the notion that "Jesus died for our sins".  Having lost a child myself, I find this  notion that Jesus was sent here to die a hideous death for our communal sins, well, rather sadomasochistic. I have yet to meet a parent who has lost a child who is glad their child died.  The parents of a soldier killed in battle, for instance, may search for some purpose or meaning to their child's death, but they still grieve.

That in the background of my mind, Blitzer starts his book with an anecdote about Bishop Oscar Romero and his assassination in El Salvador in 1980.  Romero apparently was an advocate for the poor and for land reform in his country.  This advocacy and preaching caught the attention of the military leaders of the country.  They apparently thought that Romero could lead some sort of peasant/poor people's revolution that threatened their dominance and financial monopoly.

Is it not Paul who first proclaimed "Jesus died for our sins"?   Later, some of the gospel writers may have picked up on this.  The notion does not directly confront the Roman authorities or those others in Palestine who may have been complicit and benefited.

My hypothesis, thus, is that Jesus, like Oscar Romero, died because he spoke out for the poor and was perceived as someone who could rally the peasants against the Roman and other authorities who controlled the wealth, land, etc. of Palestine.

I am not sure how either Romero or Jesus died for our sins.  Sorry, Paul of Tarsus, who never actually met Jesus.  I disagree or at best am very doubtful. 

Apparently, Peter may have been too.  See Galatians 2:11-21.  Too bad Peter was illiterate and therefore we cannot read his side of that story.  Might have been interesting to be a cricket in the room when it happened though.

Does it matter?

My post from the Fans of John Shelby Spong blog:

For closing on 20 years now, I have volunteered to assist poor and near poor folks with their annual income tax filings.  Yesterday after returning from such a volunteer date, I was traveling through parts of rural SW Michigan on my return drive home.  

Seeing the poverty of rural areas as evidenced by the low quality of housing in some areas, at least as evidenced by the exterior of some homes (keep in mind that outward appearances can be deceiving), I started thinking that many of these families (and our clients) have different political and religious views than I do.  

We assume that folks in rural areas are more conservative in terms of religion and politics than folks in suburban or urban areas.  Of course, that may be on average and is certainly not applicable to all individuals or families or churches.

Does it matter?  Does it really matter that some folks may have more conservative political and religious views than I do?  

The Nicene Creed (version 1 and then version 2 years later) was invented (some may say divinely inspired, not me) in order to standardize what Christians believed.  Of course, it did not work.

There are those who still argued about how and when Jesus became divine, the degree of his humanity or divinity, the nature of the trinity, etc.  Even if the majority follow and believe the "party line", some to this day do not.

My question is this?  What difference does it make? 

Mark was quoted as saying that Jesus said paraphrasing here:  

Love God, Love your neighbor.

Matthew 25 seems to cement that especially for those on the margins.

I guess the Jesus Seminar folks might argue:  did Jesus really say those things.  

But I like to think he did.

17 Years plus

Every day for seventeen years,  

I have thought of you.

Every day.
Perhaps briefly at times, 
perhaps not.
Not sure the triggers.
When I'm tired, I suppose,
in the evening like now.
Often because of a song,

classic Santana or The Doors.

Most likely though 

The Stones "Miss You."

Sometimes I find myself singing in my head
more contemporary songs,
"Cause she's so high
high above me..." 
or maybe
that Amy Winehouse song with your name.
Silly, I know.

But if sometimes I don't write,
it is not because I've forgotten.
It's just that
I know your time is precious.

First Draft Opinion Maker for January 31

 

We live in challenging political times.  Some politicians on either the far corners of the left or the right would want to divide us and other Americans who may not share their personal beliefs.  I must admit that I usually try to ignore divisive political speech because I know what it is meant to do:  stir up emotions that divide and enrage voters to vote in a certain way.

On any given day or month, I may have a different favorite passage in the Bible.  Usually, I consider myself a Matthew 25 Christian.  It is probably because I find these words from that part of the Christian Bible so profound, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me… And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’”

In a March 2020 article in Sojourners magazine, the author a Presbyterian pastor states, “…invoking Matthew 25 is not a strategy to woo or convert the fairly entrenched…, but rather to mobilize around an optimism in the possibility of recuperating some notion of shared American values.”

Shared Americans values.  In these times, perhaps that is a naïve concept, but I don’t think so.  I do think there still are shared American values even if some politicians and certain other leaders would want to distort the truth.  I believe that Americans believe in Democracy, one person, one vote and that Americans support civil rights, religious freedom,  and a desire for a fair and impartial justice system.

However, there is indeed some political speech which I find too poisonous to ignore and simply feel that Matthew 25 requires us to speak out.  In May last year, Congressman Tim Walberg travelled to Uganda and gave a speech at a prayer breakfast attended by the President of that country.  Mr. Walberg represents those of us in Lincoln Township, southern Berrien county and Cass County.  In May according to Newsweek, the president of Uganda signed an Anti-Homosexuality Act which seeks to criminalize homosexuality and includes the possibility of the death penalty for individuals found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality”.

Mr. Walberg’s is quoted as commenting at the meeting “Though the rest of the world is pushing back on (the Ugandan law and) though there are other major countries that are trying to get into you and ultimately change you, stand firm. Stand firm.”  In addition according to Kalamazoo’s WMUK radio, Mr. Walberg cruelly “joked” or said, “If I could decide what I want to be, what gender whatever it is, I'd be a yellow Labrador Retriever.”

Mr. Walberg shame on you.  Your words do not represent shared American values and they certainly do not represent me.  Religious values and faith are important aspects of our humanity.  I have no doubt that you and others have strong beliefs regarding gender identity or homosexuality. I do too.  Mine are found in Matthew 25 and Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

As Americans, we can and do have different beliefs and faiths.  That is one of the beauties of America.  Unlike countries like Iran, we do have freedom of religion established in our Bill of Rights. We all should be thankful for that.  In his book, God and the Gay Christian author Matthew Vines makes compelling arguments from a religious standpoint that there is nothing about being gay that prevents gays from being faithful Christians.  None other than former faith leader Rachel Held Evans in her review of the book says Mr. Vines has a “clear love for Scripture and deep, persistent faith.”

Mr. Walberg, your words were cruel and not shared American values, nor were they my Christian values.  My values call me to forgive you. I hope you can forgive yourself after an apology to all your voters in southern Michigan.

My Opinion Piece for the Herald Palladium November 15, 2023

 

As I write this on Veteran’s Day, I am reminded of my days in Boot Camp at Great Lakes, two years stationed on a destroyer with the Pacific 7^th Fleet, and later at the Naval Air Station on Midway Atoll.  I am thinking about my Company Commander at Great Lakes, Petty Officer Tuason, a Filipino native and my fellow recruit Leon who grew up in Harlem. 

After Great Lakes, I met colleagues from all branches of the service at the training for my Navy journalist rating near Indianapolis.  On my 7^th Fleet tin can based in Japan, my liberty buddies were Mike from Philadelphia and John from Chicago.  (We washed down Kirin or Asahi beers together while enjoying  bowls of ramen or chewing on yakitori barbecue.) KMTH Radio and TV was my duty station at Midway where I served with Joan from Louisville and Electrician First Class Chris, whose wife and red-haired, pre-school daughter accompanied him to that remote atoll.

In the 1970s, I don’t believe the Navy or Air Force were as diverse as the Marine Corps or the Army.  Still, having grown up in a small town near Saginaw my days in the Navy were served with a more diverse group of shipmates than the residents of my hometown.

In the spring of 1978 a few months before the end of my active duty, rock’n’roll icon Robert Palmer released his first Billboard Top 40 hit:  Every Kinda People.  Its lyrics often remind me of the men and women I served with in the Navy and the strength and challenges of America:

Ooh, it takes every kinda people
To make what life's about, yeah
Every kinda people
To make the world go 'round

For many young men and women, service in the military is their first experience with the diversity that is the citizens and residents of the United States.  On ship, we relied on our shipmates to keep us safe and celebrated liberty with them at ports from Korea to Australia.

With war once again in the Middle East and other trouble spots across the globe, we need to remember that we rely on each other to keep us safe and to enjoy our liberties together.  After World War II, the writers of the Superman comics apparently understood this very well.   In what was a book cover used by many children in the late 40’s, Superman is talking to a group of young people when he says:

“Remember boys and girls, your school -- like our country – is made up of Americans of many different races, religions and national origins.  SO…if you hear of anybody talk against a schoolmate because of his religion, race, or national origin don’t wait, tell him that talk is UN-AMERICAN.”

DC Comics and Superman in 1948 just said it a little differently and to different audiences than Robert Palmer thirty years later.  In 1948, the trauma of World War II was still fresh in Americans minds.  In 1978, it was just a few years after the Viet Cong overran Saigon in the spring of 1975.  Different times, different lessons with similar words expressing respect for American diversity.

Over the last month or so, watching cable news I can’t help but be troubled by the reported rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in our country.  We are Americans.  Period.  Full stop.  In America, we are blessed with freedom of religion and freedom of speech. We can have strong opinions, but need to remember that we are ALL Americans.

On Veteran’s Day, perhaps more than any other day, I am reminded of that. 

I encourage our fellow residents in Southwest Michigan to be involved with organizations in our area that make a difference in reminding of us that.  One of those organizations that I am familiar with is Interfaith Action of Southwest Michigan. 

In their purpose statement on the organization’s website, Interfaith Action states:

“We aim to practice and promote:

• expressing the dignity of all human beings
• engaging in peacemaking and countering violence
• advancing justice, especially for those on the margins of community life
• upholding the holiness of all creation”

On the anniversary of the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day, of the 11^th month, now Veteran’s Day, I give thanks for my fellow veterans and for those who know “It takes every kinda people.  To make what life’s about.”