Archive for the ‘Social Justice’ Category

Church and State, God and Country, Fear and Love

Friday, May 3, 2013

Yesterday I received two emails and noticed a couple Facebook posts bearing links to an article entitled, “Pentagon May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith.”  The story is not exactly all out in the open at this point, so I’m not going to pretend I’m an authority on this particular story.  But these e-mails reveal a “pressure-point” for many Christians in America as well as the increasing number of non-Christians in America.  You know how pressure points work: if someone applies minimal pressure in just the rights spot, they can cause a disproportionate reaction in the other person.  Church and State issues are a pressure point in our country.  The smallest pressure applied to an issue in this category can open up a whole can of accusations, assumptions, defensiveness, and fear.  Now, none of these things are particularly prominent in the life of Jesus, so perhaps I could just take this monthly blog space and talk through the issue with both “sides.”

Background: It appears that the Pentagon spent some time seeking the counsel of outspoken advocate for the separation of Church and State in the military, Mikey Weinstein (the Christian Post initially reported wrongly that Weinstein was “hired” by the Pentagon).  The facts seem to be that the Pentagon is looking at certain standards for chaplains in counseling situations with non-Christian soldiers and restrictions on how faith is promoted by other military authorities.

First:

Dear President and Pentagon,

Why consult this guy?  There are plenty of lesser-known but better-qualified people who could have helped you to develop the policies your thinking about.  Weinstein’s language is intentionally provocative and his strategy seems to be founded on attention-getting.  You even could have consulted Christians who would want to minimize the relationship between Church and State.  Did you want to stir the pot in conservative circles?  Just doesn’t seem like a wise move.

Also, you are taking on a very difficult issue.  Christians–including chaplains–don’t just share the Gospel because they want to get more people over to our side.  We believe that to treat the human as a non-spiritual being is ultimately going to come up short.  We believe that there is healing, restorative, wholeness-creating potential in the Gospel, which is rooted in the person of Jesus.  So it is possible to share the Gospel (evangelize, proselytize, whatever you want to call it) in a spirit of love, genuinely seeking the ultimate and deepest good of the other.  I get it.  Sometimes we do share the Gospel in selfish and unloving ways.  But pretending like any counselor should–let alone could–just “turn off” her/his beliefs and worldview in seeking the healing of another might not be that realistic or helpful.  Most of these chaplains are Christians and Chaplains because they believe that Jesus is actually the best and ultimate source of healing and restoration for themselves and others.

Further, the Constitution does not demand that Church and State exist in utterly separate spheres.  Rather, it reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  In other words, the religious voice has a place in the public sphere.  Government simply may not choose or enforce one religion over another.  So the Christian’s voice need not be accepted merely because it is Christian, but it also should not be rejected merely on the grounds that it is Christian.  Be very careful, my friends, for trying to order how and when people apply their religious convictions is a messy endeavor.

TTFN, Pastor Jon

Dear Church,

OK, deep breaths.  In.  Out.  I understand that headlines like this are concerning.  You’ve had quite a run at the top of Western/American society.  You’ve enjoyed lots of great benefits in our culture that Jesus never promised.  Even so, now that they seem to be fading away, it’s hard.  None of us likes to say “goodbye” to something that was enjoyable, comfortable, or made us feel special.  It is natural to mourn the loss of our cultural privilege.  Christian America was also the air we breathed for many decades.  We assumed it.  It was dependable.  It made church life so much easier.  And now, we’re noticing that breathing isn’t quite as easy.  You felt like America was built on the foundation of Christianity, and now it feels like each one of these restrictions might be the one that causes the whole thing to cave in.  Not fun.

But you also must remember that it’s possible that these “Separationists” have a point.  What made America distinct from England, Rome, etc. wasn’t Christianity…it was religious freedom.  We can believe what we want without the government punishing us for it.  It’s true that the great beneficiaries of this for many years were mostly Christians of various denominations (yes, we Christians have a wonderful history of oppressing ourselves).  But doesn’t this founding American principle and justice itself demand we extend the same freedoms to others who believe in different gods with different names, or even no god at all?

So this whole Mikey Weinstein thing.  First of all, be careful what you read and pass on.  This Weinstein character isn’t government employed.  And there is no evidence that the government wants to court martial your average soldier who shares his faith.  There isn’t really even evidence that they’re going to adopt Weinstein’s ideas nor that he was the only one they consulted.  Don’t spread gossip, or–even worse–slander.  You don’t have to be the news-breakers or the watchdogs.  Just be patient, get more facts, and listen to a different perspective.  By all means, have an opinion.  But be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.

And let’s think through the real issue at hand.  It’s a tough one.  Think about it.  These chaplains are employed by the U.S. Government, who constitutionally aren’t supposed to promote one religion over another.  I mean, if our churches were paying these chaplains and donating them to the military, that’d be one thing.  But that’s not the case.  Moreover, it doesn’t appear we’re talking about worship services.  We’re talking about counseling situations and military operations.  The military is an authority-based community where soldiers are often deeply emotionally wounded.  This is a context ripe for spiritual abuse.  Could policies go too far?  Yes.  But can you also understand that the government wants to make sure their chaplains are really seeking to understand, connect with, and bring healing with their soldiers whether they are Christians or not?  And can you see that telling a traumatized non-Christian soldier who is struggling that the only professional he can talk to is someone who will only talk to him about Jesus might not be what’s best for that soldier?  And do you really want a picture of a Cross and shield on a plane set out to kill?  Is this mixture of Gospel and military something we really want to protect?

One more thing.  This whole “Fear” thing.  It’s very unbecoming of you, Church.  I mean, how many times does God have to tell us “Do not be afraid”?  So you get court-martialled for following the Spirit and preaching the Gospel when you weren’t supposed to.  So pastors don’t get tax breaks anymore.  So you can’t have your Christmas decorations out in front of City Hall.  And what if laws were passed that put us in jail for sharing our faith with people?  What if we got kicked out of the U.S. because we were worshipping Jesus?  What if we became targets for assassination because we were so subverting our culture?  We’d be no worse off than millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world since the time of Jesus.  Here’s the problem:  We seem to be more fearful and anxious than those brothers and sisters WHO ACTUALLY FACED THAT STUFF!  One of those persecuted Christians once wrote: “Perfect love casts out fear.”  If we perfectly believed that nothing in all creation could separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we would be perfectly free from fear.  I’m not saying that I’m there.  But the point is, if we are afraid, that says more about our lack of faith than it does about our surrounding culture’s godlessness.  Let’s not let fear for our own comforts and privileges distract us from the radical life of preaching Good News to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, and setting the captives free that we have received as followers of Jesus.  Don’t promote fear.  Let everything you do be done in love.  Don’t be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Grace and Peace to you all,

Pastor Jon

 

 

Posted in Cultural Trends, Politics, Religion in the news, Social Justice | No Comments »

40 Years of Roe v. Wade

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

So I was going to write a simple post on an article I read last Sunday about how Pres. Obama should not swear on a Bible due to the separation of Church and State, and how, though I do think there should be a separation of sorts, this argument completely misses the point of the Bible in the inauguration.  Yada yada yada…

And then I read this…and watched this…and I changed my mind.  January 22nd, the day after Pres. Obama’s inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, was the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a court decision that essentially legalized abortion in the United States.  While limitations on when, how, and after what procedures abortions can be performed have been enacted nationally and on state levels, abortion continues to be a practice that is both legal and common (in 2009, the CDC reports that approximately 1 fetus was aborted for every 6 live births, and well over 50 million legal abortions have been performed since 1973) in the U.S.

The abortion debate is widely known to be inflammatory (sometimes literally) and divisive.  And while I have hinted at my convictions on this matter elsewhere on this blog, I have generally been cautious (fearful?) about airing my own opinions either here or elsewhere.  I know there are people in my congregation who have strong opinions on either “side” of the debate, and others who have strong opinions that the topic should be avoided.  It is well known that some of the most vocal opponents of abortion can be found in evangelical and Roman Catholic Christian circles.  On the other hand, I pastor in a denomination (the United Church of Christ) that calls women’s right to have an abortion one indicator of “reproductive justice.”  So, in some ways, I exist in the middle of the debate.

So let me begin by affirming some of the points made by my more “pro-choice” brothers and sisters:

  • Yes, the pro-life movement contains some hypocrites who call themselves “pro-life” and then blow up abortion clinics or assassinate doctors who perform abortions.
  • Yes, there are many conservatives for whom it is true that “they will do anything for the unborn, but once you’re born, you’re on your own” (potentially offensive language in this link), who have fought tooth-and-nail to outlaw abortion but never cared to get into the messiness of poverty, shame, etc. that make abortion an attractive option.
  • Yes, as a whole, the pro-life movement has treated the unborn as full humans while failing to fully appreciate the humanness of women who have unwanted pregnancies, the complexities of their situations, and the systemic challenges they face.
  • Yes, if abortion were illegal, it would continue to happen in unsafe ways.
  • Yes, it’s disgusting that men can and do run away from unwanted pregnancies, leaving the woman on her own to make it work.
  • Yes, rather than “speaking the truth in love,” pro-lifers have had a tendency to speak words that lead to condemnation and shame, especially on the part of the women who have had abortions.

Living in the center of theological/political battlegrounds , I work very hard to put myself in the shoes of other Christians (and other people, in general) who hold different perspectives than I do.  As I have imperfectly and stumblingly allowed myself into the ethical complexities and gray areas of our broken world, I have generally found my heart softening on many issues.  I may still hold a different conviction and opinion (I’m no relativist), but I can see how some might interpret the Gospel and the will of God differently than me.

This has not been the case for me when it comes to abortion.

I see how acting in compassion and seeking  justice for women in unenviable circumstances is a Gospel mandate.  I deplore the ways pro-lifers have often been simplistic, hypocritical, and downright evil in their pursuit of their “cause.”  I weep for the personal and systemic forces that have moved and will continue to move women to endanger themselves for the sake of an illegal abortion.  And still, I fail to see how the right to have an abortion has anything to do with the Kingdom of God.  Moreover–and here is why I address this topic this week–I fail to see how abortion can be anything more than a tragic-if-necessary evil, let alone something to be celebrated.

Unfortunately, like most “political” debates, the abortion debate regularly gets derailed as people talk past each other (fail to address what the other is actually saying), ask loaded or unproductive questions, operate on surface-level principles (“pro-life”/”pro-choice”), and disregard the possibility of any possibility outside “A (overturn Roe) or B (keep Roe).”

At the risk of falling into the same traps I just outlined, I would like to offer a few thoughts on why I oppose abortion and how I respond to those who count Roe v. Wade a victory worth celebrating.

  1. First of all, I believe that it is possible to be pro-women while at the same time being anti-abortion (and so do many women who oppose abortion).  I do not aim to demonize women who have had or are considering having abortions.  The forces at work in our culture are way bigger than a single person making an isolated decision.  Given the burdens and challenges many women experience, I can see how many women do choose the route of abortion.  If I were facing the same burdens and challenges, I can only guess at what I might do.  But regardless, the basis of the following thoughts is not blame and condemnation, but grace and the possibility of a more just and loving society where men and women, adults and children, born and unborn have every opportunity to thrive.
  2. I frequently hear proponents of reproductive rights make the claim that the fetus is not a person with a right to life.  In fact, one is almost required to hold to this position to support abortion.  A fetus, then, is merely a piece of tissue.  I’m not going to pull in any Scripture to argue that life begins at conception (such references very rarely pay attention to what the biblical writer is actually saying).  But here’s the thing: we don’t treat fetuses as just a piece of tissue.  When we are hoping/praying for children, we celebrate at the first signs of life blossoming in the womb.  And even when we are not hoping/praying for children, we know full well that that first sign of pregnancy has deeply human implications.  I’m afraid the whole debate about precisely when the “tissue” becomes a “person” (conception, 3 weeks, 2nd trimester, birth…?) misses the point (more in #7).  We must proceed with great caution, however, whenever we feel the urge to put limits on who is and is not a member of the human community.
  3. To continue #1, it should be noted that multiple serious philosophers, in order to argue against the personhood of the fetus, have found it necessary to extend their support for abortion to “infanticide.”  In other words, if we are saying fetuses are not human/persons because they are completely dependent on another human or because they are not self-conscious, that is equally true of newborn babies.  Really, the biggest difference between a child in the womb and a child outside of it is that the fetus is invisible and voiceless to us.  Not less human.  And this is why pro-lifers see opposition to abortion as a dire matter of justice for the unborn: acting as a voice for the voiceless, making visible the invisible, and protecting the most vulnerable members of our human society.
  4. On the topic of justice, the problem is not just that people choose to have abortions, but who is chosen to be aborted.  With all of our medical technology and genetic testing, we can be particularly careful about which “tissues” are worth keeping.  We know that in cultures (like China), where boys are more desirable, female fetuses are disproportionately selected for abortion.   Talk about a “war on women.”  In our country, studies indicate that a wildly disproportionate number of parents who find out that their fetus has Down Syndrome are aborted.  I find these to be disturbing facts.
  5. As true as it may be that some pro-lifers only a) care about human well-being pre-birth and/or b) are so caught-up in legal battles about abortion that they ignore the host of other factors related to abortion, these accusations are convenient and inaccurate generalizations of pro-lifers.  Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which are often supported by pro-lifers, have proliferated since 1973, seeking to serve women with pre-natal care, counseling, and material needs once the baby has been born.  Many Christians have put their faith into action by adopting unwanted children both domestically and internationally.  And “social justice” has increasingly entered the evangelical/emergent vocabulary in the past decade.  Thankfully, this accusation is less and less true and should not have such a prominent place in the debate.
  6. I would suggest that advocating for abortion is “the easy way out” for people who recognize the systemic pressures on pregnant women.  Abortion is not the only solution to the problem of abandoned pregnant women.  I would much rather see the energy that goes into reproductive rights advocacy go towards developing creative ways to hold fathers accountable in caring for the life they helped create, provide programs that reframe sexuality and procreation, make adoption a more financially viable option for willing and loving families who struggle to afford huge adoption costs,  subsidize childcare costs for single mothers, to name a few alternatives.  Abortion is not the only or best way of addressing the problem of unwanted pregnancies in ways that are compassionate toward women.  It’s just the easiest.
  7. Abortion does not solve the problem or empower women.  In fact, it lets men off the hook.  ”Hey, you have the option to abort.  If you don’t want to, that’s your problem.”  Abortion leaves women in the powerless spot of choosing between an unwanted (potentially coerced) abortion and single motherhood.  This is merely moving the problem of powerlessness, not solving it.  At the moment a woman finds out she is pregnant, men are supposed to be responsible as committed partners and fathers, and yet Roe v. Wade gives men absolutely no legal responsibility to determine whether the child lives or dies.  If women want responsible, committed men at this time, the law is undermining that desire, and giving men a convenient excuse to abandon women–as if men needed any more encouragement to be irresponsible.  (This is a big part of what makes this ad so deplorable, in my opinion.)
  8. Roe v. Wade reinforces the disjointedness of our understandings of sexuality and procreation.  It puts a big bracket in the beautiful process of procreation, disconnecting new life from loving relationship.  It says, “Sex is for individual pleasure.  Pregnancy is about the woman’s individual rights.  Birth begins the mutuality of parenthood.”  Contrast: “Sex is the physical pinnacle of relational intimacy, and in this expression of love, new life is created to be celebrated and cared for by its co-creators from beginning to end.”  For Christians, the biblical story is that God’s love is the source of creation and Life.  And so procreation is this process from love to life.  Anytime we try to jump in, parse out, and disconnect that story, we are walking on shaky ground.  I’m not naive enough to think that this narrative is always reality, but I will say that the incessant touting of “rights” and “individual freedom” and “ownership” as predominant values is an enemy of relationship, community, and love.  It hinders our culture from thinking, dreaming, and imagining in relational terms of love, intimacy, partnership, and mutual loving sacrifice.  Roe v. Wade, here, is not the primary culprit, but rather a legal rubberstamping of community-unfriendly values surrounding sex, relationships, and procreation.
  9. None of this is to say that Christians should put all their resources and resolve into getting Roe v. Wade overturned.  Rather, I believe it is our first calling to live the Kingdom of God and to present our surrounding culture with an alternative.  What does this mean in this case?  Presenting a narrative of sexuality in our communities that connects sex to procreation and committed relationships.  Simultaneously creating communities of grace, which shower women with unintended pregnancies and women who have had abortions with love and support.  Opening up our families, homes, and spirits to women who are not sure whether or not they can support a child and to the beautiful opportunity of adoption.  Seeking ways to hold men accountable to the procreation process.  Offering society a fuller view of humanity and hope that makes abortion a less viable option.  The questions we must ask ourselves: “Were Roe v. Wade completely overturned, would the Church be prepared for the consequences?  Are we working to create a society where abortion just doesn’t make sense?”  This, to me, is a more holistic ethic of Life than simple pro-life v. pro-choice debates.

Well, my simple post has become a weird mix of a long-but-not-long-enough and complicated-but-still-simplistic treatment of this controversial but vitally important issue.  I have gone past my normal blog length, and yet there is still so much more to say.  I hope you will take time to respond, to see through my eyes, to challenge me, and to point out more constructive ways of approaching this issue.  Although I feel strongly about this issue, I promise respect and love to any who disagree with me here, and will hold your comments to the same standard.

 

(Note: when I share a link, I am only passing on that article for your reading and discernment, not as an endorsement)

http://www.onbeing.org/program/pro-life-pro-choice-pro-dialogue/4863

http://www.ucc.org/justice/womens-issues/Reproductive-Justice.html

http://www.guttmacher.org/

http://www.nrlc.org/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/01/22/creepy-pro-abortion-ad-celebrates-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/01/22/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-jane-roe/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+between2worlds+%28Between+Two+Worlds%29

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/leeches-lye-and-spanish-fly.html?_r=1&

http://www.freep.com/article/20130128/NEWS05/301280075/Abortion-rights-supporters-opponents-turn-out-in-metro-Detroit-to-mark-40th-anniversary-of-Roe-v-Wade-decision?odyssey=nav%7Chead

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/headlines/protestors-mark-40th-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade/14605/

Posted in Cultural Trends, Justice, Politics, Religion in the news, Social Justice | 3 Comments »

Occupy Pastor Jon’s Blog

Friday, December 9, 2011

OK, so I’m showing up to this party about 3 months late.  I never was a cutting-edge type of guy.  Occupy Wall Street has been going on since September 17 in NYC and in that time has become quite a movement all over the country, even here in Toledo.  I don’t mind not being on the cutting edge, though, because sometimes “cutting edge” simply is a euphemism for “speaking before you think.”  The more I have researched the Occupy movement, after 3 months I’m still not sure that it isn’t too soon to draw any conclusions.  So instead, I’ll use this space as a chance to share some of what I have discovered and offer a few of my initial reactions as I hold the Occupy movement up to the light of the Gospel Story.  First, my discoveries:

1) Occupy is different from what we normally think of when we hear “protest.”   As the Occupy Toledo website distinguishes, “A protest is at first antagonism. An occupation is at first COMMUNITY.  A protest is defined by opposition.  An occupation is defined by PRESENCE.  A protest is singular. An occupation is MULTITUDE.”  The movement is seeking to be different not just in policy but in practice.  So, instead of trying to garner votes for or against a particular issue/party/candidate, the Occupy movement is advocating a different way of organizing society.  And the individual occupations seek to function in that different way: sans authority, sans private ownership, sans any set-in-stone political agenda.

2) People aren’t quite sure how to respond to the Occupy movement.  It would be easier to respond if they had a set of demands or if there were a designated leader or if there were a clear audience (ie. state/federal legislators, corporate CEOs, the American public, the judicial system).  Certainly there are implications of what the movement is generally saying for most, if not all of these.  But we’re better at responding to something concrete with a yes or no than to what Occupy is offering.

3) There are a few popular “proposals” that are being spoken.  One of the most prominent would be debt forgiveness–allusions to a biblical “Jubilee”–as a way of evening the playing field and starting fresh.  The claim is that there is so much debt (individually and even nationally), that there are only a small handful of people who are not in debt to anyone–experiencing financial “freedom.”  This is not a sustainable of just situation regardless of the causes of the debt, and thus it needs to be changed.

4) The movement is seeking to be as genuinely democratic as possible.  This is one of the reasons that there has been great hesitancy in designating leaders or a specific agenda.  That is not to say there are not some key idea people who have greatly–if mostly anonymously–influenced the movement.  But this is to say that the movement has sought to be extremely dialogical, conversational, and inclusive of as many people’s grievances and suggestions as agree with their foundational goals.  They are trying to listen to people whose voices seem to be largely ignored by policy-makers and corporate leaders.

So while these are some very cursory insights I have gained into the Occupy movement, let me now share a couple of the things I have observed.  These are not necessarily original to me.

1) The Occupy movement and the Tea Party have some distinct similarities in spite of appearing to be polar opposites.  It is true that the Occupiers tend to want government to step in to regulate businesses in order to create a more just system while Tea Partiers tend to want government to step out of regulating businesses in order to create a more just system.  Yet, the more I read on the Occupiers, the more I see them–like the Tea Partiers–wanting a system that tends to be more locally oriented than federally oriented.  In the Torah (Old Testament Law) and the New Testament Church, most of the economic laws and practices assume a relational, small community–at least compared to the U.S.  Both groups recognize that economies function best (most justly) when they are small and relational and that one of the biggest problems we have right now is that our economies are not just nationally, but globally intertwined.  Without the possibility of relationship with those we are buying from and selling to, it makes the biblical economic principle of compassion difficult to follow.  Odd, but the Tea Party and Occupy movements each see the same problem and share the goal of a more locally-driven economic system.  And I agree: while globalization may allow many of us to get more things more cheaply, I find it very difficult to see any lasting, just, healthy, or compassionate solution that does not involve some sort of re-localization of the system.

2) One of the questions we have to ask any movement is, “Who are you trusting?”  For the Tea Party, the clear answer seems to be “the Market.”  They mistrust government and are putting their faith in capitalism to take care of things.  For the Occupy movement, the question is a little more complicated.  They are obviously mistrusting “the Market,” largely based on the greed and indefensible inequality they see in corporate leaders.  But does that mean they are trusting the government?  Well, perhaps.  I suppose they believe the government might step in and do some regulation or help out in redistributing some wealth (a term I do not use pejoratively).  But perhaps they are really trusting the people or a pure democracy.  As David Graeber (one of Occupy’s key idea guys) reasons, “If democracy is to mean anything it is the ability to all agree to arrange things in a different way.”  I think they believe that since our current system seems to pretty much be a human development, if they capture people’s imaginations, they are quite capable of developing a new system.  So the idea that their lack of focus or political agenda is self-sabotage may be a bit short-sighted.  The goal is not to work within the system to alter the system, but to collectively create a new system.  This is what many people seem to be missing, and why Chris Hedges senses, “This is a goal the power elite cannot comprehend.”  In some sense, this approach is quite Christian: aim at people’s hearts, capture their imaginations, and invite them to join in in a new way of doing life.  It is based on vision and invitation before policy and legislation.  On the other hand…

3) No matter how inclusive any movement claims or tries to be, there is always an underlying worldview, a Story that drives it.  The Occupy movement does share with the Scriptures a concern for the poor, the voiceless, and the helpless.  The Occupy movement does share a Christ-commanded commitment to non-violence (yes, like all human movements, we should expect slip-ups).  In fact, the Occupiers may be far more influenced by Christianity than many of them would care to admit.  There is much, I believe, that Christians can affirm in the Occupy movement.  As Jim Wallis writes, “When they stand with the poor, they stand with Jesus.”  Yes, the movement borrows from pieces of the Christian vision.  No, it is not a Christian movement at heart.  As much as our trust is in anything other than God’s New Creation process, we are at best settling and at worst doing something spiritually dangerous, replacing one kind of sinful system with another.  More on that here…

4) I think the big question that arises for me is, “If the Occupy movement (somehow) succeeds in bringing down the ‘system,’ will they have the foundation of character and commitment to actually replace it with something better?”  As Jesus says, sometimes casting out one demon merely makes space for more and worse ones to enter in.  One dangerous scenario that we face individually and any reform movement faces is the tendency to get caught up in the “others’” sin without owning our own sin.  If the Occupy movement gains power and influence, how will that power affect the character of their movement?  The fear of wealth redistribution is whether we can actually trust the middleman, the re-distributor.  Again, Jesus never tells us to trust humanity.  We should hold a healthy skepticism as much as we believe that we are all susceptible to the power of temptation and sin.  So I am wary of those who jump in and embrace a movement like Occupy wholeheartedly and place their hope for transformation and new creation there.

So what is a Christian to do?  Well, let me humbly and hesitantly suggest that I think it is important for Christians to engage the Occupy movement in a positive way.  First, we are called to see where God is at work and join him there.  I certainly don’t agree with every idea or practice of the Occupy movement (if this is even possible!).  But our job is not just to participate in things initiated by the Church, but to join where God is at work.  There is enough going on in the Occupy movement that seeks to stand for the poor and stand up to injustice that it is at least worth amplifying those parts of the movement that are picking up God’s voice.  Second, it is important for the Church to engage the Occupy movement–and I say this as humbly as I can–because they need us.  Christians have been given a truly wonderful vision of what God is doing in this world and how he is doing it.  If there is hope for a new movement of justice, compassion, and reconciliation, that hope comes from God’s initiation of that work.  The Scriptures tell us that God is blessing the world through a people who put their trust in him and cry out to him, not through people who try to do it on their own.  That is our Story, and we can live out that Story among the Occupiers.  As I have mentioned above, the Occupy movement also needs to be called to humility and confession.  Someone needs to affirm that there is great sin in our systems, but the biblical Story is very clear that we all participate in sin.  Our sin that may seem small in comparison to the system’s sin, but only until we are given the opportunity to continue in those sinful patterns on a larger scale.  An arrogant revolution is a dangerous revolution.

Only time will tell whether the Occupy movement is just a flash-in-the-pan or a lasting and growing force in our culture.  As Christians, our calling remains the same regardless: to be the Body of Christ, God’s representatives in this world, partakers in a radical kind of life, seekers of justice, and proclaimers of true hope.  If the Occupy movement joins us in part of that, let’s be grateful for that.  More on Occupy soon here at the blog.  And if you’d like, join Pastor Luke Lindon and I as we Occupy Nautica Coffee in Mayberry Plaza on Tuesday, December 13th at 7pm, where we will be discussing further the Occupy movement.  We’ll discuss some of the questions I’ve posed in this blog and many more.

 

Articles, websites, and blogs:

http://occupywallst.org/– Occupy website

http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2011/10/05/occupywallstreet-helpful-links–links to info on the Occupy movement and historical context

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/distribution-of-wealth/–some analysis of statistics related to the 99% number

http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485  and  http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/where-do-you-fall-on-the-income-curve/–some recent research on how distribution of wealth has changed over the past 30 years

http://www.sojo.net/press/occupy-wall-street-christians-debate-if-jesus-would-occupy-protesters–Jim Wallis an his thoughts on whether the Occupy movement has some “Christian” character

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_elites_are_in_trouble_20111009/–a Occupy is being underestimated by the “elites” as well as an insider’s account of what goes on and how it developed

http://www.jesusradicals.com/we-need-a-confessing-movement/–a call for protesters to acknowledge their own sin even as they hold others accountable

http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/is-it-time-for-evangelicals-to-join-occupy-wall-street/–discussing how evangelicals can/should engage the Occupy movement based on 3 Christ-like aspects to Occupy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-john/the-occupation-of-the-lor_b_1119252.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false&fb_source=message#undefined

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Human Trafficking, Prostitution, and Sex Work Conference

Friday, September 30, 2011

I’m sitting here in the University of Toledo Student Union, taking in presentations at the 8th annual Conference on Human Trafficking, Prostitution, and Sex Work.  The theme for this year is “collaboration,” which is great, because that is why I am here.  A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about human trafficking in our community, and in researching that blog I came across this conference.  As I said there, “The Bible is a story of redemption, liberation, and restoration” on personal, communal, and cosmic levels.  Although many of the statistics, images, and stories of human trafficking and prostitution can be heart-wrenching, I have been encouraged by passionate people from a variety of fields (professors, police, politicians, pastors, and lawyers to name a few) who are joining God’s Story of redemption, liberation, and restoration in this area whether knowingly or not.  The question I’ve found myself asking is, “Where does the Church and Point Place UCC fit into this web of collaboration?”  I have appreciated the way this conference has addressed the variety of dimensions that exist in the human trafficking epidemic.  One presenter decried the common image of prostitution that we see: the lone woman standing under a street lamp.  This image neglects the buyers, pimps, recruiters, media,  pop culture icons, cultural assumptions, etc. that contribute to the systems of human trafficking and prostitution.

I did address some of these various dimensions haphazardly in my last blog, but since I really enjoy lists, I thought I would try to more clearly point out the many dimensions of the human trafficking and prostitution system.  As you look at them, consider what ways the Church could get involved in any of these particular areas to bring redemption, liberation, and restoration.

1) The communities that produce sex slaves and prostitutes.  Everyone’s story is different, but there is no statistical doubt that prostitutes and sex slaves are more likely to be recruited from poorer countries, communities, and families.  The option of prostitution becomes more viable and even perceived as necessary in places where hope is weak.  Indirectly, serving and identifying with these vulnerable communities impacts the ability of traffickers and recruiters to deceive and coerce.

2) The sex slaves and prostitutes themselves.  Traffickers, recruiters, and pimps target “vulnerable” individuals who feel like there is no other source of hope, acceptance, or survival besides selling their bodies.  There is more than “individual choice” involved.  Instead of putting so much energy into criminalizing prostitution as most cultures have done historically, at this conference, prostitutes (adult or children) are usually referred to as “victims.”  This is not to say there is no choice or responsibility, but that there are lots of other factors that leave certain people vulnerable to manipulation, coercion, and deception.  This group may be the most visible, catchable, and punishable in the trafficking/prostitution system, but does that make them the most culpable?  Most (around 85%) have a past involving sexual abuse and/or abandonment, and many foreign nationals are unequipped to function in a different culture.  It is unjust to put the full weight of this evil system on one part of the system that may be least able to make a free choice.  As Christians, we have a message that every human life is valuable because we are “created in the image of God” and continue to be loved, called, and purposed by God.  How does the church seek to help the vulnerable become less vulnerable to traffickers and recruiters?  How do we help them value their bodies, sexuality, relationships, and lives as God values them?

3) The customers/buyers.  Fact is, prostitution would not remain a viable business for traffickers or prostitutes if there were no demand.  That’s how businesses work.  What creates this demand and do we have something better to offer sex purchasers (predominantly men)?  Men tend to feel guilt and shame when they engage in these activities.  Rightly so, I would say.  But the Gospel suggests that God’s grace and love are our only and ultimate sources of healing.  A number of the presentations have focused on “decreasing demand” in a variety of ways.  Again, the Church has something to say about what it means to be men, to be sexual beings, and to be relational beings.  We need to be unafraid to address these issues and the real struggles that men and women face in regards to sexuality that may lead to becoming purchasers of sex.

4) Cultural norms and messages.  Two of the most insightful presentations I have attended dealt with pornography and cultural messages on sex.  Why in the world would we be surprised that prostitution is rampant in a culture as “sexualized” as our own?  Pornography has become almost a rite of passage for boys, an accepted practice.  We obviously do not appreciate spiritual or physiological forces if we expect people to abruptly draw the line at porn.  As one presenter said, “Porn is advertising for prostitution.”  Sex outside of God’s design follows the path of other addictions: more and newer experiences are required to overcome growing tolerances and desires.

Some other cultural messages that came up that subtly support the trafficking industry might surprise you.  American individualism and meritocracy likes to think that everyone has complete control over every decision that is made.  This causes us to stigmatize prostitutes (the most visible poor-decision-makers) and ignore the many other factors behind the scenes.  This makes it all the more difficult for prostituted women to get out of the lifestyle.  The other side of individualism is the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” approach to healing.  Over and over, studies show the importance of social support, community, and counseling in addition to personal motivation.  Community has healing power that (most) individuals simply do not.  We also tend to assume that parents are always loving and caring people.  When we thoughtlessly assume and tell a child that their parents love them without knowing what really goes on in that household, children learn to be unquestioning of their parents and accept blame when something does not feel right.  One presenter was prostituted out by her father from infancy until age ten.  If we assume that all parents love their children, we may be reinforcing some of the twisted messages being sent these children at home.  The same holds true with other forms of child abuse.  All parents do not love their kids or love them well.  We must face this reality if we are really going to recognize vulnerable youth.

I could go on more about these cultural myths, like those about what it means to be a man or a woman that influence our twisted views of sex, love, our bodies, and ourselves.  But I won’t…for now.

5) Traffickers, recruiters, pimps, etc.  At the risk of promoting sex trafficking, I will quote one of this morning’s presenters: “If you are willing to do anything to get rich, getting involved in the sex industry makes sense.”  It is profitable!  As Paul once wrote, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”  It is important to address the moral issues here, but it is certainly worth some effort to make trafficking, pimping, etc. a less viable business track.

6) Legislation and politics.  As Dr. Celia Williamson points out, trafficking tends to flow towards the location with the weakest laws and enforcement.  Toledo is blessed to have an FBI task force now.  But we must be advocating for stricter, more comprehensive legislation that seeks healing, not just enforcement of laws.  There was a presentation by a group from Portland about how they have joined forces between the office of the District Attorney, the police department, and a therapy/service provider for prostitutes seeking to transition out of that lifestyle.  Great stuff.  But do you know how it came about?  When the communities that were directly affected by prostitution got together and demanded something be done.  No politician is pro-sex-slavery.  They need to know their constituents care about these issues.  We need to care about these issues for the sake of redemption, restoration, and liberation, and not just to get “those people” off our streets.

7) Consumer trends.  Consumerism is a huge factor in trafficking.  The whole building block of the industry is the commodification of sex and the body.  This is a far deeper systemic issue that we all participate in.  In what ways is our adoption of consumerist perspectives and identities contributing to the commodification of sex?  These are questions that must be asked, and are questions that the Christian Story is more than prepared to speak to, if not answer.   God has a lot to say about our identities and personhood being rooted in very different categories than consumer/commodity.  One question that was raised at the conference, though, is whether we can own our place in the consumer system, and use it to fight against the business of the sex industry.  Failure to do so is another way that we avoid the hard work of opposing unjust systems and joining God’s work in liberation.  Doing so is transformative stewardship of what God has entrusted to us.

It’s amazing that a conference could almost move you to tears of despair and fill you with hope.  The despair comes from the havoc sin, violence, lies, greed, and despair are wreaking on so many lives.  The hope is in hearing about how awareness, collaboration, and passion are growing to join God’s healing work.  And it is God’s healing work.  Though this conference has been largely from a secular standpoint, I’ve almost laughed a few times when presenters have curiously wondered at the positive effects of religion they have seen on women who have exited prostitution, or heard arguments that echoed key components of biblical justice and sexuality.

Normally, I don’t advertise the fact that I’m a pastor for a variety of reasons.  Yesterday, however, I was convicted that I need to make my vocation known in the interactions I have with people here.  Because people need to hear that the Church cares about this issue and is mobilized and mobilizing to fight this battle for healing.  The Church has the Story, the calling, and many of the resources to make a difference in this brand of our world’s darkness.  There are plenty of “options” of where we can get involved and how.  We don’t have to do it all, but we are responsible to do what God has given us the gifts, opportunities, and callings to do.  So let’s seek to discern these things in prayer, in study, in conversation, and in collaboration with what God is already doing.  And let’s engage in prayer that rebels against the status quo of evil in the form of prostitution, lust and trafficking, that lifts the burden off of the shoulders of so many who are doing hard work in these areas but do not pray themselves, and that asks God to nurture our hearts to life-transforming, world-blessing passion, wisdom, and love.

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Close to Home: sex trafficking in our neighborhood

Friday, September 2, 2011

(Much of the statistical information in this blog is being taken from this report by Ohio’s Trafficking in Persons Study Commission [OTPSC])

Do you ever know that you’ve read something, but can’t seem to find exactly where it was?  I’m having that moment today.  I think it was Wendell Berry, though I’m sure others have said it.  But I’ll just go ahead and put it into my own words:

“A crime is not just an individual act.  It is a symptom of a society.”

Sex trafficking has been gaining notoriety in many Christian circles in recent years.  Still, I was mildly surprised when I moved to Toledo and found out that we are one of the leading cities in the nation in both sex trafficking activity and enforcement of sex trafficking laws.  The OTPSC Report delves into a number of factors that contribute to the “success” of the sex trafficking industry, which may have more or less weight depending on the region.  For instance:

  • Insufficient legislation and law enforcement, which make the “rewards” of trafficking worth the risks for those involved.
  • Intricate and shrewd organization among certain trafficking bands.
  • Prevalence of “unattached” workers (ie. truckers, seasonal workers, military, etc.)
  • Factors such as poverty, history of physical/sexual abuse, mental illness, substance abuse, societal attitudes towards youth and sex, and connections to unhealthy influences that combine to put youth at high risk of becoming involved in sex trafficking or prostitution.
Hopefully, you can see how many of these factors can coalesce to produce an environment where sex trafficking becomes a lucrative business for traffickers, an enticing option for “customers,” and a viable livelihood for victims.  I would like to build on some of these insights to ask some questions about the Church in a society (local and global) where sex trafficking is a reality.
Why should we care about sex trafficking?
For many, it is obvious that we should care about this problem.  But why?  The Bible is a Story of redemption, liberation, and restoration.  Redemption: victims and perpetrators in the sex trafficking industry are human beings created in God’s image, whom God loves, and who can be transformed by the grace and power of God.  As Christians, I hope we yearn for the Story of Redemption to be told in people’s lives: broken, abused, and sinful people who become beautiful masterpieces of God’s grace, loved and loving members of God’s family.  This is the hope to which we have been called.  Liberation: from God delivering his people from slavery in Egypt to Jesus delivering his sisters and brothers from sin and death to the whole creation being liberated from bondage and decay, God’s Story is a story of liberation of various kinds.  Restoration: far from our typical usage of the word “peace,” the biblical concept of “shalom” is a word for wholeness where people and societies are restored to the people and communities that God created them to be.  This story towards shalom begins by restoring the heart, moves outward into reconciling relationships, and even further to transforming communities and social structures.  So Christians are called to shed small gospels (ie. saving souls or seeking justice) to a full ministry of reconciliation that seeks God’s will to be ever-increasingly done on earth as it is in heaven.  This vision is both more personal than forming a good society and more cosmic than bringing offenders to justice.  It is truly a God-shaped vision.
What is underneath the surface of the sex trafficking industry?
The OTPSC has done a great job shining a light on the complexity of sex trafficking.  And if we are concerned with redemption, liberation, and restoration, we need to seek a multi-fronted approach that engages this evil on multiple levels.  Some thoughts:
  • Sex trafficking is inseparable from poverty and wealth issues.  The most prominent “supplier” regions tend to be more impoverished regions.  Anecdotally, I’ve heard of parents in the poorest-of-the-poor parts of the developing world, whose utter inability to even feed their kids has led them to entrust these kids to recruiters promising jobs and prosperity in another city.  These parents may be skeptical of these recruiters, but even such a slim hope for their kids is better than the hopelessness of abject poverty.  Prostitution has long (always?) been a result of poverty and hopelessness.  And while it may be easy to look down on women and men who turn to prostitution, such contempt is merely avoidance of the deeper issues that would move someone to “choose” such a career.  Among the top consumers of sex trafficking?  Germany, the U.S.,  France, Belgium, and Italy.
  • It’s easy to focus on the supply side of this business.  We need to create and enforce laws that adequately punish those who profit from trafficking.  But it is more difficult to address the demand side.  The sex trafficking industry benefits from a culture that increasingly rips sexuality from intimacy, relationship, and even community.  There is not room for this discussion here, but sex trafficking is an evil intimately connected to pornography, adultery, sexual addiction, and a culture of isolation.  The list could go on, but the point is that this is just one of the ways we futilely seek fulfillment apart from God.  We may determine that forced prostitution crosses the line of social and legal acceptability, but as spiritual beings, we don’t have the luxury of deciding where the momentum of sin should stop.  In other words, I believe it is spiritually and practically foolish to imagine that we are called to seek transformation on the social level while neglecting transformation on the heart level.
How do we go about pursuing this God-shaped vision for redemption, liberation, and restoration?
A few suggestions:
  • We need to reclaim the whole Gospel.  The American Church in particular has too long debated social gospel vs. personal gospel, social holiness vs. personal holiness, seeking justice vs. saving souls.  God is interested in the whole person, the whole society, the whole world.  God is interested in redemption, liberation, and restoration on every level.
  • We need to be the Body of Christ.  Looking at the complexities of this issue can feel debilitating.  We feel, “I can’t do all that!” and end up doing nothing.  Or, we decide that one of the battle fronts is primary and get frustrated with people who are fighting on one of the other battle fronts.  We need to rejoice when people are using their gifts and following their passions to seek shalom on any of the fronts of this war, including people who don’t address the spiritual aspects of this issue.  For instance, one congregation may be active in seeking firmer laws and better enforcement while another congregation focuses on helping victims of trafficking start living full lives in God’s grace.   These are both necessary ministries that we can encourage and celebrate together, even encourage members of our community to serve with the other if that is where their gifts and passions lead them.
  • This collaboration, I think, means that churches don’t just talk about “our ministry,” but get involved with other congregations and organizations to find out how they can fit into the big picture of God redeeming, liberating, and restoring in our neighborhood and in other parts of the world.
  • We need to talk openly about the issues of sex trafficking itself and the issues that are tied into it.  Too often, we avoid conversations about economic justice because we’re afraid to step on each others’ political toes.  But for churches of any political leaning, it really gets uncomfortable when we talk about sexual addiction, pornography, and the seeds of lust that blossom into adultery, paying for sex, and pedophilia.  All of these conversations need to be filled with God’s grace, void of condemnation, and nuanced with insight into biological, social, and personal factors that go into unhealthy expressions of our sexuality.
  • Our talk must be on the downhill slope to action.  ”For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but power.”  In our information age, we are conditioned to receive loads of information that we could not possibly act upon.  Awareness is one step, participation in God’s redemptive work is another.  This may not be the ministry everyone is called to, but it is one many of us certainly have the opportunity and calling to engage.  And we must talk with this in mind.
So, what would you like to add to the conversation?  What ministries or organizations have you joined with or heard about that are working against the different causes of sex trafficking?  What are some steps you could see a small church take to have an impact locally or globally?
There is a conference on human trafficking at the Univ. of Toledo on Sept. 29-30.  Let me know if you’re interested in going…or don’t let me know, but at least consider it: http://www.prostitutionconference.com/

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