Radical Grace

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Yesterday, Scotland released the only terrorist ever to be convicted of the Lockerbie airplane bombing.  270 people died in that bombing back in 1988.  Finally, in 2001, a Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was convicted and sentence to a life sentence. 

As it turns out the guy has terminal prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live.  Scotland has released him to return to his homeland to die with his family.  The guy killed 270 people and only served 8 years. He's got to pay more than that!  How outrageous, people are saying.  (BTW, if the prognosis is right he did serve "life" less three months).

How many years should one serve for taking a life? Does any minute, day, month, year, decade served do anything to mitigate the damage caused?  Would 1,000 years bring one person killed back?  I don't understand the idea that revenge somehow pays back the original crime. 

Last night on the local news they read a few emails of reaction.  They were unanimously critical of the Scottish government.  But, the one that really caught my attention went something like this:

"How dare the Scottish government release the killer of all those people.  He took their lives without mercy.  Why should we show him grace?" 

What grabbed me about this (and I don't remember it word for word) was the word "grace".   I  distinctly remember she used that word. The best definition I've ever heard of grace is "unmerited or unearned favor".  Grace is not earned.  Grace is not a response to something that someone else does.  Grace is given freely.  Grace has no strings attached.  Yes, the Scottish government showed grace. She got that part right. But, what she was confused about is that somehow he should have earned his grace.

I say "Bravo" to the Scottish government for showing they have more humanity and compassion than the killer showed his victims.  I say "bravo" for making the hard decision and doing the humane thing. It's only through remarkable and unexpected actions like this that we can ever hope to break the cycle of violence we find ourselves caught in. Maybe, just maybe,  a few would-be Isalamfacists will look at this and realize we are humans too.  Maybe....  Maybe not.  But, even if they don't.  The Scots did the right thing.  Grace is freely given and no payment is expected for grace.

Huh? I can't hear you...

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I've seen some really interesting stuff over the last few months. People who voted against President Obama in the election are complaining they are not being heard. It's not fair. they say. This is America and everyone has a voice. Well, that's true. This is America, we do have a representative government and we all had the chance to speak loud and clear. We did it last November and we elected a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress.

It's no big secret that a major plank in the Democratic platform was major health care reform. Not a band-aid, but major surgery. Many of us have been waiting for this since President Clinton failed to get it accomplished. On the night Obama was elected and Congress went to the Democrats, along with the other reasons we celebrated we celebrated because hope of real health care reform in our lifetime was alive.

Obama, being the diplomat that he is, decided to take a different approach to health care reform than President Clinton took. Rather than coming up with a specific plan, he wanted to  get Congressional (and hopefully Republican) buy-in. So, he gave a broad outline and decided to let Congress work it out. Instead of going for the whole enchilada (true universal coverage and a single payer system), concessions were made to allow the private health industry stay in place. Many people who voted for Obama want a single payer system and true universal coverage. But, that was never even put on the table.

The Democrats have tried to work with the Republicans on this major issue of concern to everybody in the country. But, increasingly, the Republicans are signaling that they don't really want major reform. Chuck Grassley, who is supposed to be negotiating a bill stabbed Obama in the back with his comment that people really should fear death squads and now is saying he won't even vote for the bill he's helping to craft if he can't get the majority of his Republican cronies to go along with it.

Sorry, fellas. It's time to take the gloves off. Obama and the Democrats tried to play nice and got not much in return. Honestly, I hate partisan politics. I wish the Democrats and the Republicans could all get along, sing kumbaya and work for the good of the American people. But, while that might happen in the future (ha), it sure ain't the way it is today. The Republican minority in Congress seems to see diplomacy as weakness (as is evidenced by the previous administration's foreign policy strategy). Instead of seriously working on the already compromised reforms the Democrats offered, they began picking it apart and trying to get it to die the death of 1,000 cuts; meanwhile offering no really serious alternatives. It's time for the Democrats to step up and do what they were elected to do. And, maybe, just maybe they're about to do just that. White House may push through health care without Republicans

For those of you who say you aren't being heard, I say this with all the respect and compassion I can muster. It sucks not to be heard. It sucks when the country takes a turn you couldn't disagree with more. But, we all have to live with it. We can't all have our own way all of the time. As John McCain,said "Elections have consequences."  While I'm certain there will be issues with any bill that is passed, the elected majority does have the right (I'd say mandate in this case) to do what they feel needs to be done. The people have spoken, the Democrats were elected, based largely on the promise of health care reform and it's time to "get 'er done".

Summer Doldrums

Image by BrianWestChest via Flickr

If you've been following my blog, you may realize it's about time for another installment of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  This is the on-going struggle I have with the institutionalized church (as some of my non-churched buddies call it now).  As I continue along my spiritual path, I find myself further and further from the Christianity of my youth and trying to find out how "church" fits into where I am now gets increasingly difficult.

What I've realized is that I don't give a rip about the "institutional church".  As denominations go, the United Church of Christ is one of the best.  As churches go, Nexus is really good.  But, for me, it's not about the church, it's about the people.  Nexus is an oasis in a desert, as far as I'm concerned.  We give people who have given up on being able to relate to G-d in a collective setting a chance at finding that again. I'd like to think we serve a pretty special role in our community.

A few years ago when I was fortunate enough (or blessed enough) to find Nexus, I thought "Ah, this is it.".  And, Nexus has been and is good.  Very good.  The best thing about Nexus is I have met some really wonderful and interesting people.  I've met people I would otherwise never have known existed (especially in Southwest OH).  I've met gays and lesbians.  I've met Obama supporters.  I've met people who are passionate about social justice. I've met people who are in favor of health care reform. And, they're all Christians (imagine that).  We have a pastor who is doing a terrific job.   He's passionate about the people in the church and about his role.  He's a good speaker.  He doesn't try to dictate what we should believe.  We all get together outside of church for things like canoe trips and roller derby and pool parties.

So, what's the problem? Sounds terrific.  Well, the major problem is sustainability.  I never imagined how difficult it could/would be to start a church from the ground up; particularly a progressive church in a regressive community.  Nexus will be celebrating its third anniversary in less than four months.  I started attending just after the church started.  We are on our second pastor,;the founding pastor having moved on for greener pastures.  When the founding pastor left us just over a year ago, it looked like it might be the end.  Attendance dipped (and we didn't have enough people in the first place).  With our new pastor, we seemed to have renewed life. But, as I look around, we don't have substantially more people now than we had when first started up.  But, big deal.  I don't need a lot of people, just a few good ones.  The problem is the ugly truth that running a church takes money.  We need to have a certain amount of income to pay things like rent, the pastor's salary and for the music.  Nexus operates on a shoestring budget.  But, even with the grants we've gotten over the years we are on the verge of running out of money.  Unless we get more people, the people coming start giving more (significantly more) or some angel makes a large donation, we are not financially sustainable.  And, after three years of pushing for that, you kind of start to wonder when/if it's going to happen.  We've done everything I can think of to do to get more people in. We spent thousands of dollars on a campaign over Easter.  Attendance jumped up, some. Then summer set in and with vacations, while we're ahead of last year's numbers, we aren't where we need to be.  Summer is a rough time to try to get people to sit in a room for an hour on Sunday morning.

As I look at the people attending, I see a core group of people who are very passionate about our "mission".  We are pioneers out here.  There's a sense of adventure.  Like the Blues Brothers, we are on a "mission from God".  But, I also see everyday life taking its toll.  People leave because they got their feelings hurt.  People leave because of divorce (never understood why they have to leave church when they get divorced).  People leave just because they're tired of or bored with church.  We attract a lot of the spiritually abused. We attract people who have been kicked out of other churches or who have just gotten tired of the whole thing.  The problem with that is they seem to be super-sensitive people, too.  So, as quickly as we pick people up, we lose others.  It feels a little like running in place.  Trying to get liberals/progressives to stick with us feels a little like herding cats.

I've been racking my brain to come up with an answer.  In an ideal world, I'd find a Buddhist temple and join the sangha (community) there.  I think my spirituality/religion is more in line with Buddhism these days than with Christianity.   Sometimes I just get fed up with Christianity.  And, I'm there right now.  I'm sick of all the ridiculous things said and done in the name of religion.  I'm engaged in a conversation right now with people who insist that homosexuality is a sin because the Bible told them so.  And, since sin is sin, being a homosexual is the same as being a murderer.  So, anyone who doesn't throw homosexuals out of the church is in essence coddling murderers.  This stuff makes my head spin.  Then, we have Christians saying Obama is the anti-Christ and using the Bible and some extremely bizarre exegesis to back it up.  I'm sick of arguing with these people.  I know other religions have their nuts, too. But, I'm sick of ours.

Sunday morning in church has never done it for me.  I find the best of them to be boring and most of them to be irrelevant.  I don't know how others feel or how the people who have left feel.  But, while Nexus is pretty cutting edge in some ways, when it comes to the Sunday morning format (and it is a format), it's just not different enough.   I don't know if we really shook that up if it would drive more people away or attract more people. I'm sure it'd do a little of both.
 

The next few months will be a critical time for us.  Our treasurer has been sounding the alarm since I can remember. We've pushed and pushed and each time it looked like we would run out of steam, something happened to pull us through.  Maybe that will continue. I hope so. I think Nexus is a pretty special place.  I'd like to see it there for weary travelers.

Please don't lie, Mr. President

Image via Wikipedia

It has come to my attention that President Obama has "misspoken" twice about a key number in the health care debate.  He has overstated how much more the United States spends on healthcare versus what other countries are paying. From what I understand (reading Factcheck.org), no matter how you massage the numbers, the way he said it yesterday was  an overstatement.  He said:

Obama: So we want – if I’m a customer, if I’m a consumer and I know that I’m overpaying $6,000 for anything else, I would immediately want the best deal. But for some reason, in health care, we continue to put up with getting a bad deal. We’re paying $6,000 more than any other advanced country and we’re not healthier for it – $6,000 per person more, per year. That doesn’t make any sense.

According to Factcheck.org when he initially threw out a $6,000 figure, that was based on the White House's estimates of what a family spends on healthcare per year.  I guess that number might be accurate.   That is, we spend $6,000 per family more than the next highest spending country.  I guess this number might be accurate. But, when he added the next to the last sentence $6,000 per person more, per year, he messed up.  He's too smart to be doing this.  

First of all, I think he should be using per capita (per person) numbers, not per person numbers.  Secondly, instead of throwing out a raw dollar figure, how about telling us what percentage we spend more than the second country.  I calculated it based on Factcheck.org's numbers which they got from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. I calculated that we spend 55% more per person based on their numbers.  Impressive enough without misstating the facts.   We actually spend $2,500 per person per year more than the next highest country.  Since we only spend $7,000 per person a year, I'm sure we're $6,000 higher than someone.  But, he said more than any other advanced country.  So, we have to compare to the next highest country.

I sent the following email through Whitehouse.gov and healtreform.gov

Yesterday President Obama misstated a fact about health care costs and this concerns me.  Apparently, it's not the first time it has happened.  I am a HUGE proponent of healthcare reform and since I'm spending so much time disputing all the lies being put out by the other side, calling my representatives and trying to get people on board, it concerns me deeply that the President is making this mistake. 

Please check this link to Factcheck.org  http://factcheck.org/2009/08/there-he-goes-again-obamas-false-6000-claim/ 

First of all, it's not right to even use a "family" number.  How about just using the per capita number? And, instead of citing a raw dollar amount that we spend more, it would put it in better context to use the percentage more we spend.  Assuming Factcheck.org's numbers are right, the next highest nation spends $4,500 per person per year ($7,000 we spend less the $2,500 difference).  If we're spending $7,000 per year, we're spending 55% more than the second highest nation.  That number should get the point across and be a number no one can dispute.

I hope someone from the administration steps up and corrects this mistake.

Thanks,
Brian

Of course, I'm assuming Factcheck.org is right and the President's numbers are wrong.  If I hear anything different from the White House, I'll post it here.

I Wrote My Congressional Representatives

You're probably tired of hearing me talk about health care reform.  But, I have to post this.  I just wrote to my Congressional representatives (senators and congressman) urging them to pass health care reform this year.  I thought I'd let you know what I wrote and give you a link to how to you can contact your representatives to let them know how you feel about this issue:

Here's the link to find out who they are:  http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Here's what I wrote:

I am writing to you today concerning health care reform.  As a business owner and a person who has to purchase his own health care insurance, I am very concerned about the state of the health care industry in our country.  As a person of faith (member of the United Church of Christ), I am concerned about the lack of quality affordable health care insurance for so many of our citizens and how that leads to bankruptcies for many families, health complications because of delayed treatment for many families and death for more than a few who put off treatment because they simply cannot afford it.

Politics aside, this issue is important for the economy our country and it's a justice issue for a country that should be taking care of the weakest among us.  I urge you pass major health care reform before the end of this year, including the following provisions:

• Coverage for all persons
• Portability so that people's ability to have insurance is not tied to their employment status
• Access regardless of ability to pay
• A full set of benefits
• A choice of physicians and other providers
• Waiver of pre-existing condition exclusions without any age limits
• A publicly available, government administered, insurance option

Mehsud is dead. Do we celebrate?

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A couple of days ago one of our drones took out Baitullah Mahsud (maybe). The top Taliban leader in Pakistan. What's wild is when the Taliban confirms he's dead, our guys say they might just be trying to fool us and he's playing possum. When they Taliban denies he's dead we say it may just be a stall tactic to prevent defections while they choose a new leader.

As I was thinking the news the other night one of the reporters said we should celebrate this victory. I can't recall his exact words. But, it was something to that effect. I have to say that I am weary of the war and the killing of innocents and it's tempting to celebrate anything that moves us closer to an end to that. But, then I tried to put my myself in the position of the Taliban leaders who also think they are fighting for a righteous cause. This man caused the death of Benazir Bhutto just under two years ago. His side celebrated the assassination of a woman who gave her life for her country. At his funeral, they'll be celebrating his life, saying he gave his life for his country.

The report was that when he was taken out by the drone, he was on the roof with his wife and she was rubbing his feet. They said he suffered from diabetes and probably had pain in his legs. We want to demonize the people we kill and think of them as less than human. But, we should face the fact that he was a man, flawed like all of us, doing what he thought best. His wife was there comforting him and for that, she paid with her life. We'd call her collateral damage. But, when the Taliban tells their stories about this, just like the other 20 people killed in the attack on Bhutto, they'll consider the other people killed when we took Mehsud out as innocent victims killed by terrorists.

I don't have an answer for this. I am not a pacifist. We have to do what we have to do to protect ourselves. But, I don't want to ever forget that the people we kill are someone's husband, someone's father, someone's son, someone's wife. I will not celebrate anyone's death, no matter how much of a "bad guy" he's supposed to be.

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