Press 1 For Tolerance

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"("The New Colossus", Emma Lazarus)

How did we go from that welcome with open arms, engraved on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty, to the hold-it-right-there request for proof of citizenship that may soon be heard in Alabama? Beats me. But, here we are.

Make no mistake. There was resentment felt by the immigrants who came here aboard those ships that sailed by the Statue of Liberty and into New York harbor. They had left their homelands to start a better life. They had no idea what to expect. And, despite the taunts and insults they heard, those “wretched refuse” were accepted and easily mixed with other nationalities in what was called a melting pot. Perhaps they were admired for their struggle. Perhaps.

But, the resentment today is just as bad and probably worse. It has resulted in the most punitive legislation in the United States. Even though the Constitution states immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government, some states-notably Arizona and Alabama-are unhappy with the government’s slow progress and have passed their own laws. Without getting into specifics, the provisions of Alabama’s law border on, well, cruel and unusual. The law is so inhumane that an Episcopal, Methodist and a Roman Catholic bishop have sued to block it, saying it criminalizes acts of Christian compassion. Fortunately, enforcement has been partially blocked by a federal judge.

We have become a land where immigrant means illegal and illegal means welfare. And, that, in my view is why there is so much resentment. We see someone who doesn’t look like us or talk like us, buying food with stamps and we become angry. We conclude, unfairly, they’re lazy, don’t work and are taking advantage of our system and we resent it. The fact is because many can’t find minimum wage jobs, they are taking advantage of our system because they need to and that’s why the programs are there. It makes me wonder whether there would be resentment if these people were legal. Probably.

According to the Center for Immigration, the latest study shows 53% of all households headed by an immigrant (legal or illegal), with one or more children under 18, used at least one of America’s 8 major welfare programs compared to 36% of natives in same category. That means some of those folks shopping with stamps may be legal immigrants, or, perish the thought, American citizens. Like the bishops pointed out, we have abandoned our Christian compassion with the passage of this law. I have news. We lost our compassion long before the law. Seems to me.

Immigration reform is a complex issue. Unfortunately, the road to citizenship is paved with excessive paperwork, costs and time. The average immigrant, almost by definition, is uneducated and poor. Quite obviously, we need to streamline the system and our president is trying to do just that.

Perhaps if we stopped printing Spanish alongside all English on everything and everywhere it seems, because it’s unfair to all other foreign speaking immigrants, not to mention counter-productive to their learning our language, then, perhaps there might be more compassion for these people seeking a better life.

In the meantime, let’s love our neighbor as ourselves and, well, “press 1 for tolerance”.

Otherwise, we’ll have to throw a sheet over the Statue of Liberty.

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

In a classic episode from his program in the 90’s, Jerry Seinfeld pretended to be gay. When his pretense was revealed, he said the now famous line, “I’m not gay!....Not that there’s anything wrong with that! ”.No, there isn’t. But, if you’re gay and want to marry another gay of the same sex, well…

Consider what happened in New York State, the 6th state to legalize gay marriage.

Gays feel they have the right to marry. Ah, the right. We seem to have a “right” to everything these days. Claiming a right conjures up the Bill of Rights and gives it the patina of an untouchable privilege. But, I think there is a difference between a “right” and “permission”. If the gun lobby, for example, would claim they should be permitted to own a gun just as we are allowed to own a car, the revolvers would probably be put back in their holsters and the gunfight would end. I’m just sayin’.

However, when we speak of the right of gay marriage, we’re not only speaking about a loving, long-term, committed relationship, we’re also usually talking about the physical sex that expresses that love. Otherwise, we’re simply talking about roommates. We must assume the “marriage” that gays seek is more than two roommates seeking equality under the law for all the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples since those benefits are readily available to them with civil unions in many states.

So, why do gays want their relationships called “marriages”? Could it be gays are looking for the “Seal of Good Housekeeping” or, more relevantly, an Imprimatur? They long suffered in the closet, came out and were welcomed by a different society and now want our blessing on their lifestyle. And that is why Christians, mainly, are opposed to granting them that “right ”.

Why? Well, first, it is important to distinguish between beinghomosexual and acting on that condition by engaging in sex with someone of the same gender.

Christian beliefs state that people with homosexual tendencies are to be embraced but homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered ”-contrary to the natural law-and close the sexual act to the gift of life. That’s key to understanding why there is opposition to these “marriages”. Natural law or the law of nature means natural is that which operates according to its nature.

Which brings me to the human reproductive or sex organs. You might say they were made for each other. Literally. There is a certain beauty, an elegance, in these reproductive organs. The operative word, of course, is “reproductive”. Even if you did not believe in God the Creator, you must marvel at the complexity of how women produce human eggs and men produce the seeds that fertilize those eggs and give them life. To reproduce the species is their purpose. It is theirnature. That does not mean that every sex act must result in childbirth. It doesn’t always, but, that’s not germane. Sex between same sex partners is, therefore, unnatural.

Gays point to their many long-term commitments and argue that almost 50% of traditional marriages end in divorce. However, to recognize that commitment of gay relationships as a reason to call them "marriages " is to reveal a frightfully poor understanding of marriage.

Christians believe marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman by which they establish between themselves a partnership for life that, by its very nature-there’s that word again-operates toward the procreation of offspring.

So, let me be clear. Christians oppose gay “marriages” not because they threaten “traditional marriages”. No, Christians oppose the sanctioning of gay relationships as “marriages” because acceptance would be tacit approval of the unnatural sex that is presumably present in those relationships.

That’s strong stuff, granted, and is probably why it’s left unsaid.

So, there can be “something wrong with that ”.

Sorry, Jerry.

Laughter

If there was ever a time when we needed to laugh, it is now. Besides the shocking news of scandalous behavior of politicians, the stagnant economy, the unemployment, the endless wars, the drug disease infecting our city, we have the painful reminders of the April tornado to darken our mood.

As I drive around and see the brutal evidence of that tornado that huffed and puffed and blew some of our houses down, I get depressed.

Gone are the trees that were like canopies covering the roads, giving us welcome shade,filtering the heavy rains. Some trees, barely alive, are stark naked, stripped of their leaves, hunched over with broken and blackened branches, appearing helpless and sad. Others lie dead with huge clumps of soil and worm-like roots still attached, looking as if they were yanked out of the ground by a giant hand, waiting to be cut into small pieces and taken to God knows where. Beautiful and historic homes, buildings with familiar and popular businesses, houses of worship luckily empty, all appear to have been stepped on and crushed by some giant foot.

We need something to ease the pain. Laughter. Laughter is the lubricant that helps us roll with the punches, bear our burdens, lift our spirits, go with the flow.

Laughter is defined as a reaction to certain stimuli which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. It's considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may happen after hearing a joke, being tickled, or reading a cartoon. Researchers have shown infants as early as 17 days old have vocal laughing sounds or laughter.

There is a link between laughter and healthy function of blood vessels. It was found that laughter causes the dilation of their inner lining and increases blood flow. Freud theorized that laughter releases tension and psychic energy. His theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health and explains why laughter can used be as a coping mechanism when one is upset, angry or sad.

And so, since I suspect many if not all of us are upset, angry and/or sad, I think we should begin to laugh more. I’m not suggesting everybody is wearing an upside down smiley face. It’s just that I don’t hear much laughter lately. Yes, surely there was laughter at the recent Celebrate Cullman event and that was a good start to the healing process for our town.

The story is told of the game warden who stopped a redneck carrying some fish as he got out of his rowboat. “No fishing allowed”, said the warden. “ I ain’t fishin”, said the redneck, “I’m trainin’ my fish by letting them swim free for a while every day. Here, let me show ya” and he threw the fish back into the lake. The warden was not convinced and told him to hand over the fish. The redneck said, “What fish?”

Okay, I hope I made you laugh. Now it’s your turn. Make someone laugh today.

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

In a classic episode from his program in the 90’s, Jerry Seinfeld pretended to be gay. When his pretense was revealed, he said the now famous line, “I’m not gay!....Not that there’s anything wrong with that! ”.No, there isn’t. But, if you’re gay and want to marry another gay of the same sex, well…

Consider what happened in New York State, the 6th state to legalize gay marriage.

Gays feel they have the right to marry. Ah, the right. We seem to have a “right” to everything these days. Claiming a right conjures up the Bill of Rights and gives it the patina of an untouchable privilege. But, I think there is a difference between a “right” and “permission”. If the gun lobby, for example, would claim they should be permitted to own a gun just as we are allowed to own a car, the revolvers would probably be put back in their holsters and the gunfight would end. I’m just sayin’.

However, when we speak of the right of gay marriage, we’re not only speaking about a loving, long-term, committed relationship, we’re also usually talking about the physical sex that expresses that love. Otherwise, we’re simply talking about roommates. We must assume the “marriage” that gays seek is more than two roommates seeking equality under the law for all the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples since those benefits are readily available to them with civil unions in many states.

So, why do gays want their relationships called “marriages”? Could it be gays are looking for the “Seal of Good Housekeeping” or, more relevantly, an Imprimatur? They long suffered in the closet, came out and were welcomed by a different society and now want our blessing on their lifestyle. And that is why Christians, mainly, are opposed to granting them that “ right ”.
Why? Well, first, it is important to distinguish between beinghomosexual and acting on that condition by engaging in sex with someone of the same gender.

Christian beliefs state that people with homosexual tendencies are to be embraced but homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered ”-contrary to the natural law-and close the sexual act to the gift of life. That’s key to understanding why there is opposition to these “marriages”. Natural law or the law of nature means natural is that which operates according to its nature.

Which brings me to the human reproductive or sex organs. You might say they were made for each other. Literally. There is a certain beauty, an elegance, in these reproductive organs. The operative word, of course, is “reproductive”. Even if you did not believe in God the Creator, you must marvel at the complexity of how women produce human eggs and men produce the seeds that fertilize those eggs and give them life. To reproduce the species is their purpose. It is theirnature. That does not mean that every sex act must result in childbirth. It doesn’t always, but, that’s not germane. Sex between same sex partners is, therefore, unnatural.

Gays point to their many long-term commitments and argue that almost 50% of traditional marriages end in divorce. However, to recognize that commitment of gay relationships as a reason to call them "marriages " is to reveal a frightfully poor understanding of marriage.

Christians believe marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman by which they establish between themselves a partnership for life that, by its very nature-there’s that word again-operates toward the procreation of offspring.

So, let me be clear. Christians oppose gay “marriages” not because they threaten “traditional marriages”. No, Christians oppose the sanctioning of gay relationships as “marriages” because acceptance would be tacit approval of the unnatural sex that is presumably present in those relationships.

That’s strong stuff, granted, and is probably why it’s left unsaid.

So, there can be “something wrong with that ”.

Sorry, Jerry.

Once More With Feeling

It was frightening. Hunkered down in an inside hallway and hearing the constant wind and looking into the pitch black darkness made me think, “He will come like a thief in the night. You will know neither the hour nor the day.”

Well, we knew the day and around what time, but He didn’t come like a thief in the night. Too noisy. And once again we’re asking “why?” Why are we getting battered with so many disasters? Cullman got assaulted by fierce tornados. Two dead. Hundreds injured. Devastation everywhere. So, why? I believe God noisily blew through Cullman to get our attention once more and, to do that, He did it this time with feeling: the howling and destructive wind of an F4 tornado.

As I’ve often said, I believe these are ‘blessings in disguise’, opportunities to come together. Compassion usually follows chaos. What happened in our town after the storm was unbelievable. The Red Cross, not to mention virtually all the local churches, sprang into action, offering food and shelter. Everyone cared for everyone. I’ll never forget it.

But, I’ve also said I believe these disasters are messages to ‘get our act together’. God is sending us more and more tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires and whatever, because, apparently, the blessing idea is not enough. We’re not getting the message. We’re not listening to His voice in the endless wind and the pounding rain. We’re not seeing His anger in the uprooted trees, the smashed homes, the lives He chose to end. Even though this should tell us how everything is here one moment and gone the next, many of us still don’t ‘get it’. We come together, fix whatever’s broken and go our old merry, sinful way. Seems to me.

This time, the loss of lights, TV, internet access and hot water, for heaven’s sake, would seem to be another way the Lord is trying to get our attention. We take so much for granted in our lives. We don’t appreciate all of our conveniences until they’re taken away.

As a matter of fact, when the power was out, how many times did you flip the switch when you went into the darkened bathroom? (Yeah, just as I thought.) The simple act of turning on a light should remind us every time that our lives are dependent on a Supreme Being. He’s the One Who flipped on the switch when we were born. The simple act of breathing is the light in our lives that could easily be flipped off anytime.

So, let us pray for those who lost everything. Even though our God might be angry, we have a God who is giving us a warning. That tells me He’s fair and He loves us. He really wants us to enjoy what He has planned for us. He could just as easily come like that thief in the night without a warning.

Perhaps we should think of that every time we enter our bathroom and, well, flip the switch.

The Rising is the Reason

Like the frantic shopping for gifts at Christmas, the fun-filled coloring of eggs at Easter tends to obscure the real meaning of the feast.

It will probably be eye-opening for many that the word “Easter” has its roots in paganism. That’s hard to believe but true. And, strangely, the term is never used in the original Scriptures. So, a little history:

Most scholars agree that the term derived from “Eastre”, the Teutonic goddess of spring, originating during the building of the tower of Babel and not long after the biblical Flood. Profane and idolatrous practices were commonplace at the time. When the people, speaking in different languages that they believed was God’s punishment for their sinful ways, were scattered around the earth, one of the names given to one of their false gods was Ishtar ( pronounced “Easter”).Other names were “Eoster”,”Astarte”, “Ostera” and “Eastre”. She was the Mother Goddess of fertility and spring.

Since the rabbit was well known for its fertility, worshipping the rabbit as the reincarnation of the goddess was an easy leap ( no pun intended). And the Easter bunny was born. As for the egg, in almost all ancient cultures, eggs had been held as an emblem of new life. Rabbits were known to lay their eggs in the grass, giving rise to the egg hunts. Why we color them besides making them more festive is anybody’s guess.

When the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity, the pagan holiday, which occurred around the same time as the Christian memorial of Jesus' Resurrection, was combined with the Christian celebration and given the name Easter. What a coincidence that Christmas is celebrated around the time of Saturnalia, the harvest feast, another pagan holiday. Thank the Lord we didn’t change the name of Christmas.

Originally, because of this coincidence of dates, there were some pagan practices performed with the Christian celebrations of Easter. And, unwittingly, in a way, we’re still doing it. Today, Easter is often commercialized, with all the focus on eggs, the Easter bunny, and dressing in fine, new clothes. Witness the egg-rolling on the White House lawn on the day Christ rose from the dead. Because of this, many churches are starting to refer to Easter as Resurrection Day or the Feast of the Resurrection.

It’s too bad that Christians have “Christianized” pagan celebrations. The good news is that while we are aware the term is still used, we realize we are not celebrating the pagan goddess, but, rather, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are those who feel this distraction of eggs and bunnies is the work of the devil. Who are we to argue? It would be wonderful if we just concentrated only on the remarkable miracle of the Resurrection that is the foundation of our belief. Let’s not worry about what we call this momentous event, but, simply, thank God it happened.
So, sorry kids. Not only is there no Santa Claus, there is no Easter bunny.

There is, however, the Risen Savior.

Alleluia.

Wake Up Calls

Like a siren before a tornado, a smoke alarm before a fire, natural disasters could be wake-up calls before something even more serious. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan that caused a potentially apocalyptic event at their nuclear facilities should get us to thinking that the end of everything is a reality. This is not meant to sound like the crazy guy on the street corner carrying a cardboard sign warning that the end of the world is near. But, maybe these tragedies are sending us the same messages and should get us thinking about heaven and hell, the destinations determined by our moral behavior. Despite the warm and fuzzy presumptions that I read in daily obituaries, when we die we are not guaranteed that we will be “in the arms of our dear Lord ”. Based on my observations, heaven won’t be too crowded, but hell will be packed to overflowing. Why weather as a means to warn about the end? Well, weather is not man made-excuse me, human-made. Who, then? Evolutionists say it “happens”. Ridiculous. Every effect has a cause. As Saint Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant Catholic theologian of the 13th century, argued in his “Summa Theologica”, there must eventually be a First Cause which is not the effect of anything. “Creationists”, the presumably affectionate term for Christians, believe weather is caused by God. It’s easy to see God in the soft, white fluffy clouds, the warm sun, the fresh rains, the gentle breezes. But, many also see Him in just everyday crappy weather the likes of which we’ve been having around here lately. But, why would God cause bad weather? Theories abound. I have always felt, after witnessing how we come together after tragedies, seeing compassion follow chaos, that these disasters were “blessings in disguise” (I wrote about it in this very space three years ago). God is supremely good and would only permit the evil of disaster to occur or to exist in His works because He knows that good can be derived from evil. But, I strongly believe He is not punishing us but using these disasters to wake us up out of our wayward behavior. And, if anyone doesn’t believe we need waking up, they have only to turn on the TV, go to the movies, pick up a newspaper, check the texts, tweets that bombard us daily and witness the slow, but discernible fraying of our moral fabric. Now, after so many natural tragedies such as the Katrina hurricane, Haiti earthquake, Indonesia tsunami and now the combination in Japan, I think God is again sending us a message-yeah, in a punishing way-to get our act together, straighten up and fly right, smarten up, get with it, however you want to put it. In the Scriptures, we read more than once,“ Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour”. (Matthew 25:13 ) Outright warnings. It’s just possible these disasters are warnings in disguise. They might be His sirens, His smoke alarms.