Azariah Southworth of Remix Comes Out

Azariah Southworth is the host and producer of Remix, a popular Christian youth show on cable and has come out as a gay man after watching the award winning film, For the Bible Tells Me So. The movie is a powerful film and needs to be seen by more people.  An interview with Azariah can be found here and here.  His coming out cost him his livelihood, the show has been cancelled after his announcement.  It is important that gay Christians come out of the closet and allow their faith to shine bright.   Doing so will help increase all of our understanding of what it means to be gay in America.  Thank you Azariah.  Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond

Death Penalty: Execution by Red Tape

Mississippi will be executing Earl Wesley Berry on May 21, 2008 for the murder of Mary Bounds.   This will be the first execution in Mississippi after the US Supreme Court ruled in the Baze lethal injection case.   Earl Wesley Berry is Mentally Retarded.   The US Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that people with mental retardation could not be executed.  And Mississippi’s court ruled that any inmate with an IQ under 75 could receive an evidentiary hearing.  Unfortunately for Mr. Berry, his lawyers did not file the avidavit on time and he was denied such a hearing.   Execution by red tape.

It is commonly believed that an execution for crimes such involved in the death of Ms. Bounds will bring closure and justice to the victim’s family.  There could be no statement further from the truth.   The Bounds’ family has suffered undue grief and pain since the murder of Mary Bounds in 1987.  She was brutally and fatally beatened and there is no doubt that Mr. Berry committed the crime.  Yet, the pain and suffering waiting for the court system to carry out its sentence is excruciating.   In the case of Mary Bounds even more so because the execution was to take place the end of October 2007.   The Bounds family gathered to witness the execution, a horrible soul wrenching process to put anyone through, and then 18 minutes before the event the governor ordered a stay of execution because of the pending US Supreme court case on lethal injections.    In a story to the Clarion-Ledger, daughter Jena Bounds Watson states, “It’s very stressful. More than I ever imagined it would be. It hit us like a brick in October. We didn’t expect it to hit us so hard. It was like she’d died all over again.” 

This is not justice.  This is not closure.  This is not healing.  This is perpetuating a living hell. 

Mr. Berry should never have been released from the institution he was in.  He is also diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic.  He had attempted suicide multiple times.  Our system has failed both Mr. Berry and the Bounds family.  Life imprisonment as a sentence would have allowed the Bounds family to move on in their lives.  Instead they have been waiting, emotively waiting for the sentence of death to be meted out.  They have been waiting to witness the execution to put this finally behind them and have been forced to painfully endure our system’s barbarism. 

I know there are many who believe that Mr. Berry should suffer painfully for his heinous crime. Given his diagnosis of mental retardation and paranoid schizophrenia, I would say his life experience has been one filled with suffering.  Even the Bounds family may have thought revenge would have been sufficient for relieving their loss. It is a natural reaction of our base emotions.  But many victim’s families, once they have had time to reflect, are able to shift to see that an eye for an eye response is not the answer. Taking revenge wounds the spirit of the family far more than the crime.   The death penalty should be repealed if only because to carry such a sentence out places more pain and suffering upon the victim’s families preventing them to begin the healing needed. 

Amnesty International has two blogs on this case in Mississippi.  The page linked also gives a link to sign a petition to commute the sentence of Mr. Berry to life imprisonment. 

There will be an interfaith vigil at Smith Park in Jackson, MS at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, May 21st.  I will be there.  I hope you will join me in prayer for Mr. Berry, for the Bounds family, and for our justice system that allows red tape to execute the mentally challenged.  May healing finally begin!  Blessings,  Rev. Fred L Hammond

  

 

 

When Mississippi– Equal Marriage Rights?

Today, the California Supreme Court ruled in a decision 4 to 3 that California’s same sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.  They wrote: “As past cases establish, the substantive right of two adults who share a loving relationship to join together to establish an officially recognized family of their own - and, if the couple chooses, to raise children within that family - constitutes a vitally important attribute of the fundamental interest in liberty and personal autonomy that the California Constitution secures to all persons for the benefit of both the individual and society.”   (The full summary of the ruling can be found here. All quotes in this blog are from this summary. The complete Supreme Court Opinion is found here.)

A rose by any other name–NOT:  Domestic partnership is not the same as marriage. 

“One of the core elements of the right to establish an officially recognized family that is embodied in the California constitutional right to marry is a couple’s right to have their family relationship accorded dignity and respect equal to that accorded other officially recognized families, and assigning a different designation for the family relationship of same-sex couples while reserving the historic designation of “marriage” exclusively for opposite-sex couples poses at least a serious risk of denying the family relationship of same-sex couples such equal dignity and respect. We therefore conclude that although the provisions of the current domestic partnership legislation afford same-sex couples most of the substantive elements embodied in the constitutional right to marry, the current California statutes nonetheless must be viewed as potentially impinging upon a same-sex couple’s constitutional right to marry under the California Constitution.”

The institution of marriage is not undermined by same sex marriage.

“A number of factors lead us to this conclusion. First, [bold italics mine]  the exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage clearly is not necessary in order to afford full protection to all of the rights and benefits that currently are enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples; permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage, because same-sex couples who choose to marry will be subject to the same obligations and duties that currently are imposed on married opposite-sex couples. Second, retaining the traditional definition of marriage and affording same-sex couples only a separate and differently named family relationship will, as a realistic matter, impose appreciable harm on same-sex couples and their children, because denying such couples access to the familiar and highly favored designation of marriage is likely to cast doubt on whether the official family relationship of same-sex couples enjoys dignity equal to that of opposite-sex couples. Third, because of the widespread disparagement that gay individuals historically have faced, it is all the more probable that excluding same-sex couples from the legal institution of marriage is likely to be viewed as reflecting an official view that their committed relationships are of lesser stature than the comparable relationships of opposite-sex couples. Finally, retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise - now emphatically rejected by this state - that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects “second-class citizens” who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples. Under these circumstances, we cannot find that retention of the traditional definition of marriage constitutes a compelling state interest. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.”

Unitarian Universalists across this country will perform religious ceremonies celebrating the marriage of same sex couples even though the state will not recognize its civil legality.  Yet, heterosexual religious marriages, even those performed by Unitarian Universalists, are recognized for its civil legality.  I believe to not have these religious ceremonies recognized by the civil government is a violation of our religious freedoms. To deny recognition is a restriction and impingement of our religious principles that seeks compassion, justice, and equity in all human relations.  It amounts to an unequal religious authority to the majority in a country that claims separation of church and state. 

Mississippi equal marriage rights are coming to this state just as inter-racial marriage rights came to this state.  It is no nolonger a matter of if, it is only a matter of when.  May justice and equality be truly for all in this land.  Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond

Swimming in the River

I ended yesterday’s post with a metaphor of needing to swim daily in the river in order to be able to swim around the flotsam and jetsam that are also in the river.  Of course, I was writing about spiritual practices and not actual swimming, although some will tell me that swimming is part of their spiritual practice. 

What  spiritual practice do you use in your daily life to help you remain centered and aligned with your core self?  What spiritual practice do you attend to daily to keep you alert and aware to the stream of well-being that I suggest is the undercurrent of all things?  How do we connect to that mystery that is unfolding and leading us forward on this journey? 

The Buddhists practice zazen.  A form of sitting meditation where they clear their minds of the rampant thoughts and seek to become aware of their present moment.  To be fully present to the now is a powerful experience.  It is a means to then be more fully alert to the events of the day.   There is also the walking meditation where the person consciously and deliberately attends to each breath and each movement of the body as they walk.  This again is a means to become more fully alert and aware of the present moment.  There are two blogs that I have linked to that are Buddhist centered; Monkey Mind by my dear friend and colleague Zen Master Rev. James Ishmael Ford and Wildfoxzen by Zen Master Dosho Port.

Christians practice prayer.  There are many forms of prayer.  There are supplication prayers where a person asks for help and guidance.  There is intercessory prayer where a person seeks on behalf of another.  There are prayers of praise where the person expresses their gratefulness and thanksgiving to the wonders and love of life.  There is also centering prayer which is probably the closest to zazen where the person quiets the mind while using a pre-chosen phrase to focus on.   There are also prescribed prayers such as the Jesus Prayer or the prayer of Jabez  or praying the rosary.  These prayers assist the person to focus beyond themselves and their current strife.  The act of repeating over and over again the same words enables the person to transcend their present state and connect to their core self. 

Muslims have designated times, five times a day, where they pause and pray to Allah. This is an act of worship and is most central to the life of a Muslim. There are prescribed prayers that they recite. The act of designated times connects all of the Muslims together.  It enables them to see themselves as connected to a larger whole, to a larger purpose than just their individual lives.  This prayer is also an embodied prayer in that there are different postures with different prayers that one does while praying. 

Pagans use rituals to maintain their connections to spirit.  They  symbolically see the elements of nature as having characteristics that they would want to be balanced in their lives. So they may focus on the four directions; north, east,south, west;  and the four elements; air, fire, earth, water to help remind them of these characteristics.

There are other practices that one may take.  I also incorporate nature hikes where I consciously take note of the beauty of the world around me.  I notice the blooms, the song of the  birds, the evidence of an abundant life around me.  And give appreciation to the universe for all these wonderful creations around me.   Others journal, write poetry, sing, dance as ways of reflecting, connecting, and being in this world.   Blessings abound, Rev. Fred L Hammond

Flotsam and Jetsam

On Sunday I gave a sermon about the life of Rev. John Murray and why I am a Universalist. I wrote the following paragraph and decided to unpack it a bit further.

“I am a Universalist because I believe in this love–this stream of well-being that flows through the universe as an undercurrent to all else that happens. This love is constant. All else is transient flotsam and jetsam on the surface. It will pass and even if we become entangled in the flotsam for awhile, the love that surges through the universe is ever present to see us clear.”

In my best moments, I can say with about as much surety as I know that the earth’s gravity will keep me within its power of influence, that all is truly well. I observe the birds chirping their morning songs in the pecan trees outside my Ellisville house. I note the figs developing in the shade of the fig leaves along side the old red barn. I watch the red tail hawk swoop down to catch the unsuspecting or perhaps very suspecting but paralyzed in fear rodent in the fields. Life is good. It flows on in its cycle and the human animal is part and parcel to this unending cycle.  And I rejoice in being witness to it all and even excited about my role in its unfolding.

I enjoy, really enjoy, the animal planet show, Meerkat Manor. The writers of the show have given human characteristics, motives and emotions, to the actions and behaviors of these animals living in social groupings. They are afraid and wary of the others who are not members of their small village. They will war on their neighbors if they encroach too close to their marked territory. They will have jealousies and fights between themselves.  They will exclude and expel members who do not behave or threaten to disrupt the order of things.  And they will come together and fight in unison against an outside threat such as a cobra slithering nearby in the hope for a fledgling meerkat for a meal. 

Now maybe all this anthropomorphism is a bit over done.  But it does serve its purpose at least in my watching this show and reflecting on human behavior.  We do the same, don’t we?   For all our increased intelligence, we do the same.   We have our bitter jealousies and rivals within our communities.  We tend to be wary of the stranger who moves into our neighborhood; especially if they have a different culture to our own.  Culture here being defined as different religion, different political affiliation, and different understanding of our common values; not excluding those who come from foreign countries but our wariness is acutely attuned to the subtleties as well as the obvious.   And we war against perceived threats from within as well as without our country. 

Yet, what we see as cute and even adorable in the meerkat family we see as atrocious in our human family. This is the flotsam and jetsam in our lives.  It is the allowing our focus to be turned to the animal behaviors we do and responding from this animal base.   Some people have called it the reptile mind; that core almost instinctual place in our brains.  If activitated no amount of reason or logic can break through it until the person does what the person is driven to do, and then if we are fortunate, we laugh about the action and forgive each other for stooping so low later.

The question that remains for me in my observing all of this is what is the role of religion if it is not to help our spiritualities to relax into the stream of well-being that is constant in our lives?  It does not negate that the flotsam and jetsam of human animal behaviors and actions exist but it could help mitigate the intensity in which we respond to those events that switch on the reptilian brain.  

From where I sit in my current understandings, Unitarian Universalism is one of the faiths that could aid in this process.  We have our own flotsam and jetsam that we get hung up on but our current principles that we seek to uphold are bent along that arc of love towards justice.  Our faith includes the willingness to examine the wisdom of the world religions to find aquaducts to that universal current of love that interconnects us all.  This seems to me, to be a noble start. 

The proclaiming of one true faith only is trajecting us into the nets of the flotsam and jetsam in our lives.  It causes an increased tension between us.  It triggers the reptilian mind.  Many faiths proclaim being the one true faith, so I am not only referring to Christianity, though this phrase is most commonly associated to it.  The notion of universalism as I understand it in the 21st century, is one that recognizes the spirit of love that is flowing for all of us.  We all have access to it.  But for us to fully enjoy this river of love, we must be willing to practice our swimming daily.  And swimming will help us swim around the flotsam and jetsam of our base behaviors.  Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond           

Chalice lighting words for Mother’s Day

I wrote the following words for our chalice lighting:

“There is perhaps no greater symbol of universal love than the love between a mother and a child. For whatever else happens in that relationship, it was first and foremost love that gave birth to life and the potential of extending that love forward into eternity. We light this candle in honor of the mothers everywhere who gave birth to us. “

The Church of Oprah

This video has received as of this date over 6 million hits. I was recently asked to comment on Oprah’s views of multiple paths to god and what does Unitarian Universalism say about this by WAPT Channel 16 News reporter Megan West. (Unfortunately the link to WAPT News to watch the interview with me is no longer available.) 

Oprah has received some bad press simply for stating she believes that there are multiple paths to god. Our understanding of god is limited. The Buddha tells the story of the 4 blind men and the elephant. The blind men are describing the elephant through their senses. The first blind man says the elephant is like a wall, tall and wide as he touches the elephants side. No says the second man, the elephant is like a tree firmly planted into the ground as he touches the elephants legs. NO shouts the third man, the elephant is like a whip as he attempts to touch the elephants tail, The fourth man shouts, no no, the elephant is like a snake as he touches the elephants trunk.

All four are describing parts of the elephant. They all have a piece of the puzzle that is the elephant. So it is with truth, we each have a piece but not the whole piece. That is why we need community to help us expand on the truth we have. It is also why we need the diversity of reflection, of ideas, so that we can sift through and find how the pieces fit together.

There is no Church of Oprah but in my mind’s view, she is asking the right questions. The answers she has been coming up with seem to be leading her to increase her philanthropy, increase her tolerance of the different, and increase her desire to leave this world a better place because of her life. All wonderful fruits of her life, I would say. Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond

William L. Moore’s letter to Governor to be finally delivered

“William Moore” by Phil Ochs
What price the glory of one man?
What price the glory of one man?
What price the hopes,
What price the dreams,
And what price the glory of one man?

And they shot him on the Alabama road
Forgot about what the Bible told
They shot him with that letter in his hand
As though he were a dog and not a man
And they shot him on the Alabama road

“I was made to wish for more—more than the mere possible or even the probable. I must pursue the impossible . . . Whether I go forward as Don Quixote chasing his windmill or as the pilgrim progressing must be left for you to decide . . . I can only give my life.” —The Mind in Chains: The Autobiography of a Schizophrenic, William L. Moore

William Moore was a mail carrier who chose to walk from Chattenooga, TN to Jackson, MS to  hand deliver a letter to Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett asking for an end to segregation. He wore a sandwich board placard which read:  “End Segregation in America: Equal Rights for All Men” and on the other side read “Eat at Joes–Black and White.”   He had spoken with a Floyd Simpson in the morning of  April 23, 1963 and found dead later that day.  The gun used was owned by Floyd Simpson but he was never convicted for the murder.   Other freedom walkers in the weeks that followed after Mr. Moore’s death tried to complete his freedom walk.  They were all thwarted in Alabama or in Mississippi. 

In the letter he hoped to deliver included the following: “The white man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights. Each is dependent upon the other. ”   These words are still true today, and a group of men and women are walking this week from Highway 11 in Gadsden, Etowah County, AL, where Moore was murdered to Jackson, MS to finish his postal route and will deliver the original letter to Governor Haley Barbour. 

William Moore was also an atheist.  Those marching with the letter are members of the American Atheists.     So they are marching not only in memory of William Moore and to complete his task of delivering this letter, albeit 45 years later, so that history will not be able to record that his mission was forever unrealized.   But also with the message of honoring the freedom of conscience.  It was never clear if Moore was killed for his equal rights stance or his atheist beliefs.  He proudly proclaimed them both to all who would listen.   

Freedom of conscience is as radical an idea for 21st century America as it was for our American founders who ensured that this country would have religious freedom of thought.  Even the right to not believe.

He was made to wish for more.  This week his legacy is remembered and we all will wish for more– more equality for all people in this land, more honor and respect for the freedom of conscience in this land.  Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond 

Part of the Problem

Staying at a hotel for MSD district annual assembly, I was awoken at 2:45 AM to loud screaming at the pool. There was a group of people in the pool area and they were having quite the discussion. In my half stupor, I opened the door and began yelling for them to quiet down. They did not hear me. I yelled again… they still did not hear me… it slowly dawned on me as I was waking up that I was now part of the problem rather than the solution. I shut the door and called the front desk who had just received several calls regarding the situation and no doubt my cacophony was included in the complaint.

I have been reflecting on whether there were other times in my life when my actions were part of the problem?   Were there times that I with the sleepiness of unawareness acted in ways that contributed to racism through white privilege; or global warming  through abandoned consumerism; or injustice through self-centered attitudes. 

Being part of the problem is never the role a person wants to be in when trying to solve a dilemma. We want to make things better, we want to create justice, we want to heal the wounds that have been inflicted; not make things worse by increasing injustice with layers of bureaucracy, or re-wound the inflicted. Yet, sometimes we have approached problems the same way for so long we think that must be the right way to solve this new problem or old problem that has once again surfaced to our awareness.  

The bumper sticker that reads “if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem” never seemed very helpful to me.  I wanted a bit more awareness about this problem. What was the problem, how was I contributing to it, how could I stop contributing it? 

Somewhere in my sleepy stupor of wanting to return to sleep and no longer hear the yelling and screaming, I realized that I had become part of the problem and not the solution.  I owned my participation in exacerbating the problem and saw a means to stop contributing to the problem and perhaps found another way to solve the problem. It was a matter of becoming fully alert and present to what was happening. 

This seems key to me… to be fully alert and present to what is happening. It may be painful to be fully alert and present and so I understand the desire to keep responding from the sleepy numbing stupor but that will not create the solution desired and may actually increase the problem.  yet, it is only when we are fully awake can we respond with our full authentic selves and bring healing and transformation to this world. 

May we all seek to realize the role we play in the problems we face and become awake and alert in order to see our ways to the solutions we seek.  Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond

 

Voices of a Liberal Faith–Unitarian Universalists

This is an excellent introduction to Unitarian Universalism. It has been seen elsewhere. But there may be people in Mississippi who have not seen it. Enjoy!

Plus, placing this video here taught me how to do this on this blog…

Blessings, Rev. Fred L Hammond