Living Our Values in a Time of War

a sermon by Reverend Lynn Thomas Strauss

Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville, September 25, 2005

Yes, we live again as Americans engaged in a war on foreign soil. Yes, once again we send our young men and now our young women as well, to fight, kill and die in a war that makes little sense to most of us. Yes, again, sadly again, our children, youth and young adults are learning that our government believes war is an answer- an acceptable means by which to force regime change and democratic institutions on another nation.

Even though the reasons given for this war are unpersuasive, if not dishonest to many…and even though a majority of our citizens now believe that our troops should come home, our government continues to defend this war…continues to shield the public from flag draped coffins and from the number of innocent Iraqi civilians killed every month, every week. The tallies this week are 1,911 US military killed, 14, 641 US military wounded, and though no one keeps a close count…Iraqi civilian killed are estimated between 26, 000 and 29, 000.

Every few months, the Washington Post publishes names and photographs of the young US women and men killed in Iraq. And yes, they are so very young. I push myself to look at every photo, to read every name, and with the little bit of information given below the photo, to imagine the baffling circumstances of their dying….In a small village kicking in the door of someone’s home looking for the enemy….along the road, blown up inside their military vehicle…standing along an urban road or next to a police station providing protection for Iraqi citizens. Standing in the heat in their camafloge uniforms, carrying heavy packs and rifles, in the desert heat…wearing high, hot dusty military issue boots.

Black empty pairs of boots, in long rows, some with flowers or photos, stuck in them, some with small American flags poking out…One pair representing each of the 1, 895 dead soldiers and marines so far….this is the exhibit, ”Eyes Wide Open” arranged by the America Friends Service Committee…it was recently or is still in Baltimore.

Among the boots are the boots of Casey Sheehan, posthumously famous son of Cindy Sheehan the mother who camped outside Crawford Texas in August waiting to talk to the President who ordered the war that killed her son.

I’m reminded of the powerful display in the Holocaust museum of the shoes of the victims of the holocaust…in that exhibit I was brought to tears and unable to move on from the glass display…because of the variety of the shoes…I was stopped still by the profound intimacy of a child’s shoe, by the fragility of a single dirty high heeled shoe…

With the military boots, what strikes at the heart is their sameness…their uniformity, their anonymity. Uniforms mask the reality of a person, government-issue shoes hide the identity of a son or sister or cousin, or husband. All the shoes look alike.

That’s why I look hard at the photos in the newspaper, that’s why I have the list of the names of those killed on my refrigerator.

This is where I offer full disclosure. I am opposed to this war, I have been since the beginning.
At a critical point in my life, I sang, “Give Peace a Chance”….and “Let Peace Begin with Me”.
I have marched in many Peace marches.
My shoes have walked and walked and walked for peace.

And my children have done their share of protest.
And now we have a 3 month old grandson…will Noah have to learn to fight, will he be asked to kill the enemy, will he be enticed into military service only to give his life…and for what?

We can all agree that war is hell.
And, as the reading from Chris Hedges book suggests…sometimes war is the most powerful way for human society to achieve meaning. War is an elixir, it does give us resolve, a cause, an opportunity to be noble.

But is that what we want as a nation? Is war the only path to patriotism, to experiencing unity as a nation? There have been times of peace, when nobility, resolve and meaning is found in other ways.

I believe it is my duty as a citizen and as a person of faith to hold our national leaders to a high standard, to a vision of what is possible in a global world. I believe it is our calling as a liberal religious institution to live our faith in such a way that we contribute to the civic dialogue and that we witness to peace and justice in our time.

And so, I ask the question. How do we live our values in a time of war?

First of all, I acknowledge that all UUs don’t think alike. We do not speak with one voice. Each of us, including ministers, speak and act for ourselves, out of the light of our own conscience and our own experience. Unlike the Quakers, we are not a peace church. There is much disagreement among us about pacifism…about war and peace. And each of us must seek our own truth, based on our own experience, and our own best reason.

We must remember there are some among us who have loved ones in the military, some of us are veterans, some of us were near or inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11th.

As congregations, we must be open to all points of view. We cannot assume that all Unitarian Universalists are Democrats, or anti-war, or pro-choice. One of our ultimate values as a liberal religious faith is tolerance- the radical acceptance of differences- that I spoke of last week.

Because we believe in many truths and many paths to truth, we must create a congregational climate in which all opinions can be voiced, in which all questions and perspectives can be heard. Only then will each of us be truly free to search for truth and meaning.

Part of the responsibility of being a Unitarian Universalist is that we must study, reflect, dialogue with others, reflect again, find the meaning in our own experience, listen to our hearts, study some more…and discern what we think is right or wrong in any given moral dilemma.

This doesn’t mean however, that anything goes, or that UU’s are simply all over the map, with no moral compass.

At any particular time in history, there is a center to our liberal religious movement. There is a place to stand as a congregation, as a movement, as an association. There is a center than can embrace almost every view, though some views may be so extreme on either end of the spectrum as to fall outside of the center.

So we need to ask, what are our values?
What values are foundational for us as we try to live in a time of war?
What do we teach our children to hold on as guideposts for their decisions?

In addition to tolerance, I believe there are two essential liberal religious values against which we can measure all of our moral and ethical choices. We can begin with our Principles and Purposes, affirming and promoting the worth and dignity of every person , justice, equity and compassion in human relations, the right of conscience and the use of democratic process, the goal of world community with peace and justice for all, and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

But these principles too often feel like a list, too often fail to provide clear guidance…so I have summarized them…hopefully not too reductionistically…into two primary values.

The first is reverence and respect for life.
When I look at the Eyes Wide Open project…at the boots representing dead American soldiers, I also see in my mind’s eye, the sandals of all the Iraqi dead…(even though many of them died barefoot) and when I imagine the thousands and thousands pairs of shoes representing hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, and ruined lives….I know that this war has shown irreverence and disrespect for life.

Whatever good our government promised, little, if any good, little life, has come from this war.

The second value essential to our liberal faith is what we call the Beloved Community…which is another word for world community…it is the desire for justice, equity and compassion for and among all people. This value speaks to what happens after life is revered and respected…it speaks to how we live with our brothers and sisters, how we live with strangers and yes, even, how we live with enemies.

These values of life and community are part of our principles and purposes, they come to us from our own reason and experience, from our prophetic ancestors and from the wisdom of all world religions, as well as from humanist thought.

It is important to distinguish between values and ideologies.
Values are those qualities or ideals which we agree to esteem.
Usually they reside in the heart.
Ideologies are a body of doctrines or ideas to be followed. Usually they reside in the head. There are both political and religious ideologies.

It is as easy for us to fall into liberal ideologies as it is for conservatives to fall into conservative ideologies. I try to bring myself back from a slide into ideology, even pacifist ideology by looking for the underlying values. It is part of our UU commitment to keeping the question open…to avoid capture by ideology, no matter how well reasoned or scientifically supported.

And it is difficult to stay open. So many arguments are persuasive…so many organizations seem to have the answer we’re looking for.

When it comes to big important questions like the war in Iraq, it is hard to know what to do. We can become frozen by cynicism and despair. We can become confused and suspicious of the hidden agendas…not only of government and big business, but also of the myriad peace groups.

I did participate in the Peace March yesterday and it was a heady experience. To see so many ages and groups represented, such a sense of freedom…freedom of assembly, freedom of speech…so many smiles.

The most racial diversity was among the Iraqi Veterans for Peace and the Families of those killed in Iraq. The chant I most enjoyed was “This is What Democracy Looks Like!” Oh, and Oh yes, I found myself face to face with Joan Baez…it was great!

The questions are complicated…it’s hard to know where to take a stand. According to Washington Post writer, David Montgomery, the main questions facing the peace movement today are:

-“If the troops come home now, won’t there be even more chaos and deaths of innocents in Iraq?
-How can you support the troops and not the war?
-If we don’t fight the enemy in Iraq, will we someday fight him here at home?
-Isn’t it a good thing that Saddam Hussein is toppled and facing trial?
-If we “cut and run” and do not “stay the course” will the fallen have died in vain?”

None of us can answer these questions definitively, but I apply my two essentials values in addressing them.
Is there a way to keep a presence in Iraq that will reverence and respect life?
Can we protect innocent life, without taking life?

To me, Supporting the troops means giving them the information and resources they need to protect themselves and others, it means allowing them to come home sooner, it means affirming their good intention of serving their country, even while acknowledging that this war is misguided.

None of us can predict the future, I don’t believe in domination as a way of trying to control the future. I believe in building toward a world community that will share resources and responsibilities.

Of course it is a good thing that Sadam Hussein is facing trial…but how many must die to bring one person to justice? I do not believe that bringing the troops home is cutting and running…with the co-operation of the world community, or the United Nations we could pull out with dignity. Those Americans who have died in service to their country have nothing to be ashamed of.

It seems to be a tactic on all sides to bring all existing problems of global economics, environmental degradation, poverty, religion, race…to name a few…into every discussion…all these problems need attention, but, it quickly overwhelms and we feel unable to act… I was relieved when the focus of this weekends’ protests honed in on “End the War in Iraq” “Bring the Troops Home Now”

There are still two actions which you can take part in. At 6PM this evening, there will be an interfaith worship service for Peace near the Washington monument. One of the key sponsors is the liberal group, The Shalom Center. And tomorrow, Monday, there are citizens going down to congress and the senate to talk to their legislators about peace.

Living our values in a time of war, means practicing tolerance, searching for truth based on your values and finally taking a stand and acting on those values.
There are many ways to live your values.
I urge you to find a way that suits you….something big or small within your daily life, or in the public sphere…there are many ways to live your faith.

When my children were growing up, we kept a small peace sign in the window of our front door. Our neighbors might have wondered, as they wondered when we flew our UN flag…but it meant a lot to us, our small statement through the years.

Perhaps some of you have a peace dove on a bumper sticker on your car, or perhaps you wear a small lapel pin like this one, made by a UU….that simply says “peace” and has an olive branch.

Or perhaps you have written a letter to the editor of the newspaper or emailed your elected official with your point of view.

Being pro-peace is not naïve.
It is a witness to one’s values and principles. Though we are not a Peace Church the UUA General Assembly has passed many Resolutions for Peace and Disarmament. And our President, Bill Sinkford has taken a strong stand against this war.

We all need to take on the task of discerning our own values. It is the way to be a responsible UU.

If we lined up all the shoes of all the people who marched for peace in Washington yesterday…it would represent a huge field of hope.

The exposure of poverty and racism in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, has given the peace movement a new momentum. To take money away from the poor in America, and away from investment in our cities and the strengthening of necessary infrastructure, and spend it for war…no longer looks like a good idea to a majority of Americans.

The wielding of the word “terrorism” no longer works to evoke mind-numbing fear and the giving over of all power to the executive branch of our government.

The dependence of the Hurricane victims reminds us or our capacity for mutual interdependence…We are reminded that we are all connected, that we need one another….

Dividing the world into good and evil forces is an old paradigm, standing together and sharing what we have is the new reality. In this new reality, we know that our mutual dependence on the earth and her resources, make it impossible for one country to isolate itself.

I’d like to end with a poem by Jane Flanders written about another war, in another time and place. It is called; “The House that Fear Built: Warsaw, 1943”

I am the boy with his hands raised over his head in Warsaw.
I am the soldier whose rifle is trained on the boy with his hands raised over his head in Warsaw.
I am the woman with lowered gaze who fears the soldier whose rifle is trained on the boy with his hands raised over his head in Warsaw.
I am the man in the overcoat who loves the woman with lowered gaze who fears the soldier whose rifle is trained on the boy with his hands raised over his head in Warsaw.
I am the stranger who photographs the man in the overcoat who loves the woman with lowered gaze who fears the soldier whose rifle is trained on the boy with his hands raised over his head in Warsaw.
The crowd of which I am each part, moves on beneath my window, for I am the old woman too who shakes her sheets over every street in the world muttering;
What’s this? What’s this?

Amen