Achieving While Abiding

You never know when you might be called upon to officiate a wedding…or a funeral.  With that in mind, I joined and was ordained a Reverend by The Church of the Latter-Day Dude (Reformed) in 2016.  Note:  not to be schismatic, but unlike the Dude, I don’t hate the fucking Eagles, man.

I bring this up because the role of religion in American society, and the intersection of religion, human rights, and the law is very much in the news (again) with the recent Supreme Court decision in the so-called wedding cake case.

Now, some people choose to not treat others as ends in themselves (but as objects) …or they fail to follow the Golden Rule.  For example, the teacher in Brownsburg who claims that his school district is violating his First Amendment rights by requiring their personnel to address students by their preferred names is, in reality, practicing a form of aggression by not respecting the rights of others.  And, as we know, this aggression will not stand.  It is precisely that sort of authoritarian mindset, wrapped up with religious extremism and unthinking nationalism, that is corroding the present-day American ethos.

Further, it is a pronounced disrespect for humans and well as norms that, unfortunately, seems to define this Trump Era in which we find ourselves.  When I watch the news, I often find myself wondering, as Walter did, “has the whole world gone crazy?  Am I, in fact, the “only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?”  As much as social conservatives used to love talking about values, recent events have revealed many of them to be hypocrites, hustlers, and/or hacks.  Frankly, I would rather deal with honest nihilists.

Life will deliver strikes and gutters, ups and downs.   We will, from time to time, be ejected from garden parties.  The point is that these challenges can be dealt with with equanimity.  We don’t need to impose our will, based upon our religious beliefs (if any), upon others.  We can go Kantian pre-post-modern here with the categorical imperative or turn to any one of number of small-l liberal post-modernists, such as John Rawls.  We can recognize that just because we believe a certain way, we can’t and shouldn’t expect our beliefs and actions to be universalized.  This is one of the virtues of liberty, a principle for which many Americans died face-down in the muck to protect and preserve.  This also includes the liberty to protest against police brutality, but that is a topic for another article.

If zealots would recognize their religious beliefs as just, like, their opinions, man…perhaps they could focus on being better people and being more respectful of inherent dignity of others.  Perhaps if they spent more time thinking about how they would feel if the shoe was on the other foot, with nail polish or not, we would have a more perfect union. Not perfect, mind you, just more perfect. Mark it 8.

Well, it is time to fix the cable, so I will wrap it up here.  Try to avoid entering a world of pain and let simple human kindness be the rug that ties your room together.

In solidarity.