The teachings of our faith traditions demand that we think spiritually 24 hours a day, not just in the moments when we sit in the pews of our houses of worship. To this end, we want to create an ongoing conversation that honors our respective religious traditions more deeply, in every facet of our lives. While we feel passionately about our chosen topics, we hope more passionately that the readers will carry on the conversation through their personal and business relationships. We honestly care less that you agree; we want you to care enough to listen to each other on matters of the spirit in business.
Authors of this ongoing series of commentaries will rotate among: Rev. Mark Davis - First Presbyterian Church; Rev. Kenneth Golphin - A.M.E. Itinerant Elder - Asbury Chapel AME Church; Rev. Dr. Mark Johnson - Central Baptist Church; and Rabbi Marc Kline, JD - Temple Adath Israel, who offers the first installment.
With all the talk about gun control versus ownership rights filling the pages and airwaves of “news” reporting, I cannot help but wonder whether we have forgotten what is really at stake in this country.
I know what our nation’s constitutional Second Amendment provides. I have read the “Dick Act” and its amendments/commentaries. I personally hate guns, but understand why ownership is protected. I will never understand why anyone needs an assault weapon of their very own, and personally feel that any right given by legislation or judicial review has to be tempered by the real-world and practical risk/benefit analysis of our safety and best interests.
OK, there is my political agenda. That is not what is what is really at stake. However our governmental bodies come down on this matter, there can be no solution so long as we continue to think that this is about “guns or no guns.”
This debate is really about how we view our society. As a person of faith, I have to believe that the “I might have to protect myself against our government,” or “I might have to take back my government” arguments are symptoms of a much greater problem. For anyone trying to prophetically operate a business in our community, we have to be concerned with the perception that somehow we have lost our government; that our right to vote does not matter; and that people are prepared to resort to desperate measures to return their perception of life in these United States to a sense of normalcy. What is going through the heads of these folks? We have to care.
Our vote matters. We can debate the quality of candidates. We can debate whether the way in which we run political campaigns scares away good people. Our vote, though, does matter. The difficulty we face is that we have lost the belief that someone else’s vote matters.
If our side loses an election, we struggle to accept the result. Yes, the world news is filled with stories of rigged elections and revolutions fostered by those who did not win. That was never the way Americans did things. But, the rhetoric from both political parties over their victories and defeats has become, in some ways, alarming. We have forgotten how to walk away, having shaken hands, acknowledged each other’s value, committing to moving forward together into a synergized tomorrow. Instead, we tiptoe around each other, fearing that if we are honest with each other, we risk destroying relationships.
I always thought, my faith always taught me, that being honest with each other helped us grow. Great ideas came from sharing disparate thoughts, engaging in conversations over those places of disagreement, and committing ourselves to each other’s dignity along the way. Great ideas never descend from withholding ourselves from the conversation. Desperation results from stagnation, from exclusivity, from our failure to engage each other meaningfully.
If our community is to continue to blossom, we need to remember that we have to have faith. We have to have faith in a system of cosmology (whatever one’s theology). This world continues to sustain. Day follows day, and the seasons pass. There is a huge piece of this system that is beyond our human control. If we set an alarm clock, we are preparing for a day whose existence in no way depends on us. We have to acknowledge that if we set an alarm clock, we have faith in something.
We need to have faith in our United States Constitution. Throughout time, our governmental decisions have been loved by some and hated by others. We have to have faith that living in this country matters, even where we disagree with this law or that decision. However oppressed we feel (rich or poor), we are better off here, not liking the rules, than we are in so many other places in this world.
We have to have faith in each other. If there is a hole under your seat in the row boat, even if it is your fault that it is there, I have to plug it to save my own life. There are so many who live impoverished lives. For everyone who chooses that way of life, there are thousands who have been thrust into it or held back from leaving it. If part of our community falters, we are all at risk. To decide that we have no obligation to help those in need is, frankly, faithless. Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna and the Buddha all taught that we are responsible for each other — for all of us, not just those we want to acknowledge.
Our businesses depend on our faith. We put our wares and services out for sale. We have to have faith that our offerings are relevant.
We cannot operate successfully where we fail to communicate successfully. We cannot communicate successfully, where we are not intentional about protecting each other’s dignity. Twitter, Facebook and texting are great communication tools that are subject to huge abuse, where we are not intentional about communicating with respect and dignity. Where we ignore each other’s dignity, we set the stage for the irrational conversation that leads to the horrific violence of which we have been experiencing too much.
Think about the reports of the shooting rampages, the bullying-induced suicides, and the nightmares that are left to the surviving communities and families. No wonder people feel disenfranchised; our failure to preserve each other’s dignity and our lack of concern for each other has caused a great deal of pain.
The conundrum roots in how faithful we are in protecting each other’s faith. More so, how faithful we are, period. Why do we have to demean another to sense our own value? If we really want to see our community flourish, then we have to have enough faith in ourselves, so that we can be faithfully concerned with each other’s dignity.
I am not suggesting one needs to attend worship more often. I am, however, suggesting that we need to stop, to reflect, to see ourselves as though we were on the receiving end of the things that we say about others, and looking in a mirror, remember that not one of us has greater rights to divinity than another. When we are as concerned with the “other” in our lives as we are with ourselves, we will be a whole lot more concerned to keep people from trauma before we have to respond to the next devastating acts.