Thoughts on violence

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 31,000 people die each year in the US from gunshot wounds. This is an average of just over 87 per day. About 30 of those are murders, more than 50 take their own lives, and others are accidents.

If lives don't get your attention, how about this. Gunshot wounds and deaths cost the US over $12 billion, that's billion with a B, a year in court costs, insurance costs, and government health programs. In 2010 medical care for a fatal shooting cost $28,700. In 2010 lost work revenues were $5.4 billion, court costs of $4.7 billion, Medicaid and Medicare costs of $1.4 billion, $180 million in mental health care costs, $224 million to process insurance claims, and $133 million in response call costs. These numbers are from Ted Miller's analysis for Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. An interesting conclusion was that about half of Medicaid's medical costs go to this atrocity.

The Buddha said that the three roots of evil are greed, hate, and delusion. My suspicion is that all three are at work here. US citizens own over 300 million guns-----that's just under one per citizen. The recent frenzy in gun purchases and ammunition hoarding is evidence of all three. I would associate greed with the criminal elements' obsessive use of violence in all levels of crime--drugs, prostitution, etc. I would associate hatred, paranoia, and fear (a manifestation of hatred) with the frenzy mentioned above. Delusion is the overpowering cause of the assumption that you combat violence with violence. Delusion drives misinterpretation of the Second Amendment. Delusion drives the misplaced trust in retaliation (only) and misconception that violence preserves peace.

Background checks? YES!

Improved mental health treatment? YES!

Eradication of homelessness? YES!

Confiscation of excessively powerful weapons? YES!

We are better than this. I find it irrationally insane that the nation that claims to be so religious, so Christian is at the same time so violent and quick to answer force with force. Guns kill, so do people. Guns are the symptom of much deeper problems that deserve, yes require our creative attention. An idiot can shoot a gun. Caring, compassionate people solve problems.

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Thoughts on violence

Senator Marco Rubio

An open letter to Senator Marco Rubio
Dear Senator:
Congratulations on your party's recognition of you and choosing you to give the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union. You are the personification of many good and positive values that have made this country great.
Your work ethic is admirable; your Florida mentor speaks very highly of your dedication and tireless efforts in serving the community where you grew up and continue to live. Your sense of responsibility and making the very best of the opportunities given to you despite initial economic hardship are commendable. Your commitment to your faith and your family exemplify a personal level-headedness and integrity all too often missing today. Your youth, intelligence, and articulation have earned you statue and recognition that many will want rewarded even further.
Unfortunately, you are also the personification of many negative values  that challenge and threaten our country today. These have earned you recognition from Democratic opponents as a force to be reckoned with in the future. Those values, in my opinion, are:
1. a libertarian philosophy that does not recognize the historical and moral shortcomings of laissez-faire economics (history has proved this to be morally bankrupt and let me quickly say as morally bankrupt as communism), that has distorted the true meaning of freedom (true freedom recognizes the difference between what I can do and what I should do as a responsible citizen of society and the world), and that is ignorant of the requirements of contemporary society (population, communication, transportation, etc.) in its demands for smaller government. [Let me quickly say that I am in favor of efficiency and effectiveness over size!]
2. a tired, very tired old Republican same song and verse that offers nothing new to move us forward and serve the needs of our citizens today. You continue obstructionism and negativity.
3. a blind and ignorant repetition of lies and groundless charges such as, the Obama administration is out to destroy our Second Amendment rights. This is fabrication, distortion, and an outright lie. It seems to be your and your party's plan to tell the lie often enough, so that, the American public will be deceived.
4. lastly, and sadly, even being a co-sponsor in the Senate of comprehensive immigration reform, you do not have the integrity to say you agree with President Obama on a responsible path to citizenship and falsely accuse him of weak borders and irresponsible Homeland Security. It is well and good to disagree on substantive issues; it is childish and immature to oppose for opposition sake because you did not phrase it their way to begin with.
Senator Rubio, you have the potential to lead. Please gird yourself with truth and integrity and a deep and selfless service of the American people.
Respectfully

First Amendment vs First (Greatest) Commandment

            Our society/culture could well be characterized as one of chaos, confusion, and double talk. Up is down, and wrong is right. One need look no further than the demands to impose sectarian prayer with mandatory Bible reading in schools and religion-specific rituals and icons in the public forum accompanied by the irrational and misinformed insistence that the right to have a semi-automatic rifle and multi-capacity ammunition holders is necessary for freedom.

            I quickly admit that these are complex issues, but I was saddened recently when I put a copy of the Constitution beside a copy of scripture based on and revered by the Judeo-Christian traditions. A contrasting parallel grabbed my attention.

            When Jesus of Nazareth was asked what is the greatest (First) commandment [Matthew 22: 37; Mark 12: 28-31; Luke 10: 25-28], he quoted his scripture (Deut.6:5) saying we are to love God completely. The Bible thumpers and denominational leaders of our society say the First Amendment means the imposition of their beliefs and morals on the rest of us. They have made an idol of their god and scripture and ignored the heart of the message. [Southern Baptists leadership’s attack on the Boy Scouts’ recent reversal of policy on gay leadership would be funny if it weren’t so pathetically sad.]

            Then Jesus followed without hesitation with his admonition for the Second commandment, again quoting his scripture (Leviticus 19: 18), saying to love our neighbor as ourselves. The NRA and violence-obsessed culture responds by saying that guns are required to reduce the killing in our schools and on our streets. In their paranoia the “tyranny” our founders identified has become our own government. Love and concern for neighbor is absent in their (lack of) thinking.

            This is the double speak I mentioned earlier. The freedom of religion (anti-establishment and free exercise) has become the power to impose beliefs and hand-picked morals on this country. The freedom to bear arms as intended has become the license to stock pile these weapons, bear concealed weapons in public, shoot at will if you think you are threatened, neighborhood vigilantes who answer to no one, perverted mentality that says we must kill to be safe. That is like saying we must continue to eat to prevent obesity.

            Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; they are not entitled to their own facts. Silence is complicity. I refuse to yield the moral ground to ignorant, misinformed, self-centered militants with no concern or compassion beyond themselves.

The Gospel and Guns

I am always amazed and often saddened that "religious" people can be so blind to the heart of their claimed faith and live so contrarily to its core and example. I have to speak to Christianity because that is my background, but it does not have a corner on the market of hypocricy and ignorance.
Would someone please tell me how anyone who claims to follow Jesus of Nazareth can be so consumed with guns and violence. How do you distort the call/invitation to love God and love the neighbor into consumption of weapons and ammunition. How do you ignore the call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, house the homeless and then prepare oneself for death and destruction. How do you twist humility into aggression. How do you redefine service as selfish isolation. How do you pray for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven and go about preparing for armaggadden and actively advocating violence and insurrection. [That same Bible they read admonishes submission to earthly powers-----and does not call them "communist" and a multitude of other derogatory lies.]
Matthew invites hearers to enter God's kingdom and live in service. Mark asks hearers to suffer like Jesus giving life and limb for the weak and defenceless. Luke is the clearest voice for social justice in the gospels. John shows us in Jesus' washing feet how to humble ourselves in service to others. Living in God's kingdom is being fear-less, self-less, love-full, trusting, knowing that this is an imperfect world but hoping that as we strive to be God's hands and feet we faith-fully share in that dream.
A YES to God is a NO to violence, hatred, and prejudice.

Moral values in the public arena

One of the most astutue and insightful pieces of political philosophy I have read recently is Michael Sandel's Justice. I highly recommend it to you. It is well written, in lay people's language, and argued with clarity and passion.
In it Sandel compares and contrasts three positions that are at work in contemporary political/social dialogue. The first two, utilitarianism and libertarianism, are driving the polarization in today's environment. Do not be turned off by big, philosophical labels if you are unfamiliar with them. Simply stated the former argues for the will of the majority (the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people) and the latter argues for laissez faire, free market rules. Or in Sandel's terms, welfare and freedom of choice. He does a masterful job illustrating the positive (benefits) and negative (shortcomings) aspects of each. But then he reminds us of ancient, Aristotelian ethics and invites us to a restoration of virtue and honor as guiding values in today's contentious debates.
I have argued in earlier blogs against the first two positions, and honestly probably more strongly against libertarianism. But I have tried, then and now, to insist on a place for morality and virtue in guiding public policy making. I firmly agree with Sandel on the necessity of a moral basis for decision making, and with him, I do not claim to occupy the moral high ground in every instance. I believe there are good moral people on both sides of practically every debate. I do not think or expect that one side is always going to have the correct, moral answer. But there should be a respectful, vigorous moral debate in the public arena. I reject the "rights" claim of moral superiority. I reject the "lefts" abandoning of moral values and principles in public decision making.
I agree with the Danish Christian existentialist Soren Kiergegaard, "every decision is a moral decision." Join the debate. Silence is complicity.

Church and Culture

As if we needed to be reminded or shown for the first time, the discussion over gun control after the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the fiasco in Washington over the holidays are just two examples of the fact that the American "church" has renounced its core values and succombed to the values of the culture around it. It is absolutely inconceivable to me that "religious" people can seriously defend the arming of the public, increasing access to semi-automatic weapons, and, with a straight face, say that this is the "Christian" thing to do.  It is inconceivable to me that so-called religious people can claim that this country was founded as a Christian nation, claiming to base their lives on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and elect and support leaders who would balance a budget on the backs of the sick, the poor, the marginalized, the stranger/immigrants while endorsing and favoring the wealthiest 1%
of our population. It is inconceivable to me that the Tea Party, the Republican Party, and over 60% of Americans are so stupid as to take the Bible literally, denying biological evolution, and run on platforms of anti-intellectualism and anti-feminism and flagrant militarism. And racism continues to fuel their hatred of Obama!
Where is the church? Where are those who claim to follow Jesus of Nazareth? Where are Jews, Muslims, and all others claiming alligiance to the Unknown grounded in love and compassion?
The Darkness is not coming----it is here. Silence is complicity.
People of good will, people of faith, whatever your tradition, be the light where you are. Speak for truth. As Mother Theresa said, we are not called to be successful; we are called to be faithful.
Peace