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Sermon by Leland Bond-Upson,
[Introduction] But I say such examinations are central to the religious quest. Religion is, after all, about making sense of this jumble, about finding meaning and purpose. And what is the thrust of our 5 billion year evolutionary journey? The purpose of life on Earth is to wake up! We-and no doubt creatures like us on other planets-are the vehicles for the Universe becoming self-aware. Kurt Vonnegut-a Unitarian-has described us as "the lucky mud that (gets) to sit up and look around." The act of worship is, I believe, giving thanks for this miracle of life, and to fulfill our obligation to Creation, by striving to understand, by becoming ever more awake. Awakening is a religious undertaking. [I. Cause and Effect] We observe in our daily lives that one thing causes another, only it's never so simple as one thing causing another one thing. Rational people don't generally believe that things appear out of nowhere, or that things happen for no reason. Most of us don't believe in the supernatural. We have good reason to accept that law of physics which holds that matter is neither created nor destroyed-only transformed. Will anyone say that stars chart their own destiny, or that mountains have free will? How about trees, or insects, or rats, in or out of a Skinner box. It's easy to see causality at work with the inanimate, and the plants and lower animals because they're simpler creatures and we can control the variables. Not so with ourselves. We base our science on the laws of nature that we have observed and confirmed. But when it comes to ourselves, we think we're somehow exempt. Unlike everything else in the universe, we have control, we are free to choose, we are the exception. No--we are not the exception. Free-will is a very convincing illusion-a product of our superior, imaginative, but imperfect minds. It seems like we have freedom to choose, but it seems that way only because our limited brains aren't capable of knowing all the causes. Our actions are products of what came before. Even our thoughts are governed by the past, and by the laws of the universe. The reason we deny the dominion of physics over us is-of course-that we cherish our freedom, and our special place in creation. And we are special, but not that way. Causality is an old idea, and has many names, including 'necessity,' and 'fate.' One of its most poetic expressions is familiar to us all: 'there, but for the grace of God, go I.' Some object to causality because it threatens to take all the fun out of life, all the humanity. If everything is pre-determined, where's the hope and possibility? To which I say: we're only human, and we will all go on acting as if we have choice most of the time. Though an irresistible tide of causality has brought us to this point, the future is unknown and open, filled with possibility. It seems self-evident that the sun goes around the earth, but science proved it was an illusion. Although we now know otherwise, in our day-to-day life we still speak of the sun rising and setting. So it is with illusion of free will. We can hold the poetic and scientific ideas simultaneously, but when it counts, we must choose what is real. One of the places it counts is when it comes to how we treat wrong-doers. [II. Good and evil] The Greek Heraclitus is said to have said: "For God, all things are good; for Man, some things are better than others." Does absolute Good exist? Does absolute Evil? I say no. Good and evil are human ideas, and the standards are constantly changing. It was once thought the height of virtue to turn a heretic over to the Inquisition. It was once thought the height of evil to permit diversity. We assign the name of Good to that which we like and wish to encourage, and we name Bad that which we don't like, and wish to discourage. And when we abhor something, we call it Evil and Wicked. Have you noticed that God is indifferent to Good and Evil? Innocents suffer while evil-doers prosper. It's true: God does not care about you and does not intervene--except through that divine, compassionate part still emerging in the human race. As the poet Blake sings, "for Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face. . ." It is this that is gloriously unique about human beings. But old habits die hard, and we cling to a belief that good and evil exist as absolutes, even as entities. We then overlay this crude morality onto the elegant physics of cause and effect. The effect, especially as it informs our justice system, is cruel, and counter-productive. [III. Crime and Punishment] There's been quite a spate of evil-doing recently, from terrorist attacks to assaults on children. We hear about it day after day, and we are sickened and angered. Our emotions cry out for vengeance. Let this be said clearly: the desire for revenge is natural, but it is low, dangerous, and unworthy of us. One of the reasons we have laws and a justice system is to prevent giving free rein to those feelings. And yet that system is mired in desire for retribution. When it comes to crime and punishment, I say it's time to drop illusion and false morality, and instead control emotion, and remember the physics and the outcome we are seeking. The first thing new parents and new babysitters learn, or else should learn, is that babies cry for a reason. It may be that baby is hungry, or needs a change of diaper, or has a tooth cutting through. Whatever. It's something! And it's our job as caregivers to find out what it is. Like babies, we so-called grownups do what we do for a reason. We can learn much if we care to reflect. In the case of wrong-doing, that search should be mandatory. First the 'whodunit, then the 'whydunit.' * * * * When a child misbehaves, do the parents think, oh my God, I've given birth to an evil-doer? No-the parents correct the behavior. Sometimes that means restraining the child-the famous 'time-out.' And are we not all still children? The human race is in its infancy in terms of self-control, hitting back, taking more than our share, throwing tantrums, and so on. Mothers are famous for loving their children no matter what. I am suggesting we, as a society, care for evil-doers in that way. I am suggesting we follow the old precept of hating the sin, but loving the sinner. Friends, we have long been told that the love of money is the root of all evil. I say to you this is a false teaching. The root of all evil is . . . mistreatment. For victimizers are victims too. Always. The people who do
these terrible things were either born defective, or were damaged
in life. They are mistreated by chance, in the form of accidents
and defects at birth, the bad luck of being born poor, and perhaps
not too bright, and with few opportunities. In the stories in the newspapers, you almost always read, towards the end, that something went terribly wrong in the life of the perpetrator. Something has to have gone terribly wrong, in each and every case, always, because we don't do things for no reason. The reasons for what happened were beyond their control. Given all the circumstances, could anyone have done otherwise? We have now learned that Saddam Hussein was rejected by his mother at birth, and was brutally abused by his step-father, who was also his uncle. Here's an exercise: imagine what happened in John Ashcroft's early life that made him so mean, and so fearful of freedom. Can we not have compassion for this man even as we try to restrain him from doing harm? * * * * * The public's response to crime, and therefore the justice system's, has been to "get tough," meaning get more brutal. Longer sentences, harder prisons, more executions. Is this really what we should do with people already suffering from an excess of cruelty and bad luck? Should we find poor insane Andrea Yates guilty of first-degree murder? Should we try those two Florida boys, 12 and 13, as adults? This is madness-this is vengeance masquerading as justice. This is the crusading prosecutor, showing just how tough he is on crime. This is a President who has no problem executing mental defectives. I'd rather see parental-love for evil-doers. This does not mean we let evil-doers go free. We must protect ourselves. These people must be prevented from doing further harm. And I'm sorry to say, some of these people are so damaged they should be restrained the rest of their lives. Also, wrong-doers must be deterred, and used as an example of consequence for those contemplating a crime. They must suffer the discomfort and indignity of losing their freedom, but we can hold them, lovingly, no matter what-just as parents do a wayward child. Behind the strong arms of restraint would be a background of unconditional institutional love. That love would have to be as tough and restraining as it needs to be, depending on the individual. It would reflect society's recognition that people do things for reasons beyond their control, but can, if given different reasons, respond differently next time. The police officers I've talked with about this see prison mostly serving the restraint function. Very little rehab goes on, and there's very little of the kindness that most of these guys need so badly. As Jesus said, "you have heard that 'you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,' but I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to those who abuse you.' We think of that as an impossible ideal. But it is loving, it is doing good to your enemy, to gently but firmly restrain him from doing more evil. The French have a saying, "to know all is to forgive all." Was not Jesus' deep forgiveness based on deep understanding? There are signs of progress: The first night after the Columbine shootings, crosses were put up for each of the victims, including Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The crosses were taken down by the vengeful ones, but were put back up later by those with deeper understanding. There's a women's prison in a small town, where the warden's self-described biggest problem is to keep the town's volunteers from hugging the inmates! We can work to prevent abuse in any and all its forms, especially abuse of children. If we intervene soon enough, we can prevent much suffering. We can take the opportunity with friends to challenge conventional thinking about criminals. All we have to do is to wonder aloud about Reasons Why. More and more people are beginning to understand what causes these terrible acts, and to understand the current justice system is working against our long-term interests, including the heavy costs of our prison system. Our job as members of the human family is to give our wayward
sons and daughters reasons to do differently-reasons to do good,
and reasons to cease doing wrong. May we be, therefore, that
Grace of God that keeps others from the harm that causes evil.  |