Self-Evident Truth? Women Are Created Equal

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal…”

When Elizabeth Cady Stanton read these radical words in the mid 1800’s, she was booed and jeered for her sacrilegious editing of the Declaration of Independence. It was “sacrilege” on several levels: when the women’s movement disavowed the hierarchical status quo of the American culture of their day, they challenged the “sacred” foundational understandings of both men and women. Further, when they claimed that women should have an equal place within the home and the church and society, they argued against fundamental presuppositions of inequality within the religious establishment. It was not easy. Questioning the status quo brought significant vilification and persecution to these women.

From the days when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and many bold women stood up for equality at the 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention, it still took America another 72 years to permit women to vote. The fine film, Iron Jawed Angels, remembers the time when Alice Paul and other second-generation suffragettes were jailed for their peaceful protests. Women’s suffrage finally became an American reality with the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920.

Today, on the 94^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment, whether we realize it or not, we stand on the shoulders of these good and rowdy women who refused to stay in their “place.” Today when women do not vote, we not only dishonor the life and work of our mothers, we also refuse to step into our proper place of living responsibly within our liberties.

As a Christian minister, I know something about what it means for a woman to step “out of her place.” Countless women have been socialized to accept our culture’s definition of what is appropriate. Like fish in water, too many women are content to stay where they are instead of doing the hard work of defining our lives for ourselves; of evolving and becoming the whole, holistic human being God has created us to be.

I am a preacher and am well aware I may be preaching to the choir, but as I have been doing voter registration in my East Texas county recently, I have met too many women who have never voted and do not plan to. Voting is just one way women can find our voice and speak our mind. Voting is one vital way women can grow up and live into our responsibilities as equal citizens. So if you know any women who need to be encouraged to get involved, please speak up. Tell the story again of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul.

 Tell your own story: why you care and why you vote.

Because I am a Christian, I believe God created all humans with equal worth - therefore I choose to vote for Democrats because they more often than not share my vision of an equitable America.

Because I am a Christian, I believe God calls each human to step up to our lives and work for “liberty and justice for all” - therefore I choose to work for liberal political solutions to the many inequities that still plague this land that I love.

Because I am a woman, I believe I have something unique and precious to offer to the larger American conversation – therefore I choose to grow up and grow into the privilege of living as a responsible American.

Because I am my mothers’ daughter, I will stand on their shoulders and honor their legacy and live into the self-evident truth that “ALL women and men are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights…”

If we women would vote our values, advocate for just and equitable policies, canvas for candidates who share our values and take our turn leading in government at every level, we could – like the women who have gone before us - change the course of American history.

Rachel Weeping for Her Children

Another young Black person shot down. How can this keep happening? I ask myself. Will we never understand how precious our children are? That every child we damage damages our own future?

I wonder if that is not part of the madness. I wonder if some people actually fear a future where everyone is equally accepted and equally valued. It seems incomprehensible that such a vision might unconsciously be motivating humanity’s violence against our children.  But I can’t help but wonder.

In the ancient biblical story, the Pharaoh of Egypt ordered that all the male children of the Israelite people should be murdered at the moment they were born; Pharaoh didn’t want anymore of “those kinds” of people in his kingdom. The Gospel of Matthew tells another story about King Herod sending soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the male children of the Israelite villagers. Throughout the human story, this violence is repeated again and again. Within the American story, all too often it has been our children who have borne the brunt of our national sins. When reflecting on some of these horrors, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and the New Testament theologian Matthew both borrowed the image of their ancestor Rachel: “wailing with loud lamentation, weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.” How can this keep happening? I ask myself.

Losing our children is much more than even the heart breaking, gut wrenching loss of any one of these unique and precious individuals; it is also the loss of a future. For most of us, our children give us hope for the future. But for others – I wonder – is their vision of the future so clouded with fear that they may see the Michael Browns as some sort of threat to their entrenched systems of power? Of course none of us knows the whole story of what happened the day Michael Brown was killed, but we do know this: he was shot while he was unarmed; he was shot at least six times; he was shot by a police officer. In the collective consciousness of the establishment, do the Michael Browns conjure fear because they represent “too many of those kind of people” in this American “kingdom”?

As a Christian minister, I see both fear and hope everywhere I turn and I recognize this is nothing new. Herod sent the soldiers to Bethlehem because he feared the child Jesus was a threat to his power. And he was right: his power was at risk. The “kingdom” God is bringing into being does threaten the power of all the kings and pharoahs among us. When the reign of peace, justice and respect gains more ground in the attitudes and actions of more and more people, then the status quo of oppression, intimidation and inequity must lose ground. The status quo IS changing. And I say “Thank God.”

I firmly believe that God is birthing into our midst a new multivalent rainbow community that will finally end the power of white, male, straight privilege. I believe God’s upside down power of grace and love will finally bring about a future of hope where every life matters, where each one is valued for who they are, where all our children are able to grow up to become the people God created them to be. This kind of vision for the future gives many of us great hope.

But for others this vision fosters great fear. When fear and prejudice is given a gun, it’s not just our children who are in danger; it’s all of us. But when this kind of fear is given both a gun and a badge then – yes - it is high time for prophetic challenge and peaceful protest. Each of us individually and all of us together must raise our voice and stand with our hands in the air – open, vulnerable and powerful in the upside down way of God’s life-changing power.

And so in the meantime, while we watch and wait for the vision to become reality, things continue to be painful, messy and chaotic. Maybe one reason why is because the oil and water of fear and hope continue to keep us fragmented - both within our society and within each of us. Maybe because we are all at the same time good and bad, light and dark, hopeful and fearful.

We are Rachel, weeping for our children. And let us remember that all these children are all our children.

We are Rachel in labor, yearning in travail for a future with hope. Maybe as we seek Rachel’s comfort even in the midst of this chaos, we can find ways to let go of the fear, lean into the vision, and help our nation hold onto the hope.

Then She Said: "I’ll Vote for Jesus"

I’ve been doing voter registration in my small East Texas county and it has been fascinating to meet so many different people and to hear just a snatch of their stories. A few people would vote for Texas to secede from the United States; several wouldn’t dare vote for any of the “puppets” running for any kind of office; quite a few women lean forward to listen more closely when I tell them that some strong smart women are running for Texas’ top positions. My favorites are the people who look down at their feet and tell me they can’t vote because they have a felony conviction in their past. I get to ask them: “Are you off paper? Have you finished your parole and probation? Then you ARE eligible to vote!” You should see the expressions on their faces. Sometimes it’s the people who have lost their right to vote who most appreciate its privilege and are willing to once again step up to its responsibility.

But I have to admit I was taken back a bit when one woman looked me in the eye and said: “I’ll vote for Jesus.” In her mind, Jesus is the only one who can fix the mess we humans have made. In her thinking, it is only when Jesus comes again that the world will be set right.

I am a Christian minister and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at her response. I’m a big fan of Jesus too; I think the world would be a much better place if more of us actually lived his values. But that doesn’t seem to be happening. Even when people who wear the name of Christ wield some control in houses of legislature and governor’s mansions, I don’t see too many ways that Jesus’ values get folded into our laws and policies. Certain types of “christian” values get a lot of public play these days, but it’s rare that Jesus’ deepest values actually influence the values of our society.

Feed the hungry. 

Welcome the stranger. 

Care for the orphans and widows. 

Treat others the way you want to be treated. 

Private charity is a good and necessary thing in every society, but in America many of our current laws that reflect these values have been hard fought and often accomplished over the protests of some of the very people who wear the name of the Christ; the Christ who taught and lived these most basic values of  “loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.” The way I read my Bible, Jesus saved his harshest critique not for the government, but rather for the people who perverted religion into a self-centered, self-serving enterprise. If a person’s religion doesn’t feed the hungry and welcome the stranger, then it’s not the same faith Jesus practiced. If a person’s religion doesn’t move them to seek systemic solutions to hunger, illness and exclusion then it’s not the kind of faith I care to practice.

I am a Christian minister and I am also a Democrat because, for me, Democrats best express the values I understand to be Christian. Some of my Republican friends don’t get this. Some of my Democrat friends won’t see it this way. Some of my Christian friends disagree, but this is what works for me. Advocating for public policies that truly serve the common good and embody the values of “liberty and justice for all” is one way I can live out my faith in appropriate ways within my society. A recent encouragement came across my Facebook news feed from the Red Letter Christians: “Heal the Sick. Feed the Hungry. And when you learn what is making them sick and hungry, interrupt it in Jesus’ name.” Good plan.

Jesus is not running for office so there is no way my new friend can “vote for Jesus.” And there is no one here who can fix this mess except those of us who have created it. So in the meantime, the Jesus people among us can vote for people who are committed to the same values Jesus taught and lived. We can vote for movements that invite us to join in and help improve the lives of all our neighbors. We can vote our values. We can vote. And we must. Each of us individually, all of us together do something important and vital when we vote our values of equity, honesty and compassion.

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