Thank you, Bishop Budde

 

I always enjoyed teaching civics. Because of its relevance you can really get students thinking, and when they are engaged and thinking learning takes place. We may all feel exhausted by today’s politics, but rarely are we bored. Today’s craziness makes teaching civics all the more fun. You can use the crazy to engage your students, and then begin to help them think for themselves on the issues. 

Sometimes, in our polarized world, all of us can begin to feel apathy – what difference does it make? This is especially true for students. I tried to help them see that the polarization makes it all the more important we speak our mind and cast our votes. A handful of votes, in today’s environment, do make a difference. As a teacher I couldn’t speak for a particular candidate or party, but rather I educated and encouraged students to ask questions, participate, and vote for whom they believed could make a difference

It’s fun to get students excited about their role in our democracy. But there is also the backlash when they get behind a candidate and that candidate loses. Or they put all their trust in someone and end up being disappointed. It’s hard to re-energize our civic duty after such a blow. This is especially true of our youngest voters. They are still so very idealistic, and when those ideals fail them, it can be devastating.

I think a lot of people choosing to vote for Donald Trump have had those crushing experiences. They put their trust in politicians who misused that trust and disillusioned their once idealistic opinion of what the government could do. Along comes a non-politician, who, like them, wants to stick it to the politicians who failed them. Here is the people’s candidate, wanting to make America more like their ideal.

Though understandable, the problems with this thinking are multi-layered and complex. For one thing, America has never been ideal.  There have always been groups of people who have not found the American dream and feel our country has been anything but great. There is no “great again” if you’ve never experienced great.  Our issues of immigration, race, poverty and gender all underscore people who are looking for a sustainable lifestyle, better than they currently have – even if it’s not great now. They are just asking for better.

Is Donald Trump the answer to their hopes and dreams? Certainly not for the immigrant trying to get into American to find a better life. Trump would like to close that door. When he speaks of immigrants he paints them all as criminals, mentally ill and somehow defective and dangerous. Certainly there are examples of this within the groups seeking to enter the country. But, there are just as many dangerous people who are citizens of this country. Most people seeking a better life in America are people just like you and me. People who have families they would like to clothe and feed and shelter. People come to America because they already see America as great, or at least a whole lot better than where they come from. They are not seeking asylum here to cause trouble. They are seeking to make a life for themselves, a bit of the American Dream.

And when we continually hear all immigrants being painted as criminals, we begin to look around us at all people who are different. It’s as if all this negative, disparaging talk about immigrants has spread to cover anyone who is not like us. Racism and bigotry has been running rampant throughout our country. I am not so naïve as to think this is a new problem. We’ve always had racism, but the rhetoric has ramped up over the last 8 years. And negative rhetoric has led to negative behavior.

This week at an inauguration prayer gathering at the National Cathedral, Bishop Budde shared her hopes and prayers for a little less of this rhetoric. She asked that we, President and Vice President included, remember that migrants are people too. They are people who come here and work hard at jobs none of us want, so we can literally enjoy the fruit of their labor. The majority of these people are not dangerous or criminal. Could we not show mercy towards these people and be kind and honoring to these fellow human beings? 

And the LGBTQ+ community who are living in fear of unknown and threatened legislation that tears at their way of life, can we not show mercy and be kind and honoring to them as well? These are also human beings, deserving the respect all humans desire. They just want to live their lives, support their families, raise their children and love their partners. They are no threat to any of us, and yet they are being threatened.

Bishop Budde has been criticized for “politicizing” her sermon. She wasn’t telling us who to support in a political race. She was asking for kindness and compassion for people who are being targeted. Maybe even asking that they not be targeted at all, but that was subtext. She was reminding us that these targeted people are God’s creatures, made in His image. We are to love one another, not persecute. We are to show mercy. That’s not politics; it’s not even civics, it’s Christianity 101.

I once had a parent ask me if I taught “Christian Civics”.  I wondered what that is, and how is it different from regular civics?  I realize he was asking how I spin civics. Do I assert my political beliefs into class and onto my students?  I tried very hard not to, and mostly succeeded in keeping my personal views private. As a Christian, however, I try to place the same value on human beings that Jesus did, so giving even the people I disagree with dignity and respect was very important to me. I felt a responsibility to teach and encourage my students to show respect and dignity even when they disagreed, to be kind and accepting of the other person even if you hated their ideas. I believe that is both an American and a Christian tenant, I can disagree with you and not have to kill you.  Tolerance, acceptance, kindness, respect, and yes, mercy.

Thank you, Bishop Budde for speaking out this week. You gave us all a great example of speaking truth in the face of power, but doing so with kindness and respect, only asking the same of our most disenfranchised people. That is a living example of Christianity in action that makes me proud to share her faith.