I have been invited to speak at the Round Rock No Kings Rally this Saturday. I said yes, and will be speaking about 11:25.
I occasionally get questions about my involvement or Live Oak’s involvement with social justice rallies which are often seen as political in nature. So let me explain.
First, in terms of me personally, becoming a minister did not strip me of my First Amendment right to free speech. As an individual, I am free to work on political campaigns, express my political views, etc. It is in the office of minister that I must be more careful, something that wholeheartedly I agree with. I cannot, for example, tell you from the pulpit whom you must vote for.
But both this congregation and I are free to be activists for our religious values. One of those values is democracy. The use of the democratic process is named in the fifth of our historical principles: “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.” This is deeply theological for us. Unitarians and Universalists since the beginning of both religious movements affirmed the equality of all people. Out of that affirmation is support for governance in which every adult person has one vote to “spend” as their conscience dictates. And so you will often find Unitarian Universalist individuals and congregations working against voter suppression, supporting voter education, and protesting actions that are not in line with democratic behavior.
What is happening right now in our country is alarming and should be considered nonpartisan by all those who support democracy. Three independent reports this week downgraded the status of the United States as a democratic nation.
The framers of the US Constitution created, in the words of Heather Cox Richardson, “an elegant system of paths and tripwires to make sure a strong government could not become a dictatorship.” But this requires there to be co-equal branches that are more committed to the health of the democracy than loyalty to party. Sadly, it is my belief that we are not seeing that commitment today.
In 1966, Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, urging us, “Don’t sleep through the revolution.”
We must not sleep through this revolution we find ourselves in, telling ourselves that we’ll get involved once all this mess is cleaned up.
That day may not come.
For More Information:
Support Democracy This Election Season – What You Need to Know About Religious Political Activism