wfn.org | FaithfulAmerica: a 'faithful' State of the Union Address

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Interfaith Organization Releases 'Faithful' State Of The Union Address

Washington, January 27, 2006 -- FaithfulAmerica.org, a Washington D.C.
interfaith advocacy organization, today released its "Faithful State Of The
Union Address" in anticipation of President Bush's address to be delivered
next week. The address offers an assessment of the nation's priorities
through the lens of faith, conscience, and moral values.

"We want to get past the political posturing, party rhetoric, and examine the
state of our union in light of our most enduring religious traditions," said
Vince Isner, the program's director.   "It's going to inspire some people and
anger others -- we're not mincing words here -- but our hope is that people
of faith and conscience will begin talking seriously about their role in
shaping a more perfect union."	

Using a passage from the Hebrew prophet Micah, the address reflects on how
the United States is "doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly," and
offers views on the federal budget, torture, the war in Iraq, and the courts.
 

The address was released in both print and podcast.  Both may be found at
http://www.faithfulamerica.org.   

FaithfulAmerica.org is an interfaith program of the National Council of
Churches of Christ, USA.  The Faithful State of the Union Address is not an
official statement of the Council.

The text of the "Faithful" State of the Union Message follows:

In little more than two centuries the United States of America has grown from
a band of fledgling colonies to one of the grandest nations in the history of
the world. 

Much has been said of the wisdom that has guided this great nation across the
centuries; the wisdom of its founders, its constitution, and, at a few
pivotal times, it's elected leaders. 

Yet thousands of years before there was a United States of America, the
Hebrew Prophet Micah proclaimed in just a few words what would be a moral
standard for persons of faith and the nations they build. He declared, "What
does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly
with your God?" 

In light of these words, the state of our Union is troubled indeed. As
persons of faith and conscience we hold ourselves to a standard that measures
more than our economic wealth and military might. We recognize that we are
more than consumers, voters in red or blue states, taxpayers, polling
numbers, demographics, target markets and all the rest. As human beings
living together on this planet we know that we are, as the Judeo-Christian
tradition reminds us -- our brother's and our sister's keepers. We are, as
Native American Tradition teaches, guests of this planet ? not its owners. We
are, as Jesus taught us, the "light of the world." 

We are also the living agents of Micah's prophetic call. So let us examine
just how we are doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly. 

JUSTICE: 

Inscribed in the East pediment of the Supreme Court -- the side few people
see -- are these words: "Justice the guardian of liberty." Two things are
significant about that. 

One, it does NOT say, "Justice, the guardian of liberty for some" but rather
implies liberty for ALL. 

Two, the inscription appears on the East side -- the back door, as it were,
of the Supreme Court. 

Few of us would dare approach the Supreme Court and openly declare, "My views
are better, truer, and more important, than theirs and therefore you should
interpret the law in light of me." 

That is why special interests choose the BACK door when trying to influence
the courts. Recently some well-funded and organized Christian fundamentalist
groups have used massive media events to help load the open seats on the
Supreme Court with ultra-conservative judges sympathetic to their
fundamentalist agenda. They even said that those who disagree with them are
"against people of faith." 

People of faith in the United States of America do not march lock step to the
drums of Christian fundamentalism, and we must resist the claims of those who
claim to speak for people of faith and conscience everywhere. 

It is an arrogant dinner guest who seizes the conversation and shouts his
proclamation so loudly that nobody else can speak. That is why all who love
their faith and their country must work to insure that everyone has a voice
around the national table. It is only through dialogue, the free expression
of ideas, and respect for all points of view can justice reach its full
height. That is part of what it means to DO justice. 

Yet justice extends far beyond the courts. Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." 

The world has been shocked and outraged by the revelation that the U.S. has
engaged, and perhaps continues to engage in torture of its detainees. Many
are being held without charge and without access to legal representation. The
United States embroiled in a torture scandal? It would have seemed
unthinkable a few years ago. Yet using 9/11, the White House has tragically
adopted a policy that bears little resemblance to the example of Christ. 

The President has said, "we do not do torture," but he opposed a bipartisan
anti-torture bill in Congress. When Congress passed the measure, the
President signed it, but added a so-called "signing statement" -- a
disclaimer of sorts, reserving the right to interpret the law as he sees fit.
In short, the President has declared himself above the law in matters of
torture. Such action not only dishonors our nation's commitment to the rule
of law, but also imperils our hard-fought reputation around the world as
guardians of human rights. 

Allegations of secret U.S. prisons, denying detainees due process, charges
that the U.S. is "outsourcing" its torture to other nations, and the
President's unapologetic seize of privacy rights by ordering electronic
eavesdropping without Congressional approval, all signal a tragic sacrifice
of our nation's most cherished moral values upon the altar of arrogant self
interest. 

An Arab proverb states that arrogance diminishes wisdom. 

MERCY 

After a lifetime of living in the public eye, a revered television
personality remarked, "The longer I live the more I realize that the true
drama of life is not in the spotlight but in the wings. The acts of kindness
that go unnoticed by the cameras are perhaps the most important dramas we
will ever see." 

Looking at the earth from space, only a degree or two separates shadow from
light. In the same way, comfort and misery are often just a few degrees
apart. For most Americans, a chilled room can be made toasty with just a
touch of a button -- a few degrees is all it takes. At 98.6 degrees our
bodies thrive, laugh, love -- we live. A few degrees colder, hypothermia sets
in, and we die. A few degrees warmer -- fever overtakes us, and we die. 

It is no less true of our political climate. Congress' cruel and reckless
decision to cut billions from aid programs may seem like a small shift in a
massive budget, but that tiny shift is critical to those already on life's
margins. The consequences will be real -- in the form of more children frozen
into lives of poverty, young people succumbing to the fever of despair,
unable to afford an education. More and more seniors, many already living
below the poverty line, will suffer and die for lack of medical care. 

Budgets are moral documents. We may speak of compassion, but in the final
analysis, the truest measure of our government's political will is made clear
every time our government completes the sentence: "Pay to the order of . . ."

If we say we care about the hungry but feast on corporate greed -- if we say
we love peace but kneel at the altar of an out-of-control war machine -- if
we say we cherish our children but steal their very futures through our own
reckless spending -- then all the excuses in the world cannot mask our true
intentions. 

Economic growth is important, but it isn't everything. Robert F. Kennedy once
said: 

"The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children,
the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include
the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence
of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures
neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither
our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in
short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything
about America except why we are proud that we are Americans." 

On February 1, the Senate will have one final chance to vote on what has been
called one of the most immoral budgets in American History. If it passes,
millions will suffer needlessly. If it fails, we will be given another chance
to speak on behalf of all Americans -- not just the wealthiest few. 

As lobbyists for hundreds of special interests huddle outside the Senate
Chamber wringing their hands and licking their chops over the billions they
stand to gain either for themselves or for those whom they represent, who
will stand in the chamber and speak for the poor, the young, the ill, and the
elderly of this nation? Who will remember them? 

We dare not forget that mercy and misery are only degrees apart. Thus far,
Congress and the President have chosen misery over mercy. Let us hope that on
February 1, the Senate has the courage to honor their sacred call to love
mercy -- and to act likewise. 

Whether the need is to fix our nation's healthcare nightmare, lift the
long-overdue minimum wage, or tear out the deep and destructive roots of
economic inequality as revealed in the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, our mandate
must be mercy on a massive scale. Not the bone-throwing, dignity destroying,
cheap feel-good handout kind of mercy, but systemic, bold, committed, and
faithful acts of courage worthy of our call as our brothers' and sisters'
keepers. If we fail to eradicate hunger in our nation, provide quality
healthcare for all, grant every working American a living wage, and enable
everyone to obtain a quality education -- and do it with committed hearts --
then all our proclamations are hollow. 

At a gathering of political contributors President Bush had this to say to
his audience: 

"This is an impressive crowd: the have's and have-more's. Some people call
you the elites. I call you my base." 

At another gathering on a hillside in Galilee, Jesus had this to say to his
audience: 

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

WALK HUMBLY 

We are a nation at war. Ordinarily it is a time in our national life to come
together around the effort to secure a victory and celebrate the rightness of
our cause. 

This is not such a time. 

We are a nation at war, but our leaders have committed a grave error, for
this war is of our own making. The Iraq war is unjust, unnecessary, and
immoral. Nearly 2,300 U.S. soldiers have died in faithful service to their
nation, but it did not have to be. More than 16,000 brave men and women have
been maimed or wounded in service to their country. But it did not have to
be. An estimated 30,000 Iraqi innocents -- women, children, elderly -- have
been killed in the crossfire. But it did not have to be. 

The Iraq war was not launched as an act of regrettable last resort but as an
arrogant first strike -- fueled by misinformation and perpetuated by fear.
Now, nearly three years into the bloodshed, even terrorists laud the war for
being the most successful terrorist recruiting campaign ever. Most of the
world agrees. 

Throughout history our greatest spiritual teachers -- from Jeremiah to Jesus
-- from Lao-Tzu to Gandhi -- have shown us that military might is no match
for moral integrity. It is also true, as this war has shown, that all the
firepower on earth cannot atone for moral weakness. 

Napoleon once said that God was on the side of the country with the biggest
cannons. 

Napoleon was mistaken. 

Whenever leaders invoke the name of God to justify a particular war, it
speaks more of the leader than of God. For while many have used religion to
justify individual wars, can there truly be a moral justification for war as
a way of settling differences between members of the human family? 

The decisions we make matter to more than we who inhabit this world. They
affect the planet itself. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, our choices --
from our refusal to sign onto the UN Kyoto treaty to gutting environmental
standards for power plants -- are killing the earth. Even as weather patterns
destabilize around the globe, glaciers melt, seas rise and winds blow
erratically, the Bush administration resolutely refuses to acknowledge U.S.
responsibility and take action to halt these dangerous patterns. Some
scientists believe it is already too late -- that the events we have set in
motion cannot be reversed in time to save our planet. 

Native American wisdom teaches us to us to walk lightly upon the earth -- so
that all we do may bless the earth and its inhabitants for seven generations.
The prophet Micah would agree. To walk humbly is to be in awe of creation. It
is to be in gratitude for its blessings. It is to act in lovingkindness for
the life it bestows and the miracles it sustains. 

And so we stand here --- today -- together -- to ask again, what is the
faithful state of our Union? Are we doing justice? Are we loving mercy? Are
we walking humbly? 

More importantly, can our faith stir our hearts to lift our eyes to a higher
standard, set our feet on a different path, engage our hands and our backs
and our minds and our spirits toward building a more perfect union? 

If we hope to save our nation from ruination, we must embrace the calling
that we share across religions and the span of human history. By turning
clenched fists into open hands we will see that in those hands are the keys
to a better world -- a world which we must help to save. 

No longer can we move non-chalantly through life as though our presence makes
no difference to others. Instead, we must move chalantly -- with humility
yes, but with purpose, courage, and grace: 

Protecting our souls as well as our shores. 

Opening our hearts as well as our minds. 

Rejecting arrogance while embracing understanding. 

Putting aside retribution while taking up love. 

Printed on our currency are the words "In God We Trust." Whether or not we
live up to that claim, we should also consider that God has placed in us
God's trust to care for each other. By virtue of our being alive together on
this planet we are entrusted and empowered to live out creation's most sacred
call -- to love one another.

CONTACT:
Vince Isner, Director
FaithfulAmerica.org
110 Maryland Avenue NE
Suite 108
Washington, DC 20002
202 544-2350 x206