"Faith and Freedom"

A couple of shaky days after the September 11 terrorist attacks last year, I decided that it was time to get back to the gym. I really needed the comfort of my workout routine. So I pulled up to the entrance of the large office complex where my gym is located. A security guard stopped my car before I could enter the garage. He asked me to produce my driver¹s license and to open my trunk. After inspecting my license and my car, he gave me permission to enter.

It was one more reminder of how much everything had changed. But it was also much more than that. I readily consented to the inspection and the search, assuming that they were intended to protect me. For I was frightened. Any extra security was a welcome addition to the world in which I was suddenly living. Now over a year later, the security guards are gone. Evidently the Water Garden is no longer at risk. It had become more difficult to believe that the perfunctory inspections made any difference. Most of the time, someone cheerily waved me on after peeking into my trunk, not bothering with the license anymore. Now we¹re on our own again.

I am one of those meek, sheep-like citizens who accepts these intrusions without much question. Whether it's the Water Garden or the airport, I have nothing to hide and plenty to fear. I don¹t like to make a scene. And I am more respectful of authority than most Unitarian Universalists I know.

And yet, I am shocked by what has happened to our society in this short span of time. Distracted by fear and alerted to risk, we have readily handed over freedom in the vague hope that what we will get in return is security. Though many of us have experienced only small intrusions and inconveniences, they have given us a taste of what others ­ especially non-citizens, immigrants and Muslims ­ now suffer.

American citizens cannot afford to say that this is not our problem. Just as the children's story illustrated, small problems eventually become big ones. And even if it remains a small problem for us, it has already become a huge problem for others and for everything our Bill of Rights tells us our freedom should be.

As people belonging to a faith community, we have a particular responsibility to understand and preserve civil liberties. It might not seem so at first. Many of us may assume that this is yet another unwelcome and highly charged political issue threatening to divide us.

We have plenty of company in that position. Most other faith groups have had little to say so far. According to the progressive religious journal Christian Century, "mainline Protestant and Catholic leaders appear relatively quiet on what secular civil libertarians and American Muslim activists call a perilous erosion of U.S. rights and privacy." Yet people of faith should bring theological inquiry and reflection to life and the issues of the day. One risk of remaining silent is that if people of faith have nothing to say, then politicians will decide for us what is good and what is evil, which nation God blesses and which God punishes.

We Unitarian Universalists have compelling reasons to be concerned with civil liberties. They are rooted in our history and our values. And they are connected to the foundation of our country. John Quincy Adams, an American president and a Unitarian, once wrote that "civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right to religious freedom." Civil liberties and religious freedom are intertwined. Always.

It wasn't always so, and especially not for us. Early Unitarians ­ brave and thoughtful Christians who questioned the divinity of Jesus and affirmed the unity of God ­ faced persecution and death for their unconventional stance. A sixteenth century Spanish Catholic, Michael Servetus, was burned at the stake by Calvin because he rejected the doctrine of the trinity and the necessity of infant baptism. Such persecutions were commonplace in an environment that did not value religious freedom and tolerance. It took several Unitarian martyrs to give their lives for this principle before such enlightened countries as Holland gave refuge to their followers.

It could happen again: perhaps not to us, but to others, and this time, in our own country. Muslims in America today fear not only for their privacy but even for their lives. Some are in jail, even though no charges have been made against them.

As people of faith, we should be concerned about this development. For religious freedom does not mean much if the followers of one faith have less freedom than others. Religious freedom cannot be compartmentalized, extending some rights but abrogating others under the stress and the fear of what may happen next.

Our tradition affirms the value of religious tolerance ­ for all people. Roland Bainton, scholar of religion, observed that "civil liberties scarcely thrive where religious liberties are disregarded and the reverse is equally true. Beneath them all," he added, is a philosophy of liberty which assumes a measure of variety in human behavior, honors integrity, respects [human] dignity, and seeks to exemplify the compassion of God."

Another disturbing development for religious freedom concerns the government¹s interest in the faith people practice. Under new guidelines established in May, 2002, the FBI now has the authority to "monitor internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence that criminal activity is occurring." People of faith have more at stake in the preservation of civil liberties than we may realize.

Still, it is a daunting task to understand what has happened, even more to protest it. Fear is a powerful opinion shaper. It clouds the mind and compromises the spirit. Once fear takes hold, freedom is easy to relinquish. In an atmosphere of anxiety and distrust, we¹d gladly give up something to feel a little safer. We become less sensitive to the indignities that others must face as well.

Yet such tradeoffs belie everything we as a people of faith believe about humanity. Our religious tradition is grounded in trust and respect for others. It teaches us to put these values into practice every day of our lives. That doesn't mean it is always easy to do so. The path is not always clear. But we can seek the truth together. Especially in these times of fear and danger.

There is a need for trust in all our relations with one another, whether we are crossing the street or flying over the ocean. Clearly there is also a need for security, judiciously applied and respectfully carried out. How to find the right balance between trust and security is a question every one of us must ponder. It is fundamental to the meaning of how we are to live with one another.

As people of faith, our sense of relatedness is heightened by the experience of belonging to a community. We feel connected to all people whose lives are affected by the tragedies of our times. We have confidence in the democratic process and in the communal, though occasionally messy, activity of seeking the truth together. And whatever our faith may be, we are very careful where we place it.

Lawyer and social critic Wendy Kaminer has written a new book, just published by Beacon Press and titled Free For All: Defending Liberty in America Today. In it she offers this provocative opinion: "Blind faith in government, or the executive branch, at least, is nearly as dangerous as terrorism. It facilitates domestic repression and a disinclination to question the administration¹s diplomatic and military strategies." And she adds, "I suspect that a compliant public poses greater dangers than public engagement and dissent."

Where shall we place our faith: in the outward display of unity and control of public dialogue, or in our diverse humanity and the open search for truth? There is a choice to make. As people who belong to a free religious community, the choice is compelling and personal. Our faith is rooted in freedom ­ the freedom to seek, to doubt, and to grow without fear. We cannot do this without an open mind and a free society. We cannot do this unless others can do it too.

Civil liberties and religious freedom are the foundation of our faith tradition. Of this much we can be certain. However uncertain the territory ahead may be, we can always remember the values by which we live and hold our own faith.

And when people are divided, as we are in these difficult times, we can remember too that our faith always leads us back to our trust in humanity, our confidence in the work of community, and our vision of society, in which all people are safe and free.

References used to prepare this sermon include Free For All: Defending Liberty in America Today, by Wendy Kaminer (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002); "Civil Liberties," Final Study/Action Resource Guide (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2002; "Churches Quiet on Civil Liberty Issues," by John Dart, in Christian Century, January 25, 2002.