Monthly Archives: September 2009

Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics and a Public Option

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The source of the phrase “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,” is unknown although American author Mark Twain and British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, among others have been cited. Wikepedia has a nice entry on the phrase itself for anyone interested.  I think the phrase needs a revival, just in terms of its use as applied to discussions about health care reform.  No matter what one’s opinion on how to, or even if the country should reform our health care system, somewhere in their argument you most likely find statistics.  These statistics will be assumed to be false by people holding an opposite opinion, even if the statistics point to some truth that ought to be considered in our national discussion.

Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected not one, but two proposals by votes of 15-8 and 13-10 to put a Public Health Insurance Option into legislation under consideration. Their reasoning: a government run plan would pose too much of a threat and too much competition to the private sector.  Say what?

All I could think of was the phrase “Lies, Damn Lies…” and this cartoon:

publicoptioncartoon

The claim that a public health insurance option will ruin private insurance is bogus.  It’s a smoke screen and a straight out lie to allow for-profit insurance companies to keep a monopoly on an industry that is completely broken and puts profit above people’s needs.  The people who would most benefit from a public insurance option are people least likely to vote and show up at town hall type meetings, because they are too busy working to keep a roof over their heads and so resigned to a government and a society that won’t help them and doesn’t care about them that they don’t spend what little time they do have to themselves fighting corporations such as health insurance companies.

Take note of this report on NPR (a public media outlet that hasn’t put private media out of business):

Of the 100 congressional districts with the highest percentage rates of uninsured people, 53 are represented either by Republican lawmakers who are fighting the overhaul, or by conservative Blue Dog Democrats who have slowed down and diluted the overhaul proposals.

One leader of the Blue Dog effort is Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, the coalition’s chief health care negotiator. His 4th Congressional District covers southern Arkansas, a rural area with a high poverty rate. In his district, more than one out of five residents under age 65 lacks health insurance. That’s 30 percent higher than the national average.

Health care proposals from the White House and House Democratic leaders aim to help the uninsured in several ways. One possibility is a “public option” — that is, a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. It would be financially self-sustaining, while giving the uninsured a low-priced alternative to the private companies, and shaking up the near-monopoly that insurance companies enjoy in places like rural Arkansas.

But in June, Ross and the Blue Dog Coalition held up the House bill for two weeks. They wanted the measure to promote co-ops instead of a public option, an approach that more liberal lawmakers dismiss as unworkable.

In his public appearances, Ross speaks passionately about the need for a health care overhaul. Last month, he told a town hall meeting in Arkadelphia, Ark., “I was negotiating 10 hours a day with everybody from the president to the speaker to the majority leader to the chairman of the committee. I wasn’t negotiating to kill the bill. I was negotiating to give us the kind of common sense health care reform that we need and that reflects Arkansas values.”

The meeting was a chance for Ross’ constituents to be heard. It ran well over the two-hour time limit, but mostly, there was only the familiar bickering about illegal immigrants and the role of government. Just three people without insurance asked questions.

“Many of those individuals who would need a public health care option are those who are not likely to be able to take two hours out of their day to go to a public event like that town hall,” says Kevin Motl, a history professor at Ouachita Baptist University who attended the meeting. “They were too busy earning hourly wages and trying to keep roofs above their children’s heads. Those voices are not going to be present in that discourse.”

Why has the Sunflower Chalice turned into a blog on health care reform lately? A couple of reasons: A week doesn’t go by that I don’t hear another story about how our health care system is failing someone I know personally, causing  physical and financial hardship, not to mention the emotional and spiritual cost that I sometimes know about and sometimes don’t know about.  This doesn’t even take into account what I deal with as a minister of a congregation.  Another reason is that, this year, as last, I am going to be spending time blogging about some matters of the spirit on another website, this one connected to a new adult lifespan religious education program in my congregation, as well as another spirituality blog about my experience in spiritual direction (that I am writing anonymously).

The Struggle Continues

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The struggle continues for reasonable, sane, affordable, health care for all citizens regardless of employment status, current health status, age or any other factor Americans and for-profit insurances companies can think of to discriminate among us.

The real victims of passing health care reform, especially a public option, national health plan?  Big Pharma and Insurance Companies. Will Ferrell and cast do a fantastic satire on Funny or Die.

I continue to speak out in favor of a public option to my Senator, John Cornyn, a man who seems to value everything I don’t.  I remember the days when Ted Kennedy was my Senator and, politically at least, it was like having myself as a senator. Now it’s like having my political opposite as a senator.  The things I value, based on my principles, in terms of human rights, health, education and social and public welfare, not to mention a host of other foreign and domestic policy issues seem to be represented in a photographic negative by my federal representatives, Mr. Cornyn, most of all.   Here’s Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and John Cornyn of Texas arguing about who will be allowed to be left out of reforms applied to the health insurance industry:

If you live in Texas (or even if you live elsewhere) and believe that the only alternative to health care reform that ultimately lacks a viable public option is the status quo, give Senator John Cornyn’s office a call

Senator John Cornyn
Phone: 202-224-2934

If you call, maybe you could pretend actually be the Public Option, a neat little idea, I picked up from a MoveOn.org email addressed to me in the voice of the Public Option:

Hi, I’m the public health insurance option.

People have been saying all sorts of untrue things about me lately, so I decided it was time to stand up and set the record straight.

First off: the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I’m happy and healthy. And I’m proud to play a starring role in four of the five health reform bills currently on the table.

Second: I have a lot of friends. President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi support me—as do 77% of the American people.1 In fact, I’m feeling pretty popular.

Senator you sit on the Senate Finance Committee, which is considering a “trigger” proposal that could kill me through indefinite delay.

A “trigger” that would make me wait to become available is just a trap designed to kill me. As Senator Charles Schumer has pointed out, “any reasonable criteria for triggering a public plan has already been met” because insurance companies have already failed to rein in costs and expand coverage.2

Here are some other things you might not know about me:

  • I like candlelit dinners, overseas travel, and long walks on the beach. Whoops, sorry—wrong email.
  • Some people say they don’t like me because I’m too expensive, but that’s just a flat-out lie. Keeping me around will actually save money—I’d cost 10% less than the typical private plan.3
  • I’m the best way to keep insurance companies honest. Like my friend Senator Jay Rockefeller has said, “Without the steady, positive influence of a public plan option in the marketplace, we will never truly solve the health care crisis in this country. Private health insurance has a long history of cutting people off or charging too much for too little.”4
  • Over 60 House progressives have publicly pledged to only vote for a bill that has me in it.5 So without me, health care reform doesn’t have enough votes make it through Congress.

1. “New Poll: 77 Percent Support ‘Choice’ Of Public Option,” The Huffington Post, August 20, 2009

2.“A ‘trigger’ for the public health insurance option? Already triggered.” NOW! Blog, May 20, 2009.

3. Letter to Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Congressional Budget Office, July 14, 2009

4. “Rockefeller Unveils Public Plan Option,” Office of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, June 10, 2009

5. “60 Members of Congress Say ‘No Public Plan, No Conference,’” Firedoglake, August 17, 2009

We Can’t Afford to Wait

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My thanks to my friend Mary (once again) at Tensegrities for pointing to this awesome video compiled by MoveOn.org with REM‘s You Are the Everything as soundtrack calling attention to the need for congress to ACT NOW to reform our broken health care system.

Check out the We Can’t Afford to Wait Vigils photos on flickr.

Check out the top 5 lies about health care reform and how to fight back.

After President Barack Obama’s address to congress last night, it’s imperative that everyone who supports real health care reform continue to contact their representatives and senators.

Find and contact your U.S. Representative here.

Find and contact your U. S. Senator here.

A Unitarian Universalism of Inclusion

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Unitarian Universalism prides itself on being tolerant and inclusive, but like most people and institutions the reality doesn’t live up to the vision.  Unitarian Universalsim talks big talk about being more multicultral and open to everyone, yet the reality is that Unitarian Universalism is a mostly white, mostly middle class, or even upper middle class religious movement, with its own set of values and its own culture.  Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt spoke to this in her response to this year’s Berry Street Lecture at the UU ministers’ professional days gathering before General Assembly in Salt Lake City.  She basically said the reason our congregations are not more racially diverse is that becoming more diverse means changing our UU culture and when it gets right down to it, we’re really uncomfortable with that.

The current UU World cover story, “The Gospel of Inclusion,” is a story I wish more people were familar with both inside and outside Unitarian Universalist circles.  The story of how African American Pentecostal Bishop Carlton Pearson discovered Universalism, lost his mega church ministry because he was too accepting in his theology, met Rev. Marlin Lavanhar and landed his Higher Dimensions (later called New Dimensions) ministry at All Souls Unitarian Church in  Tulsa, where Pearson and what’s left of his congregation are now members holds many lessons.

The first lesson is that of Universalism.  It’s a grand lesson to revisit for Unitarian Universalists and a great idea for non-UU’s to be introduced to for the first time.  A loving God doesn’t send people to hell. Forever. Doesn’t make sense. It isn’t reasonable.

The second is the point made by Rev. McNatt at the Berry Street Lecture (and I paraphrase): UU Culture is keeping us from being multicultural.  From the UU World article, All Souls Tulsa before the influx of New Dimensions members:

The only problem: Everybody at this liberal church, with its hearty mix of humanists and theists, was really, really white. There were one or two brave souls of color, a few multiracial adoptive families, and periodically visitors who liked the message and the values but, after a few visits, said, “I’m just not sure my family is going to feel comfortable here.” All Souls just couldn’t seem to reach that critical mass of racial diversity.

In the spring of 2008 an opinion survey asked members what change they’d most like to see in the church. More than 90 percent said they wanted the church to be more diverse and multicultural, but there was no real plan to make it happen.

Here’s the reaction, according to the article, after the 11:30 a.m. Sunday service (the second of two services every Sunday) at All Souls incorporated the New Dimensions praise choir and band, and African American worship style, including a woman who welcomes people to worship with “Welcome to All Souls, the friendliest, trendiest, most radically inclusive church experience in Tulsa.” :

“The only hard thing for me is having the drum set and the God music,” says Julie Skye, an eleven-year All Souls member. “But I just change the words: I love the earth, the garden. There couldn’t be cooler people joining the church. But there’s something about the drums I just don’t like.”

But Brigid Kelley, a mother of six who grew up in the church and now teaches in the religious education program, thinks it’s great: “With all us young people, we need the power of the beat to bring us back to the energy of the earth. All this inclusion, I love it. We can’t be like a rock over here. We need to soften up, let some new ideas in.”

Lavanhar acknowledges that a portion of the congregation, mostly long-term members who are uncomfortable with the overtly theistic language of the music, may never embrace the new musical style at the 11 o’clock service. About seven people have told the board they are reducing or withdrawing their pledges because of the changes, he reports. And some people have stopped coming.

At the same time, about 125 new members have joined since last September, mostly younger people intrigued by the second service, and about one-quarter are people of color. Neighbors are complaining about a 17 percent increase in Sunday morning traffic over the past year, and the church has added two additional lots, because of all the visitors checking out All Souls.

Over the year, All Souls has fine-tuned the praise music: putting a sound-buffering tube on the drum set, working more UU songs into the praise mix, and paying attention to the God language.

At one point, Lavanhar mentioned to new associate music director Smith, “You know, the word Lord is going to be a little hard here.”

Smith looked puzzled. “You guys are so funny.” After all, services often start with “This is indeed a day which God has made” and end with a musical benediction, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” The congregation sang “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” out of the hymnal on Easter. The church’s statement of purpose, printed in the order of service each week, references “love of God” and “the essential gospel of Jesus.”

Another lesson I see reinforced in the All Souls/New Dimensions story is the importance of covenant over creed as the basis for forming religious communities.  When religious communities are formed on the basis of what people must agree to believe, it easy to damn others, to hell or otherwise, and set your group up as the holy righteous.  When communities are formed on the basis of right relationship and how they will treat each other and behave toward each other, and how they will restore relationship when and if broken, it is possible to disagree on matters of the spirit without being disagreeable.   This comes to light in the stories of real pain that surfaced for some people at All Souls when their UU church started looking like and feeling like a Christian church from their past that they left behind for the safety of Unitarian Universalism.

But behind the apparent contradiction, he discovered, was a very real pain and an opportunity for spiritual growth. Since last September, every week, a steady stream of men and women have come to talk with him about being abused—emotionally, sexually, or spiritually—as children in a Christian church. When they heard praise music sung, and saw the upraised hands, the trauma was reignited.

Over and over, he has heard his members say, “I came to All Souls to get away from all that.”

Each time he asks: What is the “that”?

“In most cases,” Lavanhar wrote in a recent issue of the church newsletter Simple Gifts, “people tell me it was authoritarian leadership, the dogma, the anti-intellectualism, the superstitious and magical thinking, the way women were treated, the homophobia, the guilt, the shame, the judgmentalism, the proselytizing, and the sense that their community was especially privileged with righteousness and truth, and the way that other traditions and ways of thinking were demonized. None of which, I point out, has been brought into All Souls.”

Unitarian Universalist churches do not have a test of belief. There is no creed, but a covenant, a way we behave toward one another.

“There is an African American experience of God,” Lavanhar has challenged members, “that has been molded and shaped by slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, and persistent racism. Many have an experience of God that involves Jesus. They don’t say it’s the only way. If we can’t accept that experience in our church, then we’re not living by what we say.

“Our history is filled with people rejected for their religious beliefs. That is something we share with them. We’re on this ship together. It’s full of excitement and possibility and also danger and risk. By living out our covenant and statement of purpose, it has forced us to change. It’s not forsaking Unitarian Universalism. It’s being Unitarian Universalist.”

There are many are lessons in this story including the every present, insidious, shape changing beast of racism, the can’t-be-overstated importance of being a welcoming congregation, and need to always, always practice radical hospitality.

No religious tradition  is perfect.  And yet, I am uplifted once again, and have hope again for the future of what Unitarian Universalism can be as I read about this story again.  This is a photograph of us in our Sunday best, a look at us being our best selves, and yet it’s so wonderful because it’s not air-brushed.

Listen to Heretics, an episode of the NPR program This American Life featuring Carlton Pearson.

Guess Who’s Coming to Worship General Assembly 2009 event with Marlin Lavanhar and Carlton Pearson.

All Souls Unitarian Church, Tulsa, OK

The Sex Act of the Soul

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Well, the title of this post grabbed your attention.  Good. Thomas Moore calls conversation “the sex act of the soul.”  This is a conversation where:

each participant plumbs more of their depth. Often, an insight will pop out seemingly from nowhere, to the amazement of the speaker. It is like hitting a vein of pure water that was unknown or hidden, which brings vitality to everyone in the vicinity.

It’s a holy conversation. I will have such a conversation with Rev. Chuck Freeman on Soul Talk Radio this Thursday, September 10 at 2:25 p.m. Central Time (that’s 3:25 Eastern time and on your lunch hour at 12:25 on the west coast).  We’ll be talking health care reform and the response of liberal people of faith. I’m going to bring up my idea that the response of the entire country in general has been like that of an anxious congregation when faced with any major change in their congregational life: But that’s not how we do it around here (cue major anxiety wave).

Listen in to Soul Talk radio’s podcast here: http://www.soultalkradio.com/soultalkradio.xml

While you’re waiting for Chuck and I to converse, listen to The MAN, Bill Moyers, give some sage advice to the President on how to rescue Medicare for all and the public option:


Soul Deepening

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I’m really excited about a new program I will be facilitating at my congregation this year. Wellspring at Pathways is a “Soul Deepening Experience for Unitarian Universalists.”  Wellspring began at First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY with Rev. Jen Crow. Pathways is one of two pilot congregations for Wellspring as this adult lifespan curriculum grounded in UU spirituality, theology, history, and small group practice moves out from the congregation of its genesis.  The other pilot congregation is First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, IA.

First Rochester Unitarian received a grant from the Lay Theological Grants program through Association Sunday to help fund this expansion of Wellspring. You can read about this on their blog. Wellspring information including the program outline, curriculum and study guide is available from First Rochester here. The same basic information, slightly adapted for our congregation is available on our Pathways Wellspring site.

One of my favorite aspects of Wellspring is that it asks UU’s to engage the practice of spiritual direction. It’s been a number of years, maybe ten, since I’ve been in formal spiritual direction and I began again a number of months ago in preparation to facilitate one of our two Wellspring groups. I’m looking forward to this like no other church program or class I’ve yet taught, led or facilitated.

I hope more our congregations will explore Wellspring.