But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!  Amos 5:24
 
 
A young Black man is brutally murdered by people ostensibly hired to protect him. Community and national leaders send their thoughts and prayers. Is that enough? Delving into why this unarmed 29-year-old skateboarding, Fed-Ex working, father of a 4-year-old was fatally beaten, kicked, and tasered by Memphis police officers is revealing.
 
I write this on the day after Tyre Nichols’ funeral and a week after body cam video of the horrific and senseless beating by police officers was released. I can’t imagine what his family, friends, and co-workers are experiencing right now and how their hearts must be broken.
 
Killings by police officers happen at least 1,000 times per year in the US. An average of three people per day are murdered by police. In 2022, of the 1,048 people killed by police, 313 were Black, 502 were white, 17 were Native Americans, and 216 were Hispanics. While there are more white people killed by police than Black people, the rate at which Black people are killed is more than double that of white people (37 per million Black people vs 15 per million white people). The race of the officers who instigate these killings makes no difference.
 
Almost half of all Americans believe that these are random events or that these statistics are the result of a handful of bad actors. While there are some police officers who genuinely care for the communities in which they serve, these murders are the direct result of a systemic problem: an institution that rewards militant warriors, that trains police officers to exert power and brute force, and that uses military-grade weapons from the US armed forces. These are not one-off killings. This is not the result of the victims’ crimes or missteps. This is a system of police brutality.
 
Police brutality impacts all of us, directly and indirectly by killing people and by draining public funds. With its roots in racism, the many implications today disproportionately affect non-white people.
 
What is police brutality, how did it start, and how has this system of policing evolved to the point where many Americans, including whites, no longer trust the police with their protection? Police brutality can be defined as deadly or excessive physical force that is unnecessary in providing safety.
 
To trace the roots of the modern-day police department, we have to go back in history to colonial America. In the North, as early as 1636, night watchmen patrolled communities to guard against gambling and prostitution. By 1838, port cities like Boston had outgrown the use of night watchmen and had established their own police departments as a way of protecting their cargo at the docks. By the late 1880’s, driven by the influx of European immigrants (often seen as threatening to the existing population), all major US cities in the North had police departments. The first large-scale use of police brutality occurred during various labor strikes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to “control” these workers. The police were not held accountable.
 
Meanwhile, in the South, police departments evolved differently. In 1704, white slaveholders in the Carolinas created the first slave patrols to ensure slaves did not revolt, to confiscate any weapons possessed by slaves, and to return runaway slaves to their masters. The use of brutal force was common and encouraged. After the 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, slave patrols morphed into militia-style groups to enforce Black Codes which were laws during Reconstruction that restricted former slaves' civil rights, such as the right to work and the right to vote. By the 1900’s, municipalities had created police departments to enforce Jim Crow laws that had replaced Black Codes. Civil rights protests in the 1960’s against inequality and Jim Crow laws were met with excessive force by police.
 
Throughout this long history, the institution of slavery, the fear of immigrants, and the protests for civil rights have been threaded together with police brutality into a fabric of systemic racism and social injustice. History shows us that whenever Black people assert their civil rights, they are met with police violence. When the psyches of white people are embedded with the notion that Black people need surveillance for suspicious activities and that white people need to police them, police brutality will continue. Perhaps hearts and minds need to change as well as systems.
 
Policing often emphasizes control rather than safety and police brutality dehumanizes Black and brown people by not seeing them as fully human or created in the image of God. Systemic racism and inequality must be addressed for police brutality to end and officers must be held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law. Until then, “law and order” is a travesty of justice.
 
We need programs that will uphold the dignity of all people while creating public safety and justice. Just as hospitals are not the only solution to public health, police are not the only solution to public safety. There are many possible solutions. Some have already been tried and proven to be beneficial to compliment, not compete, with police work.
 
Only about 1% of all 911 emergency calls are actually violent emergencies where police officers need to respond. Some solutions involve rerouting nonviolent emergencies to mental health workers to reduce the amount of time police officers spend dealing with problems they were never meant to solve. This approach saves lives as well as public funds.
 
Crime prevention is another approach to public safety. Programs that provide addiction treatment and teach violence prevention can prevent crimes from happening. One interesting idea that has been proven to reduce gun violence is to provide green spaces in high-crime neighborhoods by cleaning up vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There are many other ideas that can work to reduce crime and can cost less than traditional policing.
 
Police reform is difficult because each state has its own laws and budget regarding policing. With laws often being too vague and with the shield of “qualified immunity”, police officers are not held accountable. Powerful police unions are adept at protecting their members from accountability, particularly in preventing them from being fired. When criminal charges fail, victims’ families often sue the police department involved. When they win, the settlement costs are borne by taxpayers.
 
If state governments and municipalities could rethink traditional policing, they could create public safety programs that would save lives and lower costs to taxpayers. Because there is no one-size-fits-all program, each community should tailor programs to fit their unique challenges.
 
What can we as ordinary citizens do? We can call or write our representatives in Congress to encourage them to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act*. We can contact our state legislators and local leaders to push for change. We can also give to organizations like the NAACP that are in the fight to protect people from police brutality.
 
The horrendous murder of Tyre Nichols is unimaginable. How can we reimagine a better way to justly maintain order in our society while respecting human life? Will we dare to create a new system of public safety that provides various resources to address both violent and nonviolent emergencies? Can we imagine a better world where people are safe in their communities? I think it’s possible. But it requires more than thoughts and prayers.
 
 
Lord, through Your prophet Amos, You condemn our worship of You as hollow when we ignore the systems of oppression and injustice in our midst. Forgive me when I fail to see that Your desire for justice is like a fast-flowing river, a flash flood, that will overtake these brutal systems and destroy them. Help me work with You in dismantling these oppressive systems and in creating safer communities that respect all human life. Amen.
 
 
** Under the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, most no-knock warrants and the use of choke holds would be prohibited. Police officers would be held accountable with less or limited qualified immunity. The transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments would be limited. Training would be required regarding what to do when other officers use excessive force. Federal officers would be required to wear body cameras. A national registry would be created for complaints against officers. As an incentive, noncompliance by states would reduce their federal funding. While this is not comprehensive enough, it is a good first step.
 
Note: Solutions to public safety recognize that crime is linked to both poverty and inequality. Addressing these underlying causes of crime are needed as well but are beyond the scope of this blog post.
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.
 
 
MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. Check out https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ and https://www.pbs.org/show/womens-history-month/ .
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
 
Some of the many waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia:

Limestone cliffs reflect in a lake at Plitvice Lakes National Park:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
-  Excerpt from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
   (This poem in its entirety is engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty.)
 
 
Rumors swirled through the streets. Idle gossip slithered through the market stalls. Who were these wealthy foreigners who had appeared, after traveling for weeks, and bestowed the most expensive gifts on a certain child? Did these strangers also bear warnings to his parents that their son’s life was in danger? Perhaps these new parents worried for their son’s safety as they wondered what to do. But God had a plan. Through a dream, He directed their path.
 
The start of the liturgical season of Epiphany marks the time when the Magi, sometimes referred to as the Three Kings, travel a great distance to follow a bright star in the heavens.  When this celestial light stops over a stable housing a poor couple and their swaddled infant, the Magi worship the Christ Child and lavish Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Do they suspect King Herod’s nefarious plan to kill Jesus? Perhaps they warn the new parents. Perhaps Joseph isn’t convinced of the danger or is unsure of a plan, until through a dream, God instructs him and his family to flee (Matthew 2:13-18*).
 
Leaving in the middle of the night, Joseph and Mary escape with the Infant Jesus to cross the border at Egypt. How tired they must have been from traveling so far. How hungry they must have been. How traumatized they must have been from having to flee for their very lives.
 
The Bible doesn’t speak to the Holy Family’s time in Egypt. But we do know that they were foreigners in a foreign land. Immigrants. Refugees. Did Mary and Joseph speak Egyptian? It’s doubtful. They had to navigate a new country with its different language, customs, laws, and even different food. Nothing was familiar to them. They had to find a new home, not knowing how long they would be staying. They arrived at the border with no sponsor, no connections, and no place to live. What if they weren’t even safe there? What if Herod’s reach extended into Egypt?
 
Yes, God had told them to flee to Egypt. Through the Magi, He also provided rich gifts that perhaps were used to buy food and housing or used to barter for clothing and furniture. Or maybe those gifts provided a place for Joseph to set up a carpentry shop to create his craft in his newly adopted country.
 
I can’t help but think of the parallels today of people who are compelled to leave violent or horrendous living conditions in search of a safer and better life for themselves and their children. Like Joseph and Mary, they travel long distances, often on foot, to reach the southern US border.
 
Their plight differs from that of the Holy Family. Instead of living quiet lives in their new home country, they encounter hostility. Many are forced to turn around and return to the violence they thought they left behind. Some are forced to wait in unsafe places in Mexico. And some are misled to board buses to the north, arriving on a frigid Christmas Eve without food or blankets at the official residence of the US Vice President. (This actually happened when Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) sent 3 busloads of immigrants this past Christmas to Washington, DC, without food, warm clothes, or blankets and abandoned them at the official VP residence.) Others, deceived by lies of promised jobs in Martha’s Vineyard, were flown in private planes to Massachusetts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). New York City and Chicago are also frequent destinations of this type of forced travel from border states. Like pawns in a political chess game, these helpless immigrants in search of a better life are tossed around like unwanted trash.
 
Yet in God’s eyes, they are valuable. They are created in His image.
 
In Matthew 25:35, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger [foreigner] and you invited me in.” Jesus says that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Him. The consequences of not doing for the least of these is eternal punishment, the antithesis of eternal life (Matthew 25:45-46**).
 
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus calls all people from all nations. He judges individual actions, but He also judges nations. How will the US be judged by God for its mistreatment of refugees at the southern border? I shudder to think how we’ve missed the mark.
 
For our lack of compassion, we will be judged.
 
From a practical standpoint, refusing entry to hundreds of thousands of immigrants will have dire consequences and not just for the immigrants themselves. With Baby Boomers retiring, the current labor shortage will only worsen, but it can be mitigated with the influx of refugees. Perhaps hard-working people from other countries can help fill this gap, and in the process, help fulfill their own dreams of living in a safer country and being able to provide for their children.
 
Before the Holy Family’s flight, the Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt. After God, through Moses, rescued them, He tells them in Deuteronomy 10:18-19, that “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”
 
What if you found yourself in a situation where you had to flee your home country? Would you want to be treated as if you were cattle? Would you want to be kept in cages or forced to be bused or flown to an unknown part of a foreign country with no resources? The Bible’s Golden Rule*** tells us how to respond to the refugees at our border. Will we obey it?
 
Jesus was a refugee in Egypt. Perhaps if we saw Jesus in each of the children and adults arriving at our border, we’d seek better and quicker solutions to the situation. We’d write to our representatives in Congress to implore them to seek humane treatment for those arriving destitute, traumatized, and afraid. We’d vote for politicians who see these immigrants as people created in God’s image and who promise to help them (and who work to fulfill those promises). Perhaps we’d support organizations that work to help immigrants, from the legal aspects of seeking asylum to helping them find housing and employment. In doing so, maybe we’d be placed on Jesus’ right, with the “sheep”, who Jesus rewards with eternal life in heaven. If only we truly did for the least of these.
 
 
Heavenly Father, may I see refugees and immigrants as people created in Your image. May I extend the compassion of Christ in practical ways, not only to help them one-on-one, but also to work to undo the chains of oppression and the systems of repression that seek to do them harm. May I treat immigrants and refugees as I would want to be treated, with compassion, kindness, and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
 
 
NOTE: There are many immigration lawyers who work, often for free or on fellowships, to help immigrants and refugees at the border. These organizations, like Immigrant Justice Corps (https://justicecorps.org/), need your support to do all the work they need to do. Other organizations, like Lutheran Immigration and Resettlement Services (www.lirs.org), seek to resettle refugees and immigrants into the community, helping them find a new home, paying the rental deposit and several months’ rent, and also helping them find employment, if they can actually legally obtain work. For more info on organizations serving immigrants and refugees, check out Charity Navigators at https://www.charitynavigator.org/search?q=immigration.
 
Immigration laws in the US are in need of reform. Read up on this issue to learn more and to learn how you can help. See https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/news/ to get started. Write to your representatives in Congress to put this issue in the forefront. Check local organizations where you live to see who is actively helping to resettle refugees and see how you can help.
 
 
 
*Matthew 2:13-15: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
 
**Matthew 25:45-46: “He (Jesus) will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
 
***The Golden Rule - Matthew 7:12 – [Jesus says,] “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the replica of the Statue of Liberty, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France.
 
Do you know the story behind the Statue of Liberty? Click here to see photos and to learn more.
 
February is Black History month. Click here to learn more.
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth…And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.  1 John 3:17-18, 23
 
 
Believe. A word we see during the Christmas season scrolled onto ornaments and lettered onto greeting cards. But what does it really mean to believe?
 
Natalie Wood, as the young Susan in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, mechanically repeats the words, “I believe, I believe, I believe”, then adds, “I know it’s silly, but I believe.” Susan struggles throughout the film to believe that Kris Kringle, the kind old man that works at Macy’s, is indeed Santa Claus.
 
It’s isn’t difficult to understand Susan’s initial disbelief. After all, her mother Doris has not allowed any fairy tales or other childhood imaginative games to enter into Susan’s life. Devoid of practicing her imagination, Susan seeks reality and truth, not princesses, giants, or Santa. Only in spending time with Kris does Susan realize his true identity. As she sees him interact with other children, her doubts start to dissolve. Her belief solidifies when he delivers her nearly impossible Christmas wish.
 
Believe, according to the dictionary, is to have confidence in the existence or truth of something. When we say we believe in God, we are saying we believe God exists and we believe in the truths of His teachings. But it’s more than just an acknowledgement of His existence.
 
Believe goes further than head knowledge. The word can be deconstructed to mean “be – live” or to live by. To believe in something is more than intellectual acquiescence. It’s putting our belief into action.
 
Belief is not just a nod to some theological thought that Jesus is the Son of God. What if belief requires us to “live by”, to live out that thought in our daily lives? What if belief requires us to do as Jesus did and to do as Jesus said, that is, to love people in ways that meet their needs?
 
Jesus Himself pointed out this difference between mere belief and live-by. In Matthew 25:31-46, He speaks of separating the sheep from the goats; that is, He will judge all people on how well they followed His example of giving food to the poor, water to the thirsty, shelter to the foreigner, clothes to the naked, care for the sick, and visits to those in prison. Jesus says whatever we did for others, we’ve essentially done for Him. Jesus rewards or punishes us according to how well we’ve loved our neighbors. The love we show is directly proportional to the reward we receive (or don’t receive). The love we put into action, not mere intellectual agreement with the belief that Jesus exists, determines our eternal fate. Note that both groups, those rewarded as well as those punished, acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Yet Jesus judges them based on how they lived. It’s about deeds, not words or convictions, and the consequences are eternal. (See Matthew 25:31-46, especially verses 45-46, below.*) James 2:26 states, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” To believe in our hearts and minds is not enough: we must act upon those beliefs in very tangible ways.
 
How we act upon those beliefs is explained by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40** where He calls us to love our neighbors. It’s the second greatest commandment after loving God with our whole being. Jesus goes even further to say that everything else hinges from these two precepts. What if believe means to live by Jesus’ command to actually and practically love our neighbors? If we fail to do so, we may indeed perjure ourselves of our purported theology. As our key verse states, how can God’s love be in us?
 
Faith is about believing but it is also, more importantly, about living by. If we live like Jesus lived, with compassion and love for other people, then faith is less about the inner journey of sanctification, Bible studies, and Christian retreats. Instead, it is the public path of love: living by and living out His love as we love our neighbors, particularly those less fortunate than ourselves.
 
 
Lord, may we follow in Your footsteps to be counted as sheep with the reward of heaven rather than goats with the punishment of hell. May we live out our belief in You by responding to the needs of “the least of these” with practical help delivered with kindness, compassion, and love. May justice, not judgment, rule. And may we truly believe. Amen.
 
 
 
*Matthew 25:45-46: “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
 
**Matthew 22:37-40: Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of street art in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris, France.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.
 
Social justice puts that love into action. Love pursues justice for those oppressed, mistreated, or suffering. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).
 
Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

”But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  Luke 14:13-14
 
 
In a lowly trough as an outcast in a town that refuses to offer a poor family a room, Jesus is born. He does not come as a chubby, white infant wrapped in a silk blanket but rather as a poor, brown baby wrapped in the stench of a stable.
 
Jesus was born a poor child, into a family with no wealth.
 
During His ministry, Jesus declares He has no place to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20)
 
Jesus was homeless.
 
As He breathes his last excruciating breath on a cross, soldiers cast lots to divide up His garments, His only clothes (Matthew 27:35).
 
Jesus died in poverty.
 
In Luke 4:16-21, Jesus reads His mission statement from the book of Isaiah. His purpose in coming to earth is to bring good news to the poor and to free the oppressed. He never wavers from it. From His birth, life, and death, He identifies with humanity, but especially and specifically with the poor, the homeless, and the hungry.
 
When His disciples are shocked at the waste of expensive perfume to anoint His feet, Jesus tells them, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11) While some use this verse on the poor as an excuse to not bother trying to eradicate poverty, others see Jesus’ statement as a commentary on oppression. There will always be poor people because there will always be oppression. There will always be people who greedily clamber for power and wealth so they can lord it over others. They build pyramids of power, the top of which they each seek to claim. Inequity enables them to gain great wealth. The poor become poorer.
 
In coming to live and die among the poor and the oppressed, Jesus points the way not to a kingdom as much as to a community. It is not hierarchical; it’s communal. It is not a pyramid; it’s a table.
 
Life in Jesus’ kingdom is not about power and greed, but rather it’s a table that is inclusive and full of love, mercy, and justice. It’s a place where all are welcome and no one is turned away. It’s where everyone, especially the poor, has an equal seat at the table and no one goes hungry. (Luke 14:13-14)
 
Jesus came to turn society on its head by aligning Himself with the poor, the marginalized, and the disenfranchised.
 
When we behold the manger and gaze toward the cross, we see a Savior who asks not the question, “If you died tonight, will you go to heaven?”, but rather He asks, “What did you do for the least of these?” (See Matthew 25:31-46.*) In Jesus’ economy, the answer is decisive: eternal fate hangs in the balance. Those who do not love the least of these are condemned to hell. Those who follow Jesus’ example of caring for the poor and powerless are called righteous and granted eternal life. The answer to this all-important question is transformative - both now in community and for all eternity.
 
 
When heavenly light shines on a smelly stable, may our epiphany begin where the God of heaven becomes the Poor on earth. May we take to heart Jesus’ commandments to love God and love people. May we demonstrate our love for God by carrying out His mission to the poor and oppressed. May we find the true Son of God at table and may we see the true path to heaven as loving as He loved, especially the least of these. Amen.
 
 
*In response to the question, “What did you do for the least of these?”, Jesus tells us the consequences in Matthew 25:45-46: “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of Bernardino Luini’s “Last Supper” fresco painted in 1529 on the wall of the Santa Maria degli Angioli church in Lugano, Switzerland; Luini was a student of Leonardo da Vinci.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Luini’s “Last Supper” was painted as a triptych.

View of Lugano, Switzerland, overlooking the steeple of the Santa Maria degli Angioli church.

It’s still dark as we drive through the narrow streets to a small parking lot on the side of a hill. We get out of the car with backpacks in tow and walk a short distance to the top of a hill opposite the iconic structure we came to photograph. It is breathtaking. For a moment, I feel like we are the only ones awake. Distant music reminds me that this is a city that never sleeps. But the stillness in this sacred place engulfs me and I am dazzled by the ancient temple atop the “High City”, all lit up from within like a magical firefly, as it shines its glowing light like a beacon for all to see.
 
I am standing on the edge of a rocky ridge overlooking the place where democracy was born. Here the men of Athens would gather and their judges would decide important policies by the votes of the men of the town. The majority ruled. One of Greece’s legacies to the world is the form of government that we call democracy, a word from two Greek words that means people (“demos”) rule (“kratos”). And it all began here, right where I am standing.

The sun bursts forth over the mountain, flooding the valley with the beginnings of day and casting its ethereal glow towards a nearby observatory, waking up the city of Athens in its path. For me, in that moment, my work as a photographer begins.
 
I can’t shake the thought that for all its humble beginnings, nascent democracy has metamorphosed over the centuries like a caterpillar in a chrysalis to a gorgeous butterfly. It has changed the world. Where it flourishes, the world is a better place. Democracy is important to economic growth, less poverty, and more equality. People living in a democracy enjoy better education as well as better health and well-being. There is more justice, more peace, and less war. But like the delicate wings of a butterfly, democracy is fragile.
 
In less than a week, votes in the 2022 mid-term elections will be cast. While mid-terms don’t garner the attention that a presidential election does, this midterm election is significant for democracy hangs in the balance.
 
There are almost 300 candidates, all Republicans, running for office who claim, without proof, that the 2022 presidential election was stolen. Some of these candidates are running for the office of secretary of state in their respective states. This office typically has power over a state’s election process. To install election-deniers in these positions of power will be detrimental to the fair election process. They will have the power to cast out legitimate votes and declare their candidate of choice the winner, regardless of whether that candidate received the most votes or not. Other positions of power that are up for grabs this election include the offices of governors and attorneys general, state legislators, as well as US House of Representatives and US Senators. All of these election deniers, if elected, will have the power to wrongly change the outcome of elections and thus, discount legitimate votes.
 
Have we become lulled into complacency to think that democracy will always win out?
 
The V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is an independent organization that measures democracy. Each year, V-Dem reports on the changes in democracies and autocracies around the world. In reading their most recent comprehensive report as of 2022, I am disturbed to learn that the US has declined in the measures of democracy. The V-Dem report warns that the US is sliding towards authoritarianism, towards an autocratic government. Important factors in their determination of the autocratization of the US include increased polarization within society and particularly between political parties. Freedom of speech and expression has diminished. Journalists are threatened more and more. After an attempted coup d’etat on January 6, 2021, to keep the legitimate president-elect from being confirmed by Congress, it is not a stretch of the imagination to envision a time, a near-future time, when all the rules we hold dear in guardrailing our democratic form of government could come untethered, ushering in an age of autocracy.  
 
We live in a post-truth world where old-fashioned, plain, honest truth is smeared as cancel culture and where the loud lying voices of a few drown out the majority of truthtellers. Those who spew these lies are out for power, the power of elected office. Perhaps what they fail to see is they are only feeding the beast of authoritarianism and at the end of the day, if they win, they will only be puppets to the one at the very top of their own shameful pyramid.
 
In Exodus 20:16, one of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Yet political ads typically do just that as they use sound bites to twist their opponent’s words into lies. Jesus Himself said that lies are of the devil*. In community, truth matters. And truth is one of the guardrails of democracy.
 
Who do you believe? Where do you get your political information? Are your sources credible? Do you think critically when you hear information in order to figure out who benefits from any propaganda that you might be hearing? Will you sift through the lies to cast your vote for candidates who believe in truth and the power of democracy to be the voice of all the people? Or will your vote support those that voice lies to propel themselves to power?
 
Carefully choose for whom to vote. Our fragile democracy depends on it.
 
 
 
 
*John 8:44-45: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece; second photo on Pnyx Hill, near the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, where democracy was born.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

The last two posts explored the history surrounding the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the implications this decision has on pregnant people. Today’s post will look at global implications of overturning Roe and also what the Bible has to say about fetal life and abortion. I appreciate you sticking with me as we delve into an extremely controversial topic.
 
As we’ve seen in the previous two posts, the issue of abortion was used to garner support for a conservative religious political movement based on racism in order to keep certain white people in power. The Bible is clear that racism, which is a form of oppression, is wrong.

The implications of banning abortions are both racist and misogynist. Despite the misogynistic and patriarchal practices of His time, Jesus elevated women. He also socialized with the poor and the marginalized. Jesus’ commandments to love God and love people (Matthew 22:36-40*) compel us to seek to understand the implications of the politics and policies that impact us and our neighbors. Let’s take a look at global trends in reproductive rights and then look at how banning abortions in the US affects our neighbors around the world.

Since 2000, the global trend has been for countries to expand abortion rights. To restrict them puts the US in line with countries such as Nicaragua and more recently, Poland, and out of step with over 30 other countries who have expanded abortion rights.

Laws and policies in the US have far-reaching implications around the globe. The US is the largest global health donor in most countries around the world. The Helms Amendment (to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961) impacts low-income countries when the US sends them financial aid for health services. While technically these funds can be used for abortions in cases of rape and incest, in practice, they are not, even when young girls are raped and become pregnant, often by family members. This young group of vulnerable people (ages 10-14) have the highest maternal mortality rate of anyone anywhere. This is one of the reasons the World Health Organization calls abortion a “life-saving procedure” for its ability to save these young lives who are pregnant through no fault of their own.

As an aside, the Hyde Amendment is a similar law that prohibits federal funds to be used for abortions in the US. This means that Medicaid, a government-provided health program for primarily lower income people, cannot use federal funds for abortions. This law directly negatively impacts the very people who cannot afford an abortion, let alone the costs of raising a child. Both the Helms Amendment and the Hyde Amendment disproportionately impact pregnant people of lower income status, those of color, and often those who are young.

The controversial crux of the matter for many people is when they believe life starts: at conception, at fetal viability (the point at which the fetus can live outside the womb, usually at 23-24 weeks of gestation), or at birth. As we saw in a previous post, the Old Testament supports the view that life begins at birth. Exodus 21:22-25** sheds light on the view that the fetus was considered property, not a human life. There was no “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” when a pregnant woman miscarried due to physical violence unless she herself suffered serious injury. Numbers 5:19-21*** depicts a priest-induced abortion.
 
Sometimes in our religious fervor we lose sight that not everyone believes the same. Religious freedom is the US means not having someone else’s religious beliefs forced on us. Respecting another’s view and allowing them choice over their own health is important. Pregnant people’s circumstances are complicated and nuanced. There is no one-size-fits-all. Hence, having agency over your own body is extremely important.

Another point that often gets overlooked is that overturning Roe v. Wade tips the balance between the fetus and the pregnant person undeniably in favor of the fetus. This imbalance significantly devalues the life of the pregnant person, someone who is made in the image of God. Perhaps a more compassionate approach would be supporting the pregnant person’s choice up until fetal viability. After that point, both the life of the fetus and the pregnant person would be protected. This allows pregnant people agency over their own bodies and supports the fetus at viability.

In summary, the issue of abortion is a tool used to promote a white power structure in our society that benefits mostly wealthy white men and the women who support them. The underlying reason of the politicization of abortion is racism and its impact is both racist and misogynist. Although I’ve covered many potential results, other implications of overturning Roe v. Wade will continue to become apparent to each of us, to this country, and to the world. The intended and unintended consequences will impact everyone unless we can replace this tide of hatred and oppression with love and compassion, and restore the dignity of pregnant people everywhere.

What can you do? If you disagree with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, you are not alone. The majority of Americans believe the right to abortion should remain, at least in some form. The obvious thing you can do to help turn back this tide of oppression and to show mercy, is to vote. Choose candidates that are pro-choice in the upcoming mid-term elections this November. Select pro-choice federal and state legislators as well as the down-ballot local offices, such as sheriffs and district attorneys. Consider giving political contributions to these candidates. Emily’s List (https://www.emilyslist.org/) is a political action committee (PAC) that funnels funds to women candidates who are pro-choice.

Other things you can do to make your voice heard is to peacefully protest. Call or write your representatives in Congress and in your state legislature. Give to or volunteer at organizations that are working to protect reproductive health rights, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (https://www.aclu.org/ or the local ACLU chapter), NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation (https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/), Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/ or the local chapter), and the Guttmacher Institute (https://www.guttmacher.org/).

Thank you for reading this 3-part blog series. I hope that it has opened your eyes to the nuances of a very controversial issue. If you learned something new, consider sharing those learnings with those in your sphere of influence. Feel free to forward these posts to them. As you consider the many tentacles of this issue, prayerfully contemplate how to use your voice and your power to instigate change to help your neighbors, those God has called you to love.
 
 
 *Matthew 22:36-40 - “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
**Exodus 21:22-25 - “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely (per footnote – or she miscarries) but there is no serious injury [to her], the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury [to her], you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
 
***Number 5:19-21 - “‘Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the LORD cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Tromostovje, or Triple Bridge, which spans the Ljubljanica River to connect the historical town of Ljubljana, Slovenia, to its modern counterpart. The green lights celebrate the fact that Ljubljana consistently ranks as one of the greenest cities in Europe and currently is ranked #1.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Last month’s post explored the history surrounding the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Today we will continue some of those threads as we look at the many implications of overturning Roe. I know I am wading into a controversial issue and my hope is that you will wade in with me. I encourage you to think seriously about this issue and its implications. The many tentacles associated with banning this medical procedure may surprise and possibly alarm you.
 
To sum up the previous post, the issue of abortion was used to garner support for a conservative religious political movement based on racism in order to keep certain white people in power. The Bible is clear that racism, which is a form of oppression, is wrong. Jesus’ commandments to love God and love people (Matthew 22:36-40*) compel us to seek to understand the implications of the politics and policies that impact us and our neighbors.

The impetus to ban abortions was based in racism. The implications, however, are both racist and misogynistic. Abortion is a medical procedure that impacts pregnant people and those who can become pregnant, including women, nonbinary people, and trans men. Banning this procedure strips away their right to have agency over their own bodies and gives that control to the government. No medical procedure that impacts men is banned; men continue to have agency over their own bodies.

Jesus elevated women despite the misogynistic and patriarchal practices of life during Bible times. He also socialized with the poor and the marginalized and portrayed them as humans who were valuable to Him. We’ll take a look at how overturning Roe v. Wade impacts these groups.

It’s important to understand that most abortions occur in the first trimester and most are medication abortions, rather than surgical abortions, meaning the pregnant person takes medication (mifepristone and misoprostol) to induce an abortion. According to the National Institutes of Health, the risk of death is 14 times higher in childbirth than in a legal induced abortion. This fact is often misrepresented so it’s important to realize that abortion is actually safer than childbirth.

Experts believe that banning abortions will cause the overall maternal mortality rate to increase by 21%, with the rate for white women increasing 13% and the rate for Black women increasing by a disproportionate 33%. Current maternal mortality rates for Black women are already three times that of white women.

Restricting abortion ignores the pregnant person’s individual circumstances and the reasons they may seek an abortion. Most people who have abortions are poor women who already have children. Since the average cost of raising a child in the US is $233,610, banning abortions will cause poverty rates to rise as more people are forced to raise children they cannot afford. This will most likely impact conservative states more where the likelihood of abortion restrictions is the greatest and where these same states are least likely to have programs in place that support the poor.

Conservative states are also likely to have more crisis pregnancy centers than abortion clinics. Crisis pregnancy centers are not licensed medical clinics and many use deceptive advertising and misleading information, including the lie that childbirth is safer than an abortion, to unduly influence and pressure a pregnant person to not abort. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has stated that crisis pregnancy centers are dangerous because they pose as medical facilities but are not regulated by the laws that govern medical clinics. Backed by wealthy anti-abortion donors and some state legislatures, the proliferation of these centers will only increase. Texas, for example, has recently approved spending $100 million of taxpayer money that will go to support crisis pregnancy centers in that state.

Banning abortions dismisses the nuances of pregnancy. One in one thousand pregnant people are diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. Cancer drugs are fatal to a fetus in the first trimester. Waiting until the second trimester to begin cancer treatments puts the mother’s life at huge risk. Doctors are now having to navigate the unchartered waters of what constitutes a grave enough danger to the mother’s life that warrants an abortion. Most abortion bans do not take into account the life of the mother.

The same is true in the case of difficult or life-threatening pregnancies, including the higher risks associated with in vitro fertilization. Having the option of abortion, even if it’s not taken, lends a safety net to the mother’s life. Some people will choose not to become pregnant at all if they believe their health could be at significant risk and abortion will not be an option.

Sometimes people in abusive relationships are forced to become pregnant by their abusers as a way to control them. Often this is accomplished by the abuser tampering with their contraception. There is evidence that suggests domestic violence sometimes starts when the partner becomes pregnant. Statistics show that pregnant women have a higher homicide rate than non-pregnant women. Homicide is one of the leading causes of death of pregnant women.

Restricting abortions is a slippery slope and the distance between banning abortions and criminalizing them is short. There are already “trigger laws” in some states that will criminalize the actions of the provider as a felony with jail time. Some of these laws also mandate jail time for the pregnant person. From there, it is a short slide from criminalizing abortion to accusing people of murder who miscarry, especially when the methods are similar. The procedure called dilation and curettage (“D&C”) is sometimes used after a miscarriage; it can also be used in a surgical abortion. Likewise, the medication misoprostol is often used after a miscarriage and is one of the medications taken for a medication abortion. During the current vastly changing legal landscape, doctors in certain states are hesitant to help pregnant people who miscarry for fear of the legal consequences. This causes their patients undue physical and emotional pain.

Wrapped up in these implications is the issue of privacy and how privacy rights will be violated by those seeking to track down abortion patients. If the police begin tracking citizens to see where they go, even out of state, or what medications they receive via mail, then we should all be worried about this potential breach in privacy rights.

In striking down Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court has kicked this power over reproductive health rights back to the states which means each state’s legislature will determine their state’s rules around abortion. It is more important than ever to consider carefully which candidate to vote for at the state level, including legislators, the local sheriffs who choose whether to arrest providers and pregnant people, and the state and county district attorneys who choose whether to prosecute them.

Voting is more important than ever. In next month’s post, we’ll consider what else we can do to counteract the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We’ll also take a more in-depth look at what the Bible has to say about fetal life and abortion as well as how what happens in the US often influences the rest of the world. In the meantime, feel free to forward this post to those you think might be interested in reading it. I hope you will consider the best way you can love your neighbors as God has called each of us to do.

 
NOTE: If you are ready to read the next installment, it will be posted ahead of time on the “Justice Matters” page of my website, https://www.dawndailey.org/justice-matters.html.
 
*Matthew 22:36-40 - “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the edgy and fascinating street art in Metelkova, a social and cultural area in the center of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

The politicization of a medical procedure has polarized our society. If you have ever wondered how a medical procedure became so politicized, I believe the history will surprise you.
 
The US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade may have some of you rejoicing while others of you may feel disappointed and even angry. This court decision has given me pause to consider the history that led to overturning this precedent as well as the complicated and nuanced implications of its overturning. I hope you will follow along on this 3-part journey.
 
So how did abortion become such a politicized issue and how did we in the US become so polarized around it? As we peel back the layers crafted over decades, we’ll see the underlying issues that, on the surface, may not appear to be connected. But these dots do connect and they have created division and sown seeds of hatred and vitriol that we are now reaping in our society today.
 
Although the decision to uphold a person’s federal right to an abortion was decided in the case of Roe v. Wade almost fifty years ago in 1973, to understand how it was ultimately overturned, we must go back further in time – to 1954. That is the year the US Supreme Court handed down the verdict in Brown v. Board of Education that said schools cannot be segregated based on race, not even if the schools are considered to be equal. This decision created momentum for the nascent Civil Rights Movement which officially started in the following year when Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus.

Throughout the 1960’s and into the 1970’s, discrimination against Black Americans persisted (and still does today). School desegregation since the Brown v. Board of Education case had been slow to materialize. Private schools became the place where many white parents sent their kids, thus thwarting the impact of Brown. In 1971, after a group of parents in Mississippi filed a lawsuit, the US Supreme Court decided in their favor in Green v. Connally and ruled that racially discriminatory private schools were not entitled to a federal tax-exempt status. This ruling upset many white evangelical Christian leaders, such as Jerry Falwell, Sr, pastor and founder of Lynchburg Christian Academy that had been described in 1966 as being “a private school for white students.” Falwell was an outspoken opponent of the Civil Rights Movement and was against racial desegregation of public schools. 

The next year, 1972, found the country reeling from the then-President’s crimes committed during “Watergate.” While the investigation and hearings continued for the next couple of years, Richard Nixon would not resign as President until August of 1974.

During this time, the US Supreme Court handed down their 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade which was considered to reflect a balance between the life of the fetus and the life of the mother. The decision was met with silence in many conservative Christian circles while being praised by some prominent conservative Christian leaders, like W.A. Criswell, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. Criswell felt that a child was not an individual person until after they were born and what was best for the mother was now law. His stance on life beginning at birth rather than at conception was based on the Old Testament. The Jews of biblical times believed that the ensoulment of a person (when the body is given a soul and thus becomes a person) happened at birth. This belief continues to be held by many Jewish people today.

Even before Roe v. Wade, the conservative Southern Baptist Convention had made resolutions in 1971 in support of access to abortion and they would do so again in 1974 and 1976 before political pressure changed their minds.

But in 1976, Bob Jones University was stripped of its federal tax-exemption status due to its racially discriminatory practices. The fuse was now lit for the beginning of a conservative religious political movement.

In the same year, Jimmy Carter, an evangelical Christian, won the presidency. However, Carter proved to be less socially conservative than many evangelical Christians would have liked. During the mid-term elections of 1978, several candidates found traction for their anti-abortion views and won their offices.

Paul Weyrich, a conservative religious Republican political activist, took note. For decades, he had been working to restore a white pre-1950’s family structure in US society. He believed he could start a religious political movement that would surreptitiously keep white people in power. With the Republican Party losing voters over Watergate, his work became even more valuable to the party itself. But first he had to galvanize a bloc of voters to vote. Over the years, he had said the Republican Party was against pornography, and later, that the party was for putting prayer back in the public schools. But this group of voters, namely evangelical Christians, didn’t take the bait. Believing that politics was a “dirty” business, many never bothered to vote. But now, after the 1978 mid-term elections, Weyrich played the winning ticket: abortion.

Weyrich, considered one of the architects of the Religious Right, could not blatantly advertise racial discrimination and segregation as the true reason behind his religious political movement. Instead, the cover issue he publicized to motivate conservative Christian voters to the polls was abortion. Evidence exists that Weyrich promoted the use of deception, misinformation, and divisiveness in his efforts to seat conservative evangelical Republicans into public offices as part of this religious political movement.

In Lynchburg, Virginia, Jerry Falwell, Sr, now co-founder of Liberty University, also realized that the power of these same votes could be harnessed for his own similar political agenda: keeping schools segregated, particularly white private Christian schools like his.

Both Weyrich and Falwell wanted to deny President Carter a second term as they blamed Carter for stripping the tax-exempt status from schools like Bob Jones University even though that process had begun before Carter took office. In 1979, Weyrich and Falwell teamed up to form the Moral Majority, Inc. With their misinformation campaign around abortion, it didn’t take long before conservative Christian voters took up the mantel against abortion. It is no surprise that with the help of these voters, Carter was defeated in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, who won the presidency in a landslide.

The above history is important in understanding the context in which a medical procedure became both politicized and polarizing. It was simply used to garner support for a conservative religious movement based on racism in order to keep certain white people in power.

The Bible is very clear that racism, a form of oppression, is wrong. When we oppress another race or group of people, our actions are contrary to the heart of God as seen in Jesus’ mission statement in Luke 4:18-19*. Also, if we take the US Declaration of Independence seriously, then we have to uphold the three inalienable rights granted to each person: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Racism denies people these inalienable rights. Jesus’ commandments to love God and love people (Matthew 22:36-40**) compel us to seek to understand the implications of the politics and policies that impact us and all our neighbors.  
 
NOTE: In the next two posts, we’ll look at the complicated and nuanced implications of overturning Roe v. Wade, the relevant verses in the Bible, as well as the action steps we can take to answer God’s call to love our neighbors.
 
*Luke 4:18-19 - “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (emphasis mine)

**Matthew 22:36-40 - “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo from Hvar, Croatia, where the oldest public communal theatre in Europe was built in 1612.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  Isaiah 41:10
 
 
I am not an accidental tourist. With my methodical, consistent approach to travel, I could never be accused of being haphazard or unintentional. I prefer to think of myself as a thoughtful and purposeful traveler.
 
After a two-and-a-half-year travel hiatus imposed by the pandemic, my spring trip appears to actually be materializing before my eyes. I feel so out of practice in all my preparations and fearful of traveling again. The day of departure arrives finding me a bit tired and perhaps a little anxious rather than excited to travel again. The ride to the airport feels a bit surreal. Rolling my luggage through the airport’s revolving door, I begin to recover my travel legs. Walking to the airline check-in counter starts to feel a bit normal, like my body remembers this exercise deep in the cellular level even through my brain cells are racing.
 
Evidence of the pandemic is visible from the covered faces with obligatory masks to the addition of hand sanitizer bottles randomly placed throughout the airport. Travel is both the same and yet different from the “Before Times.” The flight is uneventful, thankfully, except for the toddler in the row in front of me who ostensibly is too young to read the “memo” that it’s time for sleep on this overnight flight. I arrive at my destination a little worse for the wear.
 
My plan to have at least the first half of my trip to be in places where I’ve been before is solid. Yet even the familiar is unfamiliar. The driver for the hotel has retired. The front desk staff I used to see are no longer there. I feel untethered as my expectations based on what used to be unravel. Times have changed. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto!
 
In fact, we are in Paris with all its glamour and fashion, the plethora of art and ancient cathedrals, all against the backdrop of the Seine with its picturesque bridges. I will never tire of its beauty in the hustle and bustle of a big city, yet with the calmness and serenity found in its many parks. The familiar is transformed as I view this City of Light with different eyes.
 
To get to know this city is to look beyond the tourist attractions and focus on the everyday life of the Parisians here, to learn their unique history, sample their delectable cuisine, and walk the concrete sidewalks in their neighborhoods. Buying a Métro card and feeling very Parisian with my purchase, I ride the train to my various destinations – a perfume workshop, a classical concert in a simple but old church, a food tour of Les Halles where for centuries farmers sold their wares.
 
Along the way, I meet people who share a smile or a kind word, who are helpful in sorting out the differences that can trip up even the most intrepid traveler. All too quickly, my time in France comes to an end.
 
I navigate all the logistics that enable me to be transported to another country, one I’ve never visited. Stepping even further out of my comfort zone is both taxing and exhilarating. On to Croatia I go! Not knowing what to expect and being constantly surprised with Croatia’s beautiful coast, I lean into the unknown and sample it, savoring its newness, its uniqueness, and the living-in-the-moment that travel so creates.
 
Serendipitous moments happen, particularly if I am open to it. At breakfast in Zagreb, I sit at a table draped in linen and study the menu. The young waiter arrives to take my order. I ask about some menu items. And then, as I am fascinated with languages, I ask him how to say “please” in Croatian. I’ve been practicing this and other words like “hello” and “thank you,” but I want to ensure I’ve got this one right. He tells me and then apologizes because his native language isn’t Croatian. Curiously I ask him where he is from. When he says “Ukraine,” my reaction is truly visceral at the mention of this war-torn country.
 
This young man and his family left Ukraine at the time of the Crimean annexation. He shares that he wants to write a memoir about his experiences, but he thinks he is too young. I encourage him to start writing now as his experiences so far would be interesting to read. It’s a poignant moment, of sadness over his family’s loss at leaving their country but a salient moment when we connect on the writing and publishing of such a book. Curiosity opened a door that morning to an encounter that could have far-reaching consequences. In that moment, I feel part of something larger than myself and I gain a glimpse into another person’s world, one that is very different from my own.
 
Traveling is more than playing tourist. While we often hear we are to leave no carbon footprints, I would argue that a traveler, not a tourist, leaves an indelible footprint, a carbonless one that has the power to change the people and places encountered just as travel has the potential to transform the traveler themselves.
 
May we journey through life as a traveler, not a tourist. May kindness and encouragement be the footprint we leave behind.
 
 
Lord, thank You for always going with me wherever I go. I do not need to fear. While close encounters often seem random or serendipitous, You are not surprised. Help me to be open to what You’ve planned for me. May my words and actions be kind and encouraging to whomever You place in my path. Amen.
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of Dubrovnik’s West Harbor, Croatia.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

​When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  Matthew 2:16-18
 
 
In the key verse above, this mass killing of innocent children by King Herod was ostensibly to prevent Jesus from usurping Herod’s kingship. Ramah, situated near Bethlehem, was home to the tribe of Benjamin, who was Rachel’s son. Her grave is located between Ramah and Bethlehem. Rachel weeps for her descendants, her children, who have been murdered. They are no more.
 
Parents and families in Uvalde, Texas, weep today because 19 of their children (and two teachers) are no more.
 
On US school campuses, there have been over 900 incidences of gun fire. In a recent poll, more than 57% of teens go to school expecting the possibility of a shooting.
 
As the news of this latest school shooting spreads through international news outlets, even Ukrainians living in the midst of constant missile attacks in their own country ask an American journalist why this happens in the US. It is shocking to them and to the world.
 
Why does it have to be this way?
 
In the US where guns outnumber people and gun rights laws outweigh gun safety laws, we are living and dying in unprecedented times. Beginning in 2020, gun violence is the number one killer of children, more than the number of deaths due to motor vehicle crashes. On an average daily basis, roughly 12 children die every day in the US from gunshot wounds. Homicide is the reason for the deaths of more than two-thirds of the 4,368 children killed by gun violence in 2020, while suicides account for 30% of these deaths. (Note that almost 40,000 people die every year in the US due to gun violence.)
 
Traveling internationally gives me an awareness of how other countries manage social issues and I wonder why gun rights and gun safety laws in the US have become so politicized, all at the cost of our children’s lives. Are we saying that guns are more important than our children?
 
Just days before this mass shooting, an ad displayed by the gun manufacturer of the gun used in Uvalde shows a photograph of a toddler holding a semi-automatic rifle with the caption of Proverbs 22:6: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”* I seriously doubt that the writer of the book of Proverbs had semi-automatic rifles in mind when penning that verse. God must shed many tears over how Scripture is misused in order to justify one’s actions.
 
In Matthew 19:14, Jesus Himself says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” In the society in which Jesus lived, children were not valued. Yet children were significant to Him. He valued them. And still does.
 
A majority of Americans support some form of gun safety laws which can include background checks (including at gun shows and other private sales), red-flag laws that temporarily take guns from a mentally ill person, or even banning assault-type weapons. Yet what message are we sending to our children regarding how valuable they are to us when we use our vote to support politicians who refuse to pass gun safety laws?
 
We cannot continue to sit back and allow mass shootings to occur and the trend is only getting worse. Just this Memorial Day weekend, at least 11 mass shootings (defined as 4 or more people killed or injured) occurred.
 
I come back to the question of “Why?” Why does it have to be this way in the US where parents are afraid to send their children to school and are told to memorize what their child wears each day in case they have to identify their bodies? If we stand up for our children, for our neighbors, for our communities, perhaps we can stem the tide that gun violence has flooded into our society. It is all about loving our neighbors and doing what’s right by them and their (and our) innocent children. For after all, as Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
 
 
Heavenly Father, how Your heart must break when gun violence kills innocent children. Motivate me to use my voice and my resources for good, to protect the vulnerable, and to love my neighbors well. May I not misrepresent Your Word by twisting it for my own purposes but may I seek what is true, noble, and right. Amen.
 
 
NOTE: A good place to start fighting gun violence is in your own home. If you own a gun, keep it locked up and the ammunition stored separately. If you know someone who has a gun, ask them to do the same.
There are good organizations that work to end gun violence, promote related mental health issues, and help victims. Check out Charity Navigator’s list: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=9609. Also use Charity Navigator’s search bar to find other similar organizations in the fight against gun violence.
Moms Demand Action is a gun violence prevention group that operates under the auspices of Everytown for Gun Safety (their Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax-deductible).
Other worthwhile organizations include Giffords (both Giffords.org and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords) and BradyUnited.org (founded by former White House Press Secretary Jim Brady).
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic. Originally an outlet to speak against the former Communist regime, the wall became associated with John Lennon after he was shot and killed in 1980. Today the wall is associated with global ideals of love and peace.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE:  Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
 
Scripture quotations marked with an asterisk (*) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.