Post-Easter Epistle

Hail Emperor Dubya!

Caesar Bushgustus and His Imperial Lords of Petro-chemicals, bolstered by the seemingly endless font of moral self-righteous jingoism gushing forth from the Religious Wrong, have succeeded in producing a “democratic election” in Occupied Iraq.

Never mind that the body count, limb count and sanity count of those thousands of American soldiers who have paid the exorbitant price for the invasion and occupation continues to rise with no end in sight. Never mind that Saddam and his Baathist buddies would have fallen anyhow without military intervention of any kind, due to the paralyzing impact of international economic sanctions and weapons inspections. And, of course (from Emperor Dubya’s perspective), never mind the tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens who’ve lost their lives and livelihoods as a result of the invasion and occupation.

Iraq has been made safe for democracy, and the rest of the Middle East is bound to follow, right?

How long can the American Empire continue to exert its will on the rest of the world? Well, based on our current penchant for military adventurism toward our alleged enemies and arrogant antagonism toward our longstanding allies, let’s do the math…Take Sumeria, divide by Babylon, function in Egypt, multiply by Greece over Rome, add France and Spain, subtract Great Britain, carry the six…well, not much longer, if history is any judge.

Any world power that insists upon creating enemies where there used to be friends doesn’t generally rate high on the Longevity Scale.

It don’t matter how many weapons you’ve got. You push people around now, you’re gonna pay for it later.

So which is better: Theocracy at the point of a sword, or democracy at the point of a gun? Any form of government that is birthed by invasion and enforced by violence cannot succeed in the long run. Such is the legacy of many a shotgun wedding.

Speaking of weddings…Isn’t it against the law to practice discrimination in the performance of a government-sanctioned service? What would happen, say, if the city of Bellingham granted business licenses only to men? What if Whatcom County allowed only white folks to obtain building permits? What if the state of Washington issued drivers’ licenses only to Zoroastrians? Well, for one thing, white male Zoroastrians would all be driving Lexuses from their opulent shopping malls to their palatial estates. But, more likely, the city, county and state offices responsible for such blatantly illegal practices would be barred from performing them.

Now, suppose a sectarian group were given the power to perform ceremonies that were recognized by the city, county and state governments. Suppose, in the performance of those ceremonies, that said sectarian group blatantly discriminated against a minority. Wouldn’t you think that such a group would be banned from performing such ceremonies until they entered into compliance with local, state and federal law?

So why is it that Christian churches who discriminate against same-gender relationships are still allowed to perform legally binding marriages? Stop the hypocrisy, already! Either quit discriminating, or surrender the privilege of performing state-sanctioned weddings. Here’s a thought: perhaps the performance of legally recognized unions is best left in the hands of those who determine the benefits and responsibilities of such unions—the civil government.

If the church insists upon discriminating, dividing, meddling and posturing, then let’s at least keep it out of our courtrooms and bedrooms. Let’s make marriage an entirely civil affair, free from the prejudicial beliefs and practices of religious groups.

I’m sure that Jesus of Nazareth would be very proud of the Church founded in His Name. Shame on them.

And, speaking of shame…The Building Industry Association is already gearing up for its pro-development assault in the coming local elections. Are you prepared to fight back? Are you willing to stand up for:

•A permanent moratorium on further development in the Lake Whatcom watershed, to save our drinking water supply.

•Rent control to save our supply of truly affordable housing.

•Re-tooling our local economy away from the “Wal-Mart” model (low wages, low benefits, low job security, stagnation) toward a more hi-tech, production-oriented, environmentally friendly model (family wages, benefits, job security, genuine economic growth).

•Putting a halt to further residential building in favor of shoring up our local infrastructure.

Yes, we can put a stop to rampant development. We can ensure that northwest Washington will remain a safe, secure, spectacular place for our children to work and live.

We can be the true stewards of nature and guardians of each other that guys like Jesus (and Zoroaster) and women like Mary Magdalene (and Mother Teresa) wanted us to be.

Roll away the stone. We’re not dead yet. §