In honor of TVUUC
A Review
Of Rev. Wilson’s Sermon, October
2003
The
Sermon on Sunday dealt with civil liberties and our willingness as a culture to
sacrifice those liberties for the sake of comfort and security.
Rev. Wilson suggested that civil liberties concerned the relationship
between government and citizens, and described how this process has
become complicated because multinational corporations and government now
set legislation and economic policy. The
government and multinational corporations set living patterns for citizens and
not citizens setting life patterns for themselves through their elected
Representatives. He used the Ludlow massacre of 1914 as an example of how a
corporation, The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, was joined by local militia and
then Federal troops over and against citizens.
The citizens expected the Federal troops to bring peace to the conflict,
but instead they supported the company with violence. Howard Zinn reports this
patterns continues to this day.
Rev.
Wilson also presented an idea of William Irwin Thompson, that entertainment is
rapidly becoming remembered as cultural history eg., remembering from the
sixties Star Trek, Super Bowls and particular World Series (for Rev. Wilson the
Baltimore Orioles of 1966) and not the suffering and agony of the Vietnam.
He pointed out it is felt history, both personal and cultural, that
motivates a citizenry to stand up and protect its freedom and way of life when
government and corporations (as in the revolutionary war) become oppressive,
reducing civil liberties and demanding the citizens bear burdensome taxes that
facilitate government and economic expansion, while not attending to and caring
for those paying taxes. Remembering
fantasy characters from sit coms will
not spur us on to protest government intrusiveness and abuses. Remembering how
government behaved historically will motivate resistance. Rev. Wilson pointed to
several examples from Unitarian Universalist history, the martyrdom of Michael
Servitus and the persecution of the Unitarian community in Krakow, Poland, to
illustrate how the lack of a voice and representation within the powers that be
can lead to death and economic
decimation. Arguing for the interconnected relationship between civil liberties
and economic systems, Rev. Wilson reported that this was difficult because of
the complexity of the relationship between government, multinational
corporations, and United States citizens. He noted the prophetic nature of the
sermon and suggested community studies in order to develop a plan of action.
“Millions of Americans will watch football this fall as the Administration goes around the country evangelizing for the Patriot Act, And the good news is we lose our civil liberties as we hypnotically say ‘yes, save us for we are scared, and please keep us safe and comfortable.’”
Copyright 2003, Rev. Gregory Wilson, D.Min.
