Good Fences

A Sermon Delivered By

The Rev. Thomas Schmidt

at the 

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry

February 17, 2008

My understanding of the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors,” which I believe to be the conventional wisdom,  had always been that the job of the fence, to separate and divide, was the making of the good neighbors.  However, Frost’s poem seems to say otherwise, or rather it says something different to me.  What I get from Frost’s poem is the sense that it is not the fence  that makes good neighbors, it is the building and maintaining the fence that makes the good neighbors; it is the coming together, each Spring for common cause, that makes for good neighbors.  Let us assume for a moment, that Frost was telling us that “Good fences make good neighbors” precisely because walls and fences are so routinely in need of maintenance from both sides, and a good wall or fence requires neighbors to work together for their common good. 

Now, with that thought in mind, let us consider the so called, “Wall of Separation between Church and State.”  It was the intention of the founders of this nation to create and maintain a wall of separation between the government and organized religion.  Why is that?  Well, good fences, good walls, make good neighbors. The fact is, the government has a particular role in our society, it clearly and succinctly defined in the preamble to the Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  It can’t be said any better than that. If I could I would.  The role of the Federal government is to do that which can only be done fairly and effectively by the government. If the government doesn’t establish justice, then who does?  Most likely mobs.  If the government doesn’t provide for a common defense, then who might?  Private armies perhaps?  If the government doesn’t promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty, then who will?  

Religion, on the other hand, has a very different role in our society.  While it goes without saying that there are a large variety of religious choices available in America, it can be argued I think that religion is a framework, which may include certain beliefs, rituals, and practices, in which people explore questions of meaning, purpose, and ethical living. In short, religion addresses matters of spiritual concern, whereas  government, ideally serves the physical needs of the people, or at least doest does not get in the way as people work to meet their own physical needs. A cursory glance at history provides all the examples necessary to prove that government and religion, when joined,  tend to bring out the worst in each other.  In fact, a government cannot be both democratic and theocratic. A government cannot honestly sustain two competing ideologies. It is either a government of the people, for the people and by the people, or it it is a government that trusts God, or at least says it does on its money.  But please don’t take that on my authority, the idea is not original to me.  

Actually, I got the idea from a book. This guy Jesus said, in response to a question about whether the Jews, whose country was under Roman occupation, should pay taxes to said occupier.  Jesus asked for a coin and asked who is depicted on the coin, and of course somebody said Caesar.  Jesus then responded, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”  There are other such examples in Christian scriptures as well, each seeming to indicate that there is a distinction, or should be a distinction, between physical  needs and spiritual needs. So, from both sides it seems, there is a strong case to be made for keeping the roles of government and religion separated, keeping a wall between them, so to speak.  But as Mr. Frost reminds us, there is something that doesn’t like a wall.  This past week, I ran across the following story about a soldier recently returned from Iraq. He was asked to leave the mess hall by a senior staff sergeant because he wouldn’t pray.  Later, the same soldier was threatened by an officer for holding authorized meetings of “Atheists and Freethinkers” on the base. The soldier is suing the officer and the Secretary of Defense for denying him his constitutional rights.  Former Air Force lawyer Mikey Weinstein “said he has documented 6,800 testimonies by military personnel -- nearly all of them Christians -- of sometimes punitive or humiliating attempts to make them accept a fundamentalist evangelical interpretation of Christianity.” He singles out one of the major Christian groups in the military, the Officers Christian Fellowship (OCF). The group represents 15,000 US military personnel around the world, according to its director, retired Air Force general Bruce Fister. The goal of the group, as stated on its website, is to achieve "a spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit." It professes belief in "the eternal blessedness of the saved; and the everlasting, conscious punishment of the lost."

A former military chaplain of a prestigious US military college reported being prevented from leading worship after disagreeing with the fundamentalist stance of other officials. "I am not ready to say that if someone does not profess Christ as their savior that they are going to hell ...   That got a lot of people angered," This same chaplain is quoted as saying, "As a soldier, many times you want to believe you're fighting on the right side. It's easy to kill someone if you believe that they're going to hell and that they are religiously opposed to you."

And there is the whole mess summed up for you, why the wall was created in the first place.  When religious meaning is assigned to secular powers, the legitimacy of both are jeopardized.  Our responsive reading this morning gives us a clue to what to do next.  The Hebrew Prophet Amos was faces with a very similar circumstance as our own; a government usurping religious language and rituals to promote wars of aggression against neighboring countries, thus putting a tremendous tax burden on the backs of the people, expanding the gulf that existed between rich and poor.  Amos was Shepherd who was called to speak out against injustice, to be an advocate for the poor and powerless.  

James Luther Adams, noted Unitarian Universalist theologian, routinely wrote and spoke the role of liberal religion in society. Christopher Walton, in an article about James Luther Adams, wrote that Adams “championed themes that have never been UU favorites, among them conversion and guilt, sacrifice and discipline, conflict and tragedy. Without them, Adams believed, liberal religion becomes complacent, accommodating cultural trends that distort truly liberal values when resistance is called for. He became the leading exponent of the liberal church as "the prophethood of all believers"--an institution whose people, rooted in the biblical and liberal traditions, learn to judge and correct their society.” 

So, if we are each prophets, we are all called to speak out against injustice, then who exactly are we speaking to.  Amos had a king to rail against, who is it we are called to speak against?  It is tempting to speak out against the government, they make such a tempting target,

 but the government has only the authority we the people allow it.  If we wait for the government to right itself, it will likely not happen.  If we wait for the government to repair the wall separating the roles of church and state, it will likely not happen. If it is true that we are each called to be prophets for justice, equity and compassion, prophets for the inherent worth and dignity of all people.  If it is true that we are called to be prophets for the interdependent web of existence, then it is to each other, to we the people, we must speak.  If the people lead, the government will follow.  

I have here a several small stones, small enough to carry with you in your pocket, or any place you will come into daily contact with it.  I invite you to take a stone from the jar and everyday, or every time you come into contact with it, remind yourself, “Good fences make good neighbors,” remind yourself that it is by coming together for common purpose that neighbors are made and maintained.  We the people are on both sides of the wall, both sides of every issue that would divide us.