A Lenten Fast from Pseudo-American Freedom

Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune. 

I believe one of the most profound challenges facing Christianity, facing our society in America right now, is a misunderstanding of the fundamental ideals that should guide us. I see this particularly in the ideal and virtue of freedom.

Of course, in one sense our country was founded on the ideal of freedom, of liberty for every human being. And yet, at our founding, what that actually meant was the freedom of every white, land-owning man in the country. There has also been this persistent idea, particularly on display during the pandemic, that freedom means I get to do whatever I want, without regard to the impact it will have upon my neighbor.

One of the Scripture readings for today, Ash Wednesday, comes from Isaiah 58. In that reading, the people are trying to rebuild their nation following the destruction of the Babylonian exile. They are fasting and worshipping God but are perplexed because their worship, their piety, does not seem to be producing any response from God. “Why do we fast, but you do not see?” they cry out to God. “Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” It feels almost as though God doesn’t care, like God isn’t even listening when they pray.

The prophetic word, though, makes it clear that the problem is not with their ritual actions. The problem is with the way they live their lives outside of worship. They do not practice righteousness, only focused on themselves on the days they fast. They come out of their times of fasting and repentance but persist to oppress their workers and engage in quarrelsome behavior. And so, the prophet declares that the fast God wants is not to lie yourself down in humility but instead “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.”

True freedom is not doing whatever you want. True freedom for the Christian is living in line with God’s call in your life, focused not on getting what you want but on how you can lift the burdens and break the yokes that hold others down.

When the eminent 20th-century theologian Karl Barth sought to describe human freedom, he said that human freedom is God’s gift that enables us to obey God.

The great theologian, St. Augustine of Hippo, said it differently. You can only be truly free, Augustine believed, when God has healed all of creation and all of you, when you are no longer able to sin. He drew a distinction between liberum arbitrium (free choice) and libertas (freedom). If we keep the end of God’s desire for us and the world in mind, we will eventually, through God’s grace, reach a point when we can only ever choose what is right and good. Think of it as the perfection of an athlete who is not worried about getting to hit the ball however she wants, but who is incapable of hitting the ball poorly. That is freedom.

If you are a Christian who practices Lent, or perhaps has been thinking about taking it up, today is a good day to ask what kind of Lent you want to practice. After all, the danger of Lenten rituals, just like any other religious ritual, is that you can enter this season concerned only for your own relationship with God. This creates a ritual that is not only inauthentic to the call of God in your life, but it also creates a sort of blindness where your ritual has made your neighbor invisible to you.

Engaging or participating in economic oppression, quarreling with others for the sole purpose of proving you are right, speaking evil things about your sibling who is created in the image of God, all of these are individual pursuits. But the fast that God chooses is one that helps to bring about the new humanity inaugurated in Jesus Christ, one where you aren’t interested in freedom of choice or your own spiritual fulfillment but are instead deeply concerned with how you can love God and your neighbor more faithfully.

Just ask yourself this simple question: How is what you are doing for Lent, what you are taking on or what you are giving up – how is what you are doing going to help you love God and your neighbor with more faithfulness? God is not interested with convenient offerings, offerings that fall short of the moral challenges posed by violence, poverty and injustice. That is what the people were willing to offer in the time of Isaiah. No, God is interested in the sort of sacrifice and discipline you can offer, a sacrifice and discipline that will heal the world.

The prophet Isaiah says that if you choose this sort of fast, this sort of approach to Lent, you will be called “the repairer of the breach.” In Judaism, this is the concept of Tikkun Olam, or “repairer of the world.” In the Siddur Sim Shalom prayer book of conservative Judaism, it is reflected in a prayer that asks, “May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry.” This is the concept which undergirded the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he sought to build beloved community and undo systems of racial injustice.

This Lent, remember that you are dust. Repent of a religiosity only concerned about your own pleasure, your own ability to do and have what you want. Walk a pathway that will heal that which is broken in you so that you can be one who will be at work repairing and healing that which is broken in the church, in our community and in the world we inhabit. This is the fast God chooses – and it is the fast God invites you to begin on this sacred day.

About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

Christianity and Fascism right here in Grand Haven

Below is today's column in the Grand Haven Tribune.

One of the unfortunate difficulties of the past couple of years is that language has become increasingly polarized and manipulated, with people claiming certain words and concepts mean things that are absolutely divorced from reality. It’s like Humpty Dumpty talking to Alice in Wonderland. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

One of those words that has been increasingly misunderstood is the concept of fascism. And fascism is increasingly a problem in our own time. So, let’s talk about it. 

Fascism comes from the far-right of the traditional political spectrum and is characterized by authoritarian ultranationalism, a preference for dictatorial power, and a forceful and often violent suppression of any opposition. Fascists want the nation to be entirely self-sufficient and so are often protectionist in policy. Many forms of fascism also include some form of white nationalism or other discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, or religion—anything that will enable the fascist to scapegoat the problems of society and place the fault upon the other. 

Many of the actions of former President Donald Trump resembled fascist leaders from the twentieth century. He was clearly prone to dictatorial and authoritarian tendencies, regularly having to be told by his own administration that things he wanted to do were not legal. His support of violence against non-violent opposition, his protectionist economic policies, and his continued scapegoating of minorities all were indicators of fascism. 

Interestingly enough, after the insurrection and attacks on the United States Capitol on January 6, several conservative historians and legal scholars who had earlier resisted using the word fascism to describe Trump changed their mind and affirmed that he clearly had fascist tendencies, if not describing him as a fascist. These conservative scholars include Michael Gerson and Steven Calabresi, along with a historian of fascism, Robert Paxton. 

Right here in Grand Haven, we have our own home-grown fascist tendencies increasingly taking root. We have parents who continue to rail against the school board, trying to get them to ban any books that include LGBTQIA+ kids. They insist that they know better than trained librarians as to what sort of literature is appropriate in a library and, most unsettling, they think their own homophobic and transphobic views should determine what sort of literature is available to kids in our community. To be clear, they already can control what their own kids check out, but that is not enough for them. They want to control everyone else’s kids. That, my friends, is authoritarianism.  

These parents are also resisting any sort of curricula that teaches our children the ugly history and current reality of race relations in our country. Using the boogey-man phrase of “Critical Race Theory,” what they oppose is actually any curriculum that might make white students uncomfortable. In a time when we can clearly see that there are still profound issues with race in our country, they believe they should be able to dictate a white-washed curriculum for all kids in our schools. 

Ironically enough, they have also harassed government officials regarding public health measures like wearing masks in public in the middle of a pandemic, claiming mask mandates are authoritarianism. The fact that we have gotten to a point that laws with regard to public safety are claimed to be authoritarian over-reach shows just how far fascists have gone in changing the very meaning of words. If these fascists who oppose mask mandates were correct, then seat-belt law, rules against sending your kid to school with chicken-pox, and requirements that kitchens don’t serve food that could kill you would all be authoritarian. 

There is a difference between authoritarianism and reasonable laws and policies that protect public health, even the if the fascists refused to see it that way. But the fascist is only concerned with forcing those in power to obey his own views. 

So, what is a Christian to do in the midst of these threats? 

I believe Christians must resist these growing fascist tendencies in our country and our local communities. We must repudiate political movements that, under the guise of Christianity, move in authoritarian directions. We have been failing at this for years, currently allowing corporations to control their employees’ reproductive health, for instance. We must turn from this and once more embrace the tenets of liberty and the dignity of each person on which America was truly founded, not the fascist false narrative.

Christians also, believing in the dignity of every human being, must repudiate the ways in which these groups deal with race along with sexual and gender identity. The fascists want to scapegoat these people, calling Black Lives Matter protestors thugs and trying to pull books about queer kids from libraries. Christians must turn from those fascist tendencies and stand up on the side of minorities who are created in God’s image, just as much as anyone else. 

It's kind of a scary time in America right now. We must wake up to the threat posed by these growing fascist ideologies and join together, conservative and liberal, religious and non-religious, and resist these attempts to remake our country in the image of far-right fascism. In particular, as Christians, we must stand up and be advocates, otherwise those who have too small of a voice today may have no voice tomorrow.    

The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.  

Just war and violence in Ukraine

Below is my column in today's issue of the Grand Haven Tribune.

Like many of you, I’ve been watching the escalating events in Ukraine and Russia with a fair amount of anxiety. Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding several things, including a promise for NATO never to expand eastward to countries like Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Russian troops have amassed on Ukraine’s borders, ignoring calls from the U.S. and NATO allies to remove them. And, since it was only a few years ago that Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine, the threat of a new invasion seems very real.

As a Christian, it is difficult to look at the possibility of war and know what the best outcome is, the best choice in a world of violence and danger. For much of her history, the church has used the theory of “Just War” to determine when the violence of war is an appropriate choice for a nation to make.

Though Just War theory goes back to Greco-Roman philosophy, it was best laid out in a Christian understanding by Augustine of Hippo, and then later by Thomas Aquinas. In “Just War” theory, there is a hesitance regarding the inherent violence of war while also recognizing that sometimes it is the lesser of two evils.

In the view of Aquinas, a just war must be waged by a lawful government, for a just cause due to a wrong done to those being attacked. The waging of a just war must also have a just intent to promote good and avoid evil. Aquinas was also clear that war should always be the last resort, done in the pursuit of justice. And later developments have also made it clear that there must be a probability of success and that noncombatants must be protected.

When Putin invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he sent unmarked troops into the region and fomented a civil war that cost over 14,000 lives. Russia was slapped with economic sanctions, but little else. The Minsk protocol effectively gave half of the Crimean region to Russia as reward for his belligerence.

Now Putin wants the rest of the territory, the regions that were given back to Ukraine in 2014. As I said, he demands a promise that Ukraine never enter the NATO alliance and is further demanding that NATO withdraw all forces from Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO member countries.

Under Just War theory, wars of conquest are illegal war, with Russia’s desire to control the entire Crimean region being an example of just such an attempted conquest. Ukraine is a victim of this aggression, and her allies are justified under Christian just war theory to use force to protect her, if negotiations fail and Russia does invade.

In the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Ukraine gave up all of her nuclear weapons from her Soviet days to Russia, in exchange for a promise from Russia that Ukraine’s borders and territorial independence would be protected. Russia has clearly broken those promises.

As John Davenport, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, argued in a recent essay, the United States cannot betray and abandon Ukraine. We must demand the immediate removal of forces that threaten this country and be clear that if these forces are not removed by a hard timeline, Ukraine will immediately be invited into the NATO alliance. We must be clear that if Ukraine is invaded again, that the U.S. and NATO will send in forces to protect the innocent citizens of that country. As Davenport says near the end of his essay, “Peace, as the aim of just wars, should not be the false peace of life under tyranny.”

As a Christian, like many of you, I have lived through a good number of wars at this point, a good number of conflicts that, in the end, many Christian leaders have regarded as unjust. Both the invasion of Iraq and the occupation of Afghanistan were deeply problematic from a just war standpoint. It has seemed at times that our country is not really concerned about protecting noncombatants and citizens. And so, Christians have spoken up and have urged an end to violence. I have joined them in those calls.

But protecting the weak and the vulnerable is central to Christian teaching, and our siblings in Christ in Ukraine are hoping their western neighbors will stand up and defend them, that we will not fall back in a fear of war that would enable the tyranny of Putin to expand.

We must never forget that it was the hesitancy of many Christians toward war against Hitler that enabled his aggression to go unchecked until it was almost too late. Putin has demonstrated he will not stop on his own. We must force him to stop, or the peace under which we live will be a false peace caused by massive injustice and oppression.

About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

A priest’s views on recreational weed in Grand Haven

 Below is my column in today's issue of the Grand Haven Tribune. 

Let’s talk about weed. Yep, just when you thought your local progressive pastor couldn’t move any further to the left, here I am.

Except, the question of recreational marijuana use is increasingly one of the few issues in our country that is based less upon a partisan divide and instead upon generational perceptions.

According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, 91 percent of Americans now believe marijuana should be legal, either for medicinal use only (31 percent) or for medicinal and recreational use (60 percent). Progressives generally do favor legalization more, with 95 percent of Democrats in favor of either recreational or medicinal use, but is not much more than the 87 percent of all Republicans who agree. Indeed, nearly half of all Republicans (47 percent) explicitly favor legalization of recreational use.

The disagreement is much more based upon age. For example, 70 percent of adults under 29 favor legalization of recreational marijuana. That number decreases by age, until you get to those who are over 75, of whom only 32 percent support recreational marijuana.

I believe the current status of marijuana in our country can be likened to another ban on intoxicating substances 100 years ago: the prohibition on alcohol. Prohibition didn’t stop people from drinking; it instead drove it underground where it fostered a criminal empire of producers meeting demand. It also fundamentally changed the way people drink, with a significant increase in spirits. (If you think about it, smuggling a barrel of whiskey is far easier than an equivalent amount of alcohol using multiple barrels of beer.)

We see similar dynamics at play in the current prohibition on recreational marijuana. As Jordan Waldrep noted in a column in Forbes Magazine, with penalties assessed based upon grams in possession, it makes more sense to create a more powerful drug. This is one reason why the amount of THC in marijuana has more than tripled since the mid-’90s. By contrast, many recreational shops have excelled in offering micro-dosing products.

I bring all of this up because a local business in Grand Haven, New Standard, is asking for the city to move forward with allowing recreational marijuana in our community.

When medicinal marijuana facilities were approved in Grand Haven after the success of the 2018 Proposition 1, they were approved in the hope of seeing what kind of impact these new facilities would have upon Grand Haven and surrounding communities. Since 56 percent of the residents of the city of Grand Haven voted in favor of the proposal (including a majority in every single precinct), it stands to reason that a majority of people in Grand Haven want to see the prohibition on marijuana end. Medicinal facilities were a smart first step.

What we have noticed since the approval of medicinal facilities are a few things. First, as Councilmember Karen Lowe pointed out in a recent presentation to City Council, recreational sales have cannibalized medicinal sales, as people who use the drug for medicinal purposes now no longer see a need to renew their cards. Second, we’ve seen that not a single other municipality in our area voted to ban recreational marijuana sales. Furthermore, the current ban means our city does not get the excise tax redistributions from recreational sales from the state – a loss of $25,000 to $30,000 per adult use business.

And the ban on recreational sales doesn’t keep it out of Grand Haven – stores in Muskegon will deliver to your door. It just makes it a bit harder and more expensive for area residents.

The worry expressed by our current mayor is that approval of recreational sales in Grand Haven will make it easier for marijuana to get to area kids. This concern, though, doesn’t make sense when you look at the evidence. From 1975 to 2012, 80-90 percent of 12th-graders consistently reported that marijuana was “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain. However, after legalization began, for the first time the perception of availability has dropped below 80 percent.

This makes sense. If you walk into New Standard, you will meet a friendly person at the welcome desk who will check IDs (and, currently, medical cards) before you can go through a second door into their showroom. However, when the mechanism for purchase is illegal and on the black market, there is nothing to keep it away from teenagers. Ironically enough, by not allowing recreational use, the city of Grand Haven is encouraging the still-existing black market.

There is no government data to indicate that reformed marijuana laws have led to increased use by teenagers. There is only fear. And we must make decisions based upon facts, not upon fears.

Before I close, I’d like to say why I, as a Christian priest, am talking about this issue.

First, all of the data above seems reasonable and compelling to me, no matter someone’s faith commitments. However, as a Christian, I am concerned with equity and justice. The current system is unjust, with a study by the ACLU finding that African Americans are 3.6 more likely than whites to be arrested for possession, despite similar use rates.

But even beyond that, marijuana is far safer than many other medications people take on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to chronic pain, mood disorders and the effects of chemotherapy. Compassion would urge me to make that access by adults easier, not harder. To me, marijuana is similar to alcohol – a mind-altering substance that can be abused and misused, but which should not be illegal. Even St. Paul encouraged a little wine now and then for his protégé, Timothy’s, stomach. To be honest, I have a feeling he would have said the same thing about gummies.

Let’s finally get rid of the approach of prohibition, an approach that has failed and is actually more dangerous to kids. Instead, let’s talk about responsible adult use. Let’s support studies about the long-term impact of marijuana use, particularly when it comes to regulated and consistent commercial products instead of street drugs, so we can know what risks are involved.

To be clear, I’m not promoting the use of marijuana. Like with any mind-altering substance, there are risks involved. I do, however, think it is a decision – like the use of alcohol or other important choices – best left in the hands of responsible adults.

About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

Not Christmas Yet! Advent and the Four Last Things

Below is my column from today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.

According to stores, Christmas has been almost here since before Halloween. But for many families, the first weekend after Thanksgiving marks the true beginning of the holiday season. I know I talked my wife into beginning our own decorating, though I couldn’t convince her to go with me to the Christmas Tree Farm… not yet.

Part of the reason for that is that our family leaves our tree up for the entire Christmas season—which actually only begins on December 25 and lasts until the Twelfth Day of Christmas, January 5. I know not everyone is familiar with the roots of Advent traditions, so I’d like to invite you to learn some about the gifts of this holy season. 

Advent always begins four Sundays before the Christmas holiday. In some churches, Advent is kind of an extended experience of the Christmas season. There are candles on a wreath named for such gentle and heartwarming concepts as hope, peace, joy, and love. 

But traditionally, that’s not what the Advent season is like. Instead, Advent is a darker season, a season that is meant to prepare us for the celebrations of Christmas, one in which we are invited to cast off our sins and prepare for the coming of Christ. In fact, traditionally the themes for the four Sunday of Advent are known as the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. 

In Advent, however, the darkness of our world is met with the light and power of the Gospel, and that means the Four Last Things are profoundly important opportunities to see how the good news of God interacts with the Last Things of Christian theology.

We believe in death. Which is to say, we believe we will all die someday. True, for the Christian we believe life is changed, not ended, but in a world where we seem to deny the reality of our mortality, a reminder that we are all indeed mortal is important. That doesn’t mean we chase death (get that vaccine, folks!), but it also means we do not look at death as the end. It also means that we take very seriously our responsibility not to hasten someone else’s death through our own choices (once more, get the vaccine, Christians killing people by not being vaccinated during a pandemic is the antithesis of the Christian faith!). 

As Christians we also believe in judgment. Don’t get me wrong, we believe God’s judgment is always tempered by God’s mercy. I know I believe that in the end, all those who chose God will find God, that God’s love will heal all things. But when we acknowledge the brokenness of this world, we must also acknowledge the importance of believing in God’s judgment, believing that God’s justice will make right those things in this world that have been broken by sin, selfishness, violence, hate, and systems of oppression. Salvation means nothing—particularly to those who are marginalized and powerless—if it doesn’t also involve God’s justice being made manifest in people’s real lives.

Heaven, the third of the Last Things, is a bit easier for people to believe in. But heaven is not about pearly gates and mansions. It’s not the place where good people get to go when they die. Heaven is about the final healing of all things, of finally being in new and perfect relationship with God and all creation. Heaven is about all things being made new, all things being brought to their perfection through God’s love. And in the end, you don’t go to heaven because you earned it, you go because you’ve been willing to be embraced by God’s love and forgiveness.

And just like belief in Judgment and the justice of God is essential, the fourth Last Thing, Hell, is also an important part of Christian theology. I often say that Hell has to exist to preserve free choice. People must have the freedom to choose an eternity with God (also known as heaven) or an eternity without God (best understood as hell). However, the early Church, along with my own Anglican tradition, has taught that even in hell we do not lose the ability to change that choice and so even those who reject God in this life can still choose God in the life to come. As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce, for people like that hell was actually purgatory, the difficult place where they finally learned to choose God.

Which is why I know I believe that, at the end of eternity, given the power of God’s love, hell will find itself empty as all things are brought together in Christ.

This is what the season of Advent is about: God’s light entering the real and difficult places of our world, of our mortal existence, in small and yet powerful ways. 

So, don’t just celebrate Christmas early these next few weeks. Instead, look into the darkness of this world but find yourself held by God’s love. That’s an Advent that will truly prepare you for the real joy of Christmas. 

The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.  

Religious freedom under attack from religious people

Below is today's column in the Grand Haven Tribune. 

Late last week, I read with interest the concerns of Detroit News columnist Ingrid Jacques, who warned that “‘Fair and Equal’ could unfairly harm faith-based work.” As a priest who has worked and served on the board of a variety of nonprofits, both those that are and are not faith-based, I wanted to know what her concerns were.

Her concerns are about a petition circulated by a group called “Fair and Equal Michigan.” Their goal is to amend the state’s current civil rights law – the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act – to add sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected categories. It would also clarify that protections for religion are “the religious belief of the individual.” A pretty significant 77 percent of Michigan citizens support this ballot proposal, which also has the support of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and former chairs of both the state Democratic and Republican parties.

At this point, you might be asking: So what is Jacques so worried about with this bill? Her largest concern is the change to specifying the religious beliefs of an individual, limiting the protections of religious expression to say they wouldn’t apply to a corporation, for example. As an example, she cites the suit Attorney General Dana Nessel filed against St. Vincent Catholic Charities and Bethany services, insisting that unless they would agree to place children with same-sex couples, they could not contract with the state for adoption services.

So, let’s say it again, so everyone can hear. Freedom of religion is about your freedom to practice your religion – it is not about your freedom to insist other people follow the tenets of your religion.

The so-called cause of religious liberty in our country has gotten this principal backwards. Instead, it is now legal for a Catholic hospital to infringe upon the right of a female employee to use birth control. Jacques believes it should be legal for a Christian adoption agency to infringe upon the rights of a same-sex couple, one who might be married in the Episcopal Church, to adopt children.

At any given time, there are 3,000 children in Michigan foster care who are available for adoption. Gay couples are four times more likely to be raising an adopted child and six times more likely to be raising foster children than opposite-sex couples. Research has consistently indicated that children raised by LGBTQIA+ parents group up as successfully as children raised by opposite-sex couples. (And research has also shown that there is no correlation in the gender identity and sexual orientation of children raised by LGBTQIA+ parents – because, of course, being gay is not something you catch from your parents.)

Real freedom of religion would be the freedom of a gay couple to adopt a child, using the same resources a straight couple would use. For a religious adoption agency to refuse to place a child with a gay couple is the religious organization imposing their views upon the gay couple and removing the couple’s freedom. It’s discrimination. It has nothing to do with helping the thousands of kids looking for a home. And it has no place in the Christian church.

I’m glad that Paul Propson, the CEO of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, wants to serve the church and serve the community. That’s fantastic. Propson also says, “We recognize as Catholics, to say we believe something, and then not to act on it is in fact not to have any belief at all. Taking action is part of the faith, part of being Catholic.” Great, act on your beliefs. Feed the hungry. Take care of the needy. Help kids find homes. But you taking action on your faith should not include you insisting someone else live another way. Propson does not have the right, not as a Christian and certainly not as an American, to tell gay couples they cannot adopt kids just because of his own religious beliefs.

I am tired of religious people attacking the religious rights of women and LGBTQIA+ individuals, insisting their religion means that they can tell those people how to live, they can advocate for laws and policies that restrict their freedom, they can control the bodies of women and LGBTQIA+ persons. It is past time for other religious people to stand up and say no more discrimination in the name of religion. Practice your faith freely – but don’t think you have the freedom to tell someone else they must do what you believe as well.

And, for the sake of Jesus and his plea that we allow the children to come to him, if you are an adoption agency, get those kids in a home. That gay couple who wants to love and care for an adopted child is not a threat to your religion; they are a way you can practice your religion more faithfully by helping kids find homes.

About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.

Standing against harassment; supporting public servants

Below is my column in today's issue of the Grand Haven Tribune. 

A local community activist, Nick Brock, reached out to me last week to see if our church would be interested in hosting a community event.

Nick knows that I share his concern with the behavior of a small segment of our community’s population when it comes to COVID-19 restrictions. Simple disagreement is no longer enough for some people who have chosen the path of vitriol, shouted threats, and violent language and behavior. This is all the more distressing for me as a priest, because so many of the people engaged in this sort of behavior call themselves Christians.

The cost of this behavior to the Christian witness is serious and cause for concern and frustration among all those who claim to follow the prince of peace. But there has been another cost: those on the receiving end of abuse and harassment.

In our own community, we’ve seen the president of the Grand Haven school board, John Siemion, resign after 22 years of faithful service upon advice from his doctor, for his own mental and physical well-being.

Shortly after Siemion’s announcement, our school superintendent, Andrew Ingall, announced his retirement. While he did not address the controversy of COVID-19 precautions as clearly as Siemion, Ingall did make it clear that “it is high time for me to attend to the physical and mental wellness of myself and my family.”

Our school board members have been subjected to some of the worst treatment imaginable through emails and phone calls.

In Ottawa County, our Board of Commissioners meetings have been overrun by crowds of people who bully any who disagree with them, threaten violence against public servants, and do all this while singing hymns and praying prayers. In Kent County, the health director had someone try to literally run him off the road on the interstate. Someone else told him that they hoped someone abused his children and make him watch.

And then there is our Department of Public Health. These are medical professionals who have given their lives to public service and the common good. They are not partisan hacks or part of a conspiracy to steal anyone’s rights. They are using science and medical knowledge to make decisions that will best protect their community in an ongoing pandemic. And the way they are being treated, the way all of these public servants are being treated, is contrary to the core teachings of Jesus Christ.

Which brings me back to Nick Brock. He reached out because he wanted to find a way to bring a little light into the dark world of public servants. And so, our parish campus is holding an outdoor event on Sunday, Oct. 10, at 4 p.m. The event will be on our church grounds (524 Washington Ave., here in Grand Haven) and have the purpose of showing public support for the Ottawa County Department of Public Health and emphasizing the importance of civility and nonviolence in community activism.

If you’d like to come, you are invited to bring “thank you” cards that will be distributed to health department employees. Attendees will also be invited to sign up to “stand in solidarity” with one of the 150 employees of the health department who are working so very hard to protect our community.

I’ll be one of the speakers at the event, but I’m particularly glad to know that a new nonpartisan political action committee, Ottawa Integrity, will be there speaking as well. As they say in the letter of introduction on their website, “Ottawa Integrity is driven by a desire to protect, promote and uphold integrity for the people in our community.” I hope this organization can provide a channeling force for the many residents of our area who want to counter the hate, vitriol and misinformation that continues to persist. You can find out more about Ottawa Integrity at ottawaintegrity.org.

Christians must make it clear that the behavior of some people in our community, the way public servants and officials have been treated, is not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. And we must work to bring healing to the wounds that have been inflicted, so that those who serve our community can know they are appreciated, respected and supported.

About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.