OL' TIME RELIGION

Mother Made It New

My Mother loved her family and she loved Jesus. One of her favorite songs was Jesus Loves the Little Children and she followed a Southern tradition of picking a cute little nickname to be called by her grandchildren. She chose Sugar, perhaps hinting at “give me some sugar”, a down-home metaphor for giving or receiving a kiss from a child. A cherished early memory of Mother was her asking me to give her some sugar, which she often did. Sugar’s maiden name was Ruby May Bell which became Ruby Bell Turnipseed when she married my Daddy, George Turnipseed. She died at 83 in1993 from congestive heart failure and was a proactive, caring Christian all her life. She required my brother Sam and me to kneel by our bed-side and say a prayer every night before she tucked us in when we were little children.

Our regular nightly prayer was: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray to God my soul to keep. God bless my Mother and Daddy dear and Heavenly Father draw me near. God bless me now and help me make a good little boy for Jesus sake. Amen.”

When I was a naughty boy my mother didn’t hesitate to whip my little behind. Mother’s favorite weapon for punishing us was a switch she made from a small branch cut out of a bush that would sting my bare legs below my little boy’s shorts. The switching I remember the most was when I was about 7 years old and repeated the f---word in front of her. I heard it from an older boy and had no earthly idea what it meant. Mother said I had used a dirty word and must be punished, without ever explaining to me what was dirty about the f---word. I was confused and had no idea why saying the f---word required punishment and was a bad word like taking God’s name in vain. I understood that God D---and even damn were no-nos. It was okay to say darn-it, durn-it or dog-gone-it but not damn-it. My reaction from the misunderstood switching is my excuse for my life-long fondness for cursing. My wife Judy doesn’t like me using such four letter words either and wouldn’t watch South Park with me because Eric Cartman and his fourth grade classmates were “potty mouths” who used the s---word incessantly and other four letter dirty words. The f---word is dirty, lowbrow and illicit but if you use hifalutin words like sexual intercourse it is socially acceptable even though they mean the same thing. George Carlin was my hero for ridiculing the hypocrisy about seven dirty cuss words being socially unacceptable and even illegal when multi-syllable words with Latin roots were both socially acceptable and legal for radio and television.

Mother’s strong religious beliefs ran in the family. Mother’s Dad was the Reverend Frank O. Bell, known in our family as Poppa Bell. Poppa was a full-time carpenter and part-time preacher in the Church of the Nazarene who left the poverty of rural Mississippi and came to Mobile, Alabama to make a living. We lived in a western suburb of Mobile and Mother took us to Sunday School and Church every Sunday at the First Church of the Nazarene in Mobile. In those days the Nazarenes were mostly working class white folks who believed in salvation and sanctification and would wail, shout and moan when the Holy Ghost took hold of them.

At least once a year a big revival meeting was staged every night for a week with visiting evangelists and a gospel band putting on a big show for Jesus in a huge tent with sawdust on the floor that was set up next to the small brick church. The preachers shouted that you must be saved by Jesus or burn in hell. Either get right with Jesus or suffer everlasting damnation! When I was about 6 years old an evangelist gave the altar call for salvation as everyone sang Just As I Am Without One Plea, O' Lamb of God I Come To Thee. The preacher stood at the altar and waited for the sinners to come down, crying and moaning to be saved. But if you didn't come on down, he came out into the congregation after you.

The preacher, whose slick shiny hair glistened under the tent lights, came down to me sitting next to Mother who was saved and was waving her hand and singing along with her eyes closed. The preacher grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me and shouted, "Son, Are you saved, Are you saved?" I didn't really know, because I couldn't get the feeling it appeared the others had, as they mournfully wailed things like, "Oh, Yes, Sweet Jesus." Then the evangelist said, "Son, if a drunken driver crashes into your Momma's car on the way home and you and your Momma get killed, she will go to Jesus in Heaven where the streets are paved with gold, because she is saved--but you will burn in Hell forever!" By then I was afraid and crying, but still refused to feign the feeling of salvation. I had seen articles in the National Geographic Magazine with nice looking young children who were Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists and I did not think they were going to burn in Hell because they weren’t saved by Jesus. Even at that young age I sensed that something was wrong with religion that uses our greatest fear of the unknown -- the fear of death -- to frighten folks into salvation. I now understand that some religions use the fear of our mortality to prosper.

In Sunday School we studied Joshua and the battle of Jericho. God told his prophet Joshua to totally destroy the enemy. Joshua 6: 21 says, "...they (the forces of God led by Joshua) utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep and donkey, with the edge of a sword." Then God's forces burned the city and took the silver, gold, bronze and iron and put it in the "treasury of the house of the Lord". I couldn’t understand why God would tell his prophet to kill every living thing including little children. The teacher said it was to teach us obedience to God.

I told Mother that I was afraid and did not want to go to church anymore. Not long after that, we started attending the Methodist Church, where Jesus' salvation was still the only way to Heaven, but at least the Methodists didn't scare you so much with Hell and the Devil as the Nazarenes had. Daddy’s family was mostly Methodist and his cousin became a prominent Methodist minister and Bishop. I liked Jesus' instruction to “do unto other as you would have them do unto you.” I didn’t want to hurt anyone and did not want anyone to hurt me. But many of the Old Testament teachings were about killing people in the name of God. The Methodist church was more open, less narrow minded and saw good in other denominations and faith traditions. Mother became even more spiritual and faithful as a Methodist. She sang in the choir and never missed being there every Sunday. She believed in her faith and became an advocate and activist for peace and social justice who not only talked the talk but walked the walk.

Mother was a leader of the United Methodist Women of the Western North Carolina Methodist Conference and attended so many meetings at the Lake Junaluska Methodist Conference Center and Retreat in the Smoky Mountains that we teased her about the lake being holy water for her. Working with another church program she became an avid supporter of the United Nations and its efforts for world peace and went to New York to attend its sessions. She was much less nationalistic and provincial than most of her friends and neighbors and saw the importance of the United States working with other nations to find peaceful solutions to world problems.

Mother enjoyed visiting religious sites and events in the United States and elsewhere. My two brothers and I gave her a 60^th birthday trip to attend the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany which is staged every 10 years.

Mother’s spirituality inspired my religious journey away from narrow fundamentalism to a belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all people, everywhere. My wife Judy and I attended United Methodist and then Presbyterian churches almost every Sunday (like Mother taught me) for several years until we became Unitarian-Universalists in 1983. I was a State Senator and a progressive candidate for Congress in 1980 when I was asked to speak at the Unitarian Church in Columbia, South Carolina and discovered that several of their members were volunteers in my campaign who shared my beliefs in social activism. We began attending, agreed with its non-sectarian agenda of “deeds not creeds” and became members. I’ve visited many churches and religious gatherings throughout South Carolina to promote progressive politics and social action. Some worship services try to frighten folks to Jesus, and some are boring, but many others are interesting and inspirational with charismatic preachers and happy gospel singers who fill you with joy. Their diverse ritual and entertainment styles remind me of my own evolving religious experiences.

Mother’s example created awareness in me of the importance of spirituality in our lives. Jesus might not be the only way to the truth, but he had the courage of his convictions to give his life in his non-violent struggle for peace and justice. The stories of Jesus in the New Testament portray him as a fearless martyr for social justice and he is probably the most worshipped religious icon in human history. Along with such great prophets as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesus lived an exemplary life and died for the cause of peace and justice. I never thought of Jesus as my personal savior who would get me into Heaven when I die. But Mother did, and she started me on my journey toward understanding what life is about.

I am thankful for my family and friends who have helped me along the way, but most of all for my Mother who brought me into the world. Through the years her ol’ time religion grew into a new and stronger belief in the power of love and the inherent worth and dignity of all people.

SOPHIA STEPS UP

A SOCIAL ACTIVIST IN THE MAKING

The circus was coming to Columbia, South Carolina, with all its clowns, trapeze artists, tumblers, stilt walkers, and fire eating acts. Bears, elephants and ferocious lions would soon be riding bicycles, standing on their heads, balancing on balls and jumping through rings of fire. What fun! Lots of Sophia's  friends were planning to go with their families and several had asked her about it.  But Sophia had been talking 
to her Mom and reading about how animals are treated in the circus.  Newspapers, websites,and animal rights organizations have been reporting the many ways animals are suffering at the hands of their circus trainers in the most well known circuses, large and small, all over the country.  Living in inhumane conditions, housed in tiny cages and often in chains, the animals are tortured as a training method. Sophia had  read about them all. Her Mom wouldn't allow her on the websites with graphic videos or pictures--she is only 12--but she read the descriptions.


Sophia and her family don't go to the circus.  They don't want to support a form of entertainment that provides amusement for humans created out of the misery of the animals who perform.  But Sophia wanted to do more than boycott the circus; she wanted to make a bigger difference. She wanted to inform other people about why animal circuses shouldn't continue and why people should attend only circuses that don't involve animal acts--like Cirque Du Soleil.

Sophia decided to get involved, to stand up for what she believes in, to act on her values.  On Sunday she asked the minister if she could speak to the whole Unitarian Universalist congregation during the worship hour about her concerns.  Reverend Neal granted her request with great respect and so Sophia stood before us that Sunday morning and spoke from her heart.  She and her brothers, Nohl and Drew, and several friends, held up their homemade signs as she stepped to the mic and talked to us in words that could be heard to the far reaches of the sanctuary.  Sophia asked us to stand with her in front of the Carolina Coliseum holding our own homemade signs that next weekend and bring awareness to the community about circus cruelty.  She made a special appeal to the children of the congregation.

Tom and I vowed to go to honor Sophia's commitment. I learned volumes in the intervening week. Here's some of it.

Living Conditions The animals used by the circus once roamed free in the wild, living in family units by their natural instincts.  Once they join the circus, they are separated from their families--baby elephants torn from their mothers--and live the rest of their lives isolated, often in chains or ropes, and intensely confined in close quarters where they are forced to eat, sleep, defecate and urinate in the same place, usually on concrete. Diets are not what they would eat naturally; no thought is given to climate control so that they are exposed to extreme heat and cold and they rarely receive decent medical care from veterinarians qualified to treat exotic animals.

 Travel Ringling Bros. brags that its units travel more than 25,000 miles as they tour for 11 months of the year. Their own documents reveal that on average, elephants are chained for more than 26 hours straight and sometimes are continually chained for as many as 60 to 100 hours. Tigers and lions usually live and travel in cages that provide barely enough room for the animals to turn around, often with two big cats crammed into a single cage.

bullhook

Training Animals don't willingly perform the kinds of unnnatural acts you see in the circus.  They are painful, damaging to their bodies and make no sense to them.  Trainers use brutal techniques to break the animals' spirits and traumatize them into obeying their human trainers.  The fear-induced performances are a result of using sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst, routine beating and other extreme methods. Bull hooks are driven into tender areas of an elephant's body, Electric shock, whips, baseball bats, blowtorches, pitchforks, and pipes are among the tools used to force the animals to cooperate.  Some animals are kept muzzled to subdue them and prevent them from defending themselves. Some are drugged to make them manageble and some have their teeth removed. Some bears have had their paws burned to force them to stand on their hind legs.

Circuses have been known to keep topsoil ready, to camouflage the wounds and the blood on the elephants.  Some actually employ someone to apply a powder to conceal the wounds and stop the bleeding of elephants that have been hooked too hard so that the injuries are not visible during the show.  This is called "spot work."

 The plight of elephants is the saddest, I think.  Elephants are majestic creatures who are intelligent and self-aware.  They are among the most socially-bonded animals on the planet and display a complex array of emotions, including grief and compassion.  They use tools, mourn their dead, and communicate with each other over vast distances through sound.  They are genetically designed to browse, constantly on the move for up to 18 hours out of the day, even when the food is readily available.One of the most common causes of elephant circus deaths is due to osteoporosis, a condition they suffer from simply because they do not have wide spaces to move around in.  For anyone who knows about elephants, seeing these complex, family-centered animals, chained and broken, performing demeaning tricks is simply heartbreaking.

Demostrating On the corner close to the fountain,  we demonstrators respectfully stood, careful not to block their path, holding up our signs as the circus goers entered the Coliseum.  There were enough of us to make an impact.  We had our homemade signs; others had printed signs, brochures, PETA CDs, coloring books and I'm An Ele-Friend stickers. Many of the rest of the folks assembled for three shows, but Tom and I were only able to make the Saturday morning one. A lot of the families passed us by without a glance, but a good many read our signs, took the literature and some even asked for the CD--including the policeman on duty. Nobody was ugly to us.
 


Sophia's family had awesome signs and great big smiles and her brother Nohl wore a chain in solidarity with the elephants.

 

 

       

What other people are doing Circuses are licensed by the USDA and they make unannounced inspections and investigate complaints of violations of the minimal standards of care of the Animal Welfare Act, leading to fines and even license revocations.  Standards cover housing, handling, transportation, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care, and protection from extreme weather and temperatures. All major circuses have many citations on record--including convictions, with fines and revocations. However listings on their website are only through 2008, so it is hard to judge what improvements have been made.


Several animal rights organizations, PETA, The Fund for Animals, Born Free USA and the Animal Welfare Institute have sued in federal court against circuses, offering as evidence eye witness accounts of former circus employees and undercover films of training sessions showing the cruel methods.  Mostly they have been dismissed because of lack of standing of the plaintiffs. Many of them have ideas posted on their websites of ways you can help.  Check out Steps To Take When the Circus Comes To Town.


Because of concerns about animal mistreatment and public safety, a growing number of communities and even states are considering banning or restricting the use of animals in circuses.  Sacramento, California passed a new ordinance in 2010 which allowed the city officials to inspect and closely monitor the care of circus animals when the Ringling Bros.most recently came to town.

Meanwhile, countries around the world--Israel, Bolivia, Sweden, Costa Rica, Austria, Finland and India--have come forward to ban or severely restrict the use of animals in circuses.

Maybe, with courageous young social activists like our own Sophia Johnson to lead the way, our city will be the next to take action.
 

HOMELESS HELPING HOMELESS

I am so proud of our Food Not Bomb folk.  They have just started Homeless Helping Homeless, have organized two service projects with more in the works, and have gotten wonderful positive publicity. We are all working to change the stereotype people have of the  homeless.  This organization is going to do so much to open peoples' eyes to the humanity of us all and to help people understand that the homeless feel part of the community and want to contribute to it. Here is the lovely article from The State that was printed July 5th:

  

Homeless Help Themselves

New group works to improve image of city's street-dwellers

By NOELLE PHILLIPS

 John Holmes knows the look Columbia's homeless people get on the street.  

He is one of them.

John Holmes and area homeless and formerly homeless have formed the group Homeless Helping Homeless.

Holmes, 54, is trying to change that perception through a new group called Homeless Helping Homeless.

He and a handful of other homeless men and women started meeting in May at the old Fox Theater on Main Street. Since then, they have sponsored two service projects, and Holmes has made a presentation to Columbia City Council about their needs.

“Our overall goal,” Holmes said, “is to present ourselves as responsible, respectable members of this community.”

On a recent Saturday, Holmes and 24 other homeless people gathered on the 1600 block of Main Street to pick up trash. They roamed an alley with rakes and shovels, scooping up mounds of cardboard, foam cups, beer bottles and cigarette boxes.

Sweat poured down Holmes’ face as he and three other men climbed over a barbed-wire fence to clear trash surrounding the air-conditioning system of Sidney Park Christian Methodist Church. The men filled three bags with garbage and tossed them over the fence so they could be loaded into a pickup truck on loan from City Center Partnership.

The nook is a hiding spot for homeless people looking for a safe place to sleep, said Holmes, who said he once was assaulted while trying to sleep in the open.

“With limited shelters and places to sleep, we try to find secure places,” he said.

More than 1,000 homeless people live in Richland and Lexington counties, according to a 2009 count. Of those, Holmes estimates about 25 percent are willing and capable of working. They have either fallen on hard times in the bad economy or past mistakes are hindering job searches.

“Some of us want to be employable,” he said.

Troy Pierce, 50, was limited in the amount of heavy lifting he could perform because of a heart condition that forced him to lose his job. But the burley man slung a pouch of medicine over his shoulder and did what he could.

“I want to work, but seeing as how I can’t work, I can’t pay rent,” Pierce said. “I can’t pay rent, so here I am. I don’t do drugs or drink myself to death. I used to drive my car through here and think the same things y’all say. Then I walked a mile in their shoes.”

Pierce said he is waiting to qualify for public housing and disability payments. Until then, he will be homeless, and he plans to be involved in the new group.

“It may be a month, or it may be a year,” he said. “Until then, I’ll be here.”

Christy Lane, 25, who lives in a tent with her husband, said she joined the group to prove that not everyone living on the streets is an addict or mentally ill.

“We’re not bad,” Lane said. “We’re trying to live.”

They lost their home after her husband was laid off. She was a college student. Now, their two children live with grandparents while they search for jobs and a permanent home.

“As my husband says, ‘It’s not always about you,’” Lane said. “I believe there is a way to make it better. I’m not looking for anything back. I want to help.”

After two hours of work, volunteers from agencies who regularly support the homeless fed the group bologna sandwiches, fruit cups and cookies. Those volunteers did not help with the trash pickup, saying they only attended to show support for a group of homeless people trying to help themselves.

“I’m trying to be supportive,” said Jean Denman, a downtown resident who helped secure shovels and rakes for the cleaning project. “I’m not part of anything, but I’m supporting from the sidelines.”

Homeless Helping Homeless got its start after a similar organization in Charlotte brought members to Columbia for a Finlay Park rally. Holmes said he saw a flier for the event, and it was a time when he felt especially down about his situation.

“I was asking God to deliver me and show me what to do,” Holmes said. “And 48 hours later a pamphlet dropped in my lap.”

Now, he is pouring energy into the group.

People who are involved in homeless issues are becoming used to seeing Holmes at meetings and other events.

Larry Arney, executive director of the Midlands Housing Alliance, which is building a new shelter on Main Street, said he has run into Holmes at a neighborhood meeting and while giving a presentation at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Woodrow Street.

“Right there on the third pew was John Holmes,” Arney said. “I asked if he wanted to say anything, and later I joked that I’m kind of tired of being the warm-up act for John Holmes. He speaks so effectively.”

Holmes, a Navy veteran, moved to South Carolina five years ago to find work. But he was addicted to crack, and that led to life on the streets, he said.

“I don’t do anything now except smoke cigarettes,” he said.

He said he has filled out nearly two dozen job applications for hotel and restaurant work, but no one has hired him.

Holmes leads the group’s regular meetings, where about 20 people show up.

To be on the leadership team, a member must be a registered voter, attend 12 meetings and adopt a project.

The group’s first project was to help a West Columbia church set up a large tent for a revival. Four members of the group ended up getting temporary jobs that paid $12 per hour from that gig, Holmes said.

Kevin White, 54, serves as the group’s co-director with Holmes.

He became homeless after being released from the Lexington County Detention Center, and his wife refused to allow him back into their home. He already had a felony charge from 1980 that also makes it hard to find work.

White said he has been searching for a job and working to save his marriage. During the cleanup, his wife joined the group’s effort and stood by White’s side while eating sandwiches.

He hopes Homeless Helping Homeless reverses the stigma associated with people who live on the streets.

“We still have goals in our lives,” he said. “We’re still trying hard. I’m being blessed in taking a positive attitude that homelessness is something that can be overcome.”