There are four primary directions of protest that I see enacted in American Society. For purposes of this article, I am separating them so that they can be seen, knowing that in the real world they are often bound up together in any discrete action or moment. Several of these … Read more →
Tag Archives: Activism
There Will Come a Point…
There will come a point when we realize that protest no longer works as a tool of systemic change. That it does not matter how many people you can bring out into the streets, or how many signatures you have on a petition, or how many calls a government office … Read more →
Resistance in Social Justice — Sermon by the Rev. David Pyle
Last Preached on January 26th, 2014 I never imagined that I would be considered a Social Justice Minister. You cannot become a Unitarian Universalist Minister without having some knowledge, interest, and willingness to be involved in Social Justice, in working to and organizing others to transform the world from what … Read more →
President Obama is Not a Liberal Socialist… I Am
I promised myself that I would not move into my “occasional political musings” this election season until after the conventions were over. Well, the speeches in Charlotte and Tampa are done, and now I feel that there are some things that I have to say… President Obama is not a … Read more →
Is This Really Where We Are? — A Psalm of Lament
Oh Lord, Is this really where we are? A man once said, “I believe, but help my unbelief”. I’m not sure I ever understood, until I myself had to cry out to you, Is this really where we are, oh Lord. Are we really as far from the Kingdom of … Read more →
Our Responsibility to those Beyond Our Walls
Break not that circle of enabling love, Where people grow, forgiven and forgiving, Break not that circle, make it wider still, Till it includes, embraces all the living. –Hymn 323, Singing the Living Tradition Recently, the conversation has begun again about what makes a Unitarian Universalist. Are you only a … Read more →
Kickoff
I love politics. I love politics the way other people love football. I watch 24 hour news channels in political seasons the way other people watch ESPN. The minor of my Bachelor’s degree is in Political Science (Major in History), and I would describe my knowledge of practical politics by … Read more →
So… What Comes After the Revolution?
It is far easier for us humans to know what we are against than it is for us to know what we are for. Learned responses and internal morality can tell us if we are “against” something that we experience in our lives. We can know that we do not … Read more →
How Can You “Come Home” When You Are Homeless? — 2011 Veteran’s Day Reflection
When I reflect on the few years after “coming home” from Bosnia, the years before some friends and a veteran counselor helped me to “get my head back on straight”, I realize that I had more than my share of luck. I was lucky to be in a university that … Read more →
The Role of Faith for the Military Chaplain
In the fall of 2011 I was honored to attend the first ever OutServe Leadership Conference. This was the first time for this organization of LGB persons actively serving in the military to gather publicly, since such public gatherings and recognition was made possible by the repeal of Don’t Ask, … Read more →
Then You Win: Institutionalization and the Occupy Wall Street Protests
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had some hesitancy to write about my thoughts on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, and the reaction to them that is happening in the more conservative ends of our country. The reason for my hesitancy is that this is a place where my theoretical … Read more →
It’s Always an Oligarchy
In the last few months, I have heard the word Oligarchy being bandied around on the edges of American political circles. In the Tea-Party wing, they are using it as a new word for “Hollywood Elite” and “Liberal Media”. On the semi-far left it is being used to refer to … Read more →
Bearing Witness or Smug Paternalism?
Recently, there has been some chatter in UU Ministerial and Lay-Leadership circles around the upcoming plans for the Unitarian Universalist Association “Justice GA” in Phoenix Arizona, focusing on how it is planned for those who attend to do far more learning and bearing witness on the issue of immigration, than … Read more →
Why I’m Not Celebrating the Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
It may not be something that is in the minds of most of the public, but today, September 20th, has been a date on my mind for these last two months. It is a day long hoped for, long worked for, and dreamed of by many. It is a day … Read more →
The Honor of Being on “Smiley and West”
This weekend I will be on a short segment of the Public Radio International program “Smiley and West” with Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West. It was recorded today, to be aired this weekend. It was an honor to have a letter I sent to the program selected for the … Read more →
It’s okay to be Takei…
What more could I add? I want a coffee mug… Yours in Faith, Rev. David
Audacity as an Art Form
So, I think all of the regular readers of the Celestial Lands know that I watch Rachel Maddow. In truth, my Rachel Maddow fandom goes all the way back to Air America, where I was one of the few, the proud, the Liberal Radio Audience (as anyone unfortunate enough to … Read more →
The Feeling of Abandoning the Field
In my weekly pastoral letter to my congregation here in Midland Michigan, I spoke of a feeling that I have. It is a feeling I know makes no rational sense, but I have long believed that feelings are not necessarily supposed to make rational sense. They are the soul trying … Read more →
Unionized Ministry
Recently, I had the honor and privilege to meet Rev. Don Southworth, the current Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA), at the Spring Minister’s Retreat for the Heartland Chapter of the UUMA. This is my first year as a “regular member” and not a student member of … Read more →
A Short “I Told You So”
I wish I could say I did not know this was going to happen. I really wish I had been wrong. I really wish that my theory that the power of Mass Protests to significantly affect political realities is expirational had been proven wrong. I wish that mass protests still had the power … Read more →
What Turned a Conservative into a Liberal?
I regularly have conversations with conservatives, both political and religious conservatives. Sometimes that is through my work as an Army Chaplain, sometimes through my work as a liberal minister in a fairly conservative town, and sometimes it is through people from my past who seek me out to ask me … Read more →
The Expiring Cultural Power of Mass Protest Movements
What gives mass protests their power? Is it the will and voice of the people? Is it the power of the ideals that motivate them? Is it the amount to which they adopt civil, peaceful, resistance methods? Is it their hope for the future? Or when they represent a broad … Read more →
Liberal Religious Social Justice
I have had some wonderful and amazing conversations, both in person and online, in relation to my recent article on Gun Control, Militias, and the Second Amendment. I can always tell when I’m doing “good work” when people respond passionately and personally to an article, some in favor of what … Read more →
Shocked that our Nation is Shocked
Last Saturday, when our nation learned of the tragic shooting in Tucson Arizona of 20 people, including the killing of Federal Judge John Roll and the wounding of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, I was in a Board Retreat with my congregation’s Board of Trustees. None of us learned of the shooting … Read more →
It Does Not Feel Like a Victory
As a civilian pastor and as a military veteran, I think I was pretty clear over the years that I thought the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was unjust, unfair, and asked service members to violate their own honor by lying about such a core part of their identity. I … Read more →
I Am an Appalachian-American
Yesterday, I was driving home from an ordination in Rockville Maryland, and I took a route that carried me through the Appalachian Mountains of Western Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania… and I felt at home. I felt at home in a way that is hard to describe. As I spent … Read more →
Ware Lecture Day, My Accessioning, and Going to Arizona in 2012: GA 2010 Day 4
My discomfort with the framing of the debate around boycotting Arizona, my accessionnig as a Military Chaplain, and the Ware Lecture by Winona LaDuke … Read more →
Communion, General Assembly, and Openness
The committment to remain open on the issues before this General assembly, and why I really go to GA… … Read more →
Arizona GA Boycott: Why Phoenix and Not Ft. Lauderdale?
What is the difference between moving the UUA General Assembly away from Arizona, and why the UUA General Assembly 2008 was not moved away from Ft. Lauderdale, FL? … Read more →
Inoculation Through Creating Common Wisdom Narratives
I am fascinated with how we human beings create narratives or stories, and then derive our meanings from them. In politics, this manifests in several different ways, one of the most obvious being how a “narrative” is created by any successful candidacy for high political office (Obama the Reformer, McCain … Read more →
Building a Just Peace
Below is an excerpt of and collection of resources for the speech on Building a Just Peace that I presented at People’s Church Chicago on November 22, 2008. I am thankful for all the wonderful engagement and questions, and look forward to continuing the conversations with those who were there, … Read more →
Stuck in Opposition
One of the most destructive things that can happen to an opposition movement is that it is asked to govern, to accept the mantel of responsibility. It does not matter whether this movement is a religious tradition, a non-profit activist group, or a political party. It has even happened with … Read more →
Unitarian Universalist Peace Ministry Network
The Congregational Study Action Issue Core Team on Peacemaking has unveiled a new website, designed to provide communication and connection for Unitarian Universalists as we move forward in our work to create a more peaceful world. The website (http://uupeacemakers.org/) founds the Unitarian Universalist Peace Ministry Network, and I encourage all … Read more →
Now I’m Really Concerned
It might come as a surprise to some of you now, or who know me now, but for years I was an avid listener and dare I say fan of right wing talk radio. In my office and workshop I nearly forced my crew to listen to Rush, G Gordon, … Read more →
Message of Fear or of Faith?
Earlier this week the “No-War in Iran Coalition” held an event at our church, which we co-sponsored through our Peace and Justice Committee. The two speakers for the event were both men whom I had known of before. Scott Ritter is a former Marine officer, and a former Senior United … Read more →
What inspires?
A friend of mine wrote to me today, someone I have been doing some theological exploration with on the topic of inspiration. Just what inspires someone? How is it that some people can inspire thousands to wonderful works in the world, while others spend their lives in activism that reaches only … Read more →