Love wins!

I would be remiss in missing this opportunity to mark the Supreme Court's historic  judgment on Obergefell vs Hodges, which allowed same-sex marriage to become the law of the land in all 50 United States. It was only 11 years ago that my state, the fabulous Commonwealth of Massachusetts, became the first to recognize that privileging only some citizens with the benefits of marriage could not be sustained by the state Constitution. Our Puritan forebears, peering into the future, would have been aghast, of course, But that's how moral change works -- insight by insight, opened heart by opened heart. We claw our way from  one moral paradigm to another only by the passage of time and the slow measurement of our actions against our ideals.

In many ways, the Puritans and we have a lot in common. They were desperate to flee an overweening church hierarchy that limited their freedoms.We do the same, fleeing (legally, if not geographically) from church structures that put limits on our ability to apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in it purest form: to love one another as we love ourselves. It was the brilliant moral framework that Jesus hinted at that allowed us finally to imagine a world in which the love of homosexual partners for each other could be seen as no different from to the love of heterosexuals for one another.

Love is love. And we have finally stopped trying to place various forms of love on a scale or worthiness.

I can only end with the lyrical words of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who said it so brilliantly:

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered. 

God bless us. God bless our gay brothers and sisters who have been redeemed from lives of  exile, oppression and secrecy to a life of stability, mutuality and acceptance. Love wins!

Squaring the circle of life

The scene: the audience chamber at the Vatican. The papal chair is placed on a carpeted platform. Tall windows give out onto St/. Peter's Square. Enormous 18th-century painting of religious motifs -- ring the walls. A group of American business men is led into the chamber by the papal camarlengo, their sharp steps echoing in the cavernous room. Smiling, Pope Francis rises from his chair to greet them. In turn, they shake hands as the camarlengo introduces them -- captains of industry all. A few, Catholics, presumably, self-consciously kiss the papal ring.

Francis: My children! You have a come a long way and must be fatigued. Please, be seated!

As the others take seats, sitting uneasily at the edges of their seats, Rex Tapper, the spokesman for the group, keeps his feet and addresses the pontiff.

Tapper: Your grace, Thanks for the welcome, but we're busy men and don't have much time to spare.

Francis: Yes, my child.

Tapper: Thanks, your grace. I'll get right to the point. See, it's this encyclical of yours, this "Laudato Si." We think you're making a big mistake, her, your Holiness.

Francis: How so, my son? Is the translation not well done? My American bishops reviewed it and said that its message was clear and easily undertandable.

Tapper: Well, sir, your Holiness, well that's the trouble. It's a bit too clear, if you catch my meaning.

Francis: Go on, my son.

Tapper: Well, you see, we in this room (gestures) to the nervous men behind him) we have a lot riding on the way folks back home will take to that encyclical. Speaking plainly, it's going to be awfully bad for business if every Catholic in America, and some of their lunkhead atheistic enviro-nuts, start looking into every wee little drop of oil or wisp of smoke that gets into the wrong place. Completely by accident, of course.

Francis: Yet the encyclical does not address accidents, Senore Tapper. It addresses the wholesale deliberate destruction of God's Creation. Surely you have read Laudate Si, si?

Tapper: Well, sir, not as such. But we've heard enough to know what's it's about. And what it's about is just plain bad for business. You can't make an omelette with breaking eggs, you see, and you can't run a paper mill -- like the one that manufactured the paper your encyclical is printed on -- without clear-cutting a few forests and tainting a few rivers!

Francis: Yet Senore, the encyclical is quite clear that we need not choose between a love of modern comfort and the well-being of our environment. It is a false choice that goes against God's gift of Creation to Mankind. In the beginning, did He not create for Man a garden? And gave it into his care, and made him lord over all that He had created?

Tapper: Well, yes sir, he did. And we are doing just that -- taking God's very gifts of coal and oil and minerals and livestock -- and turning them into useful things that help Mankind -- like cars and warm houses and stores full of material goods.

Francis: This is true, and yet the manner in which these gifts are used leads to ruined waterways and oil-fouled birds and beaches and depletion of fish stocks and rising sea levels. Shouldn't those be calculated into the equation?

Tapper: Maybe so, But that's just the price of doing business. You won;t send us back into the caves, would you? Plenty of clean water and clean air when we lived in caves, you know. And not a lot of fancy buildings and clothes, like the one we are in or the ones your are wearing.

Francis: Ah, Signore Tapper, there is that binary, this-or-that thinking I warned about. We must use our God-given ingenuity to find ways to safeguard our forests and oceans while we make a living.

Tapper: Begging your pardon, Holiness, that's all very nice, but we don't have time to replace every blade of grass that gets disturbed when we bulldoze a mountain top to get the coal God hid under there. And what are the oceans for but as the perfect dumping ground for the waste products of our responsible use of the minerals in the earth? Why, God himself designed the perfect way to conceal the products of industry -- into the deep seas. What else in Gods name are they for? Seems perfect to us! (Here the assembly of business leaders nodded vigorously.)

Francis: My children, I'm afraid that I will not be able to retract even one word of my encyclical. It is based on the truth of science as well as the revealed truth of the sacred Scriptures.

Tapper: Well, your grace, at least you could try to make it your useful...

Francis: Useful? How so?

Tapper: Well, sir, your church's other teachings have been  very useful to us, I mean politically. I mean, if you could find a way to tone it down a bit, give us something to work with..

Francis: I am confused by your use of the word "useful,:" my child. How are the church;s traching useful?

Tapper: Well, sir, take your church's stance on abortion. That a mighty useful teaching.

Francis: How sir, Signore?

Tapper: Well, sir, between you, me and the lampost, sir, the people are awfully simple-minded. They need clear guidance to make the right decisions.

Francis: Si...

Tapper: And they do understand the righteousness of your church's  stance on the sanctity of human life. We just piggy back on that clear and righteous teaching to move them in the right direction.

Francis: Ah, I see. You link the church's teaching about the sanctity of human life to the pursuit of your business goals, is that right?

Tapper: Just so, Holiness! And a finer marriage of morality and commerce has never been concocted this side of Heaven, if I may borrow a bit of your palaver. And it has made us, the stewards of God's riches, ourselves rich in the process. And that's the righteous reward for our labor, as I believe St. Paul said, somewhere or other

(Here the Pope paused to collect his thoughts.)

Francis:I see that I have much to teach and you have little time to learn! I shall keep you no longer. We shall agree to disagree for now, but I pray that you consider my words and find them as "useful" as you have found our other teachings.

With that, the pope rose from his chair. The camerlengo made a small motion and the audience stood.

Francis: As you depart today, please take a token of our affection. A jar of Trappist jam, created by monks on using sustainable farming methods and a solar-powered fan. I find it quite refreshing in our hot Roman summers!

Cassocked assistants offered trays of jam and fans to the businessmen, but there were few takers. And those thought mostly of the resale value of the papal gifts, and they took an armful.

---

In the passenger cabin of the private jet, winging back to America after the audience, Tapper and a small group of cronies nursed their neat scotches-on-ice as they lounged in leather seats.

One dared to speak. " You know, we can't let this kind of thing catch on, don't you? If we lose the moral high ground to this eco-nut, we'll never sway our people to our agenda. What's that old saying -- "Who will rid me of this meddlesone priest"?

Tapper swirled his drink, letting the ice cubes clatter against the sides of the glass. "We don't need to get medieval, here. We are modern men,. Americans. We have other ways to deal with men like Francis. Hell, I'll bet not one bishop in ten gives a damn one way or the other about polar bears or melting ice shelves or any of that other claptrap.

He took a careful sip of his whiskey. "We have other ways of dealing with a Francis."

And so over the next months, Tapper's plan took shape. Fox News ignored the encyclical, or discussed it with critics who paired the encyclical's message with the Church's handling of the priest abuse crisis. Their message, "If you can't trust the Church with your kids, you can't trust them with your planet." Rush Limbaugh regularly attacked Francis on his radio show. Ann Coulter's new book, Talking to Popes and Other Leftist Cranks, If You Must" hit the bookstores. Evangelists across American receive Koch-funded brochures spelling out how the papacy's attempt to save the planet and rein in industry was a part of the ancient Catholic conspiracy to take over the world. A few American bishops were enlisted to cast subtle doubt on Francis's orthodoxy, saying that Man's Fall meant that he must suffer. And wasn't drought and pollution merely God's means of bringing about that suffering? Catholic politicians complained that then Pope's pro-planet agenda meant was an abandonment of his pro-life. They argued that pro-life mean pro-human life, and that the planet would heal itself anyway, as it had always done and would always do.

And so was set the great battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. The winning side would not be known for many years.

Bubbles of oblivion

Their entire Facebook oeuvre is Disney-themed. On July Fourth, it's Mickey in a tricorn, waving a Betsy Ross flag. At Christmas, Mickey and Minnie dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus. They post shot after shot of their latest trip to the Orlando land of make-believe. With Chip and Dale. With Cinderella. With Baloo the Jungle Bear. In a car screaming over the big drop at Thunder Mountain. They arrive at their weddings in a horse-drawn pumpkin carriage. They wear their mouse ears on the plane ride home.

Or it's ethnicity.Endless shamrocks, alcohol jokes and references to leprechauns, fairies and Catholic school from the Irish. Endless... Actually, only the Irish are like this!

Or it's sports. Selfies between innings at ball parks. Cooking steaks at a tailgate party. Booklets full of sports star autographs. Evenings spent in front of the television screaming at a bad play in a forgettable game in mid-season.

Or it's alcohol. Evenings and weekends drinking this, drinking that, drunkenly yukking it up with friends, Dancing to a too-loud rock band. Blurry cab rides home.

Or it's church. Inspirational posters of a dewy eyed, lovable Jesus. Anguished, crucified Jesus, Jesus with kids, Jesus on clouds welcoming souls to heaven. Promises of angelic visits, or miracles (if you share this post withing 3 minutes). Saints to pray to or to emulate. The latest bon mot from Joel Osborn or Rick Warren or that great sage "Unknown.".

Or it's politics. Screeds against the president. Pleas for the return of a previous president. Pitches for candidates. Proofs that Democrats (or Republicans) are destroying America. Proofs that the same parties will save it.

Whatever world you project onto social media (and onto your long-suffering friends) is a reflection of the life inside our heads, of our passions and obsessions, fears and desires. It's so easy to get lost in our bubbles, to deny the value of other bubbles, to try to entrap others in ours. Bubbles are comfortable, giving us a safe retreat from life's complexities and ambiguities. But comfortable, sometimes to the point of making us oblivious to other bubbles, or even life beyond bubbles.The reality that we create and painstakingly maintain is such a small slice of the life that we have the chance to sample.

Pop your own bubble once in a while. Imagine what life might be like in another bubble. Visit another bubble. Grow your bubble. Watch a movie or read a book about other bubbles. Imagine billions of bubbles, some expansive and encompassing; others shriveled, mean and cold, some filled with millions, some with room enough for a solitary, shrunken soul. Imagine all being nudged into bumping into others, stretching their skins to breaking, darting, merging. Into the bubble of all bubbles, the very mind of God.

Reframing God's mistakes

Caitlyn Jenner was unveiled this week on the cover and the pages of Vanity Fair. The former Bruce Jenner, hero of the the Olympic decathlon and Wheaties boxes, showed the world that for all of his external manly form, inside, there beat the heart and mind of a woman.

It's a measure of how far we have come that Caitlyn's unveiling caused barely a ripple in the zeitgeist. There were a few days of big play for the VF cover, but no longer the shock about the idea that a man might inwardly feel female, or a woman male. But there's a great deal to think about, from a theological perspective, about the possibility of a "mixup" between one's genitalia and one's gender self image.

Conservative Christians are not happy with the story, though there has been relatively little backlash, at least in my corner of Facebook. My FB friends are foaming about the Gardisil vaccine against HPV and against welfare recipients who take drugs, but not (yet) about Caitlyn/Bruce.

Yet there is something earth-shaking about the acceptance of Caitlyn's existence. And that has to do with our understanding of the relationship between God and Creation. The news media might not have registered the tremors on their cultural seismographs. But just as in some earthquakes, the aftershocks may be mightier than the initial jolt.

The foundation of natural law is that by studying God's creation, we can learn something about God. Genesis tells us that after each day of creating, God surveyed his work and called it good. We can share in that sense of goodness by admiring the beauty of the stars wheeling through the heavens, the mighty roar of the boundless oceans, the endless drift of desert sands. We see these things and marvel at their grandeur. We see how nature's myriad elements fit so wonderfully together. The bee feeds from the apple blossom and is dusted by its pollen, guaranteeing the fertilization of another tree. Lionesses stalk herds of antelope, culling the weak from the herd, ensuring the strength of the next generation of prey. The human eye, brain and hand, with their interrelated intricacies, allow us to discern colors, shapes, sounds and textures, build amazing tools and delve into the mysteries of nature.

Through all of these observations, human beings have discerned a God who amazingly brilliant -- capable of designing beings and a universe that are bafflingly intricate. This God is the watchmaker's Watchmaker. An unparalleled Designer and Creator.

But what to make of a world in which the intricacies of our  species' most intimate component -- the  machinery of sexual expression and identity -- seemingly go awry? What of the old bumper sticker "God doesn't make mistakes"? If anything cries out "mistake," it's siting a male mind in a female body. Or making a man who is sexually attracted to another man.

No wonder the conservatives are freaked out by transgendered people, homosexuals and cross-dressers. They tell of a God who can be separated from Nature itself.

It seems clear that if Nature says anything about God, it's that God is remarkably careless in his designs. Rater than a fastidious Watchmaker, God must be more of a bumbling ad hoc creator, flinging out wild ideas and seeing which will stick. He is the creator of designs that not infrequently lead to seemingly non-procreative ends -- women lying with women, men with women, and men choosing to have their genitalia removed. Conservatives can only deal with this kind of behavior by calling it perverse, willful sin. Homosexuality and transgenderedness have to be the sick and twisted choices of sinners who perversely choose to thumb their noses at a God who made them beautifully, heartily "normal." It's kind of like a person who drinks motor oil because, well, God designed him to drink water.

But it can also be that God really isn't behind every nook and cranny of human evolution. It wasn't God's idea to give deer antlers, or bees a sting, or birds wings or humans a voice. It's a God who has some distance from Nature who would give rise to the complex and tangled sexuality of human beings. Who would stand aloof from the complex hormonal, social and cultural cues that lead to the varied combinations of genitalia, sexual self-identification, sexual attraction and gender roles that we see today.

For thousands of years, we have tried to jam God's actual creation -- the varied forms and expressions of sexuality and gender -- into a 2-sizes fits-all paradigm. If the mind of God is to be found in Nature, it's in his preference for unbelievable complexity and uniqueness, rather than enforced conformity. Those who insist that a gender stereotypes reflect the mind and will of God need to look at the actual nature that is Creation: one that is diverse, endlessly, varied and uniquely expressed. If God is present, and if all the gays and transgendereds are not lying, then we  need to see him in his preference for variety and experiment -- and even "mistakes."