Integrity, our spiritual theme this month, can so easily be understood as the taking of principled stands, of holding fast to what we believe to be right even to the point of personal sacrifice.
We tell the story of Michael Servetus, early rejecter of the Trinity and advocate for a version of Unitarianism, who choose to be burned at the stake rather than compromise his theological views. Few of us are asked for that kind of integrity on steroids.
But there is real danger in allowing a commitment to what we believe is right to become an attitude of righteousness. So few of us are innocent.
The Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court provides an example. I find the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford credible. That she is demanding an FBI investigation supports her claims, as I see it. Why would she demand an investigation if she had fabricated her story?
Kavanaugh, on the other hand, claims complete innocence and status as victim in this public drama. But the desperate rush toward confirmation before the mid-term elections and the refusal to allow either a formal investigation of these allegations or even to allow additional witnesses to testify, make his claims less and less believable.
Righteousness hardly seems justified. Worse, the response of righteous innocence dismisses the personal truth that Dr. Ford is bringing forward.
I watched some of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas “hearings” this week. That drama, from decades ago, displayed the misogyny of the more conservative Senators, two of whom remain on the committee that is considering the Kavanaugh nomination. That misogyny was not a surprise.
The section of those hearings that troubled me most, however, was the questioning by Senator Joe Biden, one of the “good guys.” He was not aggressive. Perhaps he even understood himself to be offering support of Anita Hill. But his relentless demands for her to publicly narrate in detail the incidents of harassment and her personal reactions…was an abuse of power as well.
If we had learned from that time, would all of us not insist that Dr. Ford have all the support we can muster and demand that her voice not be raised alone?
How much have we learned? How much has really changed?
The Yom Kippur holiday, just passed, called us to honest confession of the ways in which we have fallen short, to ask for and grant forgiveness so that we can “begin again in love.”
Righteousness closes off that honest and grounded possibility of reconciliation. Righteousness closes off opportunity for learning and for growth. Righteousness shuts down moral discernment and moral growth.
Rev. Mark Morrison Reed provides a capsule description of the danger:
“Each claimed the moral high ground and over the years spun a narrative in which they defended the good cause and suffered for it. Having constructed a sense of integrity out of righteous hubris, the recitation of ancient justifications became the bulwark of their defense. Everyone saw themselves as having defended principles while others betrayed them. Contrition was for the guilty, and they were not.”
Mark is describing the outcome of the Black Empowerment battles of 50 years ago in Unitarian Universalism. The language, however, seems so apt.
Welcoming marginalized voices into the center of concern, for all the progress those in positions of power may claim, still means the voices of women.
As people of faith, we need to find a way to support those voices. But we also need to search for a way to be right without falling into the trap of righteousness.
Blessings,
Bill