Back in 1984 I received an unexpected call from The Boston Herald inviting me to join their Op-Ed team. I felt incredulous by their offer of a weekly column on liberal perspectives every Sunday. I was not to write about religion, which was certainly all right with me. They were even going to pay me.
A short while later my assistant minister asked if I received any offers from the million publications to which he submitted my writing unbeknownst to me. He was an older fellow, receiving his divinity degree at age 70, and he liked what I wrote. He owned WCRB radio, the only FM classical music station in the Boston Area. He may have had some clout.
I may have preferred an offer from the Boston Globe, but they certainly didn’t need another liberal on staff. So the Herald, with a circulation of 500,000 throughout New England, aimed mostly at blue-collar conservatives, felt the need to balance their perspective. I was definitely their token liberal, writing for readers who probably today would mostly have voted for Donald Trump.
I recall this chapter of my life, writing for three years before moving to Salt Lake City, because I received two death threats during that period. It’s a disquieting feeling, knowing that the threat was probably meant to intimidate…probably. Today, journalists from all media outlets have their lives threatened routinely in far more serious tones. Some, like Don Lemon from CNN who was labeled as “real dumb” by our president, needs bodyguards around the clock. When the president alludes to the press as “the enemy of the people,” then eliminating the enemy might be construed as a patriotic act.
Public figures who share their opinions have been targets for a long time. But currently there is a chill in the air as freedom of the press comes at a heavy price. I wonder if my old readership might now be counted among the angry white nationalists whose threshold for tolerance has diminished to nothing. The times have changed to where we hardly recognize ourselves anymore as a civil society.
As we ready ourselves to begin a new church year in these frightening times, I wonder how we as a progressive community will continue to respond to the assaults on our basic freedoms we have taken for granted our entire lives.
We may not appear regularly in print or TV or radio, but as a church we have a voice. We give expression to what we believe, and to the values we want our children to adopt. We publicly present our moral justifications for affirming the value and dignity of all people. We give voice to healing the earth and to safeguarding all freedoms intrinsic to human rights for everyone.
Our church needs to speak with a strong voice, and also model what it means to honor every person in a diverse society. Unitarian Universalism has long been challenged to make good on its rhetoric. This year I feel it more acutely than ever before. You may well feel the same way. My wish for the church year is that we all come together in a show of strength. Our commitment to First Church feels especially crucial. We need to support one another emotionally, and fuel the spirit that lifts us beyond the confusions of our day.
Our church has never felt more relevant to our lives. We will need each other this year like never before. It’s time to show up, be generous, and give voice to our cherished values. They can easily disappear. TRG