[Sosfbay-discuss] spiritual progressives (pardon me; this email is rather long!)

[E. Alan Meece]

I have brought up an idea similar to what I am proposing now in this
email before, but haven't really pushed it.

Then came the election of 2004. It seemed according to some polls, TV
interviews, and people I talked to during the campaign, that people
today are voting for Bush and Republicans because they "share my
values." The concern over "moral values" in politics has become a big
hot topic, and is addressed in bestsellers such as Lakoff's "Don't Think
of an Elephant" and Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas." Many people
started thinking that the Left needs to address the topic of moral
values in politics; otherwise the domain is left to the right wing, and
the "moral values" addressed amount to such virtues as homophobia,
keeping women in their place, keeping our guns, teaching creationism in
the schools, stopping stem cell research, and other "culture wars"
issues. In other words, the Left has abandoned spiritual and moral
concerns, while the Right has picked them up and used them to get votes
for their program of hurting the poor, super-nationalism and war, and
keeping white males dominant in society. The right's "moral values" seem
to me to amount to bigotry and chauvinism of various kinds.

So in Nov.2004 at my local church group, I discussed this with some
people there, and I with my minister's help started a non-partisan group
there called "spiritual politics." We had visioning sessions and
brainstorms and talked about what we could do; meanwhile unknown to me a
much larger church group was doing the same thing and setting up groups
nationwide. This group is Tikkun, a progressive Jewish organization led
by Rabbi Michael Lerner, and the groups are called the Network of
Spiritual Progressives. My minister and I went to their Spiritual
Activism conference in Berkeley in July 2005. Then we joined up our
little group with their network.

Rabbi Lerner, a member of the Green Party, suggested that we need a
"spiritual progressive caucus" in political parties, especially the
Greens and Democrats. He says that the Greens in his area around San
Francisco have dismissed spiritual politics as irrelevant, and even
insulted people with spiritual beliefs as somehow being less informed or
intelligent. I have never experienced either secular people or spiritual
people being put down this way in our local group.

Nevertheless, the point such people as Lerner and Lakoff are making
today, and which also occured to me after the election, seems very
important indeed. People are voting for the Right wing because they are
speaking to spiritual and moral concerns, and the Left is not. It is not
that the Left has no spiritual people in it; far from it. In fact,
spirituality has been the chief motive for liberal activists throughout
history. Martin Luther King Jr. is an obvious example. But people on the
Left keep their spirituality hidden. They are concerned it might lead to
a joining of church and state, or that they might appear weak and stupid
if they deal with issues that don't depend on hard science. They may
wonder how the state or politicians might even address spiritual issues
in ways that are non-oppressive.

Whatever the reason may be, the die has been cast. Religion and/or
spirituality and "moral values" are in politics to stay. If the Left
doesn't address them, we lose. It's that simple. People have concerns
more important to them than their economic status. They are lonely.
Their families don't work. They feel unsafe, alienated and
unappreciated. Their culture assaults their sensibilities. Having no
alternative, they vote for the Right wing, who assure them that these
problems are caused by secular liberals, gays, feminists, peaceniks,
activist judges, the liberal media, etc. Of course they are voting
wrong, and their concerns are forgotten once the Right gets into office
anyway. Instead, the Right wing politicians busy themselves with
destroying communities and social support structures and instituting the
litany of destructive policies we all know so well. Meanwhile, the real
cause of their spiritual and moral concerns is not addressed; namely,
the alienating effects of our capitalist, corporate workplace and
economy, as well as unawareness among our leaders of our real needs for
meaning and connection with something greater than ourselves.

So what would a Green spiritual progressives caucus do? I asked Rabbi
Lerner himself yesterday when I interviewed him on my radio program on
KKUP (I also recorded the interview). He is promoting his new book "The
Left Hand of God." In general, he says the Greens need a better
"overarching vision" (beyond the 10 key values, apparently) that would
address not only our economic and ecological concerns but our meaning
concerns. He said our vision needs to articulate a new "bottom line" for
our institutions; namely, do they foster nurturing and loving care for
people and for our society and planet? Do they bring people together,
and allow them to express what is fulfilling and meaningful to them? The
current bottom line, of course, is how much money and power does an
institution generate for its owners.

There is a rich "green spirituality" tradition in the Green Party. I
would think a Green caucus would ask that we do some brief spiritual
practices at our meetings and events, such as moments of silence or
non-sectarian prayers. We could discuss how what we advocate politically
might address the real spiritual crisis and needs that people have, so
that some people with these concerns might consider voting for us
instead of the Republicans.

Is there anyone on this list who shares my concerns, and would be
willing to join me in asking that forming a "Green spiritual
progressives caucus" be on the agenda to be formed in our group, and/or
that we make some time during meetings and events for celebrating and
acknowledging our green spirituality?

Let me be clear, that the proposal of "spiritual progressives" does not
mean some of us want to join church and state. We do want to take
spirituality out of the closet, to realize it is important to many
voters, and part of our own political tradition. We want our agenda to
reflect not only material, economic, bureaucratic proposals, but moral
and spiritual ones too. We don't want to convert anyone to our religion,
or chase seculars away. We recognize the key importance of the secular
issues we address now, although we may feel they are not separate,
really, from the spiritual ones.

Otherwise, we cede the spiritual realm to the Right Wing, whose agenda
is to make one particular religious tradition, fundamentalist
Christianity, the basis for government, culture and society. We allow
them to define the term "moral values and spirituality," and allow them
to distort it into prejudice and chauvinism.

What d'you'all think??

Eric Meece aka Eric the Green