Minister's Blog

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness against thy neighbor.  

~ Exodus 20:16

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

~ Proverbs 12:22

Everywhere I look there seems to be a repudiation of what is real and true for political reasons, with harmful impacts on people and communities.  Instead of acknowledging the lackluster unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the President announces he is firing the Director, a professional economist who was overwhelmingly approved by Congress just last year.

Instead of acknowledging the reality of changing weather patterns and the need to reduce fossil fuel emissions, the current Administration has stopped providing weather data to states and towns, and announced last week that the EPA was closing down its climate related programs, refuting its ruling that CO2 should be regulated, and questioning the overwhelming world-wide scientific consensus about climate change.

Instead of acknowledging the growing number of major weather events and wild fires, the Administration has cut funding for FEMA and even proposed earlier this year to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency, just like they did the Department of Education and the USAID – the US Agency for International Development.  This is despite the mountains of data that prove the different these agencies make in the lives of Americans and some of the poorest people around the world.

Instead of acknowledging the importance of public health information and the use of vaccines to combat the spread of viruses such as COVID, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is calling into question the efficacy of m-RNA vaccines and has cut funding for providing vaccines this coming fall and winter.

Instead of acknowledging that tariffs might cause inflation as prices predictably rise on certain goods in response, there are threats to remove the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank and replace him with someone who will do the President’s bidding.  While the Bureau of Labor Statistics may need to update its methods, its data is considered the gold standard for impartial reporting.

Instead of acknowledging that the overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants are hard working and law abiding, there is an insistence that the majority of them are criminals and “thugs” who need to be immediately removed.  The truth is that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native born Americans.  The research is very clear.  This is not to say that some immigrants should not be deported, but the way we are going about it at present is inhumane and inefficient. Innocent people and families are being harmed.

As a person of faith, I believe in the importance of telling the truth.  As a citizen of this democracy, I believe that truth is essential in governing our nation and providing vital programs to our people and communities.  This should not be a radical statement to make, and yet right now it is.

I realize that all politicians stretch the truth and dissemble at times – (for example, Joe Biden should have been honest about his ability to run for a second term), but the level of disinformation we are experiencing from this Administration at present is something we have not experienced before during our lifetimes, at least in this country.  As a result it is important that all of us find ways to speak truth to power and insist on a common and reasonable understanding of reality, regardless of the party with which we have historically identified.

Telling the truth matters.  Building consensus and policies based on common sense, civility and reason is what our leaders should do.  When they do not, we can find ourselves quickly moving in a direction that has dangerous consequences for many of us here in the United States.