Another Memo I Didn't Get

On my way to work on Tuesday I spotted a banner outside the Methodist church up the street from my house. This isn't unusual, since churches frequently display such things to inform the public about various activities they have going on. What was unusual was the content of the banner itself. In simple white text (Courier New I believe it was) against a black background it read "torture is wrong".
Trinity Methodist Church - Austin, TX
Photo by Bonnie Tamres-Moore

Blink.

In an instant I went from the obvious thought ("Well duh!") to a much more sobering one. Why is it even necessary to make that statement? A few minutes later I realized that the Methodists weren't alone. The United Church of Christ farther down the road had the same black and white banner displayed outside its doors.

Being a master of the obvious, I began to sense a trend. Turns out this is part of a larger national campaign by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (http://www.nrcat.org/) involving (to date) over 300 churches and temples nationwide. According to the NRCAT website, seven churches in North Carolina are on board for the campaign which spans the month of June. I don't know if that includes the two I saw today or not. I pass both of these churches on my way to work every day, and I would have noticed these banners by now if they'd been there for any time at all. But NRCAT is still welcoming congregations on board and still has banners available, (or you can create your own!) so it's possible that these two were just late to the party.

What I find encouraging about this is that it's no longer possible to classify those opposed to the (ahem) "unconventional interrogation techniques" authorized by the Bush administration as "liberal extremists". These banners are hanging outside of churches attended by Good-God-Fearing-Christian-Folk. You know, the kind of folks we liberals supposedly have such disdain for. In the Bushist paradigm if you're opposed to things like wars of aggression or inhumane treatment of prisoners, you're a godless heathen. So this campaign is important in more ways than just protesting the use of torture.

It suggests that it's possible to be both a Christian and opposed to the unconscionable policies adopted by Washington. (Important note here: NRCAT is not composed of only Christian congregations, but for purposes of this discussion it's that demographic that will have the biggest impact.)

This break in the chain between "religious" and "right" may be the very thing that begins to bring America back to its center. For the last 8 years we've seen a polarization unparalleled at least in my lifetime, and perhaps since the Civil War. This is what happens when those in power lean radically to either side -- right or left. There's an automatic compensation by the opposing side, and the further one side goes, the further the other goes to counter it. And the moderate viewpoint disintegrates as that field of flux gains in strength. It's the law of action and reaction applied to a political dynamic rather than a physical one.

So this potential "awakening of the middle" is an encouraging sign. Bringing the politics of America back to a point closer to equilibrium will go a long, long way in moving the country forward, and re-establishing America as the Force For Good it once was (and purports itself to be now). If we're not working at cross purposes and expending so much energy fighting each other, we can actually accomplish some of those things that we all agree we need to accomplish.

Besides, the banners are right. Torture is wrong.
For more information

---

And Because I Promised...
My dear, dear friend JC (love you girl!) nudged me yesterday and wanted an update on the smoking cessation program. That's when I realized I hadn't posted anything about it in several days. So maybe (hopefully?) that means it's not occupying so much of my thought process now. I digress.

I'm happy to report that as of 6PM this evening (that's Wednesday June 25 in case you're reading this after the fact) I will officially reach the two-week plateau. The next major hurdle will be stepping down to the Stage 2 version of the patch. The "nicodone treatment" gets cut by almost half between Stage 1 and Stage 2, but it's not supposed to be as difficult as the initial phase. It certainly can't be any worse than the first 72 hours.

---

Happy Halloween! (some portions of this post previously recorded)
Blogger recently introduced a feature that's kinda cool. You can actually schedule your posts for publishing at some future date/time. Neat? You bet! Useful? Probably not if you need an alibi for something, but if you're headed to ... say... the Amazon Basin for a couple of weeks and want to make sure your blog is periodically updated... could be.

---

Looks like I'm not the only one to figure out the power of positive blogging vis-a-vis tobacco cessation.
A recent visitor from Fredricksburg, VA spake unto Google saying: "i need a cigarette but i'm quitting"
And Google the Wise said unto him, looketh at these here sites.
The search returned approximately 612,000 hits.

---

Stumble This!