A column by Rabbi Jack Paskoff entitled “Faithful followers subvert injustice” relates in part:
“The things you learn from reading the newspaper! Two weeks ago, in this very newspaper, I discovered that my congregation, along with many other local organizations, was on a government watch list. My first reaction, as you might imagine, was outrage. What is the government doing watching peaceful organizations that sometimes take positions that question the status quo? Now here’s the other side of me. I can’t tell you how proud I was to have made the list. I always wanted to be subversive, and now I can add a chapter on that to my memoir. Additionally, I was intensely proud of my congregation. Now, here’s my challenge to you. If your places of worship were not on the list, seek out your lay and clergy leadership and demand to know why not. I firmly believe that religion, well practiced, is subversive. Any place of worship that doesn’t challenge poverty, injustice, racism, war, and hunger (just to name a few) is a Hallmark greeting card caricature of itself. But far be it from me to appear more subversive than thou; I want my congregation to make sure that we continue to challenge what is, demanding what can be in a world of peace and justice. How sad that in contemporary American society, that often puts us on the subversive list. How sad that we are not the mainstream….
“Several months ago, there was a report on religion in American life that indicated that when people come to worship, they want to be told that everything is OK, whereas a generation or two ago, people expected to be challenged to be better….”
WATCHDOG: Two wags of the tail. Hopefully readers will make use of the link.
