The bad news is that the I-10 Bridge won’t be repaired for two years! The good news is that Joe Patti’s will reopen in a few days.

Oh, did you think I was going to talk about the election this morning? Of course I am but I wanted first to ground you on the local scene before I fly away into profound observations about the election. .

Fly away! That’s what a lot of us have been dreaming about this week. Fly away to Canada or New Zealand or Australia. Who can blame us. We’re being told to “go back where we came from”. It seems that if you fail to support the Fundamentalist version of Christianity that is dominant in this you don’t belong even if you were born here. . Do I hear someone thinking “there you go again, Bob, dissing the Fundamentalists.” Well if none of you thought it, I did. And I decided to proceed anyway. If I don’t who will? Someone must speak out against this debasement of the religion of Jesus. I see no one else doing it among Pensacola Clergy. I know many feel as I do – that Jesus, friend of the poor and despised – that Jesus would weep at the reversal of his moral values by those who most loudly proclaim their discipleship. But I’ll stop with that. No point playing a long game of “ain’t it awful” on this beautiful Sunday morning. But it is depressing for many of us – and that on top of the pall that hangs over us from Ivan’s rampage. So while I intend to do some swamp draining – to clarify just where we are – I will end this sermon on an upbeat note.

My daughter sent me a cartoon on Wednesday titled “welcome to your new country. It’s a map of a possible future North America the “red” states “ those whose electoral votes went to Bush are labled “Jesus Land.” The blue states – those whose electoral votes went to Kerry - are now part of The United States of Canada. Is that our future? . Perhaps the old post bellum cry, “The South will rise again” is coming true before our eyes. The old racism has been replaced by a new militant interracial religiosity. But the psychology is the same, “If you don’t like it the way it is here get out.”

I am tempted to cast those people as “the enemy” but then I remember that as large a percentage of “those” people came to the aid of their neighbors as did “my” people.” I was not asked “are you a born again Christian” when my neighbor came by with a chain saw and cut down the tree that was leaning against my house. Ivan brought us together. Will “W” drive us apart?

We must not view our adversaries as enemies. But neither should we view them as friends. We should view them as temporarily misguided fellow Americans and I hope they will so regard us. We are not enemies

Now some of you will say, “Hey, Bob – we’re not all Democrats here. Of course and I hope we never are all one political party. When I say “us” I mean Unitarian Universalists. I’ve preached so many times about our not becoming a creedal church that I may have forgotten to remind you that our bylaws include these words:

“The Church does hereby covenant to affirm and promote the Principles and Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association which read .. as follows:

4. the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and in society at large.

6. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

These are the values that underlie Uuism as it has evolved to this point in history – those values are often referred to in this part of the country as “liberal.” I prefer the term progressive.

If I had 45 minutes instead of 15 I would cite chapter and verse on how the policies of the Bush administration have trashed each of these values but I think you can do that for yourselves. Which is why most of you voted against the Neo conned Republican slate. Note the adjective. “Neo Conned.” The principles of old style conservatism are just as thoroughly violated by the Neo con agenda as are the principles of old style liberalism.

The former three term Republican Governor of Michigan, William G. .Milligan eloquently described that old style conservatism in a litany of dissent when he wrote back in October

“As a lifelong Republican, I have had mounting concern watching this year's presidential campaign. I have always been proud to be a Republican. My Republican Party is a broad-based party, that seeks to bring a wide spectrum of people under its umbrella and that seeks to protect and provide opportunity for the most vulnerable among us. Sadly, that is not the Republican Party that I see at the national level today.

My Republican Party is the party of Gerald R. Ford, Michigan's only president, who reached across partisan lines to become a unifying force during a time of great turmoil in our nation's history. This president has pursued policies pandering to the extreme right wing across a wide variety of issues and has exacerbated the polarization and the strident, uncivil tone of much of what passes for political discourse in this country today. Women's rights, civil liberties, the separation of church and state, the funding of family planning efforts world-wide - all have suffered grievously under this president and his administration

That’s why the map showing “the United States of Canada” and “Jesus’ country” is a very real possibility. And that is the great danger facing us as a nation!

Forty one years ago I moved to Michigan to serve my first Unitarian Church. One of my first sermons was titled, “Message from Another Country.” Gerry and I and our three children had spent the previous summer living in a Philadelphia ghetto. It was as different from the Detroit suburbs in which my parishioners lived as any Mexican village. On the day after George W. Bush received the support of 51% of voters, I was tempted to send my northern Friends another “message from another country.” Never have I felt less “at home” than during this election campaign.

Leonard Pitts in yesterday’s column made the same point: “America divided by culture, worldview” He writes,

“[The] disconnect is not about liberalism vs. conservatism … You know where [traditional conservatives are coming from: small government; personal responsibility; fiscal restraint. And their arguments are usually grounded in something recognizable as logic.

But social conservatism is another thing entirely, a mutant strain unhindered by critical thought. These are the nominal Christians whose Bibles are so long on judgement yet so short on compassion, the soldiers of the new American Theocracy who want to force creation science on the schools and deportation on the Muslims. They are the super patriots who regard criticism as treason … They are the blind guides who see tens of thousands dying in Iraq and think the defining issue of the election is what gay men do in bed. They give God a bad name.”

Wow! Brave words for a black man living in Florida.

“The new American theocracy.” Is that where we’re heading? It is if we allow the Religious Right to define morality. The UUA and this church have worked hard in recent years for equal rights for gay and lesbian couples. Some of you heard my sermon on the subject four weeks ago. We could do no other if we take seriously “the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” There are some who say that it was that issue more than any other that got the “soldiers of God” to the polls thereby defeating John Kerry. . “Gay rights” and the issue of women’s absolute right to abort a first trimester were the issues that determined who would be president of the United States and which party would hold the majority in the Senate and House. Unitarian Universalists have spent literally millions of dollars achieving and defending those rights. But winning those rights may have been a catalyst for the takeover of the Republican party by the Neo-cons. Was it worth the price? Well, was the abolitionist drive to obtain freedom for the slaves worth a civil war? I really don’t know but I know I could do no other. My moral values require me to do what I can to obtain justice for despised minorities.

It is this difference in what is and is not a MORAL value that is dividing this country. My moral values are to them an abomination and their values are to me unadulterated bigotry. How can we live in the same country?

We can. We have since 1788 when our constitution took effect. The fourth election under that constitution was also framed in Religious terms. In 1800 Thomas Jefferson was seen as an infidel, a dangerous Francophile and a sexual exploiter of his female slaves. And John Adams was called a traitor by some of Jefferson’s partisans because, they maintained, he wanted to return the United States to the British Empire. It was a scurrilous campaign and it was resolved only many months later by the Congress

The country did not split then and it will not split now. This nation is resilient. It is built on a firm foundation. It will survive because – because! – we recognize that we’re always divided on issues and personalities but the losers or each presidential election will not, as they did not, with one exception, take up arms against the winners. Those whom we choose as our political leaders recognize that after even the bitterest campaign the losers remain a “loyal opposition.” Therefore I agree with our local paper’s editors whose editorial yesterday was titled, “Bush’s victory is an opportunity to unite a deeply divided nation.” Unite yes, not behind a common policy, but behind a process that enables us to move forward despite our deep divisions.

Last Thursday I wrote a letter to the editor of the Pensacola News Journal and was a amazed to see it published the next day

I continue to be impressed with local columnist Reginald T. Dogan's sagacity, but he made a serious error calling the President "the commander in chief of the United States." Had the word "military" ended that sentence it would be accurate but as it stands it is the very opposite of the truth: it describes a dictatorship not a democratic republic. Protest of a president's policies is essential to our system of governance.

Unfortunately there are many in America today who question the patriotism of the loyal opposition. Kerry has repeatedly been called a traitor for criticizing administration policies. He should have been praised. Opposition to the policies of an incumbent president when one disagrees is as much a duty of an American citizen as is support when one agrees.

"A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution, and one future that binds us."

Had I not used up my 200 words I would have added, “and if the minority demonizes the majority then it is also true that 100% of Americans will have lost the 2004 election.”

I started this sermon with bad news and good news. Let me end it in the same way. The bad news is that the neo con’s won. The good news is that John Kerry will remain as the leader of the loyal opposition. Insofar as he defends and promotes my moral values, I will support him wholeheartedly.

Leave the country? Not on your life! I look forward to an invigorating battle for the soul and government of America. I intend to be part of the loyal opposition: vocal, local and liberal. I invite you to join me.