RALLYING IN WASHINGTON DC
By Rev. Jerrie Hildebrand,
Assistant Director, Lady Liberty League

I have just spent three days with Mrs. Roberta Stewart and the Lady Liberty League team in Washington, DC along with people within the Pagan/Wiccan community standing for their religious freedom. As a Unitarian Universalist Pagan I can not think of any other place I should have been on Juy 4th putting my faith in action. This is a social justice issue for me beside being an infringement on the rights of my brothers and sisters who have served this country of ours.

On July 4th, 2006 about 300 people sat, stood, danced, walked by listening, drummed, sang and chanted. They came to stand in the possibility that all people, all faiths are equal under the eyes of the law in this nation of ours as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. We all gathered answering a call, a vision that many of us could not describe. The day was hot and humid yet there we were refreshed by the quest we were on for our rights as a religion.

As tents were erected, and the sound system checked I walked the rim of Farragut Square. Signs pleas and statements for all to see were erected around the square like a mighty fence surrounding us. We were two blocks from the White House. While some thought the President was away it became clear he was actually in town. The flag was up on the roof that told the world that he is in. I was left to wonder how involved is he in blocking the symbol many of hold as sacred from being on Sgt. Stewart's memorial plaque. I closed my eyes sending a wish, thought, spell in to the air that he would know we were not going to be silent.

As time neared to start the festivities. My job was to support the media tent, speakers and Mrs. Stewart as the press came. Most of them really understood what was at stake here if one group's freedoms stay oppressed. They were concerned about the lack of religious accommodation for our veterans. Groups like CNN, AP-Radio, and others were on site to take the story to the world. The morning of the rally the Washington Post published an extensive article on page 2 of their publication.

Organizer Caroline Kenner stepped to the podium and shared about creating the rally. She thanked those in attendance and got right on with the speakers we came to hear.

First to speak was Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State spoke of the need to keep church and state separate. He is a strong voice for this and coupled with he matter of fact way of being it was clear he gets the idea to his bones. As a minister he gets it is our faith that guide our conscience and he reminded us of that. To take our faith away was to take our right to exercise our own voice away. Having faith is our trust in ourselves to be able to give to this world the best we have to give. He spoke such clarity and conviction with no ego and so matter of fact. It was clear though, in listening to him, that one must never take freedom for granted.

For many years I have known our own community was a wealth of talent and strength and it was so evident in our own community's speakers. Roberta Stewart and Kathleen Egbert (Rosemary and Abe Kooiman's daughter) spoke of the toll this quest is taking on their families. Their stories are not fully known and the injustices they have endured are countless. For them, closure is a ways down the road. Yet these women were gracious, loving and knew anger was not going to get them any place.

Kathleen shared a poem about what happens when we as people on this planet do not watch out for one another. Roberta shared her story, her pain, rage with our government and plea to set things right. She shared about her daughter's experiences with all of this in school and in her community.

Selena Fox's message of how long this journey has taken took on moments of the best tent revival I had ever witnessed. She stood appropriately dressed in a brilliant blue dress, her bare feet firmly against the closest they could get to the Earth with a huge pentacle around her neck. She shared of the struggles for nine years by numerous groups to get the pentacle on the list of approved symbols. With her, she carried a letter signed by five groups who in the past and present have filed applications demanding the pentacle be added to the list of symbols with the National Cemetery Association. She carried petitions around and enrolled the support of people there to help gather signatures to send to our government officials. Her leadership and collaborative efforts with the larger Pagan communities, leaders and people is totally amazing.

Phyllis Curott shared about the dangers we face as a nation if our community's religious rights are infringed upon. I was left to wonder if politicians have thought about what happens when the laws they pass get used unfavorable towards them in the future. It seems they are not thinking about the future when they are not in power.

Patrick McCollum shared of his journey as one person making a difference in federal agencies working inside of prisons and other bureaucratic systems. His shared a personal story of working with a prison official and listening to dominant faith rhetoric for a period of time, how it got old and how disempowering it was. But the beauty of the story as in all stories was how in an odd moment of trusting in his faith, the paradigm shifted to a way in which breakthroughs in that system happened and unpredictable outcomes occurred.

Caroline Casey, a Washington, DC radio personality gave us an analysis of the times from an astrological and numerological perspective. H. Byron Ballard of the United Religions Initiative shared the value of interfaith work and building bridges with other faith communities.

Such strong faith these people stand in. We are a gifted faith community with leaders not only making a difference within Paganism and Wicca but in the world for others also. We are a community of service and action with faith as its guide.

And what would a rally of our community be if it were not for our storytellers and bards. Celia with her siren voice sang of freedom. Her song Symbol, raises the issues of religious accommodation and brought people to tears. Guerilla Poet's sassy truth saying raps were stirring and summoned a crowd for us to begin the day with.

Mz Imani's rendition of America the Beautiful blasted through the sound system so loudly that I have no doubt that the possibility exists that the President heard it even it from its ripples in the sounds of the earth. From art comes beauty, from beauty we connect to the spiritual place that expresses the Divine for us and makes a powerful statement.

Sgt. Stewart, Rosemary and Abraham Kooiman, and all others wishing the pentacle on the headstones at their final resting place need for their tribes and clans to fight for their sacred symbol to be carved in to stone or be presses in to precious metals.

Their heartbeats were felt through the beats of the drum, the dancing feet and clapping hands on that hot July afternoon. And from the great beyond, in their resting places one had a sense of them leading us in to the battle for equality under a Constitution that says we as a nation of Americans have freedom of religion and conscience. For they are our nation's warrior's even in spirit.

What is clear to me is that we must never take any of what we have for granted. For like a shift in the wind, new administrations come and go. For now though like Rev. Barry Lynn and Ms. Curott have saidŠ we must be the canaries in the coal mines reminding our nation that there is danger lurking when we stop paying attention to the liberties we have. We must honor the gifts of freedom. We must be willing to fight for it. For the minute we don't there may be no one there to save us!

About Rev. Jerrie Hildebrand

Rev. Jerrie Hildebrand has been affiliated with various national nature-centered, Wiccan and Pagan organizations since 1986. Currently she is the assistant director of the Lady Liberty League working with the Our Freedom Collaborative, and as an ordained minister with Circle Sanctuary. Jerrie is also a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Massachusetts and leads an independent interfaith women's collective. Her work as an artist, individual and business, is tied with her love of transformational thinking and processes.

Jerrie is owner and principal designer for an award winning creative solutions and marketing company with 30 years experience blending her spiritual work as an artist and business woman. She is also the mother of a wonderful twelve year old who loves the religion of baseball! Jerrie can be reached at jerrie@circlesanctuary.org.