Skytalides Basket (a conservative article from the main Unitarian website--really!)

LTJG Eric Johnson, CCPO USNR In the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta the citizen warriors had a custom before going into battle. Each individual Spartan would look about the battlefield for a twig or small stick of wood. They would fashion this into a skytalides, a piece about 6 inches long with at least one side of it scraped flat and free of bark. On this flat side they would scrawl their name on each end of it. During the pre-battle sacrifices and ceremonies they would break the skytalides in half and place one half of it in a basket along with the half skytalides of their fellow Spartans. The remaining half of the skytalides was fashioned into a bracelet and tied to the wrist with a leather strap made for that purpose.

The skytalides served two purposes, one spiritual and one practical. The spiritual meaning of the skytalides is found in the meaning of the pre-battle ceremony of breaking the skytalides and placing it in the basket. This act was an act of personal symbolic sacrifice. Symbolically, each individual Spartan was breaking with his own humanity. He was breaking off that part of himself that was the spouse, the parent, the lover, the citizen, and all things that were good, righteous and precious in him. The only part taken into battle was the half of the skytalide that represented "andreia," (courage) and "phobos" (fear). With this half the Spartan would do the work of war.

The other purpose of the skytalide was practical. After the battle was over the Spartans reassembled, offered sacrifices, and held a roll call. The basket of skytalides was brought out and the name on each was read aloud. The owner of the other half of the skytalide came forward to claim its match. If a Spartan's name was called, but there was no response, then everyone knew that a Spartan was lost, wounded, or had fallen in battle. The body of the slain Spartan could then be found by matching the sides of the skytalide.

In a very real way, I believe that all of us, civilian as well as military, have our humanity broken by war. At very least war breaks our ideals of peaceful coexistence in the world. It breaks the ideal (one precious particularly to Unitarian Universalists) that dialog and negotiation can solve problems without violence. And most tragically it breaks the ideal of our first principle, the inherent worth and dignity of every individual. War violates cruelly the inherent worth and dignity of every individual. Loving men, women and children become the "enemy" because they belong to a nationality, a community, a group, a religion, a political party, regardless of innocence or their inherent worth or dignity.

The most appalling thing that I have witnessed in this war was not the violations of our first principle against Iraqis. The fact is that there has never been a war where more attention was paid to avoiding civilian casualties and suffering. The Iraqi people were thought of, worried about, prayed over, and supported far more by the people of the United States than they ever were under the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein. Well before the fighting began and all through the actual conflict, I never heard one negative word said against the Iraqi people. Contrast that with WWII where Japanese Americans were thrown into internment camps. Think of all the slang words for the "enemies" of the United States in past wars, "kraut", "jap", "gook", and as recently as the first Gulf war, "ragheads."

No, the ugliness, the violations of our first principle that I personally experienced were from Unitarian Universalists against others. Prime amongst the targets is the President of the United States and members of his administration. This is not so surprising since the vast majority of Unitarian Universalists are politically liberal. This war, however, has revealed something that has been lurking in our churches for a long time -- that Unitarian Universalism is no longer, in my opinion, a creedless faith. Liberal political beliefs have so infused our liberal religious beliefs that there is a very real doctrinal test for inclusion and acceptance in many, if not most, of our congregations -- you must be politically liberal.

Because the war in Iraq has so polarized political forces, and because our congregations have become so politically liberal, even those UUs who do not easily meet the criteria for inclusion into the liberal political community, despite liberal religious beliefs, are in too many cases scorned, ostracized, and marginalized in our congregations. Inherent worth and dignity are being denied even to members of our own Unitarian Universalist faith. I have received many emails from military UUs who are leaving their churches. Most politically conservative UUs that I know left their churches long ago. I myself, a center-right political conservative, a proud and open supporter of the campaign to liberate Iraq, a US Navy Reserve Officer, founder and President of Unitarian Universalist Military Ministries (currently supporting over 650 Unitarian Universalists in the Armed Services) have personally been called a "nationalistic fascist" by a UU minister, a "mass-murderer" by a UU seminarian, a "killer of innocent Iraqi children" (only slightly improved from the Vietnam era "babykiller") by a UU congregant, condescended to, and told the "error of my ways" by many a UU colleague and congregant.

These are not isolated incidents. I get emails every day from military UUs with the same story. Some time ago, I informally polled participants on the Conservative Forum of Unitarian Universalists website on how many were still active in a UU congregation. The answer at that time was, none.

In the Spartan battle custom of the skytalides can be found a powerful insight into healing, love, and restoring the inherent worth and dignity temporarily lost to many when war strikes and divides our nation and our religious communities. The basket that holds the skytalides is an excellent metaphor for our Unitarian Universalist congregations. Our congregations bring together, protect, and lovingly cradle the diverse individuals, many, if not most, broken in some way, like a skytalides, by the horror of war. The church holds the human side of the skytalides, the inherent worth and dignity side. In our congregations we can be reunited, healed and mended, by a religious faith of love, freedom, and acceptance.

I encourage you to look into the basket of your congregation and do as the Spartans did following the battle, unite the skytalides. If someone, anyone, no matter what their political beliefs or occupation, presents the broken half of their life to your congregation, you have the ability to unite the skytalides. If there are broken halves left in the basket, spare no effort to bring the pieces together and minister to these souls.

Ours must be a religious community where all find unification with what is good and right in themselves, with ones inherent worth and dignity, where all are welcome, not just those with the requisite politically liberal credentials. We should leave no one outside the community, this basket which cradles our religious faith.

Find the lost. Succor the wounded. Reclaim and honor the fallen. The Spartans knew then what we must learn now: that wars and brokenness many times, most times, cannot be avoided, but that reunification, the healing of that brokenness, is the holiest, the most sacred work of the community.

This article was posted on the main page of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The UUA is perhaps the most leftist religion in the United States.

But if people go to the UUA page today, this article is the first thing they will see. Note the conservative tone of the article.

I have almost never seen the UUA feature a conservative anywhere on their website or in their magazine. It is very surprising that the UUA would place an article of this nature on their main page. I applaud the UUA for featuring this article.

Great post. The scary thing here is that some liberals may FINALLY be getting a clue.

A great post. However, the left wing leaders of UU are not getting a clue.

This is their token article or scrap of bread for the few conservatives who claim to be UUers.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.