OPINION —
In the drama “Absence of Malice” (1981), a reckless reporter (Sally Field) gets her comeuppance from an honest character (Paul Newman). After a devout Catholic woman tells the reporter she had an abortion, the reporter puts that into the paper, despite telling the lady she wouldn’t. When the morning edition comes out, the woman with the abortion frantically runs around the neighborhood picking up copies from her neighbors’ yards before they can be read.
I was reminded of that movie when I found out an Auburn church’s social justice sign was spraypainted or stolen repeatedly over the last year or two. The repeated vandalism is not easily stopped, just as in the movie the woman’s attempt to hide an unfavorable story fell through. You see a variety of “social justice” signs. A popular one says: “Science is real, black lives matter, no human is illegal, love is love, women’s rights are human rights, and kindness is everything.”
Most of us may not agree with all those statements, but we are not drawn to destroy someone else’s property. Yet, for zealous partisans, a sign like that is red meat and they might be the ones who are wrecking the sign at the church. However, it might be apolitical punks, teen-aged or in their 20s, as the culprits.
“In recent years, our social justice sign has been vandalized or stolen multiple times, to the point I’ve lost track of it,” said the Rev. Chris Rothbauer, minister at Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. “As a result, we’ve put up security cameras to try to both catch the person doing the vandalism and discourage others.”
The AUUF is known as the most liberal church in the area.
This defacing and stealing from a church’s entrance seems to me like when Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore put a monument of the Ten Commandments at the state Supreme Court. Judges associated with the decision to move the monument in 2003 got death threats. I wonder which Bible sentence promotes death threats as a Christian’s best way to challenge judges? And which chapter and verse allows people to threaten murder at the drop of a theological hat?
Did Rothbauer receive letters or emails of solidarity after these incidents were publicized? Surely, fellow ministers would publicly pledge unity, right? Rothbauer notes that ecumenical or interfaith events have been rare since the pandemic lockdowns were established in March 2020.
“In 2019, prior to the pandemic, I was received warmly at the Auburn Ministerial Association,” the minister said. “There is another organization, the Lee County Ministerial Association, but they actively exclude us because we are not exclusively Christian and they are opposed to LGBTQ+ rights.
“On the first couple of vandalisms, I received emails here and there, but there has been very little show of support since. The only show of support we received from another faith community following the last vandalism was from All Souls Universalist Church, a Christian Universalist church that meets in our buildings on Sunday evening.”
The reverend has been AUUL’s minister since 2019. Rothbauer’s identity is agender, which denotes a person who does not identify themselves as having a particular gender. In a 2020 blog, “Black Lives Matter, but not yet in America,” Rothbauer pledged to inspire action to combat injustices. “Why are there more road potholes on the northwest side than in other areas? Of the thousands of new apartments in downtown Auburn how many are affordable for low-income persons?”
Unitarian Universalism in the United States showed itself in the history of American religion, politics and culture. Founding fathers John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin had Unitarian principles to drive their ideas in the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the U.S. Constitution (1789).
Rothbauer was born and raised in the southern Indiana suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. The minister has master’s degrees in philosophy from the University of Sheffield, U.K.; in divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School, in Chicago, Illinois; and in arts (leadership studies) also from Meadville Lombard. The minister has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and English from Indiana University Southeast.
Rothbauer said ministers in Universalist Churches can be Pagan, Christian, Buddhist, Humanist or some other spirituality. The reverend said the search process for ministers is “kind of like speed dating.” There is a long survey to fill out for the job seeker and the prospective congregation.
There are several other steps, including a precandidate weekend and eventual candidate weekend if both sides are interested. For whoever succeeds Rothbauer in Auburn, though the minister has no exit plans, a course in handling vandals may be appropriate. Learning the sentiments of the social justice signs may be needed someday, for let’s say, justice.
Greg Markley moved to Lee County in 1996. He has master’s degrees in education and history. He taught politics as an adjunct in Georgia and Alabama. An award-winning writer in the Army and civilian life, he has contributed to The Observer since 2011. He writes about politics, higher education and books. Contact him at gm.markley@charter.net.