Today (5 Oct. 2025) in church, one of the readings of the scriptures was Habakkuk1:1-4, 2:1-4. My version of the Bible is the King James version, while the version used at church is a more modern English translation, so my writing here at home differs somewhat from what was spoken today.
Regardless, I wish to focus on the feelings I had at the time of hearing the selection read.
My impression was that as Habakkuk rails, or wails, against the trouble besetting him–and also the general public–as these troubles mount against the prophet and followers, the Lord answers, ‘Peace, be still.’ “The vision is yet” to come about; “it will surely come.”
I remember feeling that righteousness, justice, may take time to emerge, but it will come. In the meantime, we must be peaceful in our speech and actions. This was a quieting to my concerns that we might have to resort to insurrection to overcome the dangers we face in the potential loss of our democracy. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words offer hope: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Then in the afternoon, I watched a program on MeidasTouch, “Five Minute News, The Weekend Show” for Sunday 5 October. The guest interviewee was Corey Brettschneider, Professor of Political Science at Brown University, and author of a new book, The Presidents and The
People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. I encourage all of you to listen to this podcast, found on YouTube and perhaps in other venues.
Professor Brettschneider cites five presidencies in our past who challenged the basic tenet of freedom to speak, encapsulated in the first amendment to the Constitution. He shows how very serious our current situation is by relating Trump’s actions to the actions of five previous presidents to limit such freedom. He focuses also on the five movements which countered these attempts and provided a rescue of American democracy. He uses the adjective “recovery” to apply to succeeding presidents who truly do take on a recovery role to restore constitutional rights. Sometimes, however, the recovery does not take place immediately; the threat to our democracy sometimes lasts longer. It takes time, sometimes years, to complete the repair.
The combination of the scriptural readings and this podcast have encouraged me to have hope that we may be able to peaceably restore our democracy. We must take an active role to ensure we have democratic elections in 2026 and 2028, encouraging voter registration among our
friends, families, neighbors. We must remember violence strengthens democracy’s opponents; we need to encourage non-violent actions.
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