Monday, May 28, 2018

Immigration & Evangelicals

Last week the Pew Research Center released their latest poll on differences along political and religious lines in regards to answering the question: Does the US have a responsibility to accept refugees?

Only twenty-six per cent of republicans polled said "yes," compared to seventy-four percent of democrats.

A large split is also found among various religious groups.

Just twenty-five percent of white protestant evangelicals feel that the US has a responsibility to accept refugees; compared to forty-three percent among mainline protestants, sixty-three percent among black protestants, fifty percent among Catholics and sixty-five percent among religiously unaffiliated respondents to the survey.

One would hope that at least among professed followers of Jesus, there would be more empathy for those who were forced to flee their homeland.

The Trump administration has capped this year's refugee resettlement quota at 45,000 which would be the lowest since Congress passed the current refugee program in 1980. According to the Migration Policy Institute, this compares to a quota of 70,000 refugees in 2014 and 85,000 in 2016.

The MPI also reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has significantly ramped up its efforts given the go-ahead by the Trump administration. MPI reported that ICE arrests and deportations have gone up forty percent within the first eight months of 2018 as compared to 2017.

There has been active resistance to ICE methods in cities across the US designating themselves sanctuary cities, and changing local police practices in regards to cooperating with ICE leading to a decrease in non-citizen arrests.

NBC reported last week on a new policy adopted by the Department of Homeland Security, separating refugee children from their parents at the Mexican border. NBC stated it was part of Attorney Jeff Sessions' plan to criminally prosecute one hundred percent of people coming across the Mexican border illegally. Including families with children.

The DHS policy is to jail and separate the children, versus the old policy which most often kept families together. Under the new policy, children are sent to shelters or foster care homes, often without telling the parents where they have been taken. 

(Here's an opinion column by Nicholas Kristoff, with his take on this policy.)

Meanwhile, in response to an uptick in refugees crossing the Mexican border, there has been a reported riff between the current President and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The Washington Post has reported that the relationship between the two has become strained.

The Post noted that before giving a speech, early on in his presidency, the President huddled with Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller, two of his highest-level advisors. "Trump reminded them the crowds loved his rhetoric on immigrants along the campaign trail. Acting as if he were at a rally, he recited a few made-up Hispanic names and described the potential crimes they could have committed, such as rape or murder. Then, he said, the crowds would roar when the criminals were thrown out of the country - as they did when he highlighted crimes by illegal immigrants at his rallies, according to a person present for the exchange and another briefed on it later. Miller and Kushner laughed."

So, given all of the above developments, you would logically think that the evangelical Christians would be stepping up to the plate to defend the widow, the orphan and the homeless. 
Aren't there several Biblical injunctions that encourage this very thing, pointing out God's heart towards the poor, the oppressed, the refugee? Like Exodus 22:21-24, Leviticus 19:34 and 25:35, Deuteronomy 10:18 and 27:19?

Perhaps two of the best examples can be found in Isaiah: 58, starting in verse 6: "...Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you; Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them... Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness..."

Or, as the prophet Micah put it in Chapter 6, verse 8: "The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you; to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God."

Current events seem to be begging the questions: Why do only twenty-five percent of white evangelical protestants feel that the US has a responsibility to accept refugees? Why does this same group fully support an administration that actively and increasingly expresses contempt towards refugees?
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If you are concerned about the issue of how the US treats refugees, you can contact your US Senator or Representative via the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121. You will be asked your zip code and then connected to their office. Let them know how you feel, but remain respectful. Most likely you'll speak with a staff person assigned to the issue of refugee resettlement. Be concise and stay on point. The general rule of thumb is that Congressional representatives and their staff put much more weight behind phone calls from constituents than any other form of communication. 

Photo Credits:  top dailybeast; middle transitiontimes; bottom abc news.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Pentecost: A group of spiritual refugees spreads the gospel

Author's Note: the major idea of this post came from a sermon preached by Matt Weiler at Sunnyside United Methodist Church.

This Sunday was Pentecost Sunday.

Traditionally, it's a time when the Christian church celebrates its roots, specifically, when the Holy Spirit came to a small group of Jesus' followers who were gathered together in one place.

As the second chapter of the book of Acts records it, ""When the Day of Pentecost had finally come, they [followers of Jesus] were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4 NKJ)

The study notes in my Bible explain that Pentecost was a major Jewish festival, coming fifty days after the Passover Sabbath. The celebration involved people honoring God by offering the first fruits of their harvest so that they rest of the harvest would be blessed.

Almost instantly the small band of followers becomes emboldened and they began to speak in different languages "as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability."

Acts records, "At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise [of the wind] everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers."

'How can this be?' they exclaimed. 'These people [speaking to us] are from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the areas around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Cretans and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!'" (Acts 2:5-11 NKJ).

The interesting thing is that the Holy Spirit could just as easily have had all of the assembled people understand Aramaic, the native tongue of Jesus' followers.

But the way it turned out, each person heard the "good news" in their own language, making it personal to them. It was direct. And it was a way for God to honor every individual within hearing distance of the apostles that day.

Sometimes present-day Christians forget that the followers of Jesus, on Pentecost, were the outsiders. They had been in hiding for fifty days since Easter. They were the minority culture that day in Jerusalem. They were spiritual refugees.

But on Pentecost these refugees had a message to share.

In the very first preaching of the "good news," God used this band of refugees to affirm all of the Jews who had gathered from many nations. They each heard the message that Peter preached in their own language. Peter's culture, his race, was not dominant that day.

God used Pentecost to affirm every person in the crowd.

Perhaps because of this beginning, three thousand individuals received Peter's message on Pentecost and decided to follow the teachings of Jesus.

And their lives were radically changed.

In fact, the second chapter of Acts goes on to say that "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer. And a deep sense of awe came over them all, and they apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity - all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people..."
(Acts 2:42-47 NKJ).

On one level, the spreading of the "good news" depended upon a small group of spiritual refugees. 

But because God honored the culture of those assembled to hear their first sermon, the "good news" quickly spread.

Given the current climate of nativism/nationalism in the world today, I wonder what lessons we could learn from Pentecost?

Perhaps a healthy respect for others who don't look like us, or think like us, or speak like us? A desire to affirm others and understand those differences?  A willingness to listen to what others have to say and learn from them? Seeing the world from a "we're all in this together," instead of an "us" against "them," point of view?

How about the effects of Pentecost upon those who chose to follow? Is our first instinct to share the material possessions we have with those who don't have? To come to the table together? Is part of "having all things in common," a genuine desire to look out for each other?

If these things are so, no wonder that the first day the "good news" was given, three thousand people received it.

Photo credits: United Methodist Church national website; Assemblies of God national website; Express Tribune.

Monday, May 14, 2018

Dr. Jee Hyun Kim - Emotional Learning & Memory in Childhood


Jee Hyun Kim, is an Australian behavioral neuroscientist whose work focuses on emotional learning and memory during childhood and adolescence. She is an Associate Professor at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. 
Kim is an active science communicator, and has given public lectures at TEDx Melbourne, Australian Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Victorian Science Week, City of Melbourne (Melbourne Conversations, and the Wheeler Center. She has also interviewed for ABC Radio, Radio New Zealand, SBS TV, Channel 10 (The Project).

You’re a neuroscientist specializing in the effects of childhood trauma. Why does this subject interest you?
I always found people’s different personalities and experiences fascinating. Life is a library and each person is a book I can learn from, even if the knowledge may not have any practical implications. I am quite curious about everything, I find understanding for the sake of understanding very satisfying, and the most fascinating subject for me is the human. So getting to know people by talking and listening to them has naturally made me realise that much of who we are come from our memories from childhood and adolescence. Also, I realised that many of us had some traumatic experience while growing up but for some it is merely an acknowledged event while for others it is very much present and haunting them day to day. This fascinates me, and I thought that if we can understand why early life experiences are so important and why some are more vulnerable or resilient, we can help many unhappy people. Then it saddened me to find out that almost no resources and efforts were placed into answering those questions that are so relevant to so many people I meet. This motivates me to devote my life to study early life memories. It should be noted that I directly study mostly rodents, and sometimes humans.

Have you found that there are significant differences between childhood and adult trauma? For instance, do children handle/cope with trauma differently than adults?
There isn’t a whole lot of research done on that topic in general. Some have definitely shown a stronger link between childhood interpersonal trauma (e.g., emotional neglect and abuse, physical neglect and abuse, sexual abuse) and later mental disorders compared to adult trauma. However, they did not compare the childhood interpersonal trauma with adult interpersonal trauma, so it is yet unclear whether it’s the trauma age that is important or the nature of the trauma that is important. 
In terms of coping, studies suggest that the lack of experience in children may lead to stronger emotional memories to be formed. Experiences tend to be more novel for children compared to adults. When a novel event is accompanied with strong emotions, there is no previous similar non-emotional event to cushion the strong emotions in children, which may lead to stronger emotional reaction and subsequent emotional memory of the event. For example, an experienced driver can recover from a traumatic accident readily because she/he has driven safely so many times and therefore the driving memory is non-emotional. This is termed ‘latent inhibition’ – when previous non-emotional experience can reduce the emotional impact of later experience.  However, children are naturally more inexperienced, so they are like a novice driver who may have a traumatic accident, and because their only experience of driving is traumatic, she/he can’t ever drive again.
But it is not all bad news for children. My and others’ work actually suggest that children may be more resilient if debriefed after a traumatic experience. In fact, childhood memories are more malleable and how they interpret an event depend much on their caregivers. The biggest difference between children and adults may be that children look to caregivers to feel safe and interpret ambiguous situations. Following trauma, if not given the right treatment or even neglected by the caregivers, the trauma may shape their future forever. But if given the right treatment, they are actually more robust than adults and can recover from the trauma. This is why I advocate early treatment and counselling for children and adolescents.

In one of your video interviews, you spoke about the importance of having diversity among the ranks of STEM researchers? Could you elaborate?
Diseases affect everyone, regardless of race, gender, and age. Therefore it is ridiculous to think that important decisions such as where the research funding is spent, what sort of experiments we should do, how to interpret the data etc can be made well by a group that is not diverse in its representation. For example, there aren’t many developmental scientists like me around the world, and we speculate that it is the disproportionately small amount of funding we have access to that discourages many people not to enter or stay in developmental research. Perhaps the disproportionately small amount of funding is due to the fact that the decision makers tend to be ageing people with family and friends suffering from dementia, stroke, cardiovascular disease etc. Therefore, they bring those personal experiences to the table and as a consequence our youths become neglected. I do not blame that people make decisions based on emotion – I do, too. We are not logical when it comes to decision-making, and passionate, emotional arguments can win the day. But if we can have diverse people making decisions and problem solving together, then we can represent, understand, and address the needs of the people better.

I have an anecdote – I was on of the board for a new psychology college to train clinical psychologists. I was the only woman, only non-white ethnicity, and only one under 50 years of age out of 6 people on the board. We were reviewing one of the construction plans for our main building and I noticed that the women’s toilet was slightly smaller than men’s and argued the reverse needs to happen because in Australia most of clinical psychology students are female (during my own Honours degree, there were 3 males out of 65 total students). None of the others had my own experience as a Psychology student to even notice, and did not actually know first-hand what would address the needs of students the best. My anecdote reflects a relatively benign situation, but imagine the devastating impact on people if important decisions on health and science policies are made by a homogeneous group. It will take far longer to solve problems because the represented problems likely not to reflect reality.

Given your background, I’m curious if you see any connection between childhood trauma and the series of mass school shootings in the US?
Not really. Australia and the US have extremely similar prevalence of anxiety, substance use, and mood disorders in children and adults. However, we haven’t had any mass shootings since 1996. Not just for schools, but nowhere. I won’t say that childhood trauma plays ‘zero’ role. Relative to gun control, however, it plays a negligible role.   

What do you see as possible solutions to avoid such shootings from happening in the future?
Ban automatic and semi automatic guns completely. Studies have shown over and over again the availability of automated guns is the greatest factor to mass shootings.  

As an Australian resident and as a neuroscientist do you wonder if there could be a cultural explanation for the number of school shootings in the US?
Having lived in both countries, I find that Australia and US are surprisingly similar in culture. Both countries value individualism, independence, honesty and hard work. But our government policies are very different on many things, and I really do think it is the gun laws that separate us in terms of the number of school shootings.

Following a mass shooting episode in 1996 in Tasmania, the Australian government quickly came together to formulate an effective response. The government banned automatic and semiautomatic firearms, adopted new licensing requirements, established a national firearms registry, and instituted a 28-day waiting period for gun purchases. It also bought and destroyed more than 600,000 civilian-owned firearms. As a resident of Australia, what can you tell us about the effectiveness of this approach?
Super effective. Despite the similarities in our culture, every year the US has 10 times more gun-related deaths per capita than Australia. For every 100,000 people, Australia only has 1, and the US has more than 10.
I personally have friends who enjoy hunting and own rifles (non-automatic guns). They all need to be locked up but they can choose where they are locked up. So people do have freedom to own guns, just not the automatics that easily lead to killing.  

In your opinion/experience, why is it harder for women to succeed in STEM careers?
Time and again studies have shown that there are subconscious biases against women. These subconscious biases downgrade women’s abilities and discredit their success. Subconscious biases are difficult to combat because they are subconscious. However, we can consciously put in rules to be more aware of the biases by openly discussing the biases and then presenting facts showing how there is not a single academic measure in children and adolescents that show sex differences.
There is also a cultural definition of what is feminine or masculine that is neither logical nor representative of reality. I have been told (by both males and females) that I am too assertive or too confident or too loud and I wonder whether if I was a male or not Asian, whether my assertion, confidence or volume would be so offensive. So in a way I am ‘punished’ for being who I am, which discourages me from being assertive, confident, or loud (of course I consciously fight against this and try my best to be myself). Conversely, then I wonder when a female is passive or modest they are more rewarded for that behaviour, which encourages the female to continue being passive or modest. Further, so many of us scientist women have experienced unsolicited advice on our specialisation from other males who have no expertise on the subject. This happens to me all the time. Even for public speaking, I have so many random men without any experience in public speaking telling me how to do better next time. And I’ve won so many prizes on public speaking! Of course this does not mean I can’t learn from others, so I always listen. But it is intriguing that women don’t give me unsolicited advice but men do. So I wonder whether men have been rewarded with saying random advice in the past, so they are encouraged to repeat this behaviour. And whether they have been punished for being quiet or humble, so they are discouraged to be quiet or humble.
Lastly, there is lack of mentoring for women. Again, this is because leadership groups typically involve males rather than females, so looking after and mentoring women can go neglected. I actually believe in the ‘quota’ system – demand a certain level of representation in leadership. Then people will be more exposed to the benefits of diversity, which will lead to mentoring of more junior culturally diverse people, which will lead to even more representation of diversity in leadership in future.

In another video interview, you talked about the importance of your faith. Could you talk about your own faith journey?
I am nothing without Jesus. Seriously. My mum was physically and emotionally abused by my dad’s family as soon as she was married. So my mum was already depressed and anxious when I was born. Also my dad worked long hours, so she was often alone. I was the only living thing around that did not abuse her, so I think for her the only outlet was to abuse me. I was hit weekly if not daily. I remember mum complaining when I was six about how all the long household objects (vacuum cleaner shaft, broomstick, shoe horn etc.) were broken because I made her hit me. So I was a super quiet scared child. I found it difficult to make friends. I was shy and anxious. I worried all the time, I don't really remember about what. I cut myself, and thought about killing myself a lot because I could not see how life was worth living because if my own mum doesn’t love me, who could possibly love me (I no longer think my mum hates me and know that she loves me very much, but I used to think differently).
Then we moved to Sydney for my dad’s work. Because we were away from his family, mum was less stressed and treated me much better, although she relapsed every now and then when she was stressed or when she and dad fought. But the real turning point was meeting Jesus for me when I was 16. It is the first time to experience unconditional acceptance and love. To have someone so perfect love me exposes my own sin and selfishness, but that makes his love and grace so much greater, because he still loves me despite my selfishness and mistakes. This gave me strength to worry less about punishment and what others think of me, which gave me the courage to be more myself. To be more comfortable with my own desires, emotions, and failures. I always knew I was a born extrovert – I love sharing my thoughts and feelings, making decisions together, and listening to other people. Before Jesus I felt too scared to share, but to know and be loved by God gave me the strength to be myself. To my surprise, it turned out that the less I care about what people think of me, the more I was genuine and authentic, and the more people loved me anyways, although that was not my motivation. The bible told me that being genuine makes God happy and in return for His love, I wanted to be more genuine. More myself. Solomon also said in the bible that nothing is new and history repeats itself and everything is meaningless but because how we live in this life determines our eternity, we need to follow our heart. So having Jesus as my Lord and Saviour reminds me to follow my heart. Not what others say, not what my sinful nature tells me to do to impress others or to save myself and be cowardly and selfish, but what my heart really says. What my spirit that God designed tells me to feel, think, and do. So I am a slave to Christ but I truly feel free to be myself in his love. 
My work actually suggests that the wrong beliefs I held in childhood cannot be erased because the counter-belief came too late as a teenager. It’s true. Relapse is a part of adult life. When I am tired or hurting, I do relapse into thinking that no one loves me and that my life is not worth living. But from my work, I also know that I am not the only one who feels this way. If feeling this way is the norm, then surely it is not a failure to relapse but rather every day when I don’t relapse shows success. So I choose not to give up. I choose to sleep and wake up and re assess how I feel. I always feel better the next day.

Has your faith had any influence in your research career?
Daily. Daniel had a spirit of excellence because he served God. So I try to do my job excellently. Do not get me wrong, there are plenty of non-Christians who are very excellent in their job and are more selfless than I am, so that is not what I think makes me a Christian at work. However, I do think that there are things that may distinguish me as a Christian time to time, and I think that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We all start from different places in these qualities, some are born better some are born worse. But when family and friends observe that I am getting better, progressing, I think it is evidence that Jesus lives within me. Of course I fail, but thankfully in Christianity we are not expected to be perfect. But we are expected to try again and not give up and run this race until we see Jesus face to face. I can’t wait. Hopefully he will tell me ‘well done good and faithful servant’. This motivates me to keep going even when I’m hurting and tired, even when I’ve been used and disappointed.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
None of my work achievements are actually mine. I always say ‘the universe’ or ‘luck’ but I do mean God. I don’t say ‘blessed’ though, sometimes ‘blessed’ sounds like God chose you because you were good or something. God chooses what He chooses, I am sure it’s not our works, and we cannot comprehend in our limited brain His wisdom and also His justice. This also means that none of my work failures are mine. Jesus carries me in the vision he has placed in my heart. So I am not afraid of the future. I am not afraid because I cannot own the failures, just as I cannot own the successes. But I live as a child of God responding to His love by trying to be more like Jesus. This gives me freedom. I hope as many people as possible to experience this freedom.  

To watch Dr. Jee Huyn Kim's TED Talk, click here.

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Photo Credits: TEDEx, Florey Institute, Research Gate.

Monday, May 7, 2018

Kalamazoo Marathon Afterglo

May 6th was the day of the eighth annual Kalamazoo Marathon.

The day started, for me, at 5:30 a.m., as a non-participating volunteer, helping to park cars in a church parking lot.

The church sits along Gull Road, about a half-mile away from the Nazareth Campus, which serves as the start and finish spot for the race.

Arriving at 6:30, I soon met Jack, my parking partner, who had already mapped out the grassy areas that feed into the main parking lot (which had about sixty spots). Jack's logistical genius had resulted in an additional 60+ spots. They included a cul-de-sac, as well as a few side areas near the church.

Without exception everyone who pulled in looking for parking was friendly. Some were set to run, some were set to cheer runners on.

After helping to usher in folks for about an hour-and-a-half, off in the distance, I heard someone singing The Star Spangled Banner at 8 a.m., to officially begin the race. Closely followed by the theme from ROCKY.

At this point Gull Road, which is a major street (two lanes in each direction plus a turn lane) was closed off to traffic. And the runners poured out from Nazareth Road, heading towards downtown Kalamazoo. Quite an impressive site!

A few hours later (around 12:30) I decided to go for my usual daily walk.

Only this time, normal routine was thrown out the window.

More than four hours into the Kalamazoo Marathon, volunteers were still on the job at the top of Park Street (AKA our local version of  "Heartbreak Hill.") As runners came up the hill they were greeted with shouts, cow-bells, cups of water, claps and smiles to muster their strength for the remainder of the race.

It felt absolutely marvelous to be part, in a very small way, of this terrific community event.

And it definitely had the feel of a COMMUNITY - with the Marathon winding through many neighborhoods, with hand-made signs of encouragement (tons of variations on the theme of "GO FOR IT! or WE'RE PROUD OF YOU!!)

To get a sense of what actual participants felt about the Kalamazoo Marathon, I looked the event up on line and found comments from last year's version, which were along the lines of: "Loved this Marathon!  Small town feel, big race vibe!"

An added plus was a chance to get to know Jack, after we were done helping to park cars. Turns out he's been a member of the church since he was a kid! Over 50 some years! Jack told me about the history of the East Side of town. Turns out, he grew up across the street from where we were standing. He pointed to a large white house that was sitting inconspicuously along the street and said, "That was the original farm house for this part of the road. Before any side streets were planned."

I drive along Gull Road frequently, and have passed that particular house hundreds of times - but until Jack pointed it out, I was oblivious to its history.

When I was a kid, the local television station (WKZO-TV) had a slogan "Kalamazoo, Direct to You!" I guess that now includes the Kalamazoo Marathon, which directly impacts hundreds upon hundreds of runners!

Photo Credits: Top photo, Bronson Kalamazoo Marathon Facebook Page. All others, Rebekah Welch/Mlive Kalamazoo Gazette.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Pinocchio: Art Credit, Disney If ever there were a time for a national "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" award, it's now. And certai...