I have the cane that Rabbi Levine carved for Father Treacy. It sits beside me now.
On it, he carved these words:
The road to God is paved with love
Unity in diversity
These two men dedicated their lives to bringing people together. By unity, they didn’t mean sameness. They meant that we can bring our unique cultural identities and traditions, honor one another, and build a world where everyone belongs.
Recently, The New York Times reported that a long list of words are being removed from public-facing websites, school curricula, and government grant applications. Any organization that uses these words is flagged for review.
Many of the words Father Treacy and Rabbi Levine used to express their deepest values are on this list:
- Diversity
- Equality
- Cultural differences
- Belong / Sense of belonging
- Injustice
Even references to certain groups of people are now considered problematic:
- Black
- Hispanic minority
- LGBT
- Native American
- Women
Universities, corporations, and non-profits that use these words are facing pressure—despite the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. The words now labeled as unacceptable are not only central to our moral traditions, but also to the aspirational ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Father Treacy and Rabbi Levine, both grounded in a belief in One Creator, were committed to a moral vision: that every person has inherent worth, and that every community has something to contribute. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that human beings are endowed with inalienable rights—not given by governments, but inherent to our very existence.
Yet, both our founding documents and our sacred traditions acknowledge that we have never fully lived up to these ideals. And so, those who believe in them must work—sometimes at great risk—to bring them closer to reality. To work for a more perfect union is not to be against the union – but the deepest honoring of it.
This list of “naughty words” is not just another volley in the culture war. It is an attack on the values that guide our spiritual communities and the aspirations of the American experiment.
It would be easy to avoid controversy by finding different words to express the same truths. They will only expand the list. It would be easy to succumb to the idea that some groups of people are not really human.
Many are choosing that path.
But doing so would be like taking this cane down to my small woodshop and grinding away Rabbi Levine’s words—the very words he carved for Father Treacy.
I won’t do it.
Instead, I will take the harder road, knowing I can lean on this cane as I go.
This is a time for all of us to dig deeper into our traditions—to find the values we are not only willing to live by, but to stand up for.
The worth of human beings, our dignity, and our hope for a better future do not come from any list of approved or disapproved words.
We were endowed by our Creator, by the Divine, by Life itself, with certain inherent and inalienable rights.
It’s time to live like it.