Truth and Control: Remembering Who We Are

Inspired by George Orwell’s 1984 and the Battle Over American Historyby Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

🌈 Opening Reflection

When I first read 1984, I didn’t just see a novel about the future —I saw a mirror of the human soul when fear becomes stronger than truth.Orwell’s world was gray and watchful, filled with screens that told people what to think,and a Ministry of Truth that rewrote every memory until only obedience remained.

And yet, even in that darkness, one man — Winston Smith — dared to write a single sentence in his secret journal:“Down with Big Brother.”That small act of truth-telling was a spark of divine rebellion,a whisper of Spirit saying, I still remember who I am.

Today, we are living in our own age of rewritten memory.But instead of the Ministry of Truth, it arrives disguised as “curriculum review,” “parental rights,” or “American values.”Once again, power tries to decide what our children may know — and what the rest of us must forget.

🔥 The War on Memory

Across this nation, books are disappearing from libraries.Lessons on slavery, racism, and gender diversity are labeled “divisive.”Museums are told to remove exhibits that acknowledge race or sexuality because they “don’t align with American values.”

But whose values are we talking about?And how can truth — the lived experience of millions — ever be un-American?

Erasing the pain of history does not heal it; it only buries the wound deeper.Just as trauma silenced returns through the body,truth silenced returns through the generations —through protest, through art, through the fierce love of those who remember.

Every time a book is banned, a mirror is broken —and someone, somewhere, loses the chance to see themselves reflected in humanity’s story.

✨ The Sacred Power of Truth

At Universal Rainbow Faith, we believe that truth itself is sacred.To tell the truth about who we are — our gender, our race, our story, our pain —is an act of worship.

Truth is the breath of the Divine moving through human experience.It is how God, Spirit, Source — whatever name you use — reveals evolution in real time.

When a society censors its own truth, it blasphemes against the very Spirit that animates it.It says, “I know better than creation.”It replaces revelation with revision.

💜 The Courage to Face the Whole Story

Real healing begins when we look unflinchingly at what has been hidden.Our ancestors’ mistakes are not stains to erase;they are sacred teachers showing us how not to repeat harm.

To teach about slavery is not to shame our nation — it is to love it enough to grow it.To teach about gender diversity is not to confuse children — it is to bless them with understanding that God’s image is infinite.To speak of racism, genocide, and injustice is not to divide — it is to make honest unity possible.

This is what 1984 warns us about: a world where comfort is valued more than conscience.But Spirit calls us to something higher — to remember, to witness, to tell the truth even when it trembles in our throat.

🌍 The Real American Spirit

True American values are not censorship and conformity.They are liberty, equality, and the courage to face our contradictions.The founders spoke of freedom; prophets, poets, and activists carried it forward.Each generation widened the circle:abolitionists, suffragists, civil-rights marchers, queer pioneers — all were told they were “un-American.”And yet, because of them, America became more itself.

Patriotism is not blind devotion.Patriotism is repentance with action,the willingness to evolve toward justice.

🕊️ A Call to Remember

So when someone says, “We must remove race ideology from schools,”hear what they’re really saying: “Let’s make forgetting a virtue.”And when you hear it, remember Winston Smith with his trembling hand and secret words —remember every teacher, artist, parent, and child who refuses to forget.

Let us write our own journal of truth, together, in the open.Let us say:We are Black and Brown and White and Native.We are transgender, nonbinary, intersex, queer, and straight.We are survivors, creators, healers, and dreamers.We are the living record of divine diversity.

And we will not throw our stories down the memory hole.

🙏 Closing Blessing

May truth be your compass when propaganda surrounds you.May courage be your voice when silence is demanded.May love be your language when fear divides.And may we, as one human family, remember that the only thing more powerful than control is consciousness.

Because the light of truth — once awakened — cannot be banned, erased, or rewritten.

Amen.And so it is.