Category: protest

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Blast From the Past: Another Political Post (Sort Of)

This post first was published in 2009. It has been edited somewhat to bring it more up to date.

here’s a lot of words flying around the airwaves, the internet, and in public. Some of them are good words, some of them are not good. Some of the good words are spoken by Christians and, unfortunately, some of the not good words are spoken by Christians.

I’m not going to get into the debate over all the ideas and policies that are being argued over. I do have my ideas, but this is not the forum for that. I have friends and relatives on both sides of the debate, and my relationship with them is far more important than which side is right.

What I do feel strongly about is the way folks who claim to follow the King of Kings have forgotten that we are citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that has an agenda that is far different than that of any kingdom of this world, including this one. Christians on the right and on the left have invested far too much emotion in ensuring that their side is in power and their agenda is pushed. There is nothing wrong with folks supporting and working for whatever party fits their political views, but when that causes them to call opponents names, to angrily shout down those on the other side, or to even bring into question their spiritual life, then there is something wrong.

We are Christians before we are Republicans or Democrats. We are God’s children before we are conservative or liberal. We are citizens of Christ’s kingdom before we are citizens of any country on this earth. We are part of the same Body. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, would the eye scream at the foot across a barricade? Would the ear call the elbow a racial slur? Would the nose tell the knee that it’s not part of the body? This little toe has a hard time hearing parts of the Body belittle and disparage other parts because of their view of what this part of the kingdoms of this world should look like. Didn’t Jesus say that the world would know that we are his because of our love for one another?

I believe that whatever happens in the coming years should ultimately make little difference in how followers of Jesus conduct their lives as citizens of heaven. We are called to spread the Gospel and make disciples who will follow King Jesus and in turn make more disciples. Christians through the centuries have done that regardless of the government in power, whether the Roman Empire, the Soviet Union, China, or an Islamic dictatorship. If they can do that, surely we can do what we are called to do whether a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican is in charge.

Follow your political persuasions. Be passionate about your ideas. Just remember that your first allegiance is to the One who told Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world. The agenda of the kingdom of God is not the agenda of earthly governments.

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On Protesting

Turn on the news today, and you are likely to see a group of people protesting at a state capitol. These protests are, at this time, against the stay at home or shelter in place rules that have been imposed during the pandemic. There are many who are in favor of the protests, and there are many who are against them. America has a long history of protesting, going all the way back to when we were still under the British throne. The freedom to assemble and to let the government know what we like or don’t like is in the Bill of Rights. Over the years, some of the protests have been very effective in bringing about needed change.

As an individual and as a citizen, I am in favor of the right to protest. I have taken part in a couple of protest actions myself. Having said that, I do have a problem with the protests that have happened recently. You may or may not have seen the pictures and video of heavily armed people dressed in combat gear crowding into the Michigan state house and even in front of the governor’s office. I would not call that a protest. I would call that an act of intimidation. Along with the weapons, there were statements made that it was too late for voting and was time for force. Another statement mused about the governor being hit by a shotgun blast.

The 1st Amendment to the Constitution provides the right to peaceably assemble. I didn’t see anything peaceable in a group of people storming into the halls of government with military type weapons, screaming in the faces of the law enforcement officers. I don’t believe that is the type of protest that the founders wanted to protect. It’s interesting that many of those folks would be the quickest to denounce the protests of blacks marching against police brutality, Latinos marching against the conditions in the camps along the border, over even NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem. In fact, I seriously doubt that a group of armed people of color would have been allowed anywhere near the capitol.

You may be saying, “Well, all of those Vietnam protests and civil rights protests weren’t all peaceful either.” You would be correct. Not everyone who protested did so in a peaceful manner. There was violence. In any large group there will be some who are trying to use the protest as a cover for harming others. The difference I see is that during the recent protests, the biggest majority of the group seems to have been the ones who were using intimidation tactics and implicitly threatening violence. There seems to be a fair number of people in this country who feel that it is their God-given right to force their way of thinking on others, with violence if necessary.

I don’t pretend to know what the answer is to all the problems that this pandemic is causing. People are getting desperately sick and many are dying. That doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon. Millions of people are out of work, and know one is able to say definitively when the economy will be back to some sense of normal. Those who say that people need to be able to work are right. People need to be able to provide for themselves and their families. Those who say that we need to try and keep more from getting sick are also correct. The most vulnerable especially need to be protected.

I do believe that there needs to be something that seems to have left public life in America. There needs to be a civility in discourse that accepts what the other is saying and works to find solutions that benefit the whole. We need to respect and empathize with both those who are worried about their livelihood and those that are worried about their health or the health of loved ones. For those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus, Scripture gives us the way to approach things. Philippians 2 tells us that we are to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

What would it look like if Christians began to think first of the good of others?