In one sense, it has been a tough couple of years for some of us who are nonviolent leftists. Meeting Stalinists and members of Antifa has been discouraging because many from both groups advocate violence. And if that wasn't enough, there are the online discussions where in order to advocate violence, some will resort to boldface lies. One such lie I saw online was a person who claimed that Martin Luther King Jr. supported violence. It is perhaps impossible to see such a greater misrepresentation of anyone than that.
Thus, an article by John Gehring (click here for a bio) not only caught my eye, it provided a small amount of much needed relief. For Gehring just recently wrote an article for Religion News Services calling for religious civil disobedience (click here for the article). And this involves nonviolence because of both whom Gehring appealed to as examples and the words he quoted. Gehring used King, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day as examples. And then he cited the title of a Catholic Bishops' statement from 1993: The Harvest Of Justice Is Sown In Peace. So is certain that among other things, Gehring is calling for nonviolent activism to oppose the direction that President Trump has been taking our nation. And Gehring is appealing to America's religious community to carry out this activism.
However, nonviolence is not the theme of Gehring's article, non-silience is. For Gehring states that to be silent in today's America is to be complicit with the anti-Christian direction in which Trump is taking America. For Gehring, speaking out includes civil disobedience. And he provides an example of being arrested. So the rest of this blogpost will look at the kind of activism Gehring is calling us to.
It has often been said that today's wars are often fought using yesterday's war's tactics. And here, we might ask ourselves whether the same applies to activism. While civil disobedience yielded much fruit in past protests for social justice, the issue becomes whether it will contribute to the promotion of social justice today.
Who benefits the most when civil disobedience is employed? Is it the individual in knowing that he/she took a stand or is it the cause because such disobedience sparked real change? Such is an important question because whether civil disobedience is done more for the ego of the participant than the advancement of the cause addresses the need for such disobedience.
It's not that I don't respect those who are willing to be incarcerated for their beliefs. The main issue for me is always whether given tactic used in activism advanced the cause. For if our activism does not advance the cause, then what good is that tactic? How can our tactics be personally rewarding if they do not advance the cause? So though I personally support and greatly respect those who are willing to get arrested, I wonder if sometimes, peaceful civil disobedience is counterproductive. For the goal of all activism is to raise awareness of an issue in a way that will recruit more people to the cause. So I have to wonder if we are arrested for civil disobedience in obscurity, has our time in jail contributed to the cause.
Gehring's article is a worthwhile article to read. His call to nonviolence is essential in today's world where people from all ideological sides are following Trump's example of throwing away self-restraint. And what he says about being silent in today's world is to support injustice. But we should always think about whether using yesteryear's tactics, such as civil disobedience, promote social justice today. For if it doesn't, then we would have hurt our chances at influencing more of the public as to the rightness of our causes.
Showing posts with label Civil Disobedience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civil Disobedience. Show all posts
Friday, July 26, 2019
Friday, March 31, 2017
A Balanced Approach To Activism
An old saying goes like this: 'desperate times call for desperate measures.' However, the trick here lies in knowing when the times are desperate.
Some have been calling for revolt, rebellion and civil disobedience for a while. Chris Hedges, for example, has been call for people to rise up since at least 2012 with his book Days Of Destruction, Days Of Revolt (click here for a link to the book). He has continued to call for revolt since then (click here and there). Here we should note the word 'revolt' alone will prevent some people from even considering what he has to say. That is because that word implies the use of desperate measures. And for too many people, their state of comfort tells them that these are not desperate times. And if the call to change appears to take the form of desperate measures, then the call will fall on a lot of deaf ears.
That is why a recent article on becoming a sanctuary church by David Gushee is an important read (click here for Gushee's bio). In his article, Gushee tells of the decisions he had to make as an interim minister regarding whether his church should join the sanctuary movement (click here for the article). Here we should note that with the combination of both Obama's and Trump's immigration policies, times are certainly desperate for many immigrants and thus perhaps for those who plan to help them as well.
Now here is the spoiler alert: I like Gushee's approach. I like it because it is a balanced approach, and I say that as one who has some disagreements with him. I say it is a balanced approach because in the biggest decision Gushee had to make regarding his church becoming a sanctuary church, Gushee has to weigh the tradeoffs between helping those who need shelter from the law and what the Scriptures say regarding our duty to the government (see Romans 13). And here is the point, desperate measures do not usually include making balanced decisions. Instead, desperate measures are comparable to trying to complete a 'Hail Mary' pass at the end of a football game. Just like desperate measures are only appropriate for desperate times, a Hail Marry pass is only appropriate for certain times in a football game.
To quickly summarize Gushee's article here, he agrees to directing his church to be a sanctuary church in the following ways
Now it isn't that Gushee would not necessarily be against breaking an unjust law. But Gushee believes that nations have a right to legislate and enforce laws that control who crosses their borders. Thus, the tradeoffs of illegally hiding immigrants from immigration officials did not warrant his church's concealing of immigrants.
And though we should always appreciate those who are currently taking desperate measures to resist to the point of engaging in civil disobedience against our government especially with the direction it has taken under President Trump. At the same, those who take such desperate actions should appreciate, rather than condescendingly judge, the lesser actions that comes from people making balanced decisions. And they should do that for at least one practical reason. It is more likely that one's cause can draw far more people to participate in balanced responses than they can in attempting desperate measures. And right now, the greatest need for the current resistance against the direction of our nation is great numbers of people.
So I respect Gushee's decision making here. For he shows that there is more than one way to resist injustice than trying to complete a Hail Mary pass. At the same time, I question his analysis of our government's right to control its southern borders. Why? It is because much of the illegal immigration that is occurring is due to American foreign policies. Those foreign policies include supporting coups before and/or after they occur as America did in Guatemala and Honduras. And in another leading nation from which illegal immigrants come, which is Mexico, had to endure the economic turmoil caused by NAFTA.
The point being is that if our nation is significantly responsible for creating the need for people to emigrate, then any laws that prevent them from doing so are unjust. And this brings up the need for our nation to always tightly tie together foreign policies with immigration policies.
Finally, what we are witnessing in Trump's America is an acceleration of an Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged coup. Have we reached desperate times yet? It is hard to say. Nevertheless, this coup started with Ronald Reagan who, as President, began to make government a servant of business to a greater degree than had been done before. Clinton followed this servitude to business in an effort to get his Democratic Party to compete with the Republican Party for the attention of big business. Then we should remember that, like the attacks of 9/11, the economic collapse of 2008 occurred on George Bush's watch as necessary regulations to hold Wall Street in check were either not passed into law or not enforced. Then came Barack Obama with his negligence to criminally prosecute Wall Street executives while prosecuting whistleblowers at a rate greater than any of his predecessors. In addition, his signature health care plan was written by the health insurance industry and he tried to force the TPP through Congress. And despite all of that competition, Trump has accelerated government's servitude to business with the gentleman's agreement that if government takes care of business, business would take care of America's people. But we should note that history teaches us to avoid such gentlemen's agreements.
And what is ironic with this Any Rand coup is that it is nothing more than an imitation of the rhetorical question Cain posed before God: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' And that coup was orchestrated by a political party that has prided itself in believing that America is one nation under God.
Some have been calling for revolt, rebellion and civil disobedience for a while. Chris Hedges, for example, has been call for people to rise up since at least 2012 with his book Days Of Destruction, Days Of Revolt (click here for a link to the book). He has continued to call for revolt since then (click here and there). Here we should note the word 'revolt' alone will prevent some people from even considering what he has to say. That is because that word implies the use of desperate measures. And for too many people, their state of comfort tells them that these are not desperate times. And if the call to change appears to take the form of desperate measures, then the call will fall on a lot of deaf ears.
That is why a recent article on becoming a sanctuary church by David Gushee is an important read (click here for Gushee's bio). In his article, Gushee tells of the decisions he had to make as an interim minister regarding whether his church should join the sanctuary movement (click here for the article). Here we should note that with the combination of both Obama's and Trump's immigration policies, times are certainly desperate for many immigrants and thus perhaps for those who plan to help them as well.
Now here is the spoiler alert: I like Gushee's approach. I like it because it is a balanced approach, and I say that as one who has some disagreements with him. I say it is a balanced approach because in the biggest decision Gushee had to make regarding his church becoming a sanctuary church, Gushee has to weigh the tradeoffs between helping those who need shelter from the law and what the Scriptures say regarding our duty to the government (see Romans 13). And here is the point, desperate measures do not usually include making balanced decisions. Instead, desperate measures are comparable to trying to complete a 'Hail Mary' pass at the end of a football game. Just like desperate measures are only appropriate for desperate times, a Hail Marry pass is only appropriate for certain times in a football game.
To quickly summarize Gushee's article here, he agrees to directing his church to be a sanctuary church in the following ways
- His church teaches the dignity of each person so that all people in the church, including immigrants, are safe from isms like racism while in the church.
- Any baptized member, including immigrants, are full members of his church
- Each person is eligible to receive all ministries that the church has to offer regardless of a person's citizenship
- That the church would give only the legally defined minimum of cooperation to law enforcement officers who seek to enforce immigration laws.
- His church would provide legal aid to those who would be pursued by immigration law enforcement officers.
Now it isn't that Gushee would not necessarily be against breaking an unjust law. But Gushee believes that nations have a right to legislate and enforce laws that control who crosses their borders. Thus, the tradeoffs of illegally hiding immigrants from immigration officials did not warrant his church's concealing of immigrants.
And though we should always appreciate those who are currently taking desperate measures to resist to the point of engaging in civil disobedience against our government especially with the direction it has taken under President Trump. At the same, those who take such desperate actions should appreciate, rather than condescendingly judge, the lesser actions that comes from people making balanced decisions. And they should do that for at least one practical reason. It is more likely that one's cause can draw far more people to participate in balanced responses than they can in attempting desperate measures. And right now, the greatest need for the current resistance against the direction of our nation is great numbers of people.
So I respect Gushee's decision making here. For he shows that there is more than one way to resist injustice than trying to complete a Hail Mary pass. At the same time, I question his analysis of our government's right to control its southern borders. Why? It is because much of the illegal immigration that is occurring is due to American foreign policies. Those foreign policies include supporting coups before and/or after they occur as America did in Guatemala and Honduras. And in another leading nation from which illegal immigrants come, which is Mexico, had to endure the economic turmoil caused by NAFTA.
The point being is that if our nation is significantly responsible for creating the need for people to emigrate, then any laws that prevent them from doing so are unjust. And this brings up the need for our nation to always tightly tie together foreign policies with immigration policies.
Finally, what we are witnessing in Trump's America is an acceleration of an Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged coup. Have we reached desperate times yet? It is hard to say. Nevertheless, this coup started with Ronald Reagan who, as President, began to make government a servant of business to a greater degree than had been done before. Clinton followed this servitude to business in an effort to get his Democratic Party to compete with the Republican Party for the attention of big business. Then we should remember that, like the attacks of 9/11, the economic collapse of 2008 occurred on George Bush's watch as necessary regulations to hold Wall Street in check were either not passed into law or not enforced. Then came Barack Obama with his negligence to criminally prosecute Wall Street executives while prosecuting whistleblowers at a rate greater than any of his predecessors. In addition, his signature health care plan was written by the health insurance industry and he tried to force the TPP through Congress. And despite all of that competition, Trump has accelerated government's servitude to business with the gentleman's agreement that if government takes care of business, business would take care of America's people. But we should note that history teaches us to avoid such gentlemen's agreements.
And what is ironic with this Any Rand coup is that it is nothing more than an imitation of the rhetorical question Cain posed before God: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' And that coup was orchestrated by a political party that has prided itself in believing that America is one nation under God.
Monday, August 19, 2013
ONIM For August 19, 2013
Christian News
- Fracking Could Alleviate Suffering Of Poor People, Church Says -- Christian Today (UK)
- Interfaith Charity Promotes Respect For Cultural Diversity Among School Pupils -- Christian Today (UK)
- Business As God Meant It To Be -- Christianity Today
- The Shadow Of Schizophrenia -- Christianity Today
- What The 'Six Types Of Atheists' Mean For Christian Outreach -- Christianity Today
- Christians And Churches Are Attacked In Egypt -- The Christian Post
- Egyptian Christian Leader Pleads For Prayers -- The Christian Post
- Are You Your Brain -- Religion Dispatches
- Essay On Hunger Game Camps -- Religion Dispatches
- The Christward Collective -- A New Alliance Conversation -- Reformation21
- The Moral Imperative Of Activism -- Popular Resistance
- Judge Finds Stop And Frisk To Be Unconstitutional -- Popular Resistance
- Civil Disobedience As Law Enforcement -- Waging Nonviolence
- Bahrain Under Lockdown -- Human Rights Watch
- Russia Tightens Custom Rules To Force Ukraine Into Union -- Reuters
- Murdering The Wretched Of The Earth -- Truthdig
- NSA Spying Broke Privacy Rules Many Times -- AP
- Climate Change Findings That Spell Doom -- ZNet
- Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists Comment On The Cairo Massacre -- Znet
- Pepo Escobar on Egypt's Fate -- ZNet
- Rick Perry To Be Investigated -- Dallas News
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