The Silence is deafening and the enabling is disgraceful. The United States of America has a long and historic legacy of standing on the sidelines and watching as some of humanity’s worst atrocities unfolded. From the seat of government and the Executive branch we have experienced Executive Orders and legislation that gave us such heinous laws and actions as the Indian Removal Act, the Asian Exclusion Act, the Japanese Internment, Jim Crow, Plessey v. Ferguson, and on and on. We must all acknowledge that the U.S. has not always stood on high moral ground, nor have we as a nation given adherence to the basic tenets of our Declaration of Independence or our Constitution with its myriad of amendments. This is especially significant whereas people of color are concerned.
The amendment process is full testament to the fact that the nation’s moral character and commitment to equality, equity and justice has been a long and increasingly evolving progression. The United States continued to pass Neutrality Acts in the 1930s and did not challenge Germany’s Nazi regime until after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We stood by silently while millions of Jewish people were marched into death chambers and concentration camps. Neutrality is NEVER an option in the face of human suffering and doctrine that supports the destruction of entire groups of people. History has taught us that.
The moral authority within the evangelical community has been fading with each day they remain silent in the face of neo-Nazi White Supremacists marching openly in the streets of American cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, igniting racial animus and violence. When will we hear from the likes of Jerry Falwell, Jr. of Liberty University, Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Ronnie Floyd of the Southern Baptist Convention? All have echoed hollow statements that generally condemn racism and bigotry as antithetical to the Bible and Christian beliefs. However, they have yet to stand in the public square with the same zeal that they endorsed and promoted the candidate of their choice, to vociferously denounce the false equivalency and equivocation this President has demonstrated in his weak statements and tweets about the horrifying domestic terrorism we experienced in Charlottesville last week. To say they are “focused” on ministry and not politics is disingenuous and an absolute failure in moral courage and conviction.
Correction:08/16/17 America is in need of LEADERSHIP and perhaps it is time to acknowledge we do NOT have it.
