It’s appropriate that the News & Observer’s tribute to Will Campbell is on the same day that clergy lead the Moral Monday protests. Brother Will would have approved. As a preacher during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, he supported sit-ins and other acts of civil disobedience to change society.
He would also believe in using the clergy to engage a broader audience. Religious leaders bring a unique perspective to the protests and also start to put the message of Moral Monday into focus. Now, the protests are FOR something, protecting “the poor, the aging and children,” instead of merely opposing GOP policies.
For too long the religious perspective in politics, especially in the South, has been dominated by the Old Testament preachers threatening Hell and damnation for a multitude of sins that many of us don’t consider sins. Those preachers took over the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and along with the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson turned evangelicalism into a political movement instead of a religious one. Along the way, they alienated a moderate, more urban and diverse middle-class and drove people like Will Campbell out of the church.
It’s high time that religious leaders jumped into the fray on behalf of those who can least defend themselves. Jesus lived among the poor, the sick and the outcasts of society. He stood up to powerful institutions who oppressed and took advantage of them. He may have died for your sins; that depends upon your beliefs. But he was arrested for speaking truth to power. That’s beyond debate. It’s about time our religious leaders follow his example.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Thanks Thomas. I have found it passing strange that a movement founded on love and pacifism has, in a couple of decades, turned most of its energy into carrying water for the rich and privileged. For those of us raised in rural communities of faith, and since migrated to more urban climes, the religious right in the south looks like a sad pack of ignorant bigots who’ve been suckered into working against their own interests. They deserve compassion and sympathy, but not much respect. So, rant all you want, Macon, but when those of us on the outside see you spending your energies telling other people how to live, your claims to moral superiority ring hollow.
Thomas
You failed to mention abortion (partial birth, infanticide, abortion on demand). Now these children can not defend themselves. The left loves this form of “health care.” It would be nice if the NAACP would focus on this and the many black youth growing up without a father figure in the home. You saw it as a CPS worker and I deal with it as foster care worker.