A Time To Break Silence: The Radical Dr. King

Last week, as President Obama signed an executive order that placed a few much-needed restrictions on the purchasing, selling, and licensing of firearms. To add fuel to the fire, right-wing gun enthusiasts (much like the homophobic "lazy activism" offered by those in support of Chick-Fil-A) decided to get together for a "Gun Appreciation Day." When questioned whether it was appropriate on MLK Day weekend to host a celebration of the very type of weapon that murdered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gun advocate Larry Ward had this to say: 

“I believe ‘Gun Appreciation Day’ honors the legacy of Dr. King...I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me, if he were alive today, that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country’s founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history,”

As you carefully calm yourself in an attempt not to have a stroke, please try, if you can, to set this buffoonery aside for a moment.

It is all too easy, as Dorothy Day once noted, to dismiss someone by making them a saint: revered by one and all, but in that reverence also deeply misunderstood. We have converted Dr. King's legacy into just another holiday that leaves us wondering why the mail didn't run today. When I was in junior high or early high school, I stumbled on a recording of Dr. King's speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence," and was left absolutely enthralled by the words of this Martin Luther King, Jr., that I had never heard before. Where was the guy they talked about in school all the time? The civil rights guy. Who is this man who has me on the edge of my seat as he vehemently cries out against the Vietnam War, against the economic policies of the wealthy elites, against the systems of social inequality that relegate minorities into ghettos and cut funding for those who need it most?

That's not the Dr. King I read about in school. I didn't even know he was a pastor until I was in college.

Don't get me wrong—though we have indeed come a long way in our pursuit of racial reconciliation, I am by no means saying that it is a completed journey. But what I am saying is that even Dr. King recognized, by the end of his life, that racial disharmony is a symptom of a much deeper, more malignant disease: social injustice. And this very injustice, which comes so often in the form of physical, social, and economic violence, is often perpetuated by "the greatest purveyor of violence of our time—[our] own government."

   

So I urge you to listen to this speech, Mr. Ward. Listen to it good and close all the way to the end, and if you are not weeping out of shame for our country as I was when I first heard this recording many years ago, if you are not encouraged by Dr. King's mighty call for nonviolent resistance, if you are not persuaded that Love is the only way to bring about peace and lasting change, and that not only would Dr. King have disagreed with your ridiculous statement but would very likely have openly decried what you advocate, then you were obviously not paying attention.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

A question:

America! F*** yeah!!!

"What is justice?" I asked my friend Jennifer in a purposefully ambiguous question last night. I wanted to stir discussion. I'll get to her answer later.

Another question:
In an earlier post, I mentioned Pilate's questioning of Jesus: "What is truth?" he asked. Indeed, how are my perceptions of what is true different from the truths of others? When I find myself "debating" with other--usually more conservative--Christians, a common response I get is "Well, that's your truth. I have my own truth" (Incidentally, I find this ironic, since most of these are the types of people who would be the first to make claims about the Bible holding absolute truth, but that's another post for another time). This stretches beyond petty disagreements between friends on facebook, and has implications on an international, interfaith scale. For instance, take a look at this quote by Osama bin Laden, spoken in 2004:

"Allah knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed – when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."

An ad I saw on facebook shortly following Pres. Obama's
announcement. Not even joking.

This is bin Laden justifying his actions because he perceives America as being the perpetrators of evil. And in a few of his points, he's not far from wrong. All this goes to simply say that everything we believe--right wrong, evil, good, whatever--is all relative, and dependent upon the perceiver. Think about it long enough, and this is kind of troubling.

When I first heard President Obama reveal to the nation that bin Laden had been killed and his body retrieved, my first feeling was relief. Alright, I thought. Now the families of those thousands of people finally have closure. Amid the enthusiastic thunder of expressions of patriotic American "Christian" approval of the covert CIA operation that "took out" this terrorist, I came to a sort of peaceful rest with the whole situation.

But upon further reflection, I've found that Osama bin Laden's death has lead to a bit of a deeper theological conundrum for me, namely, How are Christians supposed to react to this?

I know the American way. As an American, I want to say, Hell yeah! Get 'im, Uncle Sam! But there is something that deeply disturbs my soul about this approach. The more I study, the more I pray, the closer I grow to my God and my Jesus, the more I realize that the American Way and the Jesus Way are nearly incompatible. How can we possibly rejoice in the fall of our enemy?

I know what the scriptures say:

As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)

Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble... (Proverbs 24:17)

But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-30)

But I also recognize there are just as many verses in which God's people are begging Yahweh for the destruction of their enemies--and God follows through. (For more information on imprecatory passages of the Old Testament, check out this fantastic blog post by Two Friars and a Fool)

Back to my friend Jennifer. That answer she gave about justice? This is why I love my seminary friends so much:

"For me, justice is the oppressor fully understanding the pain s/he caused. It leads to healing, to restoration," she said. I asked her if she felt justice had been carried out with Osama bin Laden. "Not in any manner that we have seen," she answered. If the killing of one man is considered justice for the killing and oppression of many, while pain lingers and loss endures... that is pitiful justice."

As a Christian--one who believes in the power of scripture and the teachings of Jesus--and as a person that admires the practices of Buddhism and the traditions that brought forth divine rebels like Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I can't for the life of me bring myself to that place of moral abandon that allows me to rejoice in my enemy's defeat--or even to the desire of my enemy's destruction. We are all God's children. When one suffers, we should all suffer. The world is such a disgusting, broken place. How can we expect to change the world that produces men like Osama bin Laden without first leaving behind us our hatred and our will to violence?

Please leave your comments below. I'm interested in your thoughts, largely because this issue has me so troubled. Speak a word.