Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Essays, Featured — By Susan Isaacs on January 17, 2011 at 12:00 pmToday our nation honors the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a Christian activist who led the civil rights movement using nonviolent means. He was assassinated for it. And though the civil rights movement continued, and though I believe that history is teleological, lately it doesn’t seem to be moving toward a happy place. It’s been a dark chapter in our history, as these last few weeks have highlighted.
The economy is in the toilet. Our culture has become increasingly hostile toward religion (and some religious people give them good reason. See Fred Phelps and his funeral protests). Masses of dead birds fall from the sky, leagues of fish wash up on our shores, and some noted prophetess blames it on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Her line of reasoning reads like a Monthy Python sketch. Well, she’s partly right. All that dead wildlife is a sign from the Almighty. It’s God’s retribution for PajamaJeans.
Some psychopath guns down six people at a political gathering, including a girl who was born on September 11, 2001. I imagine her parents told her every year on her birthday, “You are a miracle born out of despair.” And now she’s gone. FoxNews tried to paint the insane shooter as a leftist; the Left tried to blame it on Sarah Palin. Of course neither side is directly responsible. But to deny that all the public venom has no effect on us is like saying that internet porn has no effect on intimacy, or violent video games on youth. Or that sex doesn’t lead to dancing.
A few measured commentators agreed, we need to take it down a notch. Well, one man tried to do something about it. Back in 2009, Mark DeMoss, a Republican and prominent evangelical Christian, was alarmed at the increasingly vicious tone in American politics. He founded the Civility Project. He wrote a pledge, sent 585 letters to every governor and sitting member of congress, and asked them to sign it. The Pledge was simple:
“I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior. I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them. I will stand against incivility when I see it.” He received three signatures. Three out of our 585 elected officials felt they could abide by such a simple pledge. Last week DeMoss pulled the plug on the project.
So much for the politicians. What about the pundits? Just once, I’d love one of them to listen to his opponent and reply, “I don’t agree but I respect your opinion.” Or go really crazy and reply, “That’s a good point. I’m going to think about that for a while, and maybe it will change how I look at the issue.”
Which political personality is going to be the first to dial it down: Keith Olberman? Glenn Beck? Not as long as they keep getting great ratings. Why do they have great ratings? Because we watch them. Why do we watch them? Well, maybe they scratch that sinful itch to point the finger at someone else. “It was Eve; she gave me the apple.”
When I say “we,” I’m referring to our society as a whole. But we Christians are part of our society, so some of us must be contributing to those ratings. We are not putting the hateful words in their mouths, but we are encouraging them to say those things by patronizing their shows.
Do words not matter as much as actions? Jesus said in Matthew 5? “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say if you are even angry with someone you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
Are we taking Jesus seriously?
I don’t propose we disengage from public life. In What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey wrote: “Politics draws lines between people; in contrast, Jesus’ love cuts across those lines and dispenses grace. That does not mean, of course, that Christians should not involve themselves in politics. It simply means that as we do so, we must not let the rules of power displace the command to love.”
On Martin Luther King Day, you may not be going to a rally or a prayer vigil or a love-in, but you can do something. Practice nonviolence by choosing what you say and read and watch and hear. Turn off the TV haters and read the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to worship music rather than a radio pundit. Pray for your opponents and ask God to give you a picture of how he sees them.
And please, for the love of all that is good and precious in this world, do not buy PajamaJeans. Buy one of Cathleen Falsani’s t-shirts instead.
Tags: Arizona Shooting, Christians, Civility, Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Mark DeMoss, Martin Luther King Jr., Nonviolence, Politics, Radio Pundits
12 Comments
Thank you, Susan. I noticed this weekend that the lack of civility in nonpolitical arenas has reached record levels. In sports, one team talks trash through the press, while its opponent responds by making references to the first team’s coach’s sex life with his wife.
I think the reason so many people like wrestling, or Jerry Springer, or Crossfire, is that they secretly like incivility even as they denounce it.
Thank you for mentioning Olbermann and Beck together. When I see this topic discussed, usually the person writing it will only point out the nastiness of those on one side of the political fence, when the reality is that Beck, Coulter, Olbermann, Rush, Dowd, Maher, and O’Reilly (as well as political leaders like Palin and Reid) are all equally rude, and all of them deserve our lack of attention.
Nice work, Susan. This is a great way to frame Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Day.
I lament with you that temperance and good judgment don’t sell in politics or religion. God forbid civility be used to describe our leaders’ preferred method of communication. Consumerism seems to have taken the better part of our sensibilities. We Christians haven’t tried to beat them, we’ve joined them.
Thanks for doing your part to creatively portray the issues and a solution.
I agree with your call for civility in public discourse. But I think there should be a few points of elaboration on terms when you use the word hater.
To do that best, I want to take a step back to something Glen Beck pointed out this morning about MLK (full disclosure, I’ve been a fan of Glenn Beck for eight years). MLK said that he dreamt of a day that his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. But he emphasized that they and everyone is to be judged.
That is not to say that I will be breaking bread with Fred Phelps anytime soon. I am just saying that you will know the servants of righteousness by their fruits and it is okay to disagree with those that take a parental initiative where it is not merited. A great quote from Hillary Clinton before Obama was elected says that those who protest any administration can still be patriotic.
I keep in me two complementary sides. One side is as a social work major who wants to help with social justice, on the other make sure that social justice is not administered to the detriment of individual liberty (mandated health care). one side has referred to Clinton and Obama as The Lord’s Anointed Servant, and the other would be okay if Obama was defeated in 2012.
This is an okay amalgam without being a “hater”. I have done my homework, fact checked things from Beck and Maher and am committed to proper decorum. Before throwing around such a pejorative term, like Beck says, don’t take one side’s word for it. Do your own homework. Otherwise you are only exalting the preservation of hope and change for hope and change sake.
Jason: how did I fail to do my homework in your opinion? Whom do you imagine I erroneously called a hater? I omitted more details of Fred Phelps, but if you go to his church’s website you will find “hate” in his very URL.
Jason,
Susan is right. The word “hate” is Westboro’s schitck. They’s made an false god that hates (their words) and calls them to hate. It’s what they openly and proudly do. Their words.
So poignant, Susan. Love this.
I am sorry that I was not clear enough.
Yep, Phelps is a hater. I was in no way wishing to defend him. I love what that patriotic motorcycle group does to give some peaceful interference when they do their evil at the funerals. Also that group of people that use angel wings to block the view of the mourners. In fact, when I think of being a cult deprogrammer someday as a social worker i wonder if I could help followers of Phelps.
In my reading of the post it seemed like Glenn Beck was being lumped in as a hater along with Phelps. Allied with Dr. Alveda King (niece of MLK) and ministers of several faiths, he has a beautiful MLK essay on his radio show for eleven years and employs a great team of researchers.
If you did not intend to lump Beck in with Phelps, my apologies. I thought I should react quickly in a world where a professor in my social work program at a public event lumps all Tea Partiers in with the rising Nazis in the ’30′s.
Jason: Beck seems more showman than hater; saying outrageous things for ratings. Like when he said, if you go to a church that preaches social justice you need to leave that church immediately.” Further, in light of what Jesus said about the danger of calling someone an idiot (see above), his book “Arguing With Idiots” doesn’t endear me to him. I believe his message was quite different when he was on CNN; which leads me to wonder if it’s just an act. You’d be better qualified to evaluate him as you have followed him for some time.
Bill Maher seems he really does hate religious and conservative people. But whether it’s an act or it’s real conviction; they have a similar effect: they stir up anger and hatred in their listeners, and the public turns their opponents into enemies. Like equating a Tea Partier with a Nazi.
PS that makes me feel much better to know that Beck has that essay about MLK. My friend Eric Metaxas was on the show recently, talking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Beck seemed like a very good interviewer. But I’m still not happy about what Beck said about social justice. My husband wrote for World Vision and I stump for Compassion International. That’s ALL they do. I’ve seen how social justice transforms individuals, families and entire communities in the name of Jesus, not just by praying for them but meeting their needs. I’d love for Beck to go on a trip with WV or Compassion.
He probably would feel at home on a trip like that. I would too.
Beck may not be defining social justice as you do above. He makes the point that social justice is to be avoided where the church and state merge and the redistribution of wealth is forced; which falls far from charity. Charity in biblical social justice is where people give out of their own volition. Like God loves a cheerful giver. I have never given cheerfully on April 15th.
The other concerns that Beck brings to the conversation about the progressive social justice is the individual salvation vs. collective salvation. That would be a problem theologically in that one would think that God saves a group without the individual getting right with him individually.
Last on the wrong kind of social justice is another redistribution: that of a racial blamefest. Beck uses a clip from a Reverend James Cahn who talks about monetary and positional reparations. Like an individual white man giving up his literal position at a job so a black man can get it. Due to what whites took in prior generations.
As I agree with the message of this column, let me set the record straight. Seems the author didn’t do her homework. Firstly Fox News didn’t blame anyone for the Arizona shooting but the nutjob that did it. Fox spent a great deal of time defending itsself from clueless journalists such as yourself and from the rabid Progressive left. People convinced that Fox is a Republican cheerleader yet never watch any of it but sound bites from its political commentators. Furthermore if you ever bothered to watch Becks show you would know most of the garbage spewed about him is a lie. I know its chic to think conservatives and libertarians are unhinged fanatics but its completely wrong. Be more responsible in the future please.
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