As a Christian, it is my conviction that Black Lives Matter is a pro-life issue. Public executions of unarmed, uncharged, untried citizens is obviously a travesty of justice. But that is just the tip of the iceberg of injustices that Black Americans have faced in a centuries long history of oppression and inequality. The U.S. has never dug out the cancer of racism from our society, and peace will never come until we do.
My words are inadequate on this issue; I would prefer to amplify the voices of BIPOC here on The Beautiful Kingdom Warriors. They are the true leaders in this battle, the ones with the deepest knowledge and understanding of the way forward. Let us listen and learn, and do the work to bring God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
Here are some Voices of Protest I’ve been following:
Bernice King – American minister and daughter of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imagine if each person outraged by “unrest” refused to be “at rest” with racism.
When we want false peace, we’re “at rest” with racism and White supremacy.
But true peace includes justice. I want true peace. I believe nonviolence will get us there. But do we want true peace?
All Lives Matter = the goal#BlackLivesMatter = an org & activism committed to ensuring that Black lives are indiscriminately a part of the ALL.#BLM isn’t a supremacist ideology, but protest against & work to eradicate white supremacist ideology + its corresponding injustices.
Don’t act like everyone loved my father. He was assassinated. A 1967 poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in America. Most hated. Many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King. #MLK. pic.twitter.com/NF5yHxgi0R
The lethal violence of these racist officers is only one manifestation of the systemic racism that is choking the life out of American democracy.https://t.co/FRywQR1Taj
— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) June 1, 2020
What a shame it would be if this nation could watch a policeman murder another human being, then pose like a hunter with his prey while his colleagues looked on, and there not be protest, anguish, anger, outrage, and moral disruption.https://t.co/81JQsDViun
— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) June 1, 2020
Lisa Sharon Harper – Pres. of Freedom Road US & author of The Very Good Gospel
Please, please take the time to watch this video analyzing the intersection of racism and gender. Lisa is one of my all-time favorite human beings, and she is so knowledgeable on the history of race laws in the US and her conversation with Jen Hatmaker makes it abundantly clear how white women have weaponized their power against black people, and how we can participate in this work of dismantling racism.
Jemar Tisby – Pres. The Witness Foundation, author The Color of Compromise
Looking for something new to stream on Amazon Prime Video? Wondering how to inform yourself for racial justice? Want to learn the history of race and the U.S. church? Now you can stream my video teaching series on "The Color of Compromise" 🎥 https://t.co/C5yko9NXVEpic.twitter.com/RLto2wrO52
We live in a nation that labeled people of African descent as property. States seceded from the Union because emancipation threatened their property and profits (see below). So the reaction to protests attests to the reality that only when property is at risk will change occur. pic.twitter.com/2KmVOwbHno
Austin Channing Brown – author I’m Still Here – Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
I can’t count the number of times I asked for systemic change and got a hug (or tears or a trinket or a pat on the back or a speech or a sermon or some coffee) instead.
— Austin Channing Brown (@austinchanning) June 1, 2020
We not gonna hug our way out of racism. You hear me?
— Austin Channing Brown (@austinchanning) June 1, 2020
Let me make this clear. The lost of property and the lost of life is never equivalent, never. We need to be reminded of this truth in America because many black people have seen death historically over property. This is another overt example of the devaluation of black life.
You may be surprised to find out that the Bible goes further than secular attempts to confront and take down racism because it addresses the underlying principles, worldviews, and values that hold it up. My latest @faithfullymaghttps://t.co/7v9NgYGqC5
However, as Christians who must read and submit to the Bible’s definition of sin and not our American-individualized version of it, we must understand sin in terms of both the corporate and individual, systemic and interpersonal.https://t.co/Ht97RjBvkt
The nightmare is not just the violent incident that takes our loved ones. The nightmare also includes the aftermath: seeing the murders, the agony of wondering, trying to console children when you’re in anguish, crying to God who may not answer as you wish. Then repeat, repeat… https://t.co/l2KXvhZZm2
— Thabiti Anyabwile (@ThabitiAnyabwil) June 1, 2020
Y’all @CTmagazine picked up my Pentecost sermon as a stand alone article. This is a more focused version of the draft that went around yesterday.https://t.co/QDtyxjK0ak
— Esau McCaulley Ph.D (@esaumccaulley) June 1, 2020
This is not an exhaustive list. This is a place to start. Please point me in the direction of your favorite leaders on the road to racial reconciliation in the comments. It is time to start listening to our BIPOC brothers and sisters and follow their lead. No justice, no peace!
Listen. Learn. Do the work. God is making all things new.
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Top image credit: Made by @zanscandycane (Twitter) with art from @sacree_frangine (Instagram)
A Syrian refugee holds onto his children as he struggles to walk off a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos September 24, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis/File photo
A Syrian Kurdish child cries as Turkish police search their bags after they crossed the border between Syria and Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on September 23, 2014. The UN refugee agency warned Tuesday that as many as 400,000 people may flee to Turkey from Syria’s Kurdish region to escape attacks by the Islamic State group. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)
This has been a tough week in the U.S. Emotions are running high, friends and family are divided on national policy and relationships are falling out over it. Many do not want their social media feeds to be full of protests and politics. Disagreement feels uncomfortable and stressful.
Let’s stop for a minute and look into the eyes of the refugee children pictured above.
Think about the years of traumatizing war they have endured.
The lives of loved ones lost.
The only homes they ever knew destroyed.
Their perilous flights from violence, through desserts, over treacherous seas.
I cannot help but think of my own children when I see these heart-broken faces.
This national discourse is worth the pain. We must stick with it and resist the urge to look away.
Half of all refugees are children. Three quarters are women and children. Asylum seekers to the US go through an intensive vetting process that lasts 18-24 months. Once here, refugees are loaned money for six months to get their feet on the ground before they have to begin paying the US government back. The chance of being killed by a refugee-turned-terrorist is one in 3.64 billion, according to the CATO Institute (study linked below). In a December 2015 letter to Senators/representatives considering proposals to stop the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the US, former National Security officials including Madeleine Albright, Henry Kissinger, wrote:
“Refugees are victims, not perpetrators, of terrorism. Categorically refusing to take them only feeds the narrative of ISIS that there is a war between Islam and the West, that Muslims are not welcome in the United States and Europe, and that the ISIS caliphate is their true home. We must make clear that the United States rejects this worldview by continuing to offer refuge to the world’s most vulnerable people, regardless of their religion or nationality.”
As a Beautiful Kingdom Warrior, I believe every life is precious, deserving of dignity and rights. God’s plan of redemption and shalom is for all the nations of the world. This is my pro-life ethic. “America First” does not honor God’s will for all of His beloved children.
This certainly is not the first instance of a policy that has hurt refugees, but the reaction to President Trump’s EO last week is frankly unprecedented and I am encouraged to see our nation discussing immigration and the refugee crisis. I do not want to see people shutting this conversation down. I especially want to listen to voices of people who work in immigration, who serve refugees, who know people first-hand who have come to the U.S. to begin again here.
Much of the resistance to welcoming immigrants and refugees is based on fear rather than fact. President Trump says that he is temporarily banning immigration for our safety. People who agree ask us, don’t you lock your doors at night? In Trump’s defense, Franklin Graham, prominent Evangelical and son of evangelist Billy Graham, went so far as to state that immigration is not a Biblical issue.
This simply is not true. For example, the Hebrew word ger, the closest approximate to our word immigrant, appears 92 times in the Old Testament.
“The LORD your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take bribes. He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19 CEB)
“You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9 NLT)
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34 ESV)
“The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin” (Psalm 146:9 ESV)
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow” (Deuteronomy 24:19-21 NIV)
And we cannot say that Jesus does not care about refugees and immigrants. Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled an evil, murderous tyrant as refugees to Egypt. Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He taught us to give sacrificially for the good of others.
"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels without knowing it." -Hebrews 13:2 pic.twitter.com/fnb5Qd0pCO
There are widely-held beliefs about immigration and refugees that need to be debunked. Here are a couple helpful info-graphics to consider:
I don’t believe that President Trump is our first president to negatively impact the resettlement of refugees in our country. But I do believe that President Trump’s Refugee Ban is unchristian and is an affront to pro-life ethics. It is a myth that this ban makes us more secure. I strongly believe that any human being running from war should be welcomed and cared for. And so I will use my voice to speak up and my dollars to assist humanitarian agencies helping refugees. It feels like a drop in an ocean of need, but it is better than nothing.
Jesus would welcome refugees.
You know this.
Everyone knows this.
Christians make a public confession to follow Jesus.#RefugeesWelcome
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This past Saturday, nearly three million women in the United States and millions more around the world participated in the Women’s March on Washington to protest the misogyny, racism, xenophobia and more of Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric, in the hopes of tempering his policies now that he is president.
In this video, the founders of the Women’s March explain why they organized this event:
Sadly, this “inclusive movement” chose to exclude pro-life sponsors. Early on, Planned Parenthood became one of two premier sponsors, and in the weeks leading up to the march, the organizers removed the sponsorship of several pro-life groups, essentialy uninviting around 40% of women–those who believe human rights begin in the womb. A growing number of people want restrictions on abortion, as this poll shows, and these videos demonstrate:
For many, participating in the Women’s March on Washington was no longer an option after they excluded pro-life sponsors and because of the prominence of Planned Parenthood in the event. And for many conservative Christians looking on, it was mystifying why any Christian would participate. I have been doing my best to read and listen to different voices explaining their choice to either march or not. One post in particular got my wheels turning a few days before the march. Laura Martin questions the effectiveness of Planned Parenthood, reflecting on her experience as a nurse for 18 years and examining their website, asking,
Why do so many defenders of Planned Parenthood portray them as providing services that they do NOT actually offer?
Why not just honestly proclaim that Planned Parenthood’s focus is on birth control, STDs, and abortion?
Why did Planned Parenthood change their website to give the appearance that they offer prenatal care?
As a pro-life Christian, I believe that all life, beginning in the womb, is sacred and deserving of dignity, care and equal rights. But I also believe that making abortion illegal in all circumstances is not the answer. The legality of abortion does not change the number of abortions that occur, but the safety of women is impacted by criminalizing abortion. After eight years of democratic policies providing easier access to birth control and better sex education, our nation’s abortion rate has hit an all-time low since the passing of Roe v. Wade. The language Donald Trump used while campaigning to describe late -term abortion shows his ignorance at the painful dilemma parents face when forced to choose a medically-necessary late-term abortion. For instance, this mother’s account is a must read.
Although staunchly pro-life, I am also pro-dialogue, and I am very much pro-woman. I don’t think abortion is an issue that will go away without working together with people from different ideologies and priorities. As on all difficult issues, I believe that, “With an abundance of counselors there is victory” (Proverbs 15:22). The more we are polarized, the longer it will take to heal our nation. By considering diverse perspectives, we better see the nuances of each issue and thus come to better solutions.
I have seen some lump all protesters together as “vulgar, baby-killing feminists.” I don’t think it is fair to vilify the entire Women’s March on Washington because of disagreements on abortion or because of the actions/words/costumes of the far-left factions participating. There were dozens and dozens of reasons why women, men, girls and boys from around the world were protesting. Here are some posts from Christians who participated expressing their reasons for marching.
For some, being pro-life means being pro-social justice:
They're pro life and so am I. That's why we're all pro social justice. I salute the CSJs, and all Catholic sisters, who marched for justice. pic.twitter.com/b5aLOdxUGx
These Sisters are pro life. And so am I. That’s why they were marching for social justice. I salute all the women religious, and all women and men, who were trying to advocate for life and justice this weekend in their own way.
Were all 1,000,000 people who marched across the country on the same page about life issues? No. Clearly not. But these Sisters, and many who marched, knew exactly what they were praying and advocating for: justice, peace and life. If we waited until everyone agrees with us before we set out to help, we’ll never leave our homes. Would you join in a march against the death penalty with people who disagreed with you on abortion? I would. Would you join in a march against abortion with people who disagreed with you on the death penalty? I would.
Part of advocacy is being part of the mix and being willing to mix it up with people you disagree with, even strongly. That’s how conversations start. That’s how bridges are built. That’s how conversion starts.
Even if some people misunderstand you.
So yes, I’m pro life, pro social justice…and pro Sister.
For others, being pro-life means supporting the BLM movement and speaking up against racism, blocking refugees, etc.:
Here are some of my favorite posts I’ve come across in the days since the march:
This open letter from a pro-life, Republican, SAHM, Renee Contreras De Loach, was really powerful.
I am a married, Pro-Life, Republican, mother of two, and I marched. I wrote this in light of how many women are attempting to shout down women who marched. The myopia of those belittling our efforts is befuddling. I suppose this is where we have arrived – us vs. them until bruised and bloodied we all fail. To all the women who believe they have plenty of rights and they are plenty equal… how do you think you got those rights? The short sightedness and historical amnesia at play here is dangerous. It was barely 100 years ago that women were being beaten and jailed for trying to VOTE.
If one more person quotes Romans 13:1-6 to prove that Christians should blindly submit to authority, I’m going to cry.
When you quote this verse, you are quoting a man who stood up against authorities over and over again. He spent at least 5 years of his ministry in prison for deliberately breaking laws that were in conflict with the kingdom of God.
Sojourners has been publishing the #WhyIMarch stories of Christians on this page. For example, Elena Ampeire says,
My husband and I left our four young children and took two overnight busses to march in D.C. because we believe that “Love Trumps Hate.” Our faith teaches us to love and support those who are marginalized by those in power. In our society, we believe this to be women (particularly women who have been sexually assaulted), immigrants, refugees, Muslims, people who are LGBT, people with disabilities, and people of color.
Sarah Bessey captured the tension Christian feminists feel, caught in the middle of conservatism and liberalism, seeking justice and mercy while feeling ostracized by the very groups we identify as:
I identify as part of a group of people who receive their fair share of criticism.
And to be honest I think a lot of the criticism has a grounding in truth.
There are things Christians do that I find wrong and embarrassing and unholy and counter to the Gospel.
There are things feminists do that I find wrong and embarrassing and unholy and counter to the cause.
But here I am. I’m a Christian. And I’m a feminist.
I’m not fully represented by what those labels mean. They’re imperfect. And I know that the stereotypes of those labels cannot sum up the vast majority of the people I know who live within them.
Beth Allison Barr wrote a cool piece about a fifteenth century writer who challenged the misogyny of her day, encouraging us to carry on by her example.
Christine de Pizan used her voice to speak for other women. She didn’t convey much concern about who those women were or what they believed; her focus was on making a better world for all women.
As a Christian woman, I can’t help but think Christine was right. She realized that misogyny hurts all of us, whether we recognize it or not, and it especially hurts those already marginalized by economics, education, race, even religion. Christine de Pizan used what she had to fight against that misogyny; to love those who God loves; to help make the lives of women better, even the life of that “poor woman who pays too high a price”. I would like to think that her fifteenth-century vision is one that all of us–regardless of political affiliation–can still embrace.
So, I share all of this to say: if you see posts about the Women’s March on Washington, do not assume that your friend is pro-choice. Many pro-life activists participated and many pro-life Christians support the march from home because they believe in the power of protest to effect change in the world, and there is much that needs to be changed. Let us all continue to pray for President Trump and his cabinet, let us pray for our country, and let us continue to resist, speak truth to power, and show up and stand with the vulnerable.
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