Several experiences over the last few days have reminded me of some terrible injustices, both past and present. Last week, Carolina and I visited the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home, and were reminded to what degree the prosperity of the United States came at the expense of the Native Americans and African slaves.
Yesterday I was reading an article about the internment camps here in the United States during World War II. I wasn’t aware that immigration laws at that time did not allow Japanese immigrants to become citizens. Many of them, when asked to renounce their allegiance to Japan, refused to do so out of fear of losing the only citizenship available to them. And they ended up confined to camps during the war.
I recently read of the impact that harsh immigration laws are having on outreach to Hispanics here in the United States. I’ve long considered our immigration laws to be completely unjust, and I’ve wondered what the Christian response should be to such laws.
Looking back, I realize that Christians too often react too late to injustices. Now we recognize the horrors of what was done to the Native Americans. Now we decry the outrage of slavery, now we reject the racism of the past. Today we abhor the WWII internment camps, though continue to call those that created them “the greatest generation.” Kind of reminds me of Jesus’ words:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father” (Matthew 23:29–33)
At what point would we look at a current situation and say, “This isn’t right”? I hear Christians claim that we will submit to the government unless we feel that it goes against God’s law. Yet we can look at these things from the past that were clearly wrong, and the church in general did not stand up against these injustices. What would it take to get us to say “No” to wrongs committed against those without power in our society?
Or will we do content ourselves to let future generations lament our mistakes?
Excellent article Archer!
Hi Tim,
This is a topic that some of my family members are becoming quite interested in, as well. Hate to say it but I feel quite ignorant about it all. What injustices do you speak of that are happening currently, especially concerning the hispanic population? Do you have any web sites or information where I can read more about it? Thanks!
De Anne,
One of the better sites that I’ve found that looks at immigration from a Christian standpoint is the site Undocumented.tv.
Grace and peace,
Tim
Tim,
Modern injustices such as prejudice against people with tattoos! ;o)
This is a really great article.
What other than immigration do you think might be some examples, Tim?
i wonder if while we maintain the truth about homosexuality being wrong, we haven’t sufficiently decried outright abuse, hatred, and homophobia. Or class prejudice for that matter. And while we now decry slavery or jim crow, i’d say there’s still plenty of manifestations of racism to go around.
–guy
Tim,
A great post, as usual. A very recent example of speaking up when its too late was in the current issue of The Christian Chronicle lead article. DLU just gave an honorary doctorate to the constitutional lawyer who sued them in the 1960s over the disposition of the assets of the Nashville Bible Institute. Glad they tried to make things right – but it was about 50 years too late!
I recently commented on the Christian’s attitude toward illegal immigration, concluding that we have two obligations: First, we must treat the undocumented people with Christian charity. Second, we need to try to lower the emotional level of the issue so that legitimate debate and discussion of how to correct our unjust law on immigration.
Tim: As usual you are “spot on”. When I was young I didn’t take a stand against injustice, not because I didn’t believe it was wrong, but because I was too self absorbed. Now, as I approach old age, I pray that God will make me bold to speak and act on behalf if those most in need of Justice. God bless you for providing a forum to keep this conversation alive
Tim,
i was thinking today (especially in relation to your newer post from today), is it possible that we don’t speak up sooner because there are various obstacles to us viewing injustice as injustice until we can see it through hindsight? It seems to me like at the time of the injustice, the aggressor/oppressor can have various features of their culture which paints the injustice as perfectly just.
i’m thinking here of the Pharisees. If you were born and reared in that system of Pharisaical-ethics, is it likely you would have the epistemic wherewithal to recognize the various ways your social group was oppressing other groups? If you had been thoroughly inculcated, say, with the idea that you were in constant danger of having your spiritual purity ‘stained’ by the bad lives of ‘sinners,’ i think it might require a significant paradigm shift to see what you were doing as unethical.
i’m also thinking here of my experience as a teen and youth minister. There is a host of latent beliefs about modesty that have been interpreted and implied in such a way that basically justifies prejudice against any people that don’t dress and act like WWII-generation southern conservatives. When you’re entrenched in that culture, it makes good sense that the “other” people are just so wrong and need to learn to dress just like me. It’s very hard to see it as just plain class prejudice and bigotry.
So how do Christians and the Church see injustice for what it is in the moment rather than in hindsight? (Especially if/when church leaders themselves are the ones deeply entrenched?)
–guy
Guy, those are excellent questions. I think one way to begin is the old “question everything” mindset. Specifically:
Yes, such thinking will put us out of step with the people around us. As strangers and aliens in this world, shouldn’t we be out of step?
Tim,
Yes, surely i don’t have to bring it to your attention that when you start questioning older people’s standards of appearance, they don’t take too kindly to it and have very overwhelming ways of simply painting you as the bad guy.
If you’re in the midst of the class of Pharisees, what choice do you have accept to “rebel” and simply make a lot of them angry?
–guy
Fir ten years, while serving a church in Minnesota, I became close to many immigrants who came to America on political asylum from Liberia. I fell in love with this community–helping them adjust, doing weddings funerals and just being part of their lives. They personally and corporately suffered astounding atrocities in Africa beyond ALL our imaginations and beyond what we have read about in history–and it all happened in our current lifetimes in West Africa. The US welcomed them here and they came legally. What amazes me is how hard they work to make a living and how much they love America with a gratitude that goes so much deeper than what I have seen in those of us born here. They see things we won’t and don’t see. They are not bitter or cynical for the past or the present. Some of them had to wait patiently for the process but they never imagined breaking laws to be here unjustly. I know that all injustices on earth cannot be fixed immediately and I believe we must keep trying. But I so admire the virtues I have seen in the Liberian immigrants I came to love in Minnesota.
Tim,
Also (sorry, the ideas keep coming), the people who are oppressed or mistreated often don’t have the language or conceptual structures to identify the injustice–which can often make them look like they’re complaining about nothing at all. (Consider that “sexual harassment” is actually a fairly recent term and concept–though it has been occurring probably since the beginning of time.)
As a youth all i knew is that i felt grossly mistreated by my elders, and when i was a youth minister, i got hot under the collar when i witnessed teens’ characters being lambasted based solely on appearances that red-flagged the superstitions of older generations. Anytime i tried to voice these feelings with much clarity, i got trapped in the web of language about modesty or humility or respect. i couldn’t break out of that dialectic because i, myself, had been reared in it. That side of the story had been longer developed and better said. So when i hemmed and hawed, i just looked like i was searching for excuses to get my way (and it was often put to me that way). And thus, i’m painted as guilty or wrong for decrying what i saw as mistreatment, and didn’t really have a language to explain it any differently.
i mean, i don’ t much else to do except, as you say, to question everything.
–guy
Joel,
I appreciate what the U.S. does for refugees; interestingly enough, Abilene is one of the major relocation areas for political refugees.
You speak of people coming “unjustly.” I guess that’s the whole question, isn’t it? Legal and just are not always the same; what’s right and what’s allowed don’t always coincide. What if the Underground Railroad had limited itself to what was legal? Would the Civil Rights Movement have had the same power without civil disobedience? Japanese immigrants, with no path to citizenship, were herded into concentration camps, and it was perfectly legal. The Sedition Act, during World War I, forced Churches of Christ to stop preaching what they believed about pacifism, and law triumphed over justice.
Grace and peace,
Tim
Tim,
(i’ll shut up after this one, i promise) Do you recall that several decades ago, prominent CoC preachers made persuasive cases to many congregations to *support* racial segregation? How do you fight against something like that?
–guy
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