Column Notes on Ferguson and Clergy

One unarmed person is too many to die at the hands of police. Partial data indicate that at least 100 people die in that situation. W ith the crackdown on crime especially drug-related crime, we imprison many and given more power  the police officers on the beat.

Policing is difficult demanding work. Over 100 police officers get killed in the line of duty every year.We as them to know the law, be good at community relations, be physically fit and technically competent. Keeping public safety is a virtue.

I am proud of clergy who have tried to calm tensions and even serve as a buffer between police and protesters in Ferguson. Violence helped precipitate the display of military weapons and tactics of the police there.I have been surprised at the reaction of some in the religious community. In taking what they assume to be a page from Amos, they wish to thunder in the pulpit about white racism. They even excuse or condone the violence in the small town. They are hostile toward police activity, while others are working to try to calm the situation daily and preach of peace on Sunday. If truth be told, some of us like the image of thundering against injustice, of “afflicting the comfortable.” The image of standing on high and shaking a finger at folks seems to be the image of a renewed jeremiad. I would like some empirical evidence, but I have rarely encountered anyone who changed in attitude or behavior from such a sermon. It could be wise for us to remember that prophetic denunciations usually seemed to fall on deaf ears. Prophetic denunciation comes from within a shared community, not standing apart or above it.In part, clergy may yearn to be part of a renewed movement that calls to mind the days of Martin Luther King.

I have followed political life for years and sometimes think I have a handle on it. Years ago I dismissed the Tea Party movement as a flash in the apn. Now I am slow to either dismiss the Ferguson protests as temporary or a catalyst for a new social movement on the role of police force.

I agree wholeheartedly with the cry for justice. At the same time, is it a Christian claim to seek retribution for wrongs? I continue to hold to Martin Luther King’s call to aspire to non-violence.

We accept too much ordinary violence in his country. We have tens of thousands of gun-related deaths a year. Violent family abuse is a daily blot on our communities.

We are moving toward the 60th anniversary of the great school desegregation decision of Brown v. Bd. and just passed the 50 year mark of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We have made enormous strides in seeing the emergence of an African-American middle class. We have also seen a persistent poverty far above that of other groups.whose numbers are also reflected in homicide rates three times the unacceptably high numbers of homicide in our land

The church can issue the clarion call that all are created in the image of God. That means that all lives should be equally respected.

President George W. Bush was rarely eloquent, but one of his lines has stayed with me. “the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.We often seek to explain away violence as a predictable reaction to poverty. ”I would prefer that Christians take a stand against violence, period. That is our higher calling in the slow march toward justice.