On Saturday, Toledo, Ohio was rocked by a riot provoked by a small neo-Nazi group that came in contact with hundreds of African-American protesters. According to CNN/Time one of the organizers of the counter-protest was Church of God pastor Mansour Bey (Story Link).
I am the least qualifed person to analyze the genesis of the riots, or to dictate from a distance what should have or should not have happened. Truly, Neo-Nazis are bozos, and I can only imagine the frustration that African Americans feel when these clowns try to goad them on their own turf. On the other hand, this frustration is not justification for violent behavior.
The questions that I am confronted with are: As church leaders, to what extent should we get involved in hot social issues around us? At what point does our participation in a legitimate cause that identifies with the hurts and problems around us cross-over into a compromise of the church that turns us into a political movement?
The comingling of faith and politics has become a major problem in the U.S., and increasingly Christians are finding it difficult to know where those boundaries lie. With hot button issues like abortion and homosexuality, churches have often shot themselves in the foot by becoming so confrontational that they have lost the ability to proclaim the Good News of Jesus. On the flip side of the coin, however, we can find many examples throughout history (e.g. during Nazi Germany) when the church shamefully abdicated its role, and in effect, contributed to the sin around them.
So, what would I do if my own city was faced with an explosive issue? Would I/we sit idly by, leaving it to others to engage the enemies? Or, would I/we take a leadership position, even to the point of possibly being misunderstood?
I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on this issue.
UPDATE 10/18/05: You can listen to Pastor Bey's own description of what happened and his involvement on Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now" show, archived online at: http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/051018.html. (TIP: Start listening at around 9:30). It is interesting to hear how his account differs from some of the implications in the CNN report.
2 comments:
Good thoughts and questions. I would love to hear from Pastor Bey and get a glimpse of what is going on in his community. My pastor here in Tampa (Denny Huebner) helped campaign for fellow CHOG pastor Thomas Scott in his run for County Commisioner. The reality was that justice needed to rain down here in Tampa, and regardless of party lines and religious lines, Pastor Scott needed God's people supporting him.
your right, Pastor Bey's take on it was a little differant then the article you pointed out. I say shine the light of Christ where it needs to be shown. So if God has something to say about a hot button, we as leaders need to speak up about it. If it makes the news, or the paper fine. Curently we are struggling with the city for approval to use a house that the church owns as a counceling center. The city says they don't want commercial encroaching on residential. But accross the street there are bussiness in houses in the neighborhood. We want to better the lives of the people in our city. We're not wanting to be a lender, or a stero shop [across the street], we want to help people work through their junk. All this said, its generated pablicity in the community. Be the light.
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