Jesus and Nonviolence: Chapter 1
 

This is a thread for discussing chapter 1 of the book Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way by Walter Wink. When posting comments, please reference the page number in the book.

I'll start us off
 

On page 5, Wink writes: "Neutrality in a situation of oppression always supports the status quo. Reduction of conflict by means of a phony 'peace' is not a Christian goal. Justice is the goal, and that may require an acceleration of conflict as a necessary stage in forcing those in power to bring about genuine change."

Just to stir thought, I looked up the word phony in my thesaurus. It is an adjective and here are the results: false, fake, counterfeit, bogus, artificial, feigned, forged, spurious, sham, pretentious, deceiving, insincere, deceptive, impostor, hypocrite, fraud, hoax.

So I am very glad when it is stated that people of faith ought never to work for such a peace.

Dr. King referred to such a peace in his Letter from Birmingham Jail.

"I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;"

That's kind of like putting on the "Protestant Smile" and pretending that everything is just fine. It reminds me of a talk a gave (as the sermon actually) a few months ago at my church. Nearly everyone in the congregation knows that I'm gay, but for some reason they thought this sermon was going to be a "coming out" speech. They all got some nervous smiles as I began the talk. Of course, they were relieved that I didn't talk about being gay. It does seem that being silent preserves the status quo, and we definitely should not work for that kind of peace. I am hoping to begin conversations with my church about becoming an Open and Affirming congregation. (Plans are being formed ;) )

Can I ask a question?
 

Have copies of the book gone out yet? I was told that one is being shipped, and am still waiting for it. Therefore, nothin' has been read yet, over here. ;)

Yeah, I mailed them all on Saturday. Hopefully yours will arrive tomorrow.

pseudo-neutrality
 

Okay look at pp.4-5: "...when church leaders preach reconciliation without having unequivocally committed themselves to struggle on the side of the oppressed for justice, they are caught staddling a pseudo-neutrality made of nothing but thin air."

In recent months I've heard reports that some religious denomination (I wish I remembered which one), debating the whole gay issue, released a position statement that, essentially, was an admission of refusal to state a position. They may as well have said nothing at all. Whichever denomination this was obviously was so concerned not to alienate anyone on any side of the issue, that they tried to paint their church as completely utterly neutral, and all it did was show that they haven't the moral courage to stand up for ANYthing.

Does anyone recall which church that was?

Anyway, it's precisely what Wink describes here. And it is useless to us.

Wahaeey! I got my book. Thanks, Jamie. I'll be reading it madly over the weekend and back on Monday with all my sparkling insights (by which time the threads will probably be at 25 pages each and I will have missed all the good arguments).

I like receiving parcels. Especially as it's frosty outside today. It's like Christmas!

I believe both Presbyterian's and one of the the major Lutheran bodies have done studies that came down firmly on the fence. I would say that it's frustrating but probably more useful to us than where my own UMC currently is - actively defrocking and even (in one thus far isolated case) excluding from membership. Know that many of us are working actively to change the mainstream churches - and that some - such as the Episcopalians and in particular the UCC - are, on the whole, publicly on the side of equality. King's words very much apply - but change is coming.