Protesting Is Taking Action
My goodness, enough already! We must do something to stop the murders of innocent people. The list of mass shootings just in the month of May is simply too long to list here. It is time to protest. And by protesting I do not necessarily just mean marching in the streets with signs. By protesting, I mean standing up and pushing back against the gun violence, and the ever-increasing loss of innocent lives, that so deeply stains our society.
Let me be clear. Protesting is different than rioting. Protesting is a peaceful statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something while rioting is a violent disturbance, often with intent to cause harm or damage. Peaceful protests are protected under the First Amendment whereas rioting and acts of violence are not.
Protesting is not bad. Protesting is the antithesis of apathy. Protesting is pushback against status quo. Sometimes protesting is peaceful, other times, as we’ve seen these last few days, it invokes violence. Protesting often changes the course of history. Think of Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930 which ultimately led to India’s independence two decades later. The Storming of the Bastille was a violent protest in 1789 that sparked the French Revolution, which is regarded by many historians as one of the most important events in human history. How about the occupation of Tiananmen Square in 1989, in which the Chinese people peacefully protested in favor of democratic reform. The image of a single man facing off against a line of government tanks is one that is forever burned into my memory.
The 1960s counterculture “Make Love, Not War” protest slogan was both pushback against the Vietnam War and instrumental in the launch of the Sexual Revolution. These young people rebelled against the war and traditional marriage, both of which to them represented capitalist culture they so opposed.
One cannot mention protests without thinking of Martin Luther, who posted his now famous Ninety-five Theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, as a way to oppose what he saw as abusive indulgences by the Catholic Church, leading to a protest that launched the entire Protest(ant) Movement. How about the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the March on Washington, both instrumental in ending racial segregation.
All throughout history, protesting has often brought positive and lasting change. Jesus too was a protestor. His life and the entirety of his ministry was a peaceful protest against injustice, inequality, and freedom from bondage all the while creating a movement based upon faith, hope, and love. At times, He protested quietly while other times it was provocative and disruptive. Jesus started His public ministry by spending forty days and nights in the wilderness rejecting and pushing back (protesting) worldly power and Satan’s temptations. And then Jesus spent His entire earthly life protesting against inequality, hypocrisy, corruption, segregation, hatred, entitlement, and injustice. He was an advocate for the weary, the outcast, the exploited, the poor, the homeless, the alien, bringing dignity and love to all of humanity.
I believe right now, those of us who want change, are called to be protestors. I believe we are to be like Jesus, defending the gospel for the sake of humanity, all of whom are created in (as) the image of God. We cannot singularly address every wrong in this world, but each of us can protest against something. Jesus did not simply sit back and feel bad about the world around Him, He took action, He peacefully pushed back against those wrongs, He loved his enemies, He put the needs of others above His own, He protested. And He calls us to do the same!
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