I’m not sure what
she or any of us mean by “progressive.”
Not all progress is a happy thing, and even good progress has its
casualties, just as clinging to old ways can be a lovely cherishing of
tradition or a paralyzing refusal to embrace fresh life, and changed
circumstances. I’m weary of the worn out
labels, “liberal,” and “conservative,” which don’t fit most people I know who
are weary of the nasty combat. We want
to find some common ground, and get something done.
I’ve been pretty
disturbed about Moral Mondays. When I
was a little boy, I saw protesters on TV and begged my mother to let me make a
sign and take to the streets with them and even go to jail. She quite rightly insisted as an 8 year old I
just was too young. Once I was of age,
the streets had emptied. As an adult
I’ve tried to stir up some protests, but to no avail. Then back in the Spring, I left the country for
a three month sabbatical – and as soon as I left, thousands stormed Raleigh in
protest. I feel like Rip van Winkle,
sleeping through the revolution.
I support moral,
peaceful, respectful protest. Outside of
the Democracy we say we treasure, if you protest you wind up in the slammer or
worse. Too often our citizenship is
reduced to looking at some narrowminded “news,” and them fuming in our living
room. How good that people care enough,
not just about their own personal, backyard issues, but about people other than
themselves, that they take hours, travel, stand, declare, and hope. Which “side” the protesters are on is far
less important than the lovely reality that we have citizens who have a dream
they insist must be heard – but without violence, or meanness.
We’ve never
settled on the best way to navigate the unavoidable intersection of faith and
politics. But people of faith do have
the right to be heard – and not just heard, but noticed. Way too often in North Carolina, the
religious people pour great energy into little shows of religion, instead of
actually doing something that matters and effecting real change. If protesters merely hoist signs and declare
they are advocating for the women and the poor, but don’t actually engage at a
high level and change things for the women and the poor, the protest is a
travesty.
The same holds
true regarding public prayer. I never
quite understand why people get upset if explicitly Christian prayers cannot be
offered at government meetings. The law
can prohibit many things, but it can never stop me, or a board member, or a
student from praying – although why anyone would be so inconsiderate as to pray
in Jesus’ name when Jews or Muslims or atheists were in the room, I do not
know. Prayer is an insubstantial thing
if it isn’t buttressed by deep and abiding labor. If the Christians want Jesus to look good,
they merely need to get busy doing good, investing their time, energy and
resources in the people God cares about.
My dream for
North Carolina is not that we become roundly Republican or resoundingly
Democratic. I yearn for us to strive to
be good. Inevitably we won’t agree on
the precise definition of this good, but we can be sure that divisive rancor is
not good. We are all North Carolinians;
we need each other. We need our elected
officials to recall that they represent not just the narrow faction that made
donations or corralled votes to get them elected; they represent all of us,
even those with whom they disagree.
Moral passion may veer far to the left or right, but the middle is a
healthy place from which to govern.
So let’s talk to
each other. And far more importantly,
let’s listen to each other, and even dare to work together – and this applies
to the good public servants we sent to Raleigh, not to bicker or represent only
some few of us, but all of us. Which
Carolina are we going to be?
