When They Came for Us, No One Spoke Up
by Stephen Frank
A couple of weeks ago, about 2,000 people protested in my hometown of Simi Valley. They were upset with racial inequality, wanting “social justice” and to defund the police. They marched shoulder to shoulder, many without masks, about a mile and a half from a shopping center to City Hall. Among the protesters were numerous local ministers. This gave me pause...I knew them.
These ministers who are marching are refusing to open their churches for Sunday services in the building meant for prayer. Yet, at the same time, as they marched, they were violating State mandates on the number of people allowed to hold an event, and were not wearing masks, or keeping social distancing. They thought a politically-correct version of social justice more important than preaching the Gospel. Could this be why church involvement and enrollment in the so-called mainstream churches has been declining? To these ministers, it is about crafting public policy and ideology, not theology and solving justice issues via timeless lessons in the Bible.
Sadly, I have seen pictures from around the nation of people of faith, Police Chiefs, and even members of Congress kneeling to Black Lives Matter leaders and symbols. This, as if they were deities, not political activists.
It reminded me of the famous poem by Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
We have watched statues being torn down, we have witnessed riots over police actions, and we have been told, clearly, that the definition of racism is being white. So, when we watch the statues of Presidents Lincoln, Jackson and Grant being vandalized and destroyed, we say nothing.
Then, we had the attempted firebombing of St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House. The only outrage was that the President denounced the arsonists in front of the Church—not that the church was set on fire. Soon after, the Church was vandalized with graffiti—and again, ministers were silent.
Now, we have the greatest outrage of them all: If Christians are truly for “social justice,” they need to get rid of all stained-glass windows, statues and anything in a book that depicts Jesus Christ. No, this is not a joke.
Shaun King, a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement wrote this in twitter:
“Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been.”
He followed up with this:
“Yes. All murals and stained-glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down.”
Our media no longer reports the news. Our professional sports leagues have caved to the idea of social justice rather than equality. Our schools are now teaching Black Lives Matter instead of unity. The last bastion of freedom is our religious heritage and freedom—and that is under attack. Yet, as Niemöller wrote, who will come to its defense?
Are the words of Shaun King a hate crime? Is the vandalism of a church a hate crime? Is the lack of support for religious freedoms a hate crime?
This is when the religious community must unite. Like the rest of society, it is being divided. If it can march for social justice, it can march for religious freedom.
Sad to say, but America is in the middle of a civil war. Riots, government-creating job losses, and businesses closing, education based on ideology and sensitivity—not facts or history… The media and entertainment industries have become politicized. The last bastion of sanity is religion, and it is being attacked with few defenders.
I will paraphrase a slogan from the Vietnam war era as a challenge to us all, “What did you do in the war, people”? This is a war on religion, and just as I served in Vietnam, I am enlisting in the war to protect religious freedom.
Stephen Frank is Senior Contributing Editor of California Political Review. Read California news that is incisive, hard-hitting, and solution-oriented with a free subscription to Steve’s daily emails at http://eepurl.com/UAspv
NOTE: Blogs published on the Judeo-Christian Caucus website are the opinions of their authors and not necessarily those of the Judeo-Christian Caucus.
