Written by Bishop Andrew Gentry   

Beloved Friends,

There is a photo taken in the 1920s in front of a white framed church. There is a party going on. People old and young are laughing and having a picnic and on the left hand side of the picture there is a tree and in that tree is a man hanging by a rope! He is dead of course and his face or what is left of it is seared in pain and indeed it appears that his body has been burned. This indescribably horrific scene took place during the time when lynching of African Americans was almost a sport and little of anything was said in opposition. There was no national outcry except of course in the African American community but even here the outcry was largely in the cities of the industrial North because to do so in the South would have been to commit suicide. Remember this "party" was held on the lawn of a little white framed country church perhaps like the one in the old folke tune about the church in the vale! These people who were laughing and eating their picnic lunch while pointing at the body of the dead man were "christians"! I have done research to see if any of the mainline churches North or South ever nationally or otherwise called for opposition to such evil and I can find no such calls or action. Despite the moral cowardice of the "church" eventually lynching would end at least the obvious kind no thanks to the moral authority of the religious Establishment, well not until it became safe for it do so!

In Germany in the meantime the seeds of fanatical antisemitism were being sowed and the ever growing popular Nazism was attracting many converts. As the Nazis grew in strength and the Great Depression worsened in Europe and America the scape goats Du jur of this new and scientific evil that sought "racial purity" as its first aim for Germany and a New World Order of the Third Reich became more clear. It would be the Jews. Again the lynching and the burnings and later the concentrations camps would operate with impunity and the "church" would be largely silent and non resisting. It would take an Allied victory to give the majority of "christians" the courage to condemn the Holocaust of Jews, Gays, Gypsies, the mentally and physically disabled even amongst the Germans, and anyone else the Nazis deemed expendable. Those who did speak out and were mostly martyred were a testament to the Light and a condemnation to the moral cowardice of the clergy and the flock they shepherded.

Now once again the gods of violence have surrounded a group of people. These gods wear blue uniforms and carry badges and are armed heavily. They wear a modern day armor that an ancient knight would have envied. They hit sculls and punch bodies with heavy batons. They use chemicals to spray in the eyes of these people who have no armor or armaments and they do so in the name of order and insult to injury Peace! But there is no national outcry except just as before in the 20s and in Nazi Germany from the labor unions and the Socialists and from every decent human being who has any sense of justice and compassion. Guess who once again is largely absent yes your are right, it is the religious Establishment and its paid professionals the clergy! Has any national body of any church condemned the police tactics and if it has where has the leadership been? Where are robes and stoles flowing in the wind and standing with the protest! Every pulpit in the land should condemn these acts and every pastor and rabbi and imam should stand with the Occupy Movement and not miss again the opportunity and the moral obligation such a time as this requires.

It used to be that amongst many Civil Rights gatherings someone could yell "the Lord be with you" and everyone would hush and then respond appropriately but now it is "Mic Check"! How far has the church failed people in its fidelity to the poor and oppressed!

Our small faith community has issued statements repeatedly and we would love to be immersed in a tide of participation by those whose resources and outlets overwhelm communities such as ours.

Peace
Bishop Andrew Gerales Gentry