America needs clergy to speak out with courage and conviction against extremism
Just imagine the moment when Moses beheld the Israelites in the desert dancing and celebrating the creation of their new idol, a golden calf created by Moses’ own brother Aaron.
After Moses received the Ten Commandments on two tablets, God warned him that there was trouble in the Israelite camp and told him to make haste to get back to his people. Moses saw the debauchery of the people who just a short while before he had led to freedom. They appeared to become a mob out of control, chanting, “These are your gods, oh Israel.”
As we know from reading Exodus Chapter 32, in a moment of unbridled fury, Moses cast the stones to the ground, leading to a confrontation between those on his side versus the idolaters. The latter group perished thanks to God’s intervention. The rest of the story begins the healing and the reconciliation between Moses and Israel as well as Moses having to convince God not to destroy all the people. Clearly that day was one that merits being called “a day that will live on in infamy” in Biblical history.
The events of Jan. 6 bring me to this story because both stories reek with betrayal of sacred beliefs and symbols.
We have heard plenty from our political leaders, but what about the voices of America’s religious leaders? Did they have a bit of the same reaction that Moses did? Was it combination of shock and disgust at the desecration of our nation’s capital as well as unfathomable violence that ensued and which led to the injury of scores of police officers and the deaths of three?
How did America’s religious leaders explain the meaning of these events to their congregations considering the images and videos of protesters praying before they would commence a death march that would lead to so much destruction?
Religious leaders’ voices have not been silenced by intimidation, and their convictions have set an example for us all.
The Rev. Daniel P. Horan, a Catholic priest and podcast host, tweeted, “This is what terrorism looks like. These white supremacists are what terrorists look like. There’s nothing American about this, nothing Christian about this, nothing justifiable about this. Praying for swift end to this violence and all who are responsible be held accountable!”
Courtney Allen Crump, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, is quoted in a story posted on Baptist News Global, saying, “Let’s be clear. The people who stormed the Capitol today are not ‘great patriots.’ They’re insurrectionists who attempted a coup. There were not ‘very fine people on both sides’ in Charlottesville three years ago, but rather white nationalists with tiki torches — and this remains something white people must reckon with within ourselves, our communities, our institutions, and our nation.” She also said, “... Words matter. Because words shape worlds. And what we’ve seen today in our country is the end result of hateful rhetoric.”
Steve Harmon, theology professor at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, N.C., is quoted in the same Baptist News Global article, saying, “They are not just wrong-headed ideas; they have consequences, and to tie these falsehoods to the salvation of Jesus is nothing less than blasphemy.”
Plenty of rabbis and clergy from many faith traditions have issued statements decrying the actions of fellow Americans who violated the sanctity of not only of our sacred monuments but also who evidenced a degree of religious bigotry, including clear-cut anti-Semitism.
I cannot think of a more important time for clergy to step up and teach or preach from their Scripture the lessons not only of reconciliation but also in the spirit of the Biblical prophets to condemn violence and advocate justice.
The golden calf story is a critical reminder that, when mobs created idols in ancient times or today and follow extremist rhetoric including hate-filled speech all under the delusion of saving our nation, it could very well lead to destroying it.
Clergy speaking out now will help to save America.