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| www.amazon.com |
Apathy
is not a topic on which I like to dwell.
When considering apathy’s synonyms - indifference, lethargy, laziness –
I want to push back from any reference to not just the topic, but especially
accusations of these (in)actions. I got
whacked with such an accusation this past week by the book, Letters
to a Birmingham Jail edited by Bryan Loritts.
First,
I would highly recommend the book. It
includes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter
From Birmingham Jail. Dr. King wrote
this letter in response to moderate, white clergymen in Birmingham who spoke
out against King’s practice of direct action and civil disobedience. In part Dr. King wrote:
“I must make two
honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must
confess that over the last few years, I have been gravely disappointed with the
white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the
Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White
Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more
devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the
absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who
constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree
with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he
can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time;
and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient
season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more
frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm
acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
In
the book, a series of pastors – white, African American and Korean American – each
wrote a response to Dr. King’s letter.
There were two common themes.
First,
while we have made great strides in civil rights in the 50 years since the
Letter From Birmingham Jail, we still have a long ways to go. New Orleans Saints tight end, Benjamin Watson
covers a variety of emotions in this Facebook
post, but concludes that sin is at the core of recent actions that have led to protests across the country. The respondents to Dr. King’s letter reach the
same conclusion. Our apathetic tendency is to
focus on the symptoms of a problem (if we do anything) instead of the core cause - sin.
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| Benjamin Watson www.dailymail.co.uk |
Second,
the pastors universally agree that multiethnic, multicultural, multigenerational,
gospel-focused churches are needed to minister to the spiritual and social
needs of our communities. Multiethnic
churches are defined as those where less
than 80% of the members are from one racial or ethnic group. Only 5.5% - 7.5% of American churches fit
this definition. Ephesians 3:4
references the “great mystery” of how the Gospel and grace can do what
government and law cannot do: bring diverse groups together. Therefore, multiethnic churches reflect the Gospel
and form an organization that can set about addressing not only social and spiritual symptoms, but
lead us to a solution to the sin cause.
***
I
received a second lesson in apathy from an article and newscast. In the article from Rolling Stone Magazine, the writer questioned whether a recent “virtual work
stoppage” by New York City’s police officers would expose that police officers
are often used by their governing bodies to directly (through citations) or
indirectly (through “quality of life” violations) raise revenue to offset
shortfalls in budgets. Keep in mind that
NYPD approached Eric Garner for selling individual cigarettes for 75-cents
which boils down to a taxation law violation and a "broken
windows" issue. The officers
didn’t write those laws, but are agents for enforcing them. The indifference that concerns me is that most of us never give
thought that when we (a government of the people –right?) pass a law that makes
it illegal to sell cigarettes on the street (or some other minor infraction), we will ask police officers to
enforce this law; that someone will resist enforcement; and that possibly that
someone will end up dead by actions initiated to protect tax revenue.
Part
2 of this second lesson came this morning while watching an interview
on Meet the Press with Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger
(Ret.). He spoke of us (again – the people/government) sending military troops into situations such as Iraq and Afghanistan
where military action is only a part of the long-term solution. Yet, we expect the military to completely and
single-handedly “fix” these broken countries while we sleep comfortably in our beds.
He referenced an article in the Atlantic by Jim Fallows
that questions why we kept sending our military (even I write as though “the
military” is some faceless entity instead of an organization made up of
individual men and women) into no-win situations. One point made is how disconnected the majority
of the country is with military personnel.
A 2011 survey reported that in the previous
ten years less than ½ of 1% of American served in the military. We increasingly assume someone else will
handle military actions for us. And since fewer
Americans are personally invested, we let someone else worry about whether
military actions are appropriate and necessary.
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| Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger (Ret.) www.zimbio.com |
So,
I guess it all circles back around to apathy.
Apathy about things that are spiritual, social and political. Somehow we have come to consider ranting as
an action against apathy. We rant in the
streets and loot business. We rant that “they”
should just get over it (racism, poverty, joblessness, poor education, etc.). We rant that law enforcement officers do too
much or too little – often at the same time.
We softly rant “thank you for your service” and then send someone else's son and daughters and husbands and wives off on
multiple military deployments to prop-up unstable governments that topple as soon as the
troops leave.
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