Reflections on Charlottesville

Now Is the Time to Resist Evil

by

My ancestors were from North Carolina. My older brother Wade, who is currently researching our family history, has recently found the records of men from both our maternal and paternal sides who fought for the Confederacy. Our father, Robert H. Fowler, Sr., as a young journalist in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, became an avid Civil War buff and wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln. In the late 1950s he founded Civil War Times, a news sheet he began publishing in preparation for the centennial of the Battle of Gettysburg. My brother Wade and I grew up in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, 40 miles from Gettysburg. Many weekends we rode along with our dad to the battlefield. While he did research, we killed time in the gift shop where we both got Johnny Reb and Billy Yank hats. For fun we tried making hardtack, the staple carb of nineteenth century soldiers made of flour and water hardened on a griddle over a fire. We staged battles, taking turns wearing both hats.

Battles are still raging, between two diametrically opposed sides, but this is no child’s play. It is no coincidence that the tensions related to Confederate monument removals has intensified since the election, as Donald Trump’s election rhetoric has played into the hands and hearts of white nationalists,Some argue that such monuments are an important part of our history and that they honor the bravery of those who fought for the Confederacy. Others argue that such monuments glorify the enslavement of black men, women and children that was at the heart of the agenda of the Confederacy. Friday night at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, hundreds of white nationalists marched with lit torches chanting, “You will not replace us.” Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, a “Unite the Right” rally was held at the site of the statue of Robert E. Lee the City had recently voted to dismantle. Those protesting its removal: white nationalists, neo Nazis, and members of the KKK clashed with counter protesters including anti- fascist groups and Black Lives Matter activists. The visuals were disturbing as Nazi symbols intermingled with Confederate flags. Video footage shows counter protesters and protesters brawling in the streets. Just as things were calming down, a white nationalist plowed his car into a crowd of counter protesters, killing one person and injuring at least 19 others.

As preachers, today we need to issue a call to unite, not the Right, but all of God’s children together in a realm of shalom, peace with justice which is God’s vision for human community and to oppose all forces that divide and destroy.

Preachers have been known to consider their words carefully, realizing that their congregation is politically mixed and that people hold strong views on both sides of issues. But this Sunday I say we cast off caution and go with the gospel. We can’t wear both hats today. Unite the Right with its conviction that white nationalists need to “take our country back,” are not only on the wrong side of history. They are on the wrong side of the gospel. Bearing Nazi flags, the symbol of an evil dictatorship that killed millions of Jews, Roma, Slavic peoples and homosexuals, is literally taking our country back, back to the lynching tree, hate crimes against Mosques, the internment camp, violence toward LGBTQ Americans and the burning cross. Sadly, the past continues to be the present, but I say we take our country forward to the vision of freedom from hatred, fear and violence God has for humankind. Preachers need to take a page out of the book of the bold condemnations of this display of hatred and racism by the governor of Virginia, the mayor of Charlottesville, the President of the University of Virginia and former President Barack Obama.

But most of all we need to take a page out of the Gospel as expressed in our baptismal liturgy’s renunciation of sin and profession of faith. There we promise to “renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of our sins.” We “accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.” And we “promise to serve Jesus as our Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations and races.”

As preachers, today we need to issue a call to unite, not the Right, but all of God’s children together in a realm of shalom, peace with justice which is God’s vision for human community and to oppose all forces that divide and destroy.

Of the many scriptures that come to mind tonight, this one shines more brightly than any racist torch.For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become servants of one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:1; 13-15)

The Rev. Dr. Alyce McKenzie is Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship,Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Director, Center for Preaching Excellence at Perkins School of Theology-Southern Methodist University. This post is republished with permission from Perkins' Facebook page.