Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
12/17 Flashback: F=ma

12/17 Flashback: F=ma

Last updated on: December 17, 2022 at 7:20 am by Fred Clark

12/17 Flashback: F=ma 2022-12-17T07:20:28-05:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

From December 17, 2014, “If your ministry involves ‘restoring’ an unjust illusion of ‘peace,’ then your ministry is a lie”

“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”
— Jeremiah 6:14 (and also Jeremiah 8:11)

Here’s a five-sentence puff piece about the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, touting its recent ministry in Ferguson, Missouri — “Billy Graham Evangelical Response Team Helping Restore Peace in Ferguson“:

Dozens of North Carolinians are helping to restore the peace in Ferguson, Missouri.

The Billy Graham Evangelical Association’s rapid response team headed straight into the middle of riots and violence last month, just days after the controversial grand jury decision was made in the Michael Brown case.

However instead of being met with hostility they were welcomed into the community.

“From the law enforcement community to the inner city, all components of the community are very supportive that we’re here,” said Jack Munday, international director of the team.

He says through their work, they are beginning to see the community heal.

At best, that is ineptly worded and tone-deaf. And I suppose the worst of that might be the work of the “Time-Warner Cable News” reporter, and not the fault of the Graham people themselves.

But I fear that it’s as bad as it looks — that the awful language used by the reporter here, and the clueless framing of this horrifically misguided effort, may have originated with the BGEA team and not just been mistranslated by the TWC writer transposing their press release into a “news report.”

Let’s take this piece by piece. First there’s the absurdity of the assertion in the headline, repeated in the first sentence, that “restoring the peace” in Ferguson is a meaningful statement, or that any meaning it might have might be something good.

When protesters in Ferguson or elsewhere chant “No justice, no peace,” they aren’t just repeating a catchy slogan. They’re stating a tautology. They’re reciting a law of the universe. It’s no different than if they were chanting “F = ma!” It’s simply a fact: In the absence of justice, there can be no such thing as peace.

The BGEA’s rapid response team headed to Ferguson “to minister to police” about a month after the group’s first annual “National Law Enforcement Retreat.”

Yet the Billy Graham team seems to think that peace is something that can be “restored” in Ferguson. They seem to think that “peace” is somehow an accurate description of Ferguson, Missouri, before the protests began. They seem to be so thick-headed and thick-hearted that they think the people’s response to the violence and injustice done against them is somehow the reason Ferguson lacks “peace.”

That would be an epic level of obtuseness, but I think even that is an overly optimistic assessment of what this “rapid response team” is really doing. They don’t seem to be nearly that innocent. Not when you consider the weird nastiness of the next bit in this story, when we’re told that the BGEA team “headed straight into the middle of riots and violence.”

That, apparently, is all they could see when witnessing thousands of marchers singing and praying and standing with their hands raised in the air. It takes an incredibly powerful predisposition to witness thousands of people with their hands in the air — people loudly chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot!” — and to see only “riots and violence.”

The BGEA apparently headed to Ferguson wearing their Wilson-Vision Glasses — those special specs that prevent you from seeing anything other than violent demons who threaten your safety whenever you turn to look at black people.

I suppose, in their defense, that the BGEA folks are more interested here in striking a “courageous” pose that will allow them to congratulate themselves on their fearlessness. They’re only emphasizing the inherent menace of black people in order to highlight their own supposed bravery in “heading straight into the middle” of every white racist’s nightmare. But in service of puffing themselves up, they’re all too willing and eager to reinforce the lethal libels that portray black neighborhoods as “dangerous” places filled with dangerous (sub-)people.

And just look at how the next bit in the story reinforces that further: “However instead of being met with hostility they were welcomed.”

Ooh! It’s just like Daniel in the frickin’ lion’s den! God miraculously protected his anointed even there in the “inner city.”

Everything about this story is premised on the idea that black people and black communities are inherently dangerous — a threat. Even when the reality of those people and communities explodes that fearful, prejudiced stereotype, it gets twisted into a weird affirmation of the premise. So the rapid response team shows up in Ferguson expecting a hostile warzone filled with angry rioters and looters chanting “Kill whitey!” Yet they encounter, instead, a hospitable community of normal human beings, saddened by loss, yet resolute. But this clear evidence doesn’t cause any re-evaluation of their original preconceptions about black people and black neighborhoods — instead it’s spun into evidence about the extraordinary bridge-building power of the BGEA’s spiritual message.

And, you see, it’s because of that — because of this extraordinary capacity of these ministers to overcome even the threatening hostility and inherent dangerousness of black people — that the BGEA wants its audience of white Christians to know that there’s hope to “restore peace” in Ferguson. They can help the community “heal” by convincing the scary people to settle down and to quiet down and to go back to peacefully accepting the status quo that preceded all of this recent unpleasantness.

They’ve done this before, you know. They’ve done this for decades. And they believe they can do it again this time around.

Look, I generally like the idea of Graham’s “rapid response teams.” They were designed to be a kind of chaplaincy flying squad, a group that has been constructively “deployed” to minister to communities in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters. Pastoral care can be a meaningful, vital help to people who are suffering.

But what’s happening in Ferguson isn’t a natural disaster. Thousands of people in the streets affirming that “Black Lives Matter” isn’t a disaster at all — it’s God’s work. And it seems like the mission of the BGEA response team in Ferguson is to shut down God’s work — to quench the spirit.

That’s not pastoral care. That’s false prophecy.

Note that Billy Graham’s people didn’t decide to go to Ferguson on their own. They were invited there by members of the Ferguson police department. According to the BGEA itself, the purpose of the trip was “to minister to police.”

That is what this team means by “restoring the peace.” They’re there to help Ferguson police regain their peace of mind. They’re there to help the Ferguson police “restore peace” by getting all those uppity protesters to settle down and go back to accepting the status quo in which everyone knows and keeps their place.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association rapid response team, in other words, was brought to Ferguson as a tool to supplement the work already being done with tear gas, rubber bullets, and a kangaroo-court parody of a grand jury put forth as the substitute for a fair trial.

They were brought in not to serve as chaplains, but as court prophets who would say “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

We’ve already seen what Jeremiah had to say about that message and that form of ministry. Here’s what Ezekiel says about it:

“Because they lead my people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, ‘Where is the whitewash you covered it with?’”

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, ‘The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 16, 2022

12/16 Flashback: The Ryken Follies

Next Post

December 17, 2022 Leopards, faces, etc.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first man created, according to the Bible?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Adam Jacob Abraham Moses