Considering “the Least of These” 

On the afternoon of August 20, after making my last blog post early that morning which was the second day of the Democratic National Convention, I started writing this as my next blog article. 

“The least of these,” words attributed to Jesus, is a phrase found in the Gospel of Matthew: ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (25:40 NRSV). 

Who are Jesus’ “brothers and sisters”? Conservative evangelicals tend to restrict those words to Christian believers. For example, a writer for the Gospel Coalition says, “‘The least of these’ refers to other believers in need—specifically, itinerant Christian teachers dependent on other Christians for hospitality and support” (see here). 

In contrast, progressive Christians see the love of Jesus to be more inclusive and consider that those people in contemporary society who are poor and powerless as well as those who are marginalized and mistreated by many of the more privileged people are, indeed, “the least” among Jesus’ siblings. 

The lack of apparent concern for “the least of these” in political campaigns is quite common. VP Harris and Gov. Walz have shown concern for such people by what they have said and done through the years, but that doesn’t make for good campaigning. 

Thus, it is not surprising that at the Democratic National Convention last week, the candidates for President and Vice President talked much about helping the working class of the nation, but little was said about helping those who are living in poverty.  

True, there were some who did talk about “the least of these” (as interpreted by progressive Christians) even at the DNC. Just past six and a half minutes into his speech on opening night, Sen. Warnock quoted the words of Matt. 25:40. 

Also, in his acceptance speech on Aug. 22, Gov. Walz mentioned his policy of providing free lunches for all school children in Minnesota and his belief that no child should be left hungry.  

But those were the exceptions to the repeated emphasis on helping people in the middle class, who with some exceptions couldn’t be correctly labeled “the least of these.” 

In “Why Kamala Harris’s Centrism Is Working,” New York Times columnist David Leonhardt writes convincingly as how “many Democrats have been willing to tolerate her triangulation in the service of winning” (see here). 

(In politics, triangulation is a strategy by which a politician presents his/her position as being above or between the left and right sides or wings of the political spectrum. That was a strategy particularly associated with Pres. Bill Clinton in the 1990s.) 

After Harris is elected president—and at this point, I feel fairly confident that she will, indeed, be elected on November 5—I expect her to say much more in consideration of “the least of these” across the U.S. (as well as saying more about combating the environmental crisis).  

Last week, Harris pledged to tackle high grocery costs by targeting profiteering by food corporations and to bring down housing and prescription drug costs.  

In response to that stated intention to offer help that would include “the least of these,” Trump declared at a campaign rally the next day that in her speech Kamala went full communist” and then he referred to her as “Comrade Kamala.” 

Indeed, political leaders (most usually Democrats) who seek to use government action to lift people out of poverty are often denigrated as being socialists/communists—and we will likely hear that sort of talk by Trump and Vance between now and November 5.  

But I expect we will hear much more about helping “the least of these” after Harris is inaugurated on January 20 next year, which appropriately is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  

In February this year, the Vice President had a private conference with William Barber, Jr., the head of the Poor People’s Campaign, and Barber was reportedly pleased with Harris’s interest in his work for “the least of these” (see here).** 

I hope—and pray—that that meeting between Harris and Barber is a harbinger of what we will see in President Harris’s administration. 

____ 

** In May 2018, I made a blog post titled “Can a Barber Do What a King Couldn’t?” 

In Support of the Moral March on Washington

This is not the first time I have written about William Barber II (see here and especially here), but I am posting this article in strong support of Barber and his (and co-chair Liz Theoharis’s) Poor People’s Campaign’s “Moral March on Washington and to the Polls!” on June 18 (here is their website link.)

The June 18 March on Washington is also dubbed the Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly. Barber and Theoharis have issued a declaration for why the long-planned June 18 assembly and march are necessary (see here).

After stating that “there are 140 million poor and low-income people in this country,” the Declaration lists eight major concerns. Here are the first three of those:

1. Living wages, adequate incomes, inclusive welfare programs & the right to form and join unions

2. Universal, quality and affordable healthcare, housing, water, utilities & public education

3. Expanded voting rights, civil rights, access to democracy & equal protection under the law

Further, Barber and Theoharis give ten reasons for the assembly and march. The first is:

Because the promise of our democracy requires that we address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the denial of health care, militarism & the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. It is time to heal the wounds of our society and declare a moral revival across the land.

This is the kind of statement the vocal opponents of “critical race theory” and intersectionality find objectionable and depreciate. But it seems to me that this is a very clear, correct, and significant statement.

Barber and Theoharis conclude with this appeal:    

    Join us to move this society beyond the false choices of liberal vs. conservative and right vs. left and toward the essential question of our time: right vs. wrong! 
    Join us to revive and renew the heart and soul of our democracy!

Those of us who have concern for the large segment of our society who are struggling/suffering the most should surely respond to this appeal wholeheartedly.

Please note that Saturday’s march/assembly is not a political activity—although it does align with the left wing of the Democratic Party more than any other (except maybe for the Democratic Socialists).

The Poor People’s Campaign is firmly rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ, not in politics. Barber and Theoharis are Christian clergy, and how refreshing it is to see Christian leaders in the news because of their commitment to following Jesus’ teaching rather than because of some sexual or financial scandal as, unfortunately, is so often the case nowadays.

Most of all, Barber and Theoharis are seeking to lead those who heed their call to follow the teachings of Jesus such as found in Luke 4:16~21 and Matthew 25:31~40.

Yes, how encouraging it is to observe the activity of clergy who are truly Christian leaders rather than misleaders, to witness Jesus-followers who are carrying on the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., Walter Rauschenbusch, and many other faithful clergy of the past.

The June 18 assembly/march will be virtual as well as live. (You can access the livestream of the activities that day beginning at 9:30 a.m., EDT, here.)

Perhaps most of you will not take the time to watch all the livestreamed program (and neither will I), but I at least will watch some of it from about 10:45 (EDT) that morning—and I hope you will, too.

Was Jesus a Socialist?

Breitbart News’s daily emails of “Latest News” often includes something labeled “Social Justice Jackass.” Under that label on Sept. 2 were these words (and this link): “Rev. William Barber: ‘Jesus Is a Socialist.” So what about it? Was Jesus a socialist, or is Rev. Barber a “jackass,” to use Breitbart’s inelegant word? 

Cartoon by Bill Day, 2009

Barber’s Assertion

Most of you know of William Barber II, the Disciples of Christ minister who has been president of the NAACP's North Carolina state chapter since 2006. (If you need to review a bit about Barber and what he has done, check out my 9/15/16 and 5/5/18 blog articles.)

The link Breitbart gave was just a short snippet of a longer interview with Barber and his friend Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove by Joy-Ann Reid on her regular Aug. 31 AM Joy program on MSNBC. (Here is the link to the whole 7.5-minute segment, including what Barber said in an Aug. 23 talk.)

Even the Brietbart website accurately states that Barber said that “if caring for the sick and poor is socialism then ‘Jesus is a socialist’”—and that is enough to label Barber (and maybe Jesus?) a “social justice jackass”??

When I printed off the Breitbart.com article more than a week ago, over 1,000 comments had been posted there. (I didn’t print them all!) The first ones that I read were almost all negative toward Barber and what he had said.

For example, “If idiots like Barber think Christ was a socialist, why do socialists recoil at his name?” He is “a Trojan horse sent to do the bidding of evil.” And, “Rev. William Barber is a MarxistAss clown.” Also, “For sure the ‘Rev.’ does not know what he’s talking about.”

The Republicans’ Strategy

It seems quite clear that Republicans, on both the national and more local levels, are using socialism as a “scare word” for political gain. Harry Truman denounced that use of socialism back in 1952 (see this Snopes article).

Just last Tuesday in North Carolina (hear here), DJT said that a vote for any Democrat in 2020 is “a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream.” Mark it down: this will be what we will repeatedly hear between now and Nov. 3, 2020.

Also last week, Missouri Governor Mike Parson kicked off his 2020 bid for re-election by warning against the “rise of socialism.” (The Kansas City Star article about this is here.)

This is all a part of the strategy to demonize or ridicule Democratic politicians and to win votes for GOP candidates. That was doubtlessly the intent of Breitbart’s calling Rev. Barber a “social justice jackass.”

The Plight of the Poor

Journalist Errol Louis (born in Harlem in 1962) recently wrote an op-ed piece titled “‘Socialism’ isn’t a boogeyman in an unequal world.” If you’ll notice, most of those who denigrate socialism in this country are white. By contrast, according to a June 2019 Pew poll, 65% of black Americans and 52% of Latinos have a “positive impression” of socialism.

The theme of the Summer 2019 edition of Plough Quarterly (published by the Bruderhof) is “Beyond Capitalism.” In the powerful opening editorial, Peter Mommsen (who is white) writes,

Socialism’s champions know how to take effective whacks at capitalism, and they get at least one thing right: the fact that we live in a society of immense affluence and desperate poverty is a public sin with which no person of good will can be at peace.

Because of great economic inequality — and the looming risk of catastrophic climate change! — something is badly needed. If Jesus wasn’t a socialist, maybe what he taught and the way his first followers lived do point to what is so badly needed today.

Can a Barber do what a King couldn’t?

The day following Mother’s Day, May 14, is the date set for the launch of the new Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) activities. The original PPC was inaugurated by Martin Luther King Jr, but mainly because of his tragic assassination 601 months ago it didn’t accomplish what he had hoped for. The primary leader of the new PPC is William Barber II. Thus, this article’s title raises a question worth considering.

King’s Poor People’s Campaign

The original Poor People's Campaign was created on December 4, 1967, by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by MLK, to address the issues of unemployment, housing shortages for the poor, and the impact of poverty on the lives of millions of Americans.

Unlike King’s earlier efforts, the PPC addressed issues that impacted all who were poor and was not just a movement to help African-Americans.

King considered the Memphis Sanitation Strike to be a major part of that original campaign—and he had gone to Memphis in support of the strikers when he was shot and killed on April 4, 1968.

Led by King’s associate Ralph Abernathy, meaningful PPC activities began on Mother’s Day five weeks after King’s death. Unfortunately, few significant changes resulted from those activities.

Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign

William Barber II, who was still four years old when King was killed, is the primary leader of the new PPC, which he is linking to “a national call for moral revival.”

Beginning five years ago when he was the president of the North Carolina NAACP, Barber led the Moral Monday Movement in that state. He is now president of Repairers of the Breach, a social justice organization (see here).

This year on six consecutive Mondays beginning on May 14, the PPC will promote six Moral Monday activities. The first four are designed to combat poverty’s impact on education, systemic racism, militarism, and environmental degradation.

On June 11 the theme is “everybody’s got a right to live in fair housing and earn a living and wage.” Then the final activity on June 18 is about the “fusion movement rising and the strategic solidarity of intersectional struggle.”  

What Would Success Look Like?

Unlike the PPC 50 years ago, the new PPC led by Barber is operating in over 30 of the states and in the nation’s capital. Active participants are being trained to engage in non-violent civil disobedience activities.

According to an April 10 Associated Press article, Barber has said that the 40 days of action will have been successful if, at the end, the campaign has changed the country’s narrative so that the poor are discussed and they’re involved in creating strategies to get people out of poverty—and that includes a lot of people.

The overall U.S. poverty rate was about 13 percent in 2016, and for African-Americans that rate was almost 22 percent.

I am too old (or, more likely, too much of a wimp) to travel to Jefferson City and to be involved in the non-violent civil disobedience activities scheduled for May 14 (which may result in participants being arrested). But at least, I plan to attend the 6 a.m. send-off rally that morning in downtown Kansas City.

Also, I am making a small monthly contribution to help support this new PPC, and perhaps some of you readers are doing the same—or are even directly involved in the PPC activities where you live. I hope so.

I also hope and pray (literally) that Barber and this year’s Poor People’s Campaign will be able to do what King and the 1968 PPC was unable to do.

[For those who might like to read more about the PPCs of 1968 and 2018, I recommend this article, which was in the May issue of Sojourners magazine.]

Ten Most Admired Contemporary Christians

Who are the ten living, and still active, Christian speakers/writers that you admire/respect the most? Recently I began to think about that question, and now I am sharing my (tentative) list with you.

Please note that these are “professional” Christians who are currently active (or not completely retired). They are people who primarily speak to or write for a “popular” audience rather than to academia. Thus, none are full-time religion/theology professors.

(My list of the contemporary theologians/professors that I admire most would be quite different.)

One more brief caveat: my list is skewed a bit (but not much) by my desire to include some diversity. I didn’t want the list to be completely of white, male, Protestants like me.

So here is my list, presented in alphabetical order (by last name): 

WILLIAM BARBER (b. 1963)

Rev. Barber is perhaps the person on this list I have known about for the shortest time. I probably heard about him for the first time when working on my 9/30/13 blog article about the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina. I have since seen him on several YouTube videos and then was impressed anew when I heard him deliver a powerful sermon in Kansas City last year. Here is the link to the blog article I wrote about him last September.

AMY BUTLER (b. c. 1970)

Rev. Butler has been pastor of the highly influential Riverside Church in New York City since 2014. I first met her when I visited a Sunday morning worship service at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., in 2012 when she was pastor there, and I regularly see/read her perceptive op-ed articles. 

SIMONE CAMPBELL (b. 1945)

Widely known as “the nun on the bus,” Sister Simone is the executive director of NETWORK, a nonprofit Catholic social justice lobby. She was the subject of my 9/20/14 blog article (see here). 

TONY CAMPOLO (b. 1935)

Stimulating writer and extraordinarily good speaker, in my 2/18/15 blog article I called Campolo “one of my favorite people.” He is one I would have long had on a list such as this. 

SHANE CLAIBORNE (b. 1975)

The youngest person on this list, Claiborne is the author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (2006, 2016). He is a young man worth reading and listening to. 

POPE FRANCIS (b. 1936)

Perhaps this selection speaks for itself. 

JAMES FORBES (b. 1935)

A marvelous preacher and gentleman, I have long admired Rev. Forbes, who was pastor of Riverside Church in New York from 1989 to 2007. 

BRIAN McLAREN (b. 1956)

I have been an admirer of McLaren since I read his novel A New Kind of Christian (2001). Then in 2008 I marked that the best theology book I had read that year was his Everything Must Change (2007). As a primary leader of the emergent church movement, he is a very significant contemporary Christian leader. 

JIM WALLIS (b. 1948)

Founder, president, and CEO of Sojourners and editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, I have been an admirer of Wallis since the early 1970s—and have written about him and his early activities in this article on another blogsite. 

PHILIP YANCEY (b. 1949)

I have personally met or seen/heard all of the above persons—except for Pope Francis, for obvious reasons. But I have never met Yancey; however, I have read, and been impressed by, several of his books. I especially recommend What’s So Amazing about Grace? (1997) and Soul Survivor (2001).

Since these are contemporary Christians that I most admire, I have also learned from them--and my faith has grown, I believe, because of them. 

Who's on your list?

William Barber's Revival

Most of us who were Southern Baptists 50 years ago, and earlier, were very familiar with what were usually called revival meetings. Perhaps that was especially true in rural and small town churches, and it was probably much the same in several other denominations as well. 

In my boyhood and early ministry, “revivals” were primarily evangelistic meetings, although they also emphasized renewed Christian commitment among those who were already believers. An outside preacher was usually brought in for the revival services, which often lasted eight days and sometimes longer. 

“The Revival”

There is, however, a different sort of revival now taking place. It is a “national tour” being conducted under the name “The Revival: Time for a Moral Revolution of Values.” Currently, “The Revival” is scheduled for 20 stops between April 2016 and January 2017. It will be in Kansas City on Sept. 19, the 10th stop of the tour, and in Ferguson/Florissant, Missouri, on Sept. 27. 

(For those of you in the Kansas City area, here is the link to information about The Revival to be at St. James United Methodist Church next Mon. evening. For those of you not in or from the Kansas City area, St. James is the church where U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II was the previous pastor and where Rep. Cleaver’s son serves as pastor now.)

The other speakers at The Revival are Traci Blackmon, pastor of Christ the King United Church in Christ in Florissant, Mo.; Simone Campbell of “Nuns on the Bus” fame; and James Forbes, emeritus pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City.

Rev. William Barber

Although Rev. William Barber, Jr., the leader of The Revival claims that it is neither Democratic nor Republican, liberal nor conservative, some of you likely saw him give a stirring 10-minute speech at the Democratic National Convention on July 28. (Here is the link to a YouTube video of that powerful talk.)

Since 1993 Barber (b. 1963) has been pastor of the Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He has also been the head of the North Carolina NAACP since 2006. Not long after assuming the latter position, he began the Forward Together Movement, mainly in opposition to Tea Party activities in N.C. 

Barber has also been the main leader of the Moral Monday Movement, a grassroots movement that began in 2013. That was mainly a series of peaceful protests against the politics of the N.C. government and the new governor, Pat McCrory. (I wrote briefly about “Moral Mondays” in a 9/30/13 article.) 

From the beginning, among other dissatisfactions, Moral Monday protesters were especially unhappy with new restrictions in voting rights, the cutting of social programs, changes in tax legislation, and the repeal of the Racial Justice Act.

Higher Ground Moral Declaration 

Barber has authored a book about the Moral Monday rallies. It was published in 2014 under the title Forward Together: A Moral Message for the Nation. I have enjoyed reading it this month. 

More recently Barber has initiated the Call to Action for a Moral Agenda, asking people to sign the Higher Ground Moral Declaration (which I have done, and which you also could sign after opening this link). The Revival is part of that initiative seeking to redefine morality in American politics. 

According to their press release, The Revival national tour “challenges leaders of faith and moral courage to be more vocally opposed to harmful policies that disproportionately impact the poor, people who are ill, children, immigrants, communities of color, and religious minorities." 

That sounds good and important to me.