{"id":150,"date":"2019-03-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calchurches.planetpov.com\/impact\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/speak-out-silence-is-tacit-assent\/"},"modified":"2019-03-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:00:00","slug":"speak-out-silence-is-tacit-assent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/speak-out-silence-is-tacit-assent\/","title":{"rendered":"Speak Out! Silence is tacit assent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\u201cHello Brother\u201d.
\u00a0
Words of greeting.
\u00a0
\u201cHello Brother\u201d.
\u00a0
Words of peace.
\u00a0
\u201cHello Brother\u201d were words from a young Muslim man who stepped up trying desperately to deflect the gunman entering a Christchurch, NZ mosque Friday March 15th. The words, meant to stop the shooter, were the last words the Muslim man spoke. He was killed. Forty-eight more lost their lives before the rampage through two mosques ended.
\u00a0
In this latest of horrors, the rampant self-justification from the shooter\u2019s own words shows he thought Muslims deserved to die.\u00a0 As the shooter in Pittsburgh, PA earlier shot down Jews for the same demented reason and Dylan Root shot nine Black AME Christians in Charleston, SC. They deserved to die for simply being who they are. Sikhs slaughtered in WI, Unitarians in TN. These are the victims of both religious hate and racial hate, but many more acts of violence have taken down people just trying to live their lives. We are losing count.
\u00a0
This isn\u2019t a \u201cMuslim problem\u201d. This isn\u2019t a \u201cJewish problem\u201d. This isn\u2019t a \u201cBlack problem\u201d.
\u00a0
It\u2019s a white Christian problem.\u00a0
\u00a0
Before anyone says, \u201cnot all white Christians\u201d, let us consider, in our hearts, if we have done all we can to make sure we didn\u2019t turn a blind eye, stay silent instead of speak. Have we earnestly done all we can do to stop the new global wave of white, Christian terrorism, for that is what this all is, from spreading unchallenged?\u00a0 We have to search our hearts and our lives to see if we can do more.
\u00a0
I, for one, am tired of showing up after the fact. I hate candle light vigils and don\u2019t attend them. I\u2019m sick of press conferences decrying bloodshed and loss of valuable lives. I\u2019m anguished by the sense of impotence at failing to prevent another senseless massacre. \u00a0I\u2019m frightened that there will be more.
\u00a0
Forty nine dead in New Zealand.\u00a0 Eleven in Pittsburgh.\u00a0 Nine in Charleston.
\u00a0
When will it end?\u00a0
\u00a0
We are in the grip of an administration that demonizes \u201cthe other\u201d be it immigrants, Muslims, people of color.\u00a0 We have unleashed waves of hate and resentment from white people who think equality means a loss to them.\u00a0 Males who see female equality as a threat.\u00a0 If you have to enforce your superiority with violence, are you really superior at all?
\u00a0
We can\u2019t dismiss this thinking that we would never do this kind of thing to anyone. It flourishes if we tolerate it, if we don\u2019t actively stop it.\u00a0 Silence is tacit assent.\u00a0
\u00a0
We have to stand up, speak out, act affirmatively not passively in the name of our country\u2019s promise and our faith\u2019s direction.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t on Muslim, Jews, Sikhs, Unitarians. It isn\u2019t on Black people, Brown people, immigrants, indigenous people.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s on us: white, middle class, mainstream Christians.\u00a0 We are the only people who can speak out and uphold these truths of nation and faith.\u00a0 We can stay silent no more.
\u00a0
Hello brother. Hello sister.\u00a0 Hello everyone. End the silence. End the violence. It\u2019s on us.<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Picture\" <\/a> <\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHello Brother\u201d.\u00a0Words of greeting.\u00a0\u201cHello Brother\u201d.\u00a0Words of peace.\u00a0\u201cHello Brother\u201d were words from a young Muslim man who stepped up trying desperately to deflect the gunman entering … Read More ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}