Civil Disobedience and Christianity
Black Lives Matter March, Tãmaki Makaurau, June 14 2020.
The stories I have chosen to share here are about injustices that are occurring outside of the context of Aotearoa. The challenge that we have as Christians in this country is to listen to the stories around us and act in opposition to the injustice that we see. We do not remain silent and complicit in a society that resists the in-breaking kingdom of God. As one body, it is our place to act in direct opposition to systems of oppression.
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Many Christians use Romans 13:1-2 as a proof text for why civil authorities should be obeyed regardless of the laws that they make. It reads: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed.” Simple right? “All authority is instituted by God and therefore we should follow these governing authorities.”
In practice, however, this becomes far more complicated. What happens when these governing authorities institute unjust laws? Or laws that create an obstruction for the pursuit of universal human rights? For a simply personal and Christian focus, what if they are a barrier to our right to freely worship and follow what we believe God is calling us to do?
Paul himself, the writer of Romans, broke the laws established by the authorities in his time. Despite his repeated arrests and warnings to stop preaching, he continued to follow the mission that he felt God had laid out for him. Along with other New Testament figures, he appealed to a higher authority. The author of the Book of Acts justifies the defiance of earthly authorities by claiming that “we must obey God rather than a human authority” (Acts 5:29). So which is it? When is it appropriate for Christians to knowingly defy those that have power? Throughout the history of the church there have been a variety of clear instances of this kind of “civil disobedience,” an appeal to a higher authority, sometimes grounded in earthly laws that trump the one being broken, and sometimes an appeal to the divine will of God that precludes a Christian from blindly following an unjust authority.
In Hong Kong in 2014 a series of protests called the Umbrella Movement 雨伞运动 occurred from the 26th of September to the 15th of December. The cause of these protests was the decision from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to reform the Hong Kong electoral system. These reforms were highly restrictive, and many saw them as a way for the Chinese Communist Party to have control over who could be elected to the Hong Kong Chief Executive. The goal of the protest was the ensure true suffrage and security for Hong Kong’s democratic system as a Special Administrative Region of China. It is near impossible to conclusively say how many people participated in these protests, but it is estimated that at one time there could have been 100,000 people participating on the streets of Hong Kong. The protest was successful and barred the proposed changes from occurring. There is also a clear link between the activism that started in 2014 and the wide ranging protests that erupted towards the end of 2019 and continue to the present day.
The roots of the Umbrella Movement are wide ranging. Many different voices called for action around the same time, and the movement is known to not have had a clear leadership structure. One of the voices calling for change was Benny Tai Yiu-ting 戴耀廷, a Christian law professor at Hong Kong University. In January of 2013, Tai wrote an article calling for an era of civil disobedience in order to ensure free and fair election for the Hong Kong government. He was a vocal advocate for the initiation of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace which evolved into the Umbrella Movement. Tai has publicly stated that his political motivations are rooted in his Christian faith, and he was not the only Christian to be at the centre of the movement. To sit by and allow the changes to the political system in Hong Kong would have been an act of complicity, an acceptance of an unjust rule, that flew in the face of the beliefs of Tai and his fellow Hong Kong Christians.
Protests are ongoing in Hong Kong, now ranging into the millions. Their democratic agreement with China remains under threat, and evidence from the protests shows that there have been horrific instances of police brutality and human rights abuses. Will we remain silent and, thus, complicit?
The gospel that we proclaim is not just a vision for the future. Jesus’s ministry provides for many Christians a vision of a flourishing society in which all people are treated with the dignity that they innately deserve. As Christ taught his disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” What does it mean, then, for us to act and participate in this coming kingdom now? The prayer for kingdom come is one that inspires action; that must call us to question to parts of our society that resist God’s in-breaking kingdom.
In Aotearoa between 1960 and 1985 opposition, and eventually widespread protests, erupted against the involvement of the All Blacks in segregated rugby tours to a South Africa that still operated under apartheid. Since 1928, the All Blacks tours of South Africa had been “all white.” The 1960 tour to South Africa prompted a petition with over 150,000 signatories who declared “No Maoris [sic], No Tour.” Early protests against the tour were focussed on race relations in Aotearoa and the exclusion of Mãori players at the request of the South African government. In 1965 the Springbok’s tour of Aotearoa was played against an All Black team with Mãori players, and also against a New Zealand Mãori team. The 1970 tour to South Africa saw the selection of Mãori players for a South African tour for the first time.
This was only the beginning. Mounting pressure to isolate from South African sport due to the injustice of apartheid saw the creation of organisations like CARE (Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality) and HART (Halt All Racist Tours). These groups were focussed on addressing the complicity of Aotearoa’s ongoing sporting involvement with South Africa’s system of apartheid. Divisions continued to grow during the 1970s with the 1981 tour, the first of the Springbok’s to Aotearoa since 1965, inciting the protest of more than 150,000 people in over 200 protests in 28 different places. The protests raised questions not only about race relations in South Africa, but Mãori protestors also raised the question of “‘If you campaign about race in South Africa, what about at home?” Only two of the games were cancelled. Apartheid was not ended in South Africa immediately. But the actions of New Zealanders who took a stand against an unjust system did not go unnoticed and are widely acknowledged to have contributed to the eventual end of the system of apartheid in South Africa.
Christian involvement in the tour opposition is not one-sided. The wider organisations of a number of denominations made public statements of opposition to the tours, particularly early on. However, some like the Baptist Union, were unable to achieve a consensus on a response to the later tours. There seemed to be a reluctance to “rock the boat” from an organisational level; one church member writing into the New Zealand Baptist in February 1985, “So we are it again. Good old head-in-the-sand Baptists. At Assembly we move on to other business, leaving apartheid, one of the major issues facing the world community, buried in procedural nonsense.”
Despite the Union’s official silence, there are remarkable stories of individual’s involvement in the protest movement. Mike Riddell, David Bromell, and Gaylene Jackson—while studying together at the NZ Baptist Theological College (now: Carey Baptist College)—were among those actively involved in leading parts of the protest movement. Riddell was arrested three times during the course of these protests. These individuals saw a vision of a just world that was a reflection of the gospel they believed in, and they fought to ensure the creation of the world for others.
For many, the world remains unjust. It does not reflect of the gospel-vision of God’s kingdom on earth. What actions do we unknowingly support? What parts of our society prop up unjust systems in other countries?
The whole body of the church has a significant role in opposition of unjust systems. Protest should not be treated as an individual responsibility. If these are issues that are central to the gospel, then the whole community, the whole body of Christ need to collectively take a stand. Civil disobedience is not the role of the brave individual, although it will often take different forms for different members of the church. Some have responsibilities that will stop them from being physically involved, but can offer pray and support in different ways. Some will be able to identify their different strengths, to push for change in a variety of ways that will combine to create a powerful, multifaceted movement. Mark Galli, the editor of Christianity Today, argued in 2016 that civil disobedience for Christians is not anarchy but “an act of faith discerned through prayer.” It is not the only recourse nor necessarily the first option for many Christians. Opposition to unjust systems needs to take many forms, but there are times when a direct opposition of unjust authority is the necessary and appropriate approach.
In the United States in the 1950s and 60s the Civil Rights movement grew in scale as segregation legislation started to weaken following the groundbreaking weakening of the “separate but equal” policy in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Between 1955 and 1968 acts of non-violent protest and civil disobedience brought about widespread change in the legislative inequalities faced by Black Americans. Despite the predominant non-violence of these protests, demonstrators were often arrested for crimes such as “breaching the peace” as a result of their use of “white-only” facilities. Non-violent protest in the face of unjust laws was a form of direct civil disobedience that bore consequences.
This movement is extremely multi-faceted and cannot be credited to a single leader, but it is impossible to ignore the role of Christian faith in the organisation and activity of the protests. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leading voices for change; a Christian minister who regularly reflected on scripture and Christian faith in his writings. King was not a lone activist but supported by a prayerful church. He was the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which, during the civil right’s movement, sought to utilise the organising power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests. Protestors’ involvement in the movement was not secondary to their church involvement; the two went hand in hand.
While the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s wrought immense legislative change, there are ongoing systemic issues caused by the historical oppression of Black Americans. Where do our churches stand on these issues? Are our voices supporting or undermining the activism of others?
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Jaimee van Gemerden is the current editor of Metanoia. Image by Andrew Clark-Howard.
