Perspective: Social protest as prayer
Perspective From The Olympian March 13, 2010
Rev. Carol McKinley
Last month I joined more than 200 faith community members gathered at the Capitol for Interfaith Advocacy Day.
We came from synagogues, churches and mosques to speak out for a just and equitable state budget to fund health and human services for the most vulnerable in our state.
We talked with legislators about the critical need during this economic crisis to preserve programs providing lifelines to thousands of our neighbors.
We spoke out in favor of a substantial revenue package to fund environmental protections and health and human services, including the Basic Health Plan and the Housing Trust Fund, that face a second year of deep cuts.
For those of us at Interfaith Advocacy Day, our political action comes out of our belief that as people of faith and as citizens, our responsibility is to take our traditions’ teachings out of our places of worship and make those values real in the world.
In his book, “The Prophetic Imperative,” Unitarian Universalist minister Richard Gilbert observes that “while the act of worship is in itself a religious activity of intrinsic worth, it also … serves to strengthen and maintain commitment to social change by pointing to justice, freedom, and equality, and the Beloved Community as ends to be sought.”
It is this commitment to social action that brought Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Unitarian Universalists to Interfaith Advocacy Day.
We came believing we are called to be witnesses to both the beauty and brokenness of our world, and to share a responsibility to heal that brokenness.
That sense of responsibility calls us to support laws and policies that build a more just and equitable community, and to protest those that neglect those who too often cannot speak for themselves – children, the elderly and the poor.
We advocate for policies that bring an end to hunger, poverty, and homelessness, for equitable treatment of all.
We call for a state budget that funds social and environmental programs.
We remind legislators that the budget is a moral document that reflects our state’s values and priorities.
“Protest,” writes Marilyn Chandler McEntyre in her book, “Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies,” “is built into the job description of those who speak for the vulnerable.”
This is the job description that describes hundreds of people who come to Olympia during the legislative session each year to have a voice in creating state laws and policies.
“Protest can be a form of prayer,” adds Chandler McEntyre. “Wise protest is prayer turned to radical action.”
She observes that those who join in generous, positive protest share a deep sense of the common good as well as an understanding of public policy and how it affects all people in the state.
These advocates also recognize that developing public policy is difficult and complex.
Our state’s budget crisis reflects that complexity.
It arises from many interrelated social and economic factors, and cannot be solved only with spending cuts.
Increased revenue is needed now, more than ever.
This year many interfaith justice advocates expressed their own willingness to pay more to sustain critical education, human services and environmental protection programs.
During this legislative session and throughout the year, each of us has the opportunity – and the responsibility – to speak up for policies and laws that care for the most vulnerable among us.
Each of us can bring prayer to life by moving from our places of worship into the public square.
The Rev. Carol McKinley serves as coordinator of Washington State Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice, a statewide legislative advocacy organization, and is an affiliated community minister of Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Perspective is coordinated by Interfaith Works in cooperation with The Olympian. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by Interfaith Works or The Olympian.