Tim Stafford's Blog, page 8

The Protest or the Vote?

I’ve heard from some young, passionate protestors who disparage voting. They care deeply about racism, and they’re excited about demonstrating for Black Lives Matter, but they lose interest when you talk about the coming election. Joe Biden fails to excite them; they don’t think he’s radical enough.

I think they’re badly misunderstanding how change actually happens. Almost invariably it combines attention-grabbing protest that leads to political change and new laws. It’s true that politics alone produces, at most, incremental change—and more often, a mere rearranging of the status quo. But protest without politics simply fizzles—see Occupy Wall Street. We have to have both—protest and politics. When protest seizes attention, dramatizing problems so that they are easily understood, it creates opportunities for savvy politicians to jump in and write new laws.

Case in point: slavery. American abolitionism was a protest movement. A tiny and very unpopular minority, white and black, deliberately provoked opposition by traveling to small towns and challenging their opponents to a debate. They got beat up and shouted down, but they stirred up people to think about the morality of slavery. At the same time they were sending literature into the South—it was too dangerous to go in person. Their papers and books were invariably confiscated and burned, and anybody found transporting those papers was severely punished—but this too was a kind of protest, making the obvious point that the slaveholding South could not stand to hear the truth.

Through twenty years of protest, popular sentiment in the North changed to opposing slavery. Then and only then did the politicians get productively involved, culminating in the election of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln wasn’t popular with abolitionists—he wasn’t nearly radical enough—but he brought an end to slavery.

Another case: civil rights. The civil rights movement emphasized dramatic protest, culminating in Birmingham and Selma. With unbelievable courage and panache, protestors caught the attention of northerners and changed their beliefs about the morality of segregation. Only then did the Kennedys—cynical politicians to the max—begin to act, cautiously. Lyndon Johnson, a Southerner not known for his strong moral compass, passed civil rights legislation that recognized the citizenship of blacks for the first time. Protest led to politics, which enabled change.

The protests arising from George Floyd’s murder have changed attitudes. However, nothing is really different until new rules and regulations are passed: revised standards for police tactics, transparent review of police actions by independent bodies; streamlined processes for removing police officers who abuse their authority, and so on. None of these changes will be brought about by changed attitudes. They must be mandated by politicians who pass laws; and that means electing politicians who are responsive to the goals of the protestors.

 

Ruth Part 2

If you’re interested in my Zoom class on the biblical book on Ruth, here’s the link to both parts 1 and 2. Unfortunately the week in between–which is chapter 2 in Ruth–didn’t get recorded, but I do summarize it for part 2.

Nanny State?

This NYTimes column from Ross Douthat got me up on my hobby horse regarding overly officious coronavirus lockdowns. A week ago I wrote the following letter to my local newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

We grant our health authorities extraordinary powers, to close businesses, for example. In exchange the health authorities owe us clear explanations of their decisions.

Item: the authorities have closed the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. For many years I have run in the cemetery daily. It is not a place where people congregate, picnic or play. Visitors walk their dogs or stroll. By closing the cemetery, the authorities force them onto local sidewalks, which are consistently narrower than the cemetery paths. Could the authorities explain what they hope to gain by this closure?

You will be surprised to learn I have not heard a response.

I understand that the authorities want to make clear rules without a million exceptions. I understand that they want to err on the side of safety. I even understand that they might want to shock the public into a realization that this really is a crisis. (By the way, if you’re still wondering if coronavirus really is more dangerous than the flu, read this.)

The health authorities’ effectiveness depends, however, on a compliant public. So far, they’ve had it, at least where I live. However, if they want to undermine that compliance, they should give the public a prolonged dose of the nanny state—officious, unaccountable, petty. I’m not suggesting we’ve had that so far, but I know how easily bureaucrats slip into it. Please don’t. Lives may be at stake.

Ruth Part 1

I’m leading a Zoom Bible study for my church on the beautiful biblical book of Ruth. It’s a story born of tragedy that leads to bitterness. It tells of how a very pragmatic woman comes from emptiness to fullness. The first week (on chapter 1) is recorded here, in case you’re interested.

What Is Going On

Looking at a notebook yesterday, I came across some notes from my studies in Romans 8. They seemed to me to speak to our current condition:

Re: verse 36—Psalm 44, suffering is not punishment for moral failure; it is (mysteriously) part of God’s purposes

Verse 38—“life” with its delights as well as problems, may seek to separate us from Christ, but will be unable to do so, since he loves us so.

Questions and assertions

God is for us–Who can be against us?

He gave his own Son–How will he fail to give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen?

God is the justifier–Who condemns?

Christ died, rose, intercedes–Who shall cut us off from Christ’s love? What hardships or persecutions?

Suffering is part of the story of redemption.

We are more than conquerors in Christ, who loved us

Nothing can cut us off from the love of Christ.

Bitterness and Fullness

I did a little video blog on the biblical book of Ruth for my church. It’s now posted here. The story of Naomi’s discouragement and bitterness, and the God-given factors that lifted her from them, is a word for our time.

Prophecy

At the suggestion of a friend, Popie and I watched “Unseen Enemy,” a documentary made in 2017 about epidemics and pandemics. It blitzes through the scourges of recent years: AIDS, SARS, MERS, Zika, swine flu, Ebola, influenza—and more!–and gives a good, simple explanation of how outbreaks (which are inevitable) occur, how they become epidemics and then global pandemics.

It’s a competent and interesting documentary, but what makes it eerie is its prophetic description of what’s coming next. Quoting epidemiologists, the film says that we are virtually certain to suffer a deadly pandemic within the next ten to twenty years. It details the responses that will be necessary: testing, tracing, massive early response, search for a vaccine. And, again quoting epidemiologists, it predicts that our response will be inadequate, because of a lack of preparation fed by public mistrust of government and the consequent underfunding of the forces meant to respond. It predicts exactly what we are living through.

If the test of a true prophet is whether their predictions come true, the epidemiologists are true prophets.

In Italy

I don’t generally listen to podcasts, but I found this one compelling. It’s a doctor in the town of Bergamo, Italy,  who has come home to his family for the first time in three weeks. He describes what he has done and seen. It’s not graphic, but deeply emotional.

Here in the Bay Area we are all locked down, legally compelled to stay away from other people except for legitimately necessary excursions (food, medicine, necessary services). I realize that for most of the country,  that still seems strange and exotic. This podcast will help you understand why it’s happening.

What To Do While You’re Holed Up

I’m asking myself what to do with all this extra time. Here are a few thoughts:

–Get outdoors. Staying inside all the time will drive you crazy.

–Call an old friend.

–Check on your neighbors. Especially if they are old and/or have health problems, you might be able to offer some help. At the very least, you can offer some human contact. Neighborliness is good!

–Write or call anybody you know in a senior living facility. They probably can’t have guests, and they may be unable to get out into nature, so a phone call helps.

–Read a book. Watching TV or checking COVID-19 news on the internet all day can make you sick.

Other ideas? Please suggest. This could last a while.

 

The Invisible

These are weird times. My church voted to cancel worship services for the rest of the month. My daughter’s college (Lafayette) and my son’s K-12 schools (LA Unified School District) are closed. March madness is out. Baseball’s opening day(s), cancelled. All because of something that hasn’t happened and that we can’t see.

It feels like the moment in the alien-invasion movie when the spaceships appear on the horizon. It feels like the anticipation after a tsunami warning, scanning the ocean for big waves that may or may not appear. We believe in the threat, but we can’t see anything.

That’s the upside-down version of Christian faith. We look for something wonderful, on its way but not fully arrived. We can’t see it, but that doesn’t mean it’s unreal. We’re waiting and hoping to be ready—as with COVID-19.