The Rise of Christian Conscience

At a recent gathering of 200 top military leaders at the National War College, a revealing statement was made: "The greatest challenge to all that we do now comes from within the churches." The speaker was a high-ranking general who went on to say, "A whole new way of thinking is developing in the churches, and we have to know what to do with it."

The person who reported the story to me said the speaker's posture was not so much hostile as it was deeply concerned. The general held up copies of books from the emerging Christian peace movement and urged his listeners to read them. "No one should remain in the service unless they deal with the arguments of these books."

There are other signs of official concern about the new stirrings in the churches. The government now has "liaisons" assigned to the various churches whose job it is to monitor and maintain close contact with the peace activities of the different denominations. Bishops and other church leaders are receiving almost weekly mailings from the White House and government agencies defending policies related to Central America, nuclear weapons, and domestic priorities. Some have received personal visits from special government emissaries to "explain" administration policies.

Christian activists are reporting incidents of surveillance, break-ins, and even infiltration. The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down on war-tax resisters, and stiffer sentences are being given to those who commit nonviolent civil disobedience in protest of the arms race and U.S. war policies.

New executive orders and legislative proposals have lifted restrictions on government intelligence agencies, promise harsh measures against dissenters, and threaten constitutional rights. One recent proposal in Congress even suggested capital punishment for crimes of "treason," a word that history has shown is extremely vulnerable to changing political definitions. In her nationally televised speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, United Nations Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick said that those who disagree with U.S. military and foreign policy should not be tolerated.

The government's allies on the political right have their own part to play. Right-wing groups have become revitalized in the last four years. Even those never before taken seriously are now basking in the light of new credibility and prominence. The Right is demonstrating a confident militance and has taken the offensive against those who would question U.S. foreign and domestic behavior. Its tactics are always the same: accuse those who disagree with the U.S. government of being Marxist and pro-Soviet.

A rigorous campaign of distortion and slander is now under way, aimed at discrediting those individuals, groups, publications, and churches who dare to dissent from official ideology and policy. The Right is especially afraid of such religiously based dissent. An independent movement of conscience whose cry for justice and appeal for peace is rooted in the Bible rather than political ideology is the hardest to discredit, ignore, or accuse of communist sympathies.

William Stringfellow points out that the political authorities have historically shown more awareness of the gospel's threat to established power than have the believers. Indeed, it was the ruling authorities of Jesus' day, more than his disciples, who were the most keenly aware of the political danger he posed. Ironically, it was the religious and political rulers who put Jesus to death that remembered and feared the promise of his resurrection, not his followers, who forgot and fled.

It soon became clear that the authorities who made themselves the enemies of Christ had good reasons for their fears. And today, the powers-that-be and their religious co-conspirators have reason to be afraid of what is happening in the churches.

The renewal of the Christian conscience is now a worldwide phenomenon. In Latin America, bishops and priests used to be the honored guests at the tables of the rich; now many have become the companions of the poor. The clergy used to bless political prisoners before their executions; now priests, lay church leaders, and even bishops have become political prisoners themselves, and many have been killed or disappeared. At popular liturgies, names such as that of murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and countless other Christian martyrs are raised up to the response of the people, "Presente"—meaning they are with us. The faith of ordinary people, gathered together into hundreds of thousands of base communities, now fuels the engine of change in Latin America and is renewing the face of the church.

Karl Gaspar, a political prisoner in the Philippines, writes letters from his cell that read like modern-day prison epistles. Priests murdered by government security forces are found at the bottom of reservoirs and ravines in Poland and El Salvador. Small qroups of Christians working for peace meet and pray on both sides of the Berlin Wall.

Religious dissidents—Christians and Jews—suffer courageously in the Soviet Union. In South Africa, a "confessing church" is emerging with Christians like Bishop Desmond Tutu and Reformed Church minister Allan Boesak leading the people's struggle for freedom against apartheid. Even in highly secularized Western Europe, the threat of nuclear war is sparking religious renewal and revitalization in the churches. Some peace groups in West Germany have published the Sermon on the Mount in their daily newspapers, leading to the first real discussion in many years of the meaning of Jesus' teaching.

In the United States, a new "peace church" is emerging that spans virtually every denomination, confession, and constituency. The threat of nuclear war has raised, for an increasing number of Christians, not only the question of survival, but a crisis of faith.

The nation's reliance on weapons of mass destruction, and its expressed willingness to use them, has become a profoundly theological and spiritual issue for the churches. For many, the heart of the matter is the idolatry, blasphemy, and heresy of nuclear weapons. The old distinctions between pacifists and just-war adherents are breaking down and giving way to a "new abolitionist movement"—a commitment to abolish nuclear weapons rooted in the imperatives of faith.

Most of the major church bodies and bishops' conferences have made statements against nuclear weapons and the spiraling arms race, some of them quite strong. Most of the denominations now have task forces and active programs in peacemaking. At the congregational and parish level, Bible study, prayer, discussion, and action are taking place around the nuclear question literally all across the country.

It is at the grassroots where the movement can best be seen. The Nuclear Train that carries warheads from the Pantex bomb factory near Amarillo, Texas, to deployment sites around the country once traveled unnoticed and unhindered. That was before the White Train Campaign, begun by the Agape Community. Now, whenever the Nuclear Train moves, a national network of prayer and action springs to life with vigils along its route.

Similarly, fewer and fewer of the nation's nuclear facilities and military bases that have operated quietly in many U.S. communities are spared the regular presence of Christian and other nonviolent protesters, especially at special days and seasons in the church's liturgical calendar. The geography of worship and prayer is being relocated, moving beyond the confines of church sanctuaries and crossing the lines, fences, and boundaries which read "No Trespass." By so doing, the evil being done in secret at such places is being exposed to the light of public scrutiny, the light of conscience, and the light of God.

The time-honored practice of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience, so deeply rooted in both our biblical and democratic traditions, is being recovered in our nuclear age, and many Christians are going to jail for the sake of peace. One recent count of those arrested for nuclear protest in one year alone tallied 5,000, and the majority of them were Christians. Vigils, pilgrimages, public liturgies and prayer services, symbolic actions, war-tax resistance, sit-ins, direct-action campaigns, arrests, courtrooms, and jail cells are becoming more a part of the church's life as Christian clergy and laypeople come to believe that their acceptance of the bomb has been an evidence of false worship and faithlessness and as they rediscover the gospel of the Prince of Peace.

The widening war in Central America has also sparked Christian conscience. Many thousands of U.S. Christians have traveled to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to see for themselves what is happening. They have come home with a very different picture from the one painted by the U.S. government, and other U.S. citizens have now heard their stories. Out of such firsthand exposure, personal involvement, and mounting concern over U.S. policy, a number of bold initiatives have been undertaken.

The Witness for Peace in Nicaragua began as a risky experiment in nonviolence and has become a powerful venture of faith and prayer. More than 1,000 U.S. citizens, mostly religious people, have traveled to the war zones of Nicaragua to stand with the people under attack by the contras, to pray for peace, and to present an obstacle to the U.S.-sponsored war.

In Nicaragua, the Witness for Peace offers a direct challenge to the U.S.-backed violence as North American lives are put alongside Nicaraguan lives in places of great danger. Witness for Peace gives a clear message to the Nicaraguan people who are suffering so much: many U.S. citizens do not support the war being waged against them.

In Washington, D.C., the message is just as clear. The waiting list for volunteers is still long, and teams from every region of the country are already scheduled through most of 1985. The Witness for Peace has been sounded as an altar call throughout U.S. churches, and all who respond are being converted to a deeper faith.

The sanctuary movement has also spread throughout the country, opening both U.S. doors and hearts to Central American refugees fleeing tyranny and violence. More than 160 churches have become havens of rest and sanctuary for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees whose lives are in danger from their own governments.

To harbor these strangers and sojourners is very consistent with the best of biblical and church tradition, but it is done in open defiance of U.S. government law and Central American policies. An underground/overground railroad has developed around the country, with churches and Christian communities as the points of hospitality along the way, to carry refugees to safety and freedom. The process of deciding whether or not to become a sanctuary church in disobedience to the law has been a cause of real transformation in many congregations.

As with the Witness for Peace, it is the personal relationships established between North Americans and Central Americans that gives the sanctuary movement its real force and motivating power. The government has already arrested and convicted U.S. church workers for giving refugees safe passage, but the churches are standing firm.

The Pledge of Resistance grows directly out of all this activity and helps tie it all together. It is a "contingency plan" in the event of a U.S. invasion in Central America.

Similar to other initiatives, the Pledge of Resistance originated in a retreat that brought together Christian peacemakers for Bible study and prayer. The Pledge of Resistance calls for protest and nonviolent civil disobedience on a massive scale at congressional field offices, federal buildings, and military installations if the U.S. government invades or significantly escalates its military intervention in Central America.

Literally tens of thousands of U.S. citizens from the religious community, peace movement, Central America solidarity networks, and labor and civic groups have already signed the pledge. Such a pledge of citizen resistance in advance of a major U.S. military action is unprecedented and should be a clear message to the government that U.S. citizens will not accept an illegal and immoral war policy in Central America.

The hope is that the existence of such a plan and the willingness to carry it out might prevent such an invasion and help end U.S. military intervention in the region. But if the U.S. government decides to invade Central America, it will have to put tens of thousands of its own citizens in jail. That is the promise.

It is always appropriate for the religious community and people of conscience to try to prevent bloodshed and needless human suffering. It is in this spirit that the Pledge of Resistance, the sanctuary movement, and Witness for Peace are offered. They are acts of faith and conscience, developed not on behalf of any government, party, or ideology, but carried out on behalf of the victims of violence, in defense of justice, and in pursuit of peace.

The Free South Africa Movement has also sparked the conscience of people across the country. The list of those arrested at the daily vigils in front of the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C, now includes congresspeople, labor leaders, and representatives from the civil rights movement, the peace movement, the women's movement, and the religious community. The movement's black leadership is highly significant and promises to revitalize the "Coalition of Conscience" in the aftermath of the fall elections. The tactics of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience are being reinvigorated by the Free South Africa Movement, led by much of the same leadership that introduced them more than 20 years ago during the civil rights movement.

Never has the apartheid regime of South Africa been so directly challenged from within the United States. Pressure is mounting on the White House to change its failed policy of "constructive engagement." It now appears that the energy to act against the evil of South Africa's racist system existed just below the surface and needed a catalyst to ignite it. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Desmond Tutu, the repressive brutality of the South African regime, and the leadership of the Free South Africa Movement have provided the spark.

The face of Jesus is being rediscovered not only among the poor of Central America, South Africa, and the Philippines, but also right here at home. All across the United States, the "misery index" is rising. In our inner cities and rural areas, the poor swell in numbers and cry out in distress. The government's policy toward the poor is now one of official abandonment. Those least able to defend themselves will bear the burden of budget-cutting and deficit reductions.

But everywhere you look, Christians and churches are feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, ministering to the sick, organizing with the disenfranchised, visiting the prisoners, and advocating justice for the oppressed. Wherever there are works of mercy and acts of justice, Christians are in the midst of them. The faithful persistence of Christians like Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker is bearing much fruit. In many places Christians are finally beginning to heed the gospel message to bring good news to the poor and the warning that we will be judged by how we treat "the least of these."

The energy and passion of Christians have also been at the heart of the opposition to abortion on demand. While it is true that much of the anti-abortion movement has been tied to the reactionary political agenda of the religious Right and to anti-feminist forces, a new call is emerging for a consistent pro-life ethic.

The selective morality of both the Right and the Left is being challenged by a new pro-life stance that calls for the defense of human life wherever it is threatened, from the beginning to the end of the life cycle. Thus the rights of the unborn, the rejection of nuclear weapons, opposition to military intervention in Central America, the defense of the poor, and the pursuit of economic justice all form a "seamless garment" on behalf of human life.

Christians are also providing leadership in restoring the integrity of family life and personal values as both have broken down in the larger society. In a time of sexual confusion and brokenness, many are beginning to see the relevance and wholeness of marital fidelity, personal commitment, and mutual respect. Equality between women and men in the family, the workplace, and the church is being upheld by more and more Christians as essential to the biblical vision of justice. Some still use the word "family" to support patterns of patriarchy and the oppression of women, but many other Christians are pioneering new family patterns based on partnership and shared responsibility.

As all of these developments suggest, the churches in the United States are going through a fundamental transformation. The changes under way are motivated by faith, formed by conscience, and rooted in the Bible.

The rise of Christian conscience couldn't be more timely. The political conservatism also on the rise is harsh and cruel. Its spiritual companion is a rampant self-interest. When the overriding question in a political campaign is "Am I better off?" the moral underpinnings of public life are in great danger.

The poor know the election results went against them. Whole sections of the country and sectors of the population are in grave danger of simply being abandoned. The development of a growing urban under-class and the near extinction of the small farmer are but two examples.

We are also witnessing an escalation in white racism, which is surfacing with renewed strength and boldness. The election returns dramatically demonstrate the nation's racial polarization. Ironically, just as blacks have made some historic political gains, they are now in danger of being politically isolated and marginalized. The masses of black Americans still suffer in the prison of poverty while the White House turns back the clock on the pursuit of civil rights. The status of women is insecure as well, with powerful forces, both ideological and economic, seeking to push women back into old molds and patterns.

The arms race rushes on as even more dangerous nuclear weapons and increased military spending wipe out the remnants of already gutted social programs. Military interventionism has become a way of life, especially in Central America, and the projection of American power to protect American interests has completely superseded any concern for human rights in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. No one really knows the extent to which the political Right will go, now that it has control of U.S. foreign and military policy and has a president who doesn't face re-election.

The moral failure of liberalism has greatly added to our present crisis. Liberalism has abandoned the realm of faith, family, and personal values and has thus become increasingly distant from the ways that ordinary people live their day-to-day lives. The militant secularism and moral rootlessness of the liberal establishment has contributed to cultural and spiritual degeneration.

Liberals have preferred bureaucracy to democracy, dependency to justice, power to genuine participation. Their economic solutions are old and tired and ultimately tied to the same basic assumptions on which conservative economic thinking is based. In foreign policy, liberals have accommodated to militarism, interventionism, and narrow self-interest; their proposals just suggest a little less of all these than their opponents.

Conservatism now appeals to the country's worst instincts, prejudices, and fears while liberalism struggles to hide the fact that it has no real alternative. Both offer only technical solutions to problems rather than human ones.

On the global scene, the Left has failed to keep its promises, produced a rigid ideology, and sacrificed human freedom in the process. The Right has descended to new levels of brutality and has piled the corpses of its victims as high as its worst communist counterparts. Both right- and left-wing regimes show a remarkable similarity in their willingness to violate human rights when it suits their purposes and to subordinate persons to causes.

In striking contrast, the rise of Christian conscience around the world is a search for social, political, and economic alternatives based on more human values than the solutions offered by the present ideological competitors. That search moves beyond the old polarities of right, left, and center and drives to the spiritual and political core of our problems. New ideas, needed dissent, and alternative vision are now coming from religious communities around the world.

In the United States, the new movement of Christian conscience has a number of distinguishing characteristics. First, Christian conscience is politically independent. It is neither right nor left, liberal nor conservative. It defies categorization by traditional labels and is not ideologically predictable.

For example, Christians opposed to U.S. nuclear policy and interventionism in Central America may seem to agree with the Left. But those same Christians may differ sharply with the Left over issues such as abortion, sexual morality, and the ethics of violence. Christians may have conservative personal and family values but disagree completely with conservatives on the role of women, the solutions to racism, or the value of economic success. Christian conscience doesn't distinguish between violations of human rights under right-wing military dictatorships or left-wing totalitarian governments.

Second, Christian conscience is especially sensitive to those who are the victims of the prevailing social order. The poor, the marginalized, the political prisoners, the oppressed race or class, women, the ethnic minority—these are the ones Christians should be particularly attentive to in any society. Christians must see the view from the outside, learn the perspective from the bottom, hear the voices of the forgotten ones. Since all systems have their victims, none will respond enthusiastically to the exercise of Christian conscience on behalf of the victims.

Third, Christian conscience has deep spiritual roots. It is grounded in the Scriptures, which do not change but are always new. The life rhythm of reflection, prayer, and action is essential to the exercise of Christian conscience. Without the river of faith to refresh and replenish it, Christian conscience can easily dry up into rigid self-righteousness. The rediscovery of the Bible, the return to prayer, and the recovery of the spiritual life are at the center of the new movement of Christian conscience. In fact, the possibilities of genuine spiritual revival and reawakening are the best hope we have for the renewal of Christian conscience. They go together, and one is the fruit of the other.

What does the future hold? A movement of Christian conscience could spark the conscience of a nation and lead to changes beyond our imaginations. It has happened before. Christians were at the center of the abolitionist movement, the movement for women's suffrage, and the civil rights struggle. It could happen again.

The rise of Christian conscience could provoke persecution, as has happened in other parts of the world. The conversion of the churches to the side of the poor and the cause of peace has often led to attacks on the church from governments set up to protect wealth and power.

That has been the experience of the church in the Third World. However, through this trial by fire, the faith of Third World churches has been strengthened. Similarly, the official persecution of the churches in Eastern-bloc countries has not crushed people's faith but rather has led to overflowing and flourishing congregations. The experience of official repression and persecution of Christian dissidents may become our own in the days ahead.

Most likely, we will face both persecution and social change, first one and then the other. It will take a much deeper moral confrontation between conscience and power to make the real issues clear in the country. We need to forge the "creative tension" of which both Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke. That will certainly mean sacrifice and suffering, but it may be the only thing that can open the door to real change.

A discernable movement from protest to resistance already exists in the churches. A new era of church/state relations in the United States may soon be upon us.

National church bodies are now seriously discussing the theological basis and spiritual imperative for civil disobedience. Issues such as war-tax resistance, prayerful trespass at nuclear facilities, sanctuary, nonviolent resistance over Central America and South Africa, and non-registration for the draft are all pressing issues in many churches. It is likely that a whole series of church statements on civil disobedience will follow the many church statements on peace. The churches and the U.S. government seem headed toward deeper conflict over militarism, fundamental questions of justice, and respect for human life.

We are entering a time when faith will be needed to overcome fear, when deep spiritual roots will be necessary to endure set-backs, when hope will be required to move beyond despair, and when vision will be called for to look beyond the present and see new possibilities.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine.