Perhaps one of the hardest things to do is to love your enemies, to love the people who attack you. And yet, when you look at the civil rights movement, or Ghandi’s non-violent uprising in India, it’s power is obvious. Recently, a talk-show host named Glenn Beck (I’ve never seen his show, so I am unfamilliar) began attacking churches that speak of justice, telling Christians to leave churches that are helping the poor under what Beck calls a Marxist platform. He is specifically attacking Reverend Jim Wallis, who heads up an organization called Sojourners. Beck’s rhetoric reveals how little he knows about Christians or Christianity, and his argument plays on the ignorant. I won’t waste time talking about it. But what is most impressive to me is Jim Wallis’ response. He’s not fighting back. Wallis is turning the other cheek.
Jim was a guest in my home last year when he released his most recent book. I invited area pastors over for lunch, and Jim addressed them and took questions. A few conservatives grilled him but mostly it was a civil crowd. What I found in him, though, was an incredibly gentle spirit that was at peace with himself and his beliefs. He wasn’t self righteous or angry. Regardless of whether you believe the church should help the poor, or Christians should help the poor through government, what can’t be debated is that Wallis’ spirit of non-violent resistance is working. My suspicion is that Beck will grow tired of attacking an innocent man and move on. And my other suspicion is that Wallis and the folks at Sojourners will only come out stronger.
When Martin Luther King crossed the bridge in Selma, Alabama, he and his protestors didn’t raise a fist. And yet their actions created tension. They marched for truth and justice and liberty as free and equal citizens, and they marched in peace. And yet their peaceful march caused tension, caused police to oppose them, and fireman to hose them back. The scene reminds me of those seemingly contradictory statements of Christ, that He was the Prince of Peace, and yet came to bring a sword. A peaceful stand often causes tension. It did for Christ, and it does for Jim Wallis.
But I’m not writing this blog to say Jim Wallis is right, though I believe he is. I’m writing this blog because I want to join Jim Wallis in praying for Glenn Beck. Even as I type this I feel a love for the man. It’s hard to keep your ratings up, and saying shocking things is a way to do so. But Glenn Beck is a child of God, a man who God loves, and while I disagree with him about whether the church should perform acts of justice, I don’t hate him for it. I want to cross this bridge with Jim Wallis, and love my enemy. It’s a much more peaceful way to live.
Glenn Beck is now saying that he is receiving hate mail from Christians, and is using the hate mail to fuel the controversy. But the truth is, I’ve never seen hate win in the end. Hate makes us guilty, and so creates a fight of guilty vs guilty. You just can’t keep beating an innocent man. Even if he dies, his death may change the world. In the end, love will win.
Beck’s most recent clip:
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