It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.
The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.
Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people.
4. Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.
Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.
Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.
5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.
Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative.
6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.
Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice.
-The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's Six Principles Nonviolence described in his first book, Stride Toward Freedom.
This morning, I will join with clergy and people of faith from St. Louis and around the country in a nonviolent march to the Ferguson Police Department and protest there.
The principles of nonviolent resistance that Dr. King laid out are the philosophical foundation of my actions. The theological foundation is God's love for all humanity, the call of Jesus Christ actively to love any whom I might be tempted to call enemies, and St. Paul's charge to us to be ambassadors of Christ given the ministry of reconciliation.
King believed, as do I, that the goal of nonviolent resistance was to bring about The Beloved Community -- what Helen Ludbrook referred to in her sermon on Sunday as the realm of God. It is not a state of being without conflict but where conflict is used creatively as a tool for learning and resolved nonviolently. Where our fundamental belief that all people are created in God's image and worthy of equal dignity and share in the wealth of the earth is lived out in all aspects of our life.
I march today as a small part of trying to bring about that Beloved Community.
I march today specifically at the Ferguson Police Department because I wish to highlight the injustices of the systems of policing not only in Ferguson and St. Louis but in this nation. Systems which target people of color and treat them with less dignity and respect than people who look like me. Systems where the power differential is so skewed that a culture of verbal and physical abuse, particularly of young people of color, is allowed to exist and even thrive.
I march today in solidarity with the young people committed to nonviolent protest who have been on the streets for the more than 60 days since Michael Brown was killed. I march in solidarity with them in awe of their courage, their strength, their refusal to go away until their voices are heard and changes are made.
I march today in solidarity with clergy and people of faith who share these convictions. Some of them are choosing to risk arrest. I do not believe that is the path I am called down at this time. But I stand with them in solidarity and admiration.
I march today FOR the women and men of the Ferguson Police Department, the St. Louis County and City Police and all the police, judicial and governmental structures of our region. The Beloved Community includes them. The Beloved Community needs them. I march in deep, prayerful hope that the passionate conviction we have for justice will engage us all as partners in bringing the Beloved Community about.
I march today as the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, knowing that even though that title means far less than it did in days past (and in many ways that is good), that it still means something for the leader of this storied institution to stand as previous deans from Montgomery Schuyler through Michael Allen have, stand with the voices of the oppressed and affirming that in Christ, if one suffers, we all suffer.
Finally, and most important, I march today as a father. This is about our daughters and sons who are growing up black and brown in America. It is about their safety and even their very survival. I also march as a father because my son has chosen to march with me. He has seen what is happening in our streets. He has heard the voices and stories of those who have been abused and oppressed and his heart has gone out to them. He has shown his commitment by engaging in the nonviolent resistance training and expressed his deep desire to be a part of this action today. So mostly this day, I will be there as his father, proud to stand with him, and full of great hope that he and his generation will usher us more fully into that Beloved Community.
I beg your prayers. I welcome conversation. I urge you to join in bringing the Beloved Community to life.
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