This week a group of Bridge St. UC folk went to see the film The Butler. We were reminded of the cost of the Civil Rights Movement for those who participated in protests. Often they were beaten, attacked by dogs, jailed, even killed. Why were they willing to pay this price? They believed in the cause of justice and equality for all.
I have asked before whether readers have ever been involved in protest walks or demonstrations and a number had. I have been part of quite low-key demonstrations for peace, and against war (Iraq), an incinerator, violence against women. An introvert, I have felt rather awkward and on display, but these were hardly occasions of civil disobedience. I was never even remotely in danger and I certainly wasn't arrested.
The film and a couple of thought-provoking pieces in Orion magazine caused me to wonder if I would ever "go the distance" for my planet home. The integrity and health of the environment are in grave danger because of human activity, thereby also threatening human wellbeing, but would I be willing to be incarcerated for a better outcome?
Sandra Steingraber went to jail for ten days for trespassing at a natural gas compressor station site near her home. She is hardly a wild-eyed radical but she isn't willing to be passive when it comes to issues of health. She has written books such as Living Downstream. About her arrest and jail time she offers:
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is like planned parenthood. The second word in the phrase doesn’t exactly align with the first one. You search your conscience. You reach a decision. You make preparations. You talk about your decision and your preparations in meaningful ways to all concerned. And then comes the time for action. You leave the condom in the drawer.
Or you refuse the deputy’s third order to get off the driveway. (The one owned by the nation’s largest natural-gas storage and transport company. The one the truck with the massive drill head strapped to its flatbed wants to drive on. Right now.)
The other article wonders aloud whether religious types are more willing to chain themselves to fences for causes such as pipelines and climate change while scientists are more inclined to study the data and report.
Would and has your faith motivated you to engage in risky "unprotected" behaviour as a protester? Would you ever be willing to cool your heels in the hoosgow for a few days in order to protect an endangered creature or space? Is Christianity rooted in the non-violent civil disobedience of Jesus? If so, why are we so well behaved?
I think the non-religious are more likely to stick their necks out for such actions - they can't be bothered sitting around figuring out what a passage means, or how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or worrying aout whether or not they are "really saved", etc - they see an injustice, to people, or to our earth, and they get to the point , and protest.
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