John Whitehead's Commentary

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To preach deliverance to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." --Jesus Christ

There are literally thousands of Bible verses that advocate helping the needy. However, these admonitions have largely fallen on deaf ears in the modern church. For example, although Christ told the church to care for the less fortunate and to be Good Samaritans, mainline Protestant churches even failed to speak out against oppression in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Obviously, the modern church has not learned from the Cold War experience. Indeed, when you enter a church today, you are likely to hear sermons praising George W. Bush, attacking Supreme Court judges or on the general politics of Washington. Rarely will you hear a sermon on the many breaches of human rights in our world beyond what is being done to Christians in places like the Sudan.

Recently, the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) addressed this problem with a critical analysis entitled "Human Rights Advocacy in the Mainline Protestant Churches." The report focused on the 2000-2003 resolutions of four denominations: the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The IRD also analyzed the 2000-2003 resolutions, press releases and articles from the U.S. National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Sadly, the findings of the report suggest that modern churches have fallen short in their ability to act on Christ's words: "Whatsoever you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me."

After analyzing the resolutions and press releases of the various churches, the IRD found 197 criticisms of human rights violations. Of these, 145 targeted abuses in free countries. This means that only 19 percent of the critiques by these mainline churches focused on countries that are not free. Thirty-seven percent of the criticisms were directed at Israel and 32 percent at the United States, with the remaining 31 percent focused on 20 other countries. However, the fact that two-thirds of the critiques were aimed at two free countries, which are not even included among the lists of the worst human rights violators, seems to suggest a lack of discernment on the part of our church leaders.

While it may seem understandable that churches located in the U.S. would focus on violations within the U.S., believing that they could effect the most change at home, it is also hard to explain why Israel received so much attention for its human rights violations, while Palestine and Israel's other neighbors were not targeted.

Even more troubling is the fact that only five of the fifteen worst offenders of human rights were criticized (Sudan, Burma, Laos, Cuba and Vietnam), while ten other countries in the report, including such human rights abusers as China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia, were not critiqued at all.

However, the church has a biblical responsibility to defend those who are helpless. By focusing solely on Israel and the United States, they have turned their backs on many who are suffering in this world. The plight of those in China, Saudi Arabia and North Korea went unmentioned. How can people calling themselves Christians allow their fellow human beings to live under oppression and without basic human rights? The book of Proverbs proclaims, "Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy." Yet the mainline church has remained silent regarding these injustices.

The Christian church has misplaced its priorities. The current obsession with politics has led it astray. Moreover, as theologian Francis Schaeffer once wrote, the church seems to major in being behind. For example, the abuses in Iraq were criticized only after they became a heated topic in American politics. Likewise, some churches condemned the atrocities taking place in Sudan only after they became a popular cause for advocates both on the right and the left. And as a New York Times editorial recently pointed out, while "religious conservatives have made their presence felt in so many other parts of the Bush administration, ...they have been strangely quiet about [the military's practice of using women soldiers as sexual foils in interrogations of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib detainees.]" Christians should not wait for issues to become popular in politics before speaking out against injustice, whether it takes place here at home or abroad.

When Christ was questioned by his executioners, he clearly said that his kingdom was not of this world. Neither is it to be for those who profess to be his followers. In fact, the focus, as the IRD's report reminds us, should be on defending those who cannot help themselves.

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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