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Introduction

I am the rest between two notes,

which are somehow always in discord

because death’s note wants to climb over –

but in the dark interval, reconciled,

They stay here trembling.

And the song goes on, beautiful.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, from Book of Hours

(translated by Robert Bly)

It is hard to imagine the American civil rights movement, or any social progress over the last century, without the involvement of religious groups like African-American churches, the American Jewish community, or Mainline Protestant and Catholic Christian activists. A recent report by the Brookings Institution reminds us of the role of economic justice among faith communities. It says,

Throughout American history, religious voices have been raised, forcefully and often bravely, on behalf of social reform. The movement against slavery was animated by the witness of Americans who were inspired by their faith. In the late 19th Century, young men and women witnessing on behalf of the Gospel’s call for service to the poor entered the nation’s slums and began work in Settlement Houses. Many of them sparked the rise of the Progressive movement.1

Some of us still remember the “Nuns on the Bus” who preached on behalf of the poor and the marginalized and played a central role in the 2012 presidential election, or Moral Mondays organized by Rev. William Barber to protest government voter suppression in North Carolina.

While religious progressives have participated in and led social change and human rights movements, popular understanding of religion in the public arena recalls the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and Tea Party religious conservatives who have become integral to the Republican Party platform. Many in the religious right have become steadily angrier about what they see as a growing secularism that undermines the Christian roots of American heritage. They think secularism warped Christianity and that the culture-at-large yokes the name of Jesus to ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that would have appalled him. Secularism, in their mind, is an irrational and illogical form of liberal fundamentalism that wants to undermine and destroy Christianity.2 One result of the persistent voice of the religious right is the perception that one Christian point of view alone plays a powerful role in the Conversations of issues that roil our society.

Religious social movements have not enjoyed the same valence with Democrats and progressives. When it comes to liberal religious voices in progressive policy initiatives there is ambivalence at best, and exclusion at worst. Ignoring or excluding diverse religious voices may lead to the peril of the very programs policy makers try to enact. Along with Gallup polling indicating a growing social liberalism in America,3 a study by Public Religion Research says that religious progressives already make up 28 percent of the Democratic party — this in addition to 42 percent that are religious moderates. These trends will grow as the so-called Millennial Generation ages and begins to vote in greater numbers. When it comes to economic issues, religious progressives are more passionate than other liberals about eradicating income inequality.4

Why is there is a disconnection between social and religious progressivism? It is partly because many people treat faith and religion as a private matter. It is also because the religious left feels silenced by the aggressive, unapologetic way in which the religious right delineates “true” Christians from “false” or un-Christian. And partly, perhaps, it is because religious progressives sense the danger of seeming superior and self-congratulatory in their professions of faith. While often aligned towards the same vision and values, social and religious progressives are, to borrow Rilke’s words, two notes which are somehow always in discord.

Both social and religious notes are essential if we want to further a progressive agenda that creates equity and compassion, restores the dignity of all people, and ensures the full participation of all Americans in common life, common wealth, and the common good. This book explores the intersections of those seemingly discordant movements. Each chapter is an interpretive vehicle to help us explore and apply texts. Our “texts” are not just from religious sources like the Bible. Texts include all sources of meaning-making like personal history, racial and cultural constructs, educational status, class assumptions, economic opportunity (or lack thereof), political perspectives, and so on. We are all interpreters of personal and community texts. Each chapter represents a way of asking, “How do our texts speak to us? How do we make meaning from them?”

This book also asks, “What do we bring to the reading of our various texts?” When it comes to the spaces between religion and social activism, is there coherence which may be deemed acceptable by social progressives and the religious left? The hoped-for outcome is that we can together read our diverse texts and interpret them in ways that demonstrate compassionate justice.

This book also explores the intersections of another set of discordant notes: the overlapping space between contemplative action and active contemplation. Along the journey of community transformation, religious sources help us hold both active and passive expressions of life and faith in balance. Community transformation requires active, tireless action as we confront the realities of exploitation, dehumanization, and suffering. Such confrontations can be painful, because they require a level of honesty about humanity’s death-dealing ways. Growing awareness takes courage as we relinquish our biases and reunite dualistic perceptions. We are transformed by a mutual loving encounter in two dimensions: active effort and passive receptivity; works of compassionate justice balanced by open accessibility; insistent love tempered by the capacity to be loved in return. I call this “spiritual activism.”

Spiritual activism is a breath … a heartbeat … a rhythm. We exhale, go into the world, and do the works of compassionate justice. We also know that we will not get it right the first time around. So, we gather back together and breathe in. We listen. We receive. We refine our approach. When we realize we cannot stay in our comfort zone continually, we exhale and head back out into our communities. We feed and house the poor. We clothe the naked. We visit the prisoners. We help those who live on the margins of our communities. We act together. And then we draw together to dream and listen for the breath of the Transcendent. Only then do we engage the community again. We act and then we listen. We move and then we pause. We progress and then we become still. Transformation comes in breath, heartbeat, and rhythm. It is passive and active.

Each chapter of this book explores a theme of spiritual activism which has caused discord between faith and civic engagement. At the end of each chapter you will find three opportunities to explore the space between the “texts.” First, there are conversation questions for personal reflection and group study. Second, there are ideas for contemplative action. Third, there are some thoughts for active contemplation.

The reflections in this book mention statistics and social trends that were up-to-date for publication. While referencing data may erode the enduring relevance of this book, citing contemporary facts about the issues is crucial. We face the same problem with Web citations. Information on Webpages at the time of writing is accurate, but we know that digital locations change. Even though the data might shift from year to year, I am confident that the subjects raised in this book will continue to be relevant to future spiritual activists who seek to engage America’s social challenges through faith-filled action.

This book is about reclaiming the dynamic movements of faith in social action. We will explore some principles for spiritual activism that seek transformation in the doing, the waiting, and the rests between discordant notes.

1 E.J Dionne Jr., William A. Galston, Korin Davis, Ross Tilchin, “Faith in Equality: Economic Justice and the Future of Religious Progressives” (Washington D.C.: Brookings, 2014), 6-7.

2 For example, see David Robertson, "Comment: New Secularism Is an Attempt to Undermine and Destroy Christianity,” Christianity Today (May 19, 2014), http://www.christiantoday.com/article/comment.new.secularism.is.an.attempt.to.undermine.and.destroy.christianity/37537.htm.

3 Jeffery Jones, “On Social Ideology, the Left Catches Up to the Right” (Gallup, May 21, 2015), http://www.gallup.com/poll/183386/social-ideology-left-catches-right.aspx?utm_source=Politics&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles.

4 Jack Jenkins, “The Rise of the Religious Left: Religious Progressives Will Soon Outnumber Conservatives,” Think Progress (July 19, 2013), http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/07/19/2324411/the-rise-of-the-religious-left-religious-progressives-will-soon-outnumber-conservatives.