Written by Don Byrd
If you attended the Religious Liberty Council luncheon, sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee at last week’s annual meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, you heard a powerful keynote speech by Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle, the President of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and a prolific author. The luncheon was held on June 19, the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, the end of slavery in America.
For those of us who missed it, the Internet fortunately has us covered. Video of Rev. McMickle’s address is online here.
The speech focused on religious liberty from the perspective of America’s troubled history of slavery. The intellectual and legal foundations for our soul freedom was being laid, he noted, by governments and institutions that participated in the slave trade. “Ironically, or maybe hypocritically,” the physical freedom of tens of millions of Africans was denied or ignored by many of those arguing for freedoms of conscience for themselves.
Below is an excerpt from the address (my transcript), beginning with which McMickle’s explanation of the “jaundiced view” many African-American clergy have of the separation of church and state as a result of that history.
It is because of the historic collaboration between the white church and white governments and the perpetuation of the suffering and exploitation – the state by its actions, and sadly the church by its silence. And today, while you continue to discuss religious liberty and the separation of church and state – and you should – I remind you of the “Letter From the Birmingham Jail,” written by Martin Luther King, Jr. to protest the segregation statutes in Alabama. But he didn’t write the letter because of that. He wrote the letter because he had received a letter from 8 members of the clergy in Birmingham telling him that his actions were wrong, and should not be engaged in.
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Many black clergy got involved in politics – not just as voters I mind you, but even as those who pursued public office – because they saw that the only way they could alter the course of history, so far as their struggle was concerned, was to put their hand on the levers of political power. But they did not do it because they wanted to use the work of the government in order to influence issues of sectarian interest. They were not trying to make sure they were good Baptists and everybody was being baptized, or everybody was taking communion in a certain way. They did not do it because of those reasons.
They did it for the reason that was given by Robert McAfee Brown, who said “they wanted to use politics as a means of grace.” Or, in the language of Anthony Pinn, “they wanted to let their religious sensibilities inform them in a way that could shape government policies for the welfare of the underprivileged.”
McMickle went on to challenge the audience of religious liberty advocates to make their voice heard, to not be silent, regarding government policies that disenfranchise minority voters.
What will you say about reduction in voting rights for African Americans? What will you say about limiting the program called Souls to the Polls, voting on Sunday? What will you say about no same-day registration? What will you say about voter ID laws designed to prevent voter fraud which does not exist? What will you say?
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While you are speaking on the separation of church and state and your interest in the matter of religious liberty, I invite you, I implore you, I encourage you to not continue the sound of silence on the issues of injustice and inequality that go on in this country almost undisturbed.
When it comes to church and state, McMickle suggested, separation must not mean silence. I agree. In fact, separation empowers the opposite: a robust, religiously diverse nation that is free to petition our government without fear or favor. It is a freedom we should not let go to waste.
McMickle’s address is only 20 minutes long. Watch the whole thing. And find out more about the Religious Liberty Council here.
