Reject Political Violence & Embrace The Way of Non Violent Political Participation

"We were one inch away from a national crisis. It shows the power of one person. One person can change the entire direction of a nation. That ought to give us pause about what we're doing with our lives. What would it actually look like if we thought we could make a difference in a positive way instead of a negative way." - Dennis Rouse, Founding Pastor Victory World Church

The recent tragic assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the murder of Corey Comperatorec, and the injury of several others is evil and wrong.

I'm glad Trump is healthy and alive. I'm grateful for the universal condemnation of this lawless attempt to deepen our societal spiral of tragedy.

I'm also saddened by the death and suffering created by the shooter in this situation and the challenges injected into our political context.

This is a situation where we all lose. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, violence begets violence.

"...the ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it" - Martin Luther King Jr.

As much as violence has been a part of our country's story, we ought to follow the model of the early church which upended the powerful Rome NOT with violence but with LOVE.

This is an inflection point where we now have an opportunity to make things better. We can ramp up the violent rhetoric or we can stop using it all together (while encouraging those in our tribe to do the same).

We Christians should lead the way because we are to have faith in redemption and reconciliation, even with our enemies. Jesus died for us, his enemies, to redeem us. We can choose to love and reach out to our enemies from this place of gratitude.

Even when we face enemies who would verbally insult us, physically assault us, or cause our death, we ought not to respond in kind. As Jesus said to those crucifying him, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Ronald Reagan inspirationally modeled this approach after surviving an assassination attempt in the 80s.

"Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less & less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn't ask for God's help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn't that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God's children & therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold."

Our role is to take responsibility and absorb (forgive) this cycle of retaliation — rejecting our right to revenge — so that we may not perpetuate the cycle but bring about healing.

"Responsible leadership will be required in the days ahead, and we must do more to disincentivize voices of discord, anger, and fear." - Michal Wear

In this moment of escalated tension in American society, where there is widespread violent rhetoric and actual violence, it's a critical moment for us to revisit the amazing example and model of Martin Luther King Jr. Informed by his faith and inspired by the examples of others, MLK Jr. approaches the resistance to oppression through nonviolent tactics based on love.

"King’s notion of nonviolence had six key principles. First, one can resist evil without resorting to violence.

Second, nonviolence seeks to win the “friendship and understanding” of the opponent, not to humiliate him (King, Stride, 84).

Third, evil itself, not the people committing evil acts, should be opposed.

Fourth, those committed to nonviolence must be willing to suffer without retaliation as suffering itself can be redemptive.

Fifth, nonviolent resistance avoids “external physical violence” and “internal violence of spirit” as well: “The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him” (King, Stride, 85). The resister should be motivated by love in the sense of the Greek word agape, which means “understanding,” or “redeeming good will for all men” (King, Stride, 86).

The sixth principle is that the nonviolent resister must have a “deep faith in the future,” stemming from the conviction that “The universe is on the side of justice” (King, Stride, 88)." 

As Americans, and Christians this is our model for political change even in the face of corrupt opposition. We are not to sacrifice truth and goodness for the outcome, otherwise, we become no different than the enemies we fight against.

For us to change things require we change. This requires that we take responsibility for the toxic soup we're now operating inside.

"While I applaud the condemnation of political violence today - the reality is violence doesn't happen in one moment. This isn't 'random'. We are swimming in a toxic soup of grievance, anger, constant outrage and fear -- this milieu directly contributes to people concluding that violence is somehow justified. We have to be pushing back against this every day - not just on the day of or days after the violence occurs." - Elizabeth Neumann

With this tragic assassination attempt on Trump, everyone loses. Two people are now dead, one a hero and the other the villain. Both are children of God.

If we care about people, we'll reject political violence and embrace the way of democratic means and nonviolent resistance that honors the dignity of people so that we have no more casualties to this escalation.

Let us hope and pray that this is a moment that changes us for the better.

Additional Resources

• Watch: What the Lord's Prayer is All About