Dallas clergy, reeling from the shootings of police in their city and
the recent shootings of black men by police elsewhere, say they will
start responding with prayer and then move to advocating for concrete
societal changes in the aftermath of the tragedies.
“Faith leaders now have a responsibility to say we’re going to pray
with our feet until real structural change happens in this country,”
said the Rev. Frederick Haynes, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church
in Dallas.
Haynes, who leads a predominantly black megachurch, joined thousands at
a midday prayer service in the city’s Thanks-Giving Square Friday (July
8).
But he said he realizes such gatherings are not sufficient in the eyes
of young people who have been calling for change. Their peaceful
protests of the recent deaths of black men in St. Paul, Minn., and Baton
Rogue, La., at the hands of police came just before the violent attacks
in Dallas that left five police officers dead.
On Sunday, Haynes plans to host a “community conversation” led by the
young protesters to discuss advocacy for changes to “redo policing,”
including reviews of hiring practices and mental health care for law
enforcement.
“Policing in America of black and brown communities is the front lines
of a war that we feel that is undeclared on black and brown bodies that
take place every day in this country,” Haynes said.
The Rev. George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, a mostly
white congregation, joined Haynes at the community prayer service and in
an op-ed in The Dallas Morning News urging solidarity “because every
act of coming together is another stitch in the torn fabric of our
community.”
Mason said members of the interracial and interreligious networks that
already exist in Dallas have started to determine the next steps for
their work in light of the tragedies — but he said transformation is
needed not only in local communities but across the nation.
“We know we have a problem that needs to be addressed but we don’t have
a problem with all black people or all white people or all law
enforcement people,” he said. “We have a problem of how to address a
continuing lingering problem of racial prejudice and profiling that
comes out in moments of extraordinary stress and pressure and then how
to respond better in the wake of it.”
Other Dallas religious leaders are also calling for moving beyond prayer to greater action to foster unity.
“One of the real tragedies today is that the church as a whole has
failed to advance God’s kingdom light, equity, love and principles in
our land in order to be a positive influence and impact for good in the
midst of darkness, fear and hate,” said Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship
Pastor Tony Evans. “We must do better.”
Courtesy: Religion News Service
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