Silent Clergy - No New Thing

In the swirling debate over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero, some have wondered why Muslim clerics have been so silent. Why is it, they muse, that these religious leaders have not said more to quell the anger and anti-American sentiment coming from young Muslims who view the opposition to the building of the mosque as justification for their hatred of America and Americans?

The question is almost amusing. Religious leaders throughout history have been notably quiet when situations have cried out for a voice of righteousness in the wilderness. Few, if any, religious leaders spoke out against the interment of the Japanese following World War II. Religious leaders all over the world were largely silent as Hitler wreaked havoc during the Nazi era. American clergy were quiet - or were on the side of slave-owners in America's history, a fact, I am afraid, that has contributed to the stagnant American infection called racism.

There are very few prophetic clergy, people who understand a God who demands justice and love and forgiveness. It seems that far too many clergy are more worried about their status in the world than they are with their relationship to God.

I once interviewed Evangelist Billy Graham and asked him why he did not preach against racism. He could change the world, I said to him with youthful fervor and idealism. Why didn't he DO SOMETHING? Rev. Graham merely looked at me and said, "The problem of racism will not go away until we begin to have each other in each others' homes."

His answer was disappointing. This was THE man of God for many. Were they to hear it from his lips that treating people badly or differently because of who they were or how they looked was not pleasing to God, the world would be different.

I later learned that Mr. Graham risked relationships as he allowed Rev. Martin Luther King on the platform during some of his crusades, but I do not remember hearing him preach against racism. Maybe I missed those sermons.

My point is that religious leaders, while espousing faith, rarely show the faith needed to speak out against strong, rabid and sometimes dangerous opposition, and be clear, it does take faith. Clergy who speak out against the status quo are not heroes in the eyes of people, but I wonder why it is clergy are not more concerned about how they appear in the eyes of God?

This silence on the part of clergy means that instead of being voices in the wilderness, they are roadblocks to people trying to get out of the wilderness.

If ever the world needed a cadre of ministers who embrace the God talked about, it is now. Perhaps the Muslim imams should speak out against the Muslim youth who are hating America openly, espousing violence. But perhaps more American clergy should also be speaking out about how God would not endorse burning Korans (as proposed by the pastor of a mega church in Florida) or stabbing a Muslim just because he is a Muslim...or hating Muslims because they are Muslim. The tendency of humans is to be divisive; the work of clergy ought to be to shout out the truth that the God we serve urges and demands cooperation and unity, resulting in a world where we know that "all God's children got shoes."

Rev. Dr. Susan K Smith is the pastor of Advent United Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. She is the author of four books, the latest being "Crazy Faith: Ordinary People; Extraordinary Lives" published by Judson Press in 2009 and winner of a National Book Award. She graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and received her M.Div from Yale Divinity School. She was a Proctor Fellow at United Theological Seminary where she received her D.Min and was a board member of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, a group which works with churches across the country to help them address issues of social justice. She is a blogger on the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/susan_k_smith and also authors "Candid Observations" at http://www.cassady2euca.wordpress.com