While sleeping in a youth hostel in Lausanne, Switzerland (March 2006), I dreamt of a just society. Here is what I saw:
In the dream, I was standing outside an international summit that reminded me of the G-8 meetings. The punk band, Greenday, showed up with smirks on their faces, announcing that they had planned a little surprise. Suspicious that they might be preparing to incite something a little overboard and destructive, I shared the following thoughts with them:
The Relationship between Protestors and Lobbyists
There is an important relationship among activists whereby
protesters and lobbyists must work together for the maximum good. If
the protestors outside and the lobbyists inside work in tandem, we see
maximum gains for a given cause (e.g. making poverty history). The
protestors are responsible to create public awareness and grassroots
support which leverages the lobbyists to secure the best deals in the
board room or at the negotiation table. In this scenario, the
protestors’ job is to acquire as many chips as possible for the
lobbyists to use. Thus, the protestor is not merely expressing anger at
the system—they are called to “work the public.” They can potentially
sabotage their own cause if they self-marginalize themselves as
extremists OR they can create a mass movement that fills city squares
and shows in the polls.
If this symbiosis breaks down—if the protestors treat the lobbyists as sell-outs or if the lobbyists regard the protestors as
extremists—both public support and negotiating leverage dwindles. This
especially happens whenever the establishment side can point at violent
protests as evidence that the cause itself is marginal and extremist.
It is essential that protest groups and political lobbyists see the
importance of their relationship and harness the symbiosis rather than
distancing themselves from one another. They must not merely co-exist,
but coordinate efforts for the sake of maximizing social justice.
Bono has straddled these worlds, working both the crowds (with a positive protest that broadens public support) but also working the power brokers inside the summits. He has found a way to lobby that harnesses the public pressure he was able to create.
The Church / State Relationship in a Just Society
At this point in the dream, I turned my thoughts from Bono to Benedict XVI, whose first encyclical outlines a powerful approach to church / state relationships in advancing social justice. As in the above example, the church and state each have a role, whereby the church acts as prophet to the state (as king).
The church must not come to social justice with an agenda to take over the nation by building a Christian legislative majority in congress, senate, or parliament with the hope of legislating Christian morality. Even if this were successful, we would see the empire co-opt the church rather than visa versa (replicating the tragedy of Constantine’s Empire in the modern Dominion movement). However, far from being successful, such agendas are transparent, create backlash, and marginalizes the church.
On the other hand, if the church will be a voice of moral influence in the land, and create public awareness of what is truly just and right, as well as cleanse the conscience of those in power, then the government’s response is to respond to the people and legislate accordingly. In this case, the church must have a credible voice in the land (showing the populace what compassionate justice looks like) and in the government (because they must rule justly).
As above, both parties can coordinate efforts for social justice, but this does not work if we treat ourselves to the other’s role or regard one another as the evil leader or the extreme fundamentalist. Again, I look to Bono’s example, who straddles the fence between the church (as prophetic protestor) and the state (as political lobbyist). When the two work together, separate but cooperative, a just society is possible.
Again, the church and state are not meant to be opponents: the church not only addresses the state, but becomes a transformative agent in the public so that it can build a consensus that forcefully (yet non-violently) informs the executive (leading, for example, to the collapse of communism) and the legislature (leading, for example, to universal health care)… not just because the church demands it, but because the transformed culture asks for it.
At this point, I woke up. I'm not sure if Greenday appreciated my sermon, but I realized that the next day I would be flying to Munich, where Greenday played for Live-8... so that's pretty cool.
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