Resist now or regret later

by Rabbi Nancy Kasten

People of conscience live with a perpetual sense of inadequacy. We should use less water. We should drive and fly less. We want to stop buying from Amazon. We need to put more pressure on elected officials to provide more resources for people who need them. 

But now there is a fierce urgency to do more. Authoritarianism is taking over our country at the expense of our safety, health, and freedoms. What can we do to stop it?

Historically there has only been one way an authoritarian regime has been replaced democratically and non-violently: when ordinary people refuse to comply. And at a time when elected officials seek to divide us from each other, stripping one group after another of fundamental freedoms and undermining our shared humanity, people of faith play a crucial role in bringing communities together to dissent and desist.

In times of crisis like the one we are in now, faith communities can help individuals and groups realize that they are being called to be courageous, and that they are not alone. In faith communities we should feel called to assess our behaviors, narratives, and belief systems honestly, and to hold them up to the mirror of our core values. Faith communities can build resolve to resist a corrupt authority. 

They can and they should do these things. But they cede their power when they frame resistance as inappropriate or divisive.

Imagine you’re in an airport and you see a ticking bomb. You grab a security guard, who says, “Don’t worry. We have it under control.” You watch for a while and the bomb is still there, untouched. Other people begin to notice the bomb. They, too, go to security to alert them. Security is now irritated. They say, “Just go to your gate. This has nothing to do with you.” People continue to pass by. Some say, “If security knows about it and it’s still there, it must not be dangerous. Others think, “It’s probably not even a bomb.” Most people hustle to their gates, praying that their flights will take off soon. 

But a growing murmur of concern rises from the group who remains. They ask one another: Does anyone know anything about bombs? Is there a safe way to dismantle it? Should we try to move it to a location where it won’t hurt anyone if it goes off? Some respond, “Touching it is too risky. Let’s wait until the next security shift comes in. They will take care of it.” Others say, “By then it may be too late. We need to do something now.”

Who do you want to be in this scenario? If you are a member of a faith community, what do you want that community to do? The ticking bomb of authoritarianism has already been triggered in this country. The Department of Justice and other formerly independent executive agencies are beholden to the President, not to Congress or to the American people. Convicted White Nationalists, Christian Supremacists, and leaders of hate groups and independent right-wing militias have been pardoned and freed from their sentences. Meanwhile law-abiding, non-violent protesters have been deemed terrorists, detained, convicted, and even murdered without so much as a hearing. Military interventions are superseding civilian law enforcement so as to achieve the President’s detention and deportation goals. It is increasingly likely that the President will deploy the military to interfere in the upcoming elections as well. This is not hyperbole. This is America today.