Nationwide protest movements occupy thoughts of GA luncheon guests
By Jason P. Reagan, The Layman, July 13, 2012
PITTSBURGH, PA. — The fine line between religion and politics occupied the thoughts of some Presbyterians during a July 2 luncheon focusing on the Occupy movement.
The luncheon, an unofficial event held in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 220th General Assembly, drew about 30 ministers, laypeople, PCUSA staff and board members of the hosting agency, the Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), to the basement of the historic Smithfield United Church of Christ.
Event leaders led participants in a roundtable discussion about their experiences and theological opinions of the Occupy movement.
Launched in 2011, the decentralized protest movement claims to oppose social and economic inequality with many protests claiming that corporations and the global financial system have too much control and influence in democracy and economics.
“I find it profound that there is no leader,” PHEWA president Bebb Wheeler Stone, adding that once a movement identifies a leader, it becomes much easier to pigeon-hole the group and to look down on them.
According to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, six in 10 Americans have no opinion or don’t know enough about the movement’s goals to form an opinion about it.
Participant Larry Carlton, who has taken part in an Occupy protest, said evangelical churches deserve some criticism for being what he called “supportive of the wealthy and the well connected.”
“That’s where I’ve had my biggest problem. Jesus wasn’t born in a manor but a manger,” he said. “We’re Presbyterians. We stay silent. We’re not on the forefront. We’re not speaking.”
Sarah McKinney agreed, adding that, in her experience, there is disconnection between “what is shown on TV [of the Occupy movement] and what is really going on.”
She said that images of police confrontations or footage of the most radical protestors often scare church members from getting involved.
“They’re afraid to even show up … afraid their opinion will be misunderstood,” she said. She encouraged pastors and other church leaders to not be afraid of being accused of taking a political stand.
Meeting moderator and PHEWA vice president John R. Scotland responded to one of the perceived criticisms of the Occupy movement: that the movement lacks a specific agenda or solutions.
“Part of the message is the whole thing is broken,” he said.
Support for the Occupy movement has been officially endorsed by some PCUSA officials.
On July 28, 2011, the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, director of the PCUSA’s Office of Public Witness was, along with several others, arrested during an Occupy protest in Washington D.C. after the group ignored requests by police to leave the Capitol Rotunda.
Nelson later urged other Presbyterians to join the protest. “One of the things I am convinced of is that faith has a role to play in the leadership of these movements,” Nelson said.
Presbyterian minister Brian Merritt officiated the wedding of two women on March 2 at an Occupy D.C. “campsite” in Washington D.C.
Some Presbyterians, however, aren’t as enchanted with the movement after experiencing its darker side.
In January, West Park Presbyterian Church evicted 60 Occupy Wall Street protestors who had been sleeping in the church after the bronze lid of the church’s baptismal font disappeared.
“I, in my upset, talked about the fact that even in the 1980s when we had a lot of crack addicts etc. in the neighborhood, and even robbing people in the church, that particular religious symbol had never really been disturbed before,” Brashear told CBC News.