In light of yesterday’s protests due to the corruption issues that came to light in the last few weeks, I’m posting here a portion of the small group material I wrote for Victory and Every Nation Leadership Institute (ENLI) few years ago. You can download the whole booklet here:
Proverbs 31:8-9 (ESV)
8 Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Is it ever right for Christians to protest?
That’s a big question hounding believers today. Some say that Christians are only supposed to focus on the gospel and spiritual matters. They should not meddle with political issues, let alone get involved in protesting government policies. Others argue that if an issue involves the poor and the marginalized, then Christians should take action as a matter of conscience. Where should the church stand?
Tucked away towards the end of the book of Proverbs, in between the exhortation against drinking and the long description of the virtuous woman, are two social imperatives: to speak out for those who can’t speak for themselves and to defend the rights of the poor and needy.
This text has a chilling historical consequence. Years before World War II, the German church was already aware of some of the misguided attempts to theologize the superiority of Aryan blood over Jewish blood. Christian leaders and the church in general were mostly silent. When Hitler passed into law what would become the legal instrument to kill millions of people, the church still hadn’t found her voice. Except for the scant brave souls who spoke up and paid dearly for their courage (like Bonhoeffer and the Confessing church), history would forever remember the silence of Christians at a time when their voice was needed in the public square. In the aftermath of the war, the German church belatedly reflected back on Proverbs 31:8–9 and realized how they had been complicit to the atrocities of the Nazis simply by keeping silent.1
Is it ever right for Christians to protest? Yes. When people’s lives are on the line, when the poor and the marginalized are deprived of justice, when government policies have no regard for the weak and powerless, the people of God must raise their voices to speak out for those who can’t speak for themselves and to defend the cause of the poor. This is what we broadly call protesting.
One reason protesting gets bad press among Christians is it is almost always associated with public demonstrations that disrupt peace and order. That is not always the case. According to sociologists, there are at least 198 ways to peacefully and respectfully protest.2 It could be as simple as registering your disagreement about a government policy, letting your congressman know of your position on a new bill, or speaking out about the need for stricter laws on child trafficking.
Sometimes, a protest can take the form of a private civil disobedience as in the case of the Hebrew midwives who refused to kill baby boys at birth (Exodus 1:15–22). At other times, it involves courageously putting yourself at risk for the sake of the thousands who could die if you don’t do something, as in the case of Esther (Esther 4:12–17).
The question is not whether Christians should protest. Our commitment to biblical righteousness and justice in the public square demands that we speak out and defend the rights of the marginalized when necessary. The real question is how to protest in a way that is consistent with the Christian gospel that we preach to the world.
- Protest when disobedience to God is decreed. See Daniel 3:16-18 and Acts 5:27-29.
When Nebuchadnezzar set up a large golden image in Babylon and decreed that everyone should bow down to it when certain music was played, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego privately refused to obey the king’s order. Idolatry is a violation of the second commandment so the three Hebrew men refused to participate—even if it meant death for them. Curiously, they didn’t tell anyone of their resolve not to worship the idol. The king only knew about it because certain Chaldeans brought the matter to the king. Notice at least three things here:
First, not all of our disagreement with government policies have to become public. Some people protest against every single thing the government does that don’t align with what they want. That’s an exhausting way to participate in the politics of the nation.
Second, when your silent protest gets the attention of the public, be ready to stand by your convictions. Some issues are worth dying for; others are not. Pick your protest.
Third, maintain respect and honor. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s concern was a matter of religious conviction. They respectfully stated their case to the king without personally antagonizing him. When they were saved from the furnace, the king eventually acknowledged God and became an ally to their faith.
Something similar happened to Peter and the apostles in Acts 5. After having been arrested for preaching Jesus in the previous chapter, Peter and his companions were arrested again. Just as in the previous arrest, they argued that they would rather obey God than men. Their dissent against the highest religious authority of Judea springs from their commitment to God. Acts 5 ends with the apostles getting beaten but instead of backing down they rejoiced in their participation in the sufferings of Christ and continued preaching anyway. - Protest when the defenseless are in danger. See Esther 4:13-14.
When King Ahasuerus, at the instigation of Haman, issued a decree to annihilate the Jews in all of the Medo-Persian empire, the lives of Esther, Mordecai, and thousands of others were in peril. Haman’s accusation was not true. He told the king that the Jews do not keep the king’s law so it is not in the king’s best interests to tolerate them (Esther 3:8). In reality, he just had a personal animosity with the Jews (Haman was a descendant of Agag from 1 Kings 15) and he hated Mordecai’s impertinence because he would not bow to him (Esther 3:1–6). Mordecai pleaded with Esther to make an appeal to the king on behalf of the people. They would all be killed if no one were to take up their cause and bring the matter to the king. When Esther did this she put herself in harm’s way but her action eventually saved thousands of Jews across the vast Medo-Persian empire. - Protest peacefully. See 1 Kings 18:3-4
Not all protests are disruptive. Non-violent resistance is a form of protest. So is holding placards, making speeches, or performing art and poetry to communicate a message about a cause or a perceived injustice. The whole point is to get your message across without violence or instigation of public disorder.
This is precisely what Obadiah did. Although he served under Ahab and Jezebel’s murderous regime, he made an underground operation of saving, hiding, and sustaining a hundred of Yahweh’s prophets. On the outside he was keeping peace; on the inside he was protesting the death of Yahweh’s prophets. Obadiah’s actions teach us that it is possible to silently protest against evil regimes in order to avoid more bloodshed. - Protest to bring accountability. See Acts 16:35-38
After Paul and Silas preached the gospel at Philippi and freed a slave girl from a spirit of divination, the slave owners dragged the two into the marketplace, accused them of disturbing the city, instigated the mob to attack and beat them, and threw them into prison. What they didn’t know was that Paul was a Roman citizen. According to Roman law, a Roman citizen could not be beaten and imprisoned without trial. Government officials who do this could lose their positions. By refusing to be freed quietly, Paul was calling the officials to account. He wanted them to publicly recognize the injustice that happened under their watch.
Protesting could sometimes look like this. It is not to shame, insult, or disparage the people in power but to call them to account and demand that they dispense their duty to the public in a just manner. In other words, this kind of protesting is asking the people in government to honor and fulfill their duty to the people they have sworn to serve. - Remember that protesting is just one of several options. See Ps. 139:19-24.
Psalm 139 is a very good place to conclude our discussion on protesting. When we look at the political landscape of our nation, it is tempting to fall into despair or outrage. David felt the same. When he thought about evil people, he wished that God would just go ahead and slay them. He even admitted that he loathed them and hated them with complete hatred. But how he concluded his psalm is instructive for all of us. Instead of lashing out, he turned to prayer and asked God to search his heart. What if all the anger he felt was an indicator that something is wrong inside of him? This is a good question to ask ourselves, too.
While protesting is complex, one thing that should stand out in our Christian minds is that this is just one of the many things we can do to build the nation. Our civic involvement should never start with protesting but with community building, voting, campaigning for our advocacies, attending community hearings, and so on. When something controversial comes up, part of our civic duty is to fight disinformation and get our facts straight. Then as believers of Jesus, we bring the matter to God in prayer so that whatever action we take later, whether we write to our congressman, keep silent, or join a protest, our public witness is not tainted with partisan political agenda but with a genuine concern for righteousness and justice.
- Gutteridge, Richard. Open Thy Mouth for the Dumb! : The German Evangelical Church and the Jews 1879-1950. Oxford: Blackwell, 1976; Stott, John R. W. Human Rights and Human Wrongs: Major Issues for a New Century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1999; Davis, Andrew. How Do You Kill 11 Million People? : Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2020.
↩︎ - Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Non-Violent Action. Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher, 2012.
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Jojo Agot 