Are we human or are we beast?

I preached a sermon a few weeks ago that put forward my belief that one of the central questions in the Bible was whether we are human or beast?  Pharaoh uses the language of the "beast" to show his ethnocentrism and justify the killing of Hebrew children.  If he does not do so, he justifies, they will become like "a swarm" upon the earth and make war upon

us and defeat us.  Seen in that mythology is an undercurrent of fear that has no knowledge of another people (a Pharaoh arose in the land who did not know Joseph).  Pharaoh could never expect these "other" people to act in a "human" or humane way if they ever held power.  So, before they get us, we best be getting them.  

That "swarm" language is used repetitively in one of the Genesis creation stories to not only indicate God's creative will for humankind (and therefore Pharaoh's opposition to God's will) but also used over and over again to connote something animal, beastly, and not human.  I googled the plight of unaccompanied children at the border and saw how many articles used the word "swarm" to talk about these children.  The word "invasion" was also used.  As the correspondent on "The Daily Show" reminded Mr. Gilchrist over and over again, in his use of terms, "children . . . invading."  He let Gilchrist sit in the uncomfortable silence of pairing those two words:  "children . . .invading."  There is the undercurrent of fear, no matter how defenseless.  We have to convey that this "swarm" will somehow commit inhuman acts against so that we can justify treating them inhumanely.  

The Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, use Pharaoh's prejudice against him in saving Hebrew babies.  The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptians (humans).  They give birth like animals so that we never arrive on time to kill the Hebrew children.  Yep, those babies just pop right out.  


Are we human or are we beast?  Is our neighbor human or beast?  Is the person not like us human or beast?

On this date back in 1971, the Attica prison rebellion began.  Fifty percent of the inmates were African-American.  One hundred percent of the guards were white.  Sound familiar?  Elliott L.D. Barkley gave a speech out of the rebellion which stated.  "We are men.  We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such."  I remember how the police used "beastly" language to justify their brutalization of Rodney King.  This is who we, in the white community, think African-American people are and, in our fear that they will not be human or humane if they are in charge or even equal, we do barbaric, inhumane, and horrific things to the African-American community.  The white community does the same things to the Native American peoples.  And to the undocumented community.  It is wrong, sinful, and evil.  

Lisa Sharon Harper, Senior Director of Marketing for Sojourners magazine recently wrote a column for Rachel Held Evans' blog (a gifted writer in her own right) remembering that it has been a month since Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, Missouri.  

Harper's whole article is not only worth reading but something that calls for action and transformation of the white community.  Though I'm not so certain I agree with the "dominion theology" offered by Harper, her point about white dominion is something that should lead to white repentance.  Now.  She referenced an article she had recently written for Christianity Today in which she said, point blank, "White people alone are fully human.  In most crass terms--they were created to exercise dominion over everyone else."

Inevitably, then, the next conclusion is not said but is self-evident by how we enforce that creed:  "Black people are not fully human.  In most crass terms--they are animals."  And the natural conclusion then is that they cannot lead and are worthy of all the violence the white community visits upon them.  If you need any evidence of both these mythologies and how they dominate our landscape, law enforcement in Ferguson, Missouri, provided it with their lack of transparency, their lack of understanding of how this harmed the community, and how they moved this issue from a police action to a military confrontation.

African-American people were demanding justice, dialog, and transformation.  A largely white police force didn't even show up like they were looking for a knife fight.  They came looking for a war.  Pharaoh's fear was deeply ingrained in their brains, under their skin, and in their bloodstream.  It had become an evil spiritual practice, a demonic spiritual practice.  

Harper shared how the Ferguson community was there to lead us.  Because white dominion could not even conceive of this, they came with tanks, guns, and riot gear.  I was profoundly moved by one of the African-American pastors at Ferguson who shared that he was there, on the ground, teaching young people how to engage non-violently.  

So while this pastor was teaching African-American young people to be "human",  all the while, the white establishment was trying to enforce its dominion by escalating the murder of Michael Brown into a war--all because we were afraid.  And we all know what fear does, right?  We end up with that "reptilian brain."  We become beastly.  

As I stated in that sermon several weeks ago, we are using that same "white dominion" Harper identifies to justify the brutal treatment of unaccompanied children along our border.  Particularly that this comes from people who call themselves people of faith (I'm looking at you, Rick Perry) is disheartening.  Transcendent values are supposed to be for tough times.  When you can easily abandon those values because your neighbor does not look like you, you have to be one scared beast (take your pick, possum or chicken).  

The blog, Margaret and Helen, has always been one of my favorite because I tend to bend toward the snarky.  And snarky it is.  They offered variations of the Scripture verse where Jesus says, "Let the children come to me."  Apparently, Governor Perry, as a Christian, thought Jesus meant only white children.  Helen offers a variation of the song "Jesus Loves Me" that should tell us what is at stake:

Jesus loves the legal children,
All the legal children of the world.
Red and yellow, black but mainly white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the legal children of the world.

Helen reminds us that mainline Christianity sounds so much like an Aryan nation missive in the good, old U.S. of A. What is at stake is whether Christianity really worships a God full of love and compassion.  We need to be forever about the task of building the Beloved Community that Dr. King incarnated.  It is time for people of good courage in predominantly white churches like mine to let the people of Ferguson lead, to let the children to come to us, and to sing that God loves us in all of our beautiful, diverse humanity.