A Consistent Ethic of Life

As we entered Lafayette Park on May 28, Timothy McDonald, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led us in verse after verse of This Little Light of Mine. "Shine all around the White House, I'm gonna let it shine...." The verse was repeated for every place we would be taking our witness that day.

It was Peace Pentecost, and our lights were shining bright and bold. Vincent Harding led the commissioning of those who would march, pray, sing, and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience all over Washington, D.C. In preacher's cadence he named each site where our prayerful protest would be offered and then exclaimed after each, "Tell them we are coming!"

It was a day for the movement of the Spirit, a day when political stereotypes were shattered and ideological labels were swept aside to make room for the new wind of Christian conscience blowing across our land. The selective and inconsistent morality of both the Right and the Left was challenged by a simple message—all life is sacred. "We are here today to love God," said Harding, "and to love all of God's children."

We acted out of the firm conviction that wherever and whenever life is threatened and under attack, Christians must not remain silent but must act to defend God's gift of life. In that spirit we offered our prayers for justice, for freedom, for mercy, and for peace at places where human life is now undergoing such a terrible assault. At each site our civil disobedience was an act of prayer.

We prayed at the White House for the twisted priorities of a nation that reverses the biblical wisdom by busily beating plowshares into swords. Our prayer was for an end to the arms race and for a beginning of justice for the poor who are already the victims of our military madness.

We prayed at the State Department for the enormous suffering in Central America. We pleaded that our government stop its promotion of violence and terror in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and, instead, join in peaceful resolution of the conflicts in that embattled region.

We lifted our voices and prayers at the Soviet Embassy on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, whose country has been brutally invaded by another arrogant superpower bent on asserting its control over a smaller and weaker nation. We also prayed at the South African Embassy on behalf of freedom and democracy and in protest of our own government's accommodation to apartheid.

At the Supreme Court, we interceded for the victims of crime and for those condemned on death row. There we pleaded for an end to the killing cycle. And at the Department of Health and Human Services, we prayed for the unborn and for an agenda of justice and compassion for women and children that will create alternatives to the desperate, painful choice of abortion.

The many prayers offered at many places became one simple prayer—a prayer for life. To defend, affirm, nurture, and uplift life became our common plea and intercession. What emerged from the day's prayers and protests was a consistent ethic of life that crosses political lines and boundaries. This consistent life theme stood in marked contrast to the kind of politically predictable protests to which Washington, D.C, is very accustomed.

Thus, for many participants, observers, and reporters, Peace Pentecost 1985 became a ground-breaking event and a hopeful sign for the future. The many streams of conscience now flowing in the churches were brought together for a Pentecost weekend of discernment, worship, and action. As we shared, prayed, and acted together, it was increasingly clear that the streams are flowing in the same direction.

After the 248 of us who were arrested for our prayerful actions were released from jail, a lengthy report on UPI Radio referred to our movement as the "Christian Conscience Movement in America." Perhaps now the media will stop trying to squeeze us into political categories where we don't belong and, instead, recognize what is truly emerging—a movement of faith and conscience, rising up in the heart of the churches in response to an unparalleled historical crisis and to the prompting of the Spirit of God in our lives.

NOT EVERYONE, HOWEVER, greeted the Pentecost demonstrations and the Christian conscience movement as a sign of faith and hope.

Jerry Falwell, president of the Moral Majority, held a press conference in Washington, D.C, on the day of the Pentecost protests. He harshly denounced the Christians involved and called Sojourners a "pseudo-evangelical" group. Then he directed his attack against me personally, saying, "[Jim Wallis] is to evangelicalism what Adolf Hitler was to the Roman Catholic church."

I didn't hear the remark until after I was in jail. When I heard Jerry Falwell's words, I had to sit down and catch my breath. I've never experienced such an attack before. I talked and prayed with a few friends, asking for the grace to respond out of love rather than hurt or anger.

Earlier in the day, when I heard that Rev. Falwell had scheduled a press conference, I spoke to the crowd at Lafayette Park about it. I said that Jerry Falwell is not the enemy of this movement. Our only enemies are violence, oppression, and injustice, I told them. Now my words would be tested.

I don't want to believe that the remark is Jerry Falwell's considered opinion. I would rather believe his words were spoken in a moment of anger or thoughtlessness. Still, many reporters on hand that day commented that they believe Falwell must feel very threatened to say such an outrageous thing.

One has to wonder why Jerry Falwell feels so threatened by our demonstration for a consistent life ethic. Perhaps he fears that many people in this country, and even in his own constituency, would be very attracted to a movement of Christian conscience that defends life wherever it is under attack—a position that knows no ideological boundaries and directly challenges the inconsistent morality of both the Right and the Left. Maybe he is afraid that many sincere Christians are looking for an alternative to his own position, which equates support for the family with support for the MX missile.

For more than five years, ever since the media began to put the two of us forward as opposing spokespersons, I have tried repeatedly to have some personal dialogue with Jerry Falwell. So far, my letters and phone calls have been to no avail.

This past year we were together for two television debates. I again appealed to Jerry Falwell to sit down with me sometime, off camera, to talk about our disagreements, get to know each other a little more personally, and open our Bibles and pray together. To my great disappointment, there has been no response. And now, the Hitler comparison has been made.

We are always called to forgive one another, and forgiveness is especially important in our polarized world. I forgive Jerry Falwell for saying such a terrible and thoughtless thing. I still hope for the day when Jerry Falwell and I can sit down together at the table of fellowship, work out our differences, and perhaps even take action together to uphold the sacred dignity of human life, which today is so threatened by nuclear war, poverty, racism, abortion, tyranny, and injustice.

The day has come for Christians to reject the inconsistencies and polarities of the political Right, Left, and center. The political conservatives and liberals each have their favorite causes and victims and ignore the cries of many of God's children. It must not be so with us. We must be those who take our stand on the side of life, especially at the places where life is most threatened in our day.

We must stand with the victims of superpower interventions and violence, both U.S. and Soviet. We must stand with the hungry children of our world and with the children of so-called enemy nations who are the targets of our nuclear missiles. We must stand with those who suffer under oppression and racism regardless of whether their governments are communist or anti-communist. We must stand with the unborn at the same time we stand with women in the struggle for justice and equality.

We must defend the dignity of each and every life, whether innocent or guilty, because, while we are all sinners, Christ died for us. Finally, we must choose life, because our God is a God of life.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine.