,
14 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
THREAD-Research is vital to the moral integrity of social movements: @RevDrBarber epi.org/166110
"... the link between what I do—as a pastor, architect of the Moral Monday movement and co-leader of The Poor People’s Campaign—and the research done by EPI is absolutely vital.
"One of the quickest ways for a movement to lose its integrity is to be loud and wrong. We’ve seen too many movements that have bumper sticker sayings but no stats and no depth.
"Researchers help to protect the moral integrity of a movement by providing sound analysis of the facts and issues at hand. Armed with this information, we’re able to pull back the cover and force society to see the hurt and the harm of the decisions that people are making.
"I believe we find evidence of a relationship between religion, activism, and research that dates back to the prophets of the Bible. The prophets of the Bible were the social activists of their time."
"For example, the prophet Isaiah said to those who were rich, powerful and presumed themselves to be morally superior. 'Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights and make women and children their prey.'"
"Isaiah even went as far as saying that religious activity—worship and prayer—was not a cover for their failure to 'loose the band of wickedness.' Wickedness in that text is specific to the issue of not paying people what they deserve and trying to cover it over with religiosity.
"He goes on to say that the nation will never be able to repair itself until it ends the wickedness of not paying people what they deserve. Because society’s policies had actually insulated destruction, injustice and inequality could never be resolved without a change of policy."
"Now, let’s consider Jesus, the central figure of the Christian faith, who was also very keen on social policy. The opening line of his first sermon went like this: 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me to preach good news to the poor.'
"The researchers would have told Jesus in that day that Rome favored the 1 percent and disregarded the 99 percent. That Rome had distinct classes of people. One group of were called the humiliadors, the humiliated ones. The others were called the honoristeries, the honored ones."
"It was into that world that Jesus comes and says, no, this is wrong. This is not the way it should be. This may be Caesar’s way, but Caesar is an egotistical narcissistic builder who loves to put his name on buildings and if he could, would put his face on every coin.
"Caesar is the one who desires military parades to flaunt and boast about his position of authority. Caesar believed he had the authority to grab any woman any time he wanted to.
"Caesar only wanted people around him who told him what he wanted to hear. Caesar only cared about money. Everything was about money. If it’s unclear, I’m talking about something that happened 2000 years ago."
"There are five potentially fatal diseases that are impacting this democracy: systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy, and the false distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism that gives cover for the four other social diseases."
