| On Thursday, six brave people knelt at the door of the Alabama Senate chamber to sing, pray, and ask again for the repeal of HB56. Because our esteemed legislators consider this peaceful but vocal dissent to be some sort of threat, they were handcuffed and removed. After they were taken, two Democratic Senators, Bobby Singleton and Quinton Ross, knelt in solidarity and demanded to be arrested too. (Video HERE) Cooler heads later prevailed, and no charges were filed against the protesters. Rev. Fred Hammond, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa, was one of those arrested. He wrote a wonderful response to Gov. Bentley's ridiculous assertion that Christians must always obey the law: This statement of Bentley’s reveals that he has no understanding of his own faith tradition of Christianity. His own faith as a Baptist came about because people of conscience disobeyed the law. It was illegal to be of any other faith than Anglican when John Smyth declared his Baptist faith. But if Governor Bentley is correct that the Bible says you always obey the law, then his own faith is illegal... Be sure to read the whole thing - and please share widely. It's hard to believe that an avowed Christian like Gov. Bentley could ignore the thousands of admonitions to care for the poor, the needy, the stranger in favor of cherry-picking one passage that ends thusly: Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. There's nothing loving about HB56. |
