Where are the white Christian leaders?

As is evident in all the historical footage on the news for Martin Luther King Day, the American Civil Rights movement was visibly and powerfully boosted by the highly visible presence of Christian ministers and Jewish leaders of all sorts. One see Catholic and Episcopal clergy in collars, Orthodox Christian bishops with their pectoral crosses and tall hats, nuns in habits, rabbis and countless Protestant Christian figures striding arm in arm into the struggle for the universal brother-and-sisterhood proclaimed in the Bible they believed and preached.

Sadly, with the notable exception of Catholic nuns, who are now largely invisible to press photographers because they seldom wear picturesque habits, this white religious support for equality and progress in race relations seems to have disappeared. The Roman Catholic bishops never show up for anything unless it has to do with abortion. They have remained on the sidelines while the working people of this country have been impoverished by conservative state governments that destroy their right to collective bargaining -- a right enshrined in the very catechism of the church but now ignored because it upsets conservative politicians who will support an end to abortion but offer nothing in the way of public support for the children and women falling into poverty.

When issues of bullying in schools come up, the clergy appear to side mostly with the bullies or to keep silent. When minorities are victims of hate crimes, the clergy fear their right to condemn gay rights will be curtailed if hate crimes are prosecuted. While real people die in the streets, Christian leaders weep about being persecuted because not everyone agrees with their opinion on some issues. Their whining is an insult to the thousands who died over the centuries because of what they believed. Being asked to bake a cake, for example, can hardly be compared to being burned at the stake.

What would Jesus do? I have no idea. But I have a sneaky suspicion it would be something quite different from what we see in America today and something much more like those nuns and priests and rabbis and ministers with arms locked together marching down the street to embody the kingdom of his Dear Father.