My heart goes out to the American clergy of today. They are likely agonizing in their offices, even as I write. They know they are to take a stand, but with congregations of all types of people, what should they do? For the Christian clergy, if they are adhering to the Gospels According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they ARE taking a stand. There’s no such thing as a Gospel According to Fox. But that doesn’t mean they have to run to the other side of the ship and go along with moral relativism.

They are in a different boat. 

According to a recent article on Dispatch Faith by Michael Reneau and Paul D. Miller called “A Confessing Church for America’s Weimar Moment,” the Church should be the first ones to call out the sins of the Parties. Otherwise, they are complicit. 

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” Desmond Tutu

For those of us in different boats, we need to embrace that. We need to be clear and unwavering in our principles. Here are the first four from the Principles First organization. “Integrity, character, and virtue matter. Every person has dignity, quality, and worth. Truth, honest, rationality, and facts are non-negotiable. The Constitution and the rule of law are paramount.” Even those put them at odds with the current administration. 

But we won’t back down. Like the clergy adhering to the Gospels of the Bible, the Principles First people are also in a different boat. In fact, I think a LOT of different boats are hitting the seas. And if they start coming together to form a flotilla, they will be effective. We won’t care if they’re republican boats or democrat boats or church boats or synagogue boats or black people boats or white people boats or whatever, we’ll unite. 

Are you in a different boat?