Tenn. church leaders denounce ‘white lives matter’ protest
Religious leaders across Tennessee are denouncing white supremacy ahead of Saturday’s “white lives matter” protests in Murfreesboro and Shelbyville.
Scores of clergy have signed their names to statements opposing the white nationalist groups’ values. They have planned community prayer vigils celebrating diversity and advocating for unity. And, they have sent a strong message that hate is not a religious value.
All faith traditions are meant to promote peace, understanding and love between people, said Rabbi Laurie Rice, a leader of the Brentwood-based Congregation Micah that has members in Murfeesboro and Shelbyville. That is why she is among those countering the groups that are protesting refugee resettlement and immigrants this weekend.
“Any movement that works to do the opposite that promotes hate and puts barriers up and creates fear about the other — who can stand in support of that?” Rice said.
Her synagogue is one of 15 Jewish congregations and organizations to say that “we will not allow purveyors of hatred to disrupt the sacred bonds of community harmony” in a statement condemning the white nationalist groups. Rice also joined more than 160 Tennessee faith leaders who disavowed the protests.
“This gathering has especially vitriolic and violent things to say about our immigrant and refugee neighbors,” the interfaith statement reads. “The core teachings of our faiths clearly promote human equality and love for all of God’s creation. Gatherings like this one have no other end but the promotion of white racial nationalism.’ ”
The groups bringing the “white lives matter” rallies to Middle Tennessee are considered ex- tremist organizations by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They fall under neo-Nazi, neoConfederate and white nationalist categories and were among those involved in the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., that left one counterprotester dead.
A strong contingent of opposition to the “white lives matter” message, including religious leaders, has emerged in the weeks leading up to the rallies. Law enforcement agencies are trying to keep protesters and counterprotesters separate in Murfreesboro and Shelbyville by creating designated areas, closing streets and urging counterprotes- ters to avoid the rallies.
Several religious leaders also are encouraging those who oppose the “white lives matter” protesters to keep their distance but urge them to continue to disavow white supremacy and promote peace and unity.
The planned protests prompted Randy Davis, the president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, to call the white supremacy movement “satanic” and “evil” during the first news conference he has held in his seven-year tenure.
Davis, who represents 3,200 Southern Baptist churches in Tennessee and beyond, addressed the media as about a dozen Baptist pastors of various races and ethnicities stood behind him. “This bigotry has no place in our American society,” Davis said.