Category Archives: justice

Protest can be Prophetic

Acts, Amos, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Jesus, justice, prophecy, , ,

Image – “Christ Cleansing the Temple” by El Greco

The actions of three individuals arrested for protesting ICE activities during a worship service at Cities Church (Southern Baptist Convention) in the Minneapolis area early this year (2026) quickly became a topic of debate among Christians. The protesters chose this church, at least in part, because one of its bi-vocational ministers also leads an ICE field office. According to an AP account, the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention has voiced one side in the debate over the propriety of protesting in a church during a worship service.  According to them, “compassion for migrant families cannot justify violating a sacred space during worship.”

I have devoted my professional career, my vocation, to the proposition that the Bible can and should serve as the vital and vibrant source of Christian faith and living when interpreted and understood rightly, but that it can also represent a dangerous and destructive factor when read and treated incorrectly (see The Curse of Ham: An Admonitory Case-Study in Misreading Scripture and the series on the Ethical Interpretation of the Bible published February through April, 2025). With respect to voices raised in opposition to the mistreatment of “the least of these,” the SBC leadership seems to have engaged in what I would call “selective interpretation” of scripture – the foundation of their faith tradition – which suggests, rather, that protest can be prophetic, even when conducted in the sanctuary.

Amos 7:12-17 records the admonition of Amaziah, the priest at the sanctuary in Bethel, for Amos to cease protesting/prophesying against Israel’s worship practices in the absence of justice and righteousness (Amos 5:21-24; cf. 4:4). Amos responded that he was only preaching the message God had given him to preach and that the fate awaiting Amaziah and Israel would be bleak. Over a century later, in his famous Temple Sermon (Jer 7 and 26), the prophet Jeremiah stood in the Temple on God’s instruction and denounced the Judeans for their unfaithfulness to God and their unethical treatment of one another (7:5-9) and for their unfounded confidence in their sacrificial piety (7:21-26). Their behavior belied their claims to be “saved” (7:10). Indeed, by their presence, they had turned the sanctuary into the gathering-place of criminals! Consequently, God warned them through Jeremiah, that, if they persisted in their misdeeds, the Jerusalem temple would suffer the same abandonment and destruction that once befell the sanctuary at Shiloh. Jeremiah 7 seems to focus on the content of the sermon; Jeremiah 26 apparently reports the audience response to it. The priests, prophets, and people seized (i.e. arrested) Jeremiah and charged him with treason (26:8-9, 10-11)!

Significantly, although they differ on chronological and other details, two of the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 21:12-13 and Luke 19:45-47; cf. John 2:14-16) draw direct parallels between Jesus’ act known as the “Cleansing of the Temple,” in which Jesus drove the money-changers from the Temple along with the animals (pigeons according to Matt; sheep and oxen according to Luke) on sale there for use in sacrifice, scattered their coins, and overturned their tables. According to both of the Synoptics, Jesus’ justified his actions with a statement combining the vision of a bright future found in Isaiah 56:7 (“for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”) and, tellingly, recasting the rhetorical question of Jeremiah 7:11 (“Has this house, which is called by name, become a den of thieves”) as the declaration, “but you make it/have made it a den of thieves.” It is equally telling that, as with Jeremiah, the religious leadership later interpreted Jesus’ attitude toward the temple as treasonous, even blasphemous (cf. Matt 26:57-66).

These three examples of many biblical instances of prophetic protest raised in a sanctuary setting (e.g. Ezek 8-11; Acts 4) suffice to demonstrate that voices of truth belong in the context of worship. Two ironies strike me. First, historically, baptists belong in the Protestant (“protesting”) branch of Christianity. Second, contemporaneously, many of those who decry this protest in a church do not decry immigration enforcement officers arresting worshipers.

May we have the courage to stand in the tradition of Amos, Jeremiah, and Jesus! May we have the understanding to distinguish between a false security in the structures and institutions, on the one hand, and a living faith that loves mercy and does justice (Mic 6:8).

Three Ways Baylor University Has Failed its Students . . . and the Gospel

imago Dei, interpretation, justice, love, science and religion, theological education, , , , , ,

The church often trails behind. Under pressure from conservatives, Baylor University recently returned a $640,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation for a project titled “Courage from the Margins” designed to study how the church can be more welcoming to LGBTQIA+ individuals.  A matter of days later, Dr. Jon Singletary stepped down as Dean of Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work. The timing of these events suggests that conservative pressure may have also influenced Dr. Singletary’s decision. I find these developments troubling in three respects, in particular.

First, from the perspective of higher education, they both constitute an affront to academic freedom and they also call into question the wisdom of Baylor’s leadership. We are no longer in the medieval period, when church and academy were so intertwined that the results of scientific inquiry required the church’s imprimatur. There is no freedom of inquiry if the outcome has been predetermined. In purely practical terms, surely, Baylor’s administration could and should have anticipated the conservative reaction to their initial decision to accept the grant. As it is, they have brought trouble upon themselves, including the appearance of insincerity.

Second, from the perspective of faithfulness to the way of Jesus, ironically, by repudiating the project that set out to study how the church can be more welcoming – more hospitable – and by apparently pressuring Dr. Singletary, Baylor’s leadership acted contrary to the Gospel’s call to love one’s neighbor. The whole affair reminds me that institutional structures seem unable or unsuited to being Christian. Almost invariably, they seek to sustain themselves at the expense of individuals. They inevitably find it expedient to sacrifice individuals to preserve the corporate entity.

Finally, the opposition to “Courage from the Margins” rests on an inadequate and dangerous hermeneutic that selectively absolutizes scriptural texts (Lev 18:22 and 20:13, but not Lev 11:1-8 or 19:33-34), that fails to comprehend the dynamic movement toward inclusion evident within Scripture (cf. Deut 23:1 with Isa 56:3-5 and Acts 8:26-40), and that misapprehends or willfully ignores the testimony of modern science (all truth points to God). This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of Baylor’s actions. The Bible can be very dangerous and destructive when its interpreters misuse and misconstrue it, stumbling over the letter and thereby missing the spirit of liberation that breathes through it.

Too often in the history of the human struggle for justice, the church has trailed behind. In 1688, Quakers issued the “Germantown Petition” calling for the end of slavery only 69 years after the first enslaved people were brought to the colonies, but the rest of the church…. As Rev. Lauren Ng of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists has reminded us, “The Gospel calls us to radical love and justice.”

Moses’ Identity Crisis and Ours

Exodus, identity, interpretation, justice, reconciliation, wealth

Exodus 1:8-2:15

A Sermon Preached for Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA 8/23/20

First Fruits Promise a Harvest

creation, Hope, justice, redemption, revelation, Uncategorized

Romans 8:12-25

A sermon preached to Grace Baptist Church, Richmond VA, 7/19/20

Measuring Worth

Christian faith, church, justice, missio dei

Matt 10:24-39

A “zoom” sermon preached to the people of Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA on June 21, 2020

The recording failed to catch the first minute or so of the sermon. It begins with an account of the complications that arose early in my academic career because there are two other Mark Biddle’s who were active professors at the time. We agreed to always use our middle initials in professional contexts. Subsequently, I have learned of another MB who is a preacher and yet another, a lawyer, who gained notoriety for a crime. I pointed out that my name is not my identity. The recording picks up when I shift back to the biblical text.

“Measuring Worth”

Light to the Nations

Abraham, church, Isaiah, Jesus, justice, missio dei, Suffering Servant, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Isa 42:1-9

A sermon preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA 1/12/20

A Couple More – Isa 11:1-10

Advent, creation, Isaiah, justice, poverty, prophecy

A sermon preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA, 12/8/19

Keeping the Commandment – 1 Tim 6:6-19

Christian faith, justice, love, materialism, ministry, Pauline epistles, poverty

A sermon preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA

9/30/19

Immigration Policy: Legality and Morality (Part II)

civil society, government, immigration, justice, politics, refugees

If one accepts the argument made in the most recent entry in this blog, an immigration policy that fulfills the needs of society should reflect real conditions. Unfortunately, a series of misrepresentations and false assumptions drive much of today’s discussion about immigration. The list of these inaccuracies includes, but is not limited to the following: Continue reading Immigration Policy: Legality and Morality (Part II) →

Immigration Policy: Legality and Morality

civil society, ethics, government, justice, nationalism, politics, poverty, racism, refugees

“A Migrant Syrian was my Father” (Deut 26:5)

Broadly speaking, advocates engaged in the contemporary debate surrounding US immigration and border control issues represent two camps divided over whether the determinative factors shaping policy involve protecting the interests of US citizens or meeting the needs of refugees fleeing poverty and violence. Proponents of the former Continue reading Immigration Policy: Legality and Morality →