3
Peace and Justice

NVDA

This stands for Non-Violent Direct Action.  Many Christians believe that the gospel demands that we take a stand against injustice and oppression.  Well-known examples of Christians who did this are Oscar Romero in El Salvador and Martin Luther King in America.  Both men followed Jesus' example and were killed for standing up for their beliefs, but will always be remembered.  The following difficult question came up in 1999 Q4:

(b)    Explain why some Christians are prepared to die for their beliefs.    [7]

In this section, you will learn why Christians break the law and risk arrest, injury and even death for their beliefs. 

NVDA, or Peaceful Protest, is not a specifically Christian idea, although it is rooted in Christian principles.   In fact Ghandi, an Indian barrister, was Martin Luther King's inspiration, and he was a Hindu.  He stood up to the British colonnial government and broke their unjust laws.  When he was beaten for burning a pass that non-whites had to carry, the press became interested and started asking questions about this policy.  His most effective protest was a hunger strike - it made people ask WHY he would allow himself to starve.  When they found out what he was fasting for, they supported him.

Martin Luther King developed new forms of peaceful protest:

• Boycotts - where you don't use a service or facility as a form of protest.  The aim is to cause financial damage through loss of income.  This worked successfully in 1955 when King led a bus boycott that lasted a year before the law was changed.
• Sit-ins - blacks and whites sat together in cafés that were white-only.  They were beaten severely, then arrested!  However, the injustice of the law the were protesting against was made evident to the millions watching the scenes on the news
• Freedom Rides - this was where blacks and whites rode together breaking segregation laws.  Again, the response was often violence with buses being attacked and firebombed.
• Marches - this was a way of showing solidarity, as thousands joined together to march for a particular purpose.  It also made it difficult for the police to stop the protest.  On many occasions the police turned violent, and this again was broadcast to the nation.  The most famous, Washington 1963, involved 250,000 people.
• Speeches - these were effective because they identified areas where improvements were needed, and were used by the media again and again.  King was a particularly good speaker, and he inspired and motivated both blacks and whites with his carefully chosen and skillfully delivered speeches.  His most famous, from the Washington March of '63, became known as the 'I have a dream' speech.

Christians today might get involved in protests about a range of issues, from asylum laws to the environment.  Recently we had the petrol blockades, a protest about the price of petrol.  Some people argued that this was a violent protest because lives were put at risk where hospital staff couldn't get to work.  An effective protest which involved the media and petitions supported by Christian Aid was Jubilee 2000.  The petition, like the marches above, showed the government that a huge number of people wanted Third World Debt cancelled.  As a result, Britain led the way in pushing for the cancellation of Third World Debt.

Have a look at the following websites:

• Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Greenpeace (not specifically Christian)
• Friends of the Earth (not specifically Christian)
• BBCi's Non-violence page

Now answer this question:

(b)   Describe how and explain why some Christians have used non-violent protest when working for justice.       [7]

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Have a look at some guidance for answering this question.  Make a careful note of ways you could improve you answer.

Why not try answering a discussion question on violence - they often come up:

(c)   'Christians are not respected when they use violence.'      

When you've had a go, look at the answer that a Year 10 student gave - she got full marks.