William Barber warns of 'moral deregulation' amid progressive Christian voter mobilization effort
During a Sunday sermon at Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta, progressive Christian leader Bishop William J. Barber claimed that the United States is undergoing a “moral deregulation" as he engages in a 100-day voter mobilization initiative.
Barber, president of the liberal religious activist group Repairers of the Breach, who's also a staunch critic of the president, told those gathered that “authoritarianism’s number one goal is moral deregulation,” adding that “they keep testing how much people will let go."
“How far will they let us move from establishing justice and providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare? How far?” Barber asked.
"This did not start with Trump,” he said, rejecting the idea that “all you got to do is move Trump and this is all fixed.”
His organization launched a nationwide voter mobilization effort last month ahead of the November midterms, titled “100 Days, 1000 Marches to the Polls."
In his sermon Sunday, Barber stated that the political problems stem from “a bottom-up movement” that began with the 1960s Southern Strategy, in which Republicans expanded their outreach to white Southerners.
The strategy appealed to white Southern Democrats, often by opposing civil rights measures without being overtly racist. It helped turn the South from solidly Democratic before 1964 into a Republican stronghold by the 1990s.
Barber said the midterm elections in November “must be the beginning of a massive vote for what we want America to be.”
“This cannot just be a vote of critique. Critique will tire you out, but the Bible says ‘write the vision and make it plain,’” Barber continued. “This has to be a vision vote, and we have to tell politicians it’s not good enough for you to tell us you’re against Trump.”
Barber also spoke about what he called an “unholy alliance” between “oil money and religious nationalism,” saying the two champion discrimination against several groups.
“I don’t call it ‘Christian nationalism,’” he said. “Because it’s not Christian. Because they say so little about what God says so much and so much about what God says so little.”
“This religious nationalism seeks to consecrate attacks on immigrants and [illegal immigration enforcement] killings. Y’all, they shooting white queer women in the face in broad daylight," a reference to activist Renee Good, who was killed while interfering in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minnesota in January.
Barber addressed grievances with alleged voter suppression and the need for a living wage. He also stressed the importance of voting and marching for rights.
“Our ancestors did more with less than we have today,” he said near the end of his remarks. “With less they beat slavery, with less they beat Jim Crow, with less they beat lynching, with less they beat the KKK.”
