Rev. William J. Barber: ‘It’s Time To Bring ‘Moral Mondays’ To The Nation’s Capital’

In 2013, Bishop William J. Barber came to national prominence as one of the major prophetic voices of Moral Mondays,” a grassroots, faith-based movement of nonviolent civil disobedience launched by the North Carolina NAACP. Now, the renowned clergymen and social activist has brought the “Moral Mondays” to the nation’s capital.

In response, the Trump administration’s “Rededicate 250 National Mall rally,” Barber’s Repairers of the Breach organization, in partnership with a diverse coalition of faith leaders, activists, and civil rights advocates, gathered on H Street outside the White House for a “Moral Monday” demonstration, launching a direct challenge against the administration’s “Rededicate 250” National Mall rally. The protest was highly critical of the administration’s rally as an overreach of Christian nationalism, blurring the lines between church and state, and the policies that are targeting communites of color.

Speaking exclusively with The Root, Barber shared why it is incumbent on him and like-minded religious leaders to directly challenge conservative clergy who are promoting Christian nationalism, blurring the lines between church and state.

“Last week, some clergy were calling the country to rededicate itself at an event. We’re saying that the country needs to redirect, not rededicate, because what they’re doing is not even Christian. We had nine preachers to challenge that theologically and call it out, and there were thousanss of people online,” Barber said.

Instead of a one-off event, Barber is strategizing to convene members of the clergy from various faith traditions across the country to “speak truth to power” in Washington D.C.

“We’re going to take one week off, and then we’re doing a special prayer gathering on the first Monday in June,” said Barber. “Then, on June 8, when we’re coming back and will continue [protesting]with a whole group of religious leaders who are going to be holding the space every Monday.”

According to Barber, there was blatant hypocrisy in the “Redicate 250” event and the ideology that gave birth to it. Barber believes that you can’t pray for God’s peace and then incite war in Iran and enact political violence against the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

“If you’re saying no to the war, you also have say no to policy violence. But what we’re saying is that any attempt to talk faith in the public square that’s not addressing policy violence is in fact not authentic.”Barber explained. “The scriptures call it wicked. Any attempt to deny God and any attempt to deny justice is wicked. In Hebrew, the word is Rasha, and it’s only applied to certain things. One of them is the refusal to challenge injustice.”

“Every piece of policy violence has a death measure. War has a death measurement. “For every 500,000 people that are denied health care, 2500 people die,” he continued. “Denial of voting rights, denial of health care, denial of climate change, it has a death measurement.”

Moral Mondays in Washington D.C. relaunches on June 8.