30
C. W. Ayre et al.
By engaging prayerfully with pressing contemporary issues such as climate
change, Christians may faithfully move towards peace and reconciliation, even if
that is not always easy.
Fourth, reconciliation will often need the advocatory input of the ‘prophets’, who
are described in the scriptures as single-minded individuals who are uncompromisingly outspoken against injustice and structural violence (Andrews 2021). Inevitably,
there comes a time when calls for justice cannot be silenced, when platitudes are ineffectual, and when the people of God must take a stand against perceived evil (Bonhoeffer 2015). Such a stand is not the sole preserve of those with a faith perspective;
popular movements such as Black Lives Matter, climate change protests, or even local
community development projects have the capacity to bring people together for a
cause. Offering an example from the Pacific, Barker (2017) has observed how nuclear
testing has subjected the Marshallese people to forms of “structural violence”;
[I]n the Marshall Islands, the United States detonated its largest weapon ever tested, the
Bravo shot of March 1, 1954, the equivalent of one thousand Hiroshima-sized bombs. Bravo
exposed the crew of a Japanese fishing boat near Bikini, Marshallese residents downwind
from Bikini, and U.S. servicemen to levels of radiation that caused death and lifelong illness.
Following Bravo, U.S. government researchers evacuated some of the islanders and enrolled
them in a secret medical experiment, called Project 4.1, to study the effects of radiation on
human beings. Later, the U.S. government resettled the unwitting participants in this program
on an island highly contaminated with radiation to learn firsthand how human beings ingest
and absorb radiation from their environment. […] More than a decade ago, the Marshall
Islands submitted a petition to the U.S. Congress for additional assistance, primarily to
create the capacity to respond to the health care burdens resulting from the U.S. nuclear
weapons testing program. The U.S. government has not responded to the Marshall Island
government’s request for assistance. (pp. 195, 199; see also Barker 2013)
Barker (2017) further notes that “[t]he people of the Marshall Islands—people who
are in the United States legally, people whose homelands are irradiated, people whose
bodies carry the radiogenic burdens of the Cold War—are not eligible for Medicaid.
The failure to extend Medicaid to the Marshallese is another form of structural
violence” (pp. 197–198). This example underscores the enduring need for ‘prophetic’
protestation today. A timely message, coupled with an unwavering spirit, can take
humanity along the path of justice, peace and reconciliation. These two prophetic
characteristics are also illustrated by Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke out against
racism, but whose famous speech “I have a dream” also presented a compelling
picture of a preferential future.
Fifth, and following from the previous point, advocacy speaks to more than human
need, but also to other voiceless victims of the impact of war. As Sampley (2000)
proposed, “reconciliation is at the heart of life’s business” (p. 98). This implies courageous engagement with political processes. More specifically, voiceless forests and
wildlife need those who will speak on their behalf, and it is in such a context that
raising an advocatory voice on behalf of the natural world becomes truly significant.
This is reminiscent of scripture, which expressly calls for such advocatory engagement: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak
out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9). In
C. W. Ayre et al.
By engaging prayerfully with pressing contemporary issues such as climate
change, Christians may faithfully move towards peace and reconciliation, even if
that is not always easy.
Fourth, reconciliation will often need the advocatory input of the ‘prophets’, who
are described in the scriptures as single-minded individuals who are uncompromisingly outspoken against injustice and structural violence (Andrews 2021). Inevitably,
there comes a time when calls for justice cannot be silenced, when platitudes are ineffectual, and when the people of God must take a stand against perceived evil (Bonhoeffer 2015). Such a stand is not the sole preserve of those with a faith perspective;
popular movements such as Black Lives Matter, climate change protests, or even local
community development projects have the capacity to bring people together for a
cause. Offering an example from the Pacific, Barker (2017) has observed how nuclear
testing has subjected the Marshallese people to forms of “structural violence”;
[I]n the Marshall Islands, the United States detonated its largest weapon ever tested, the
Bravo shot of March 1, 1954, the equivalent of one thousand Hiroshima-sized bombs. Bravo
exposed the crew of a Japanese fishing boat near Bikini, Marshallese residents downwind
from Bikini, and U.S. servicemen to levels of radiation that caused death and lifelong illness.
Following Bravo, U.S. government researchers evacuated some of the islanders and enrolled
them in a secret medical experiment, called Project 4.1, to study the effects of radiation on
human beings. Later, the U.S. government resettled the unwitting participants in this program
on an island highly contaminated with radiation to learn firsthand how human beings ingest
and absorb radiation from their environment. […] More than a decade ago, the Marshall
Islands submitted a petition to the U.S. Congress for additional assistance, primarily to
create the capacity to respond to the health care burdens resulting from the U.S. nuclear
weapons testing program. The U.S. government has not responded to the Marshall Island
government’s request for assistance. (pp. 195, 199; see also Barker 2013)
Barker (2017) further notes that “[t]he people of the Marshall Islands—people who
are in the United States legally, people whose homelands are irradiated, people whose
bodies carry the radiogenic burdens of the Cold War—are not eligible for Medicaid.
The failure to extend Medicaid to the Marshallese is another form of structural
violence” (pp. 197–198). This example underscores the enduring need for ‘prophetic’
protestation today. A timely message, coupled with an unwavering spirit, can take
humanity along the path of justice, peace and reconciliation. These two prophetic
characteristics are also illustrated by Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke out against
racism, but whose famous speech “I have a dream” also presented a compelling
picture of a preferential future.
Fifth, and following from the previous point, advocacy speaks to more than human
need, but also to other voiceless victims of the impact of war. As Sampley (2000)
proposed, “reconciliation is at the heart of life’s business” (p. 98). This implies courageous engagement with political processes. More specifically, voiceless forests and
wildlife need those who will speak on their behalf, and it is in such a context that
raising an advocatory voice on behalf of the natural world becomes truly significant.
This is reminiscent of scripture, which expressly calls for such advocatory engagement: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak
out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9). In