A Holy Ambition- Why I Support Colin Kaepernick

(a response to a Twin Cities pastor’s recent statement, and the difference between biblical patriotism and nationalism)

I have been a football fan for as long as I can remember.

Specifically, a Minnesota Vikings fan. Yes, we do not have the best history, or have we had very much success. But we do have some of the most loyal fans around. Most of my Sunday’s are filled with friends and family huddled around a TV, eating potato chips with Top the Tater (yum!), and engaging in fellowship. Some of my fondest memories derive from this little game, and every week I look forward to another Sunday filled with three of my favorite things- Church, family, and football.

Very unexpectedly this year, some of those things I considered separate beings, started to collide. My faith, and the game of football.

For some background information- Colin Kaepernick, former QB for the 49ers, sparked a nationwide outrage over his decision to kneel for the national anthem, to protest police brutality in America. This caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who then proceeded to call Colin Kaepernick a “son of a b*tch” who should be “fired”, during a campaign rally. (Now, why this man still gets support from Evangelical Christians is beyond me, but that is for a separate discussion.) This then lead to many NFL protests, with many players kneeling to support Kaepernick in the face of the backlash from President Trump.

After these events transpired, a very prominent evangelical pastor in the Twin Cities area, tweeted something out that I thought was very much out of place. The reason I am not mentioning his name is to not turn this article into bashing a man, but rather I’m going to try to earnestly and humbly speak out the truth, as I feel we are called to do.

Here’s the tweet-

“It’s our right to protest, but one must protest at the right time and place. The national anthem, funerals, sacred assemblies are not that time.”

First off, before I even go into the historical and theological errors in the tweet, the fact that a pastor of a multi-ethnic and diverse congregation tweeted this out, is very disheartening. A pastor is supposed to be a shepherd of his people, and that also includes the African-Americans in his congregation. When they see a tweet like that, they are most likely going to feel hurt. It hurts old (and new) wounds. I am a big believer in being careful with words, especially when you’re in a leadership position, and this statement was very careless and short-sighted.

In my mind, there are two things that are in error in this tweet, the notion of “the right time and place” and the insinuation that the national anthem is a “sacred assembly.” We will start with the second insinuation.

National Anthem ≠ Sacredness

Firstly, I’m going to assume from the tweet, that this pastor considered the national anthem to be something that is sacred. I think it’s important to define our terms here.

The official definition of sacred is this (according to Merriam Webster)- connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose.

Insinuating that the national anthem is sacred is something that is dangerously close to nationalism, which is something that scripture is not in agreement with. Since the election of President Donald Trump, nationalism has started to make it’s way back into Christianity, and I think it is important for influential leaders to stand up for the true Gospel.

For example, thousands of years ago, nationalism was something that became a big problem in the New Testament church. Paul had to write repeatedly in scripture about the need for the Jews to recognize the full participation of Gentiles in the kingdom of God. The Jews’ national (and religious) identity made it very difficult for them to understand how a Greek, Ethiopian, or slave from Asia Minor could be just as much a part of God’s new work in the Kingdom. They believed that their nation was special, and that they were above all others. But Paul’s famous assertion that there is “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28) demonstrated that nationalism must never be part of the new kingdom of God. Scripture declares that we are all equal, and that no people group is greater than another.

The Right Time and Place? A Historical Look

Let’s look at the tweet one more time.

“It’s our right to protest, but one must protest at the right time and place. The national anthem, funerals, sacred assemblies are not that time.”

The pastor is insinuating from the tweet that there is a right time and place to protest police brutality. This is eerily similar to the type of reaction that Martin Luther King Jr. had from white moderate pastors in the Civil Rights Era. In his letter from a Birmingham Jail, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about his disappointment with “white moderate” Christian leaders and churches that claimed they agreed with King’s goals, but not his methods. These Christians advised black activists to wait for a “more convenient season” for equality to materialize.

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice,” King wrote.

In my mind, there is not a more perfect place to protest something than during a football game. It fits perfect with our national narrative- we worship football on Sundays, love our black athletes, and then return to our communities and don’t lift a finger or speak out for our black neighbors.

It fits perfect with our national narrative- we worship football on Sundays, love our black athletes, and then return to our communities and don’t lift a finger or speak out for our black neighbors.

There truly is no “right time” for protest, especially for those you are protesting against. The real question is, when is the right time for justice? I think that answer is right here, right now. When a black teenager, made in God’s image, is walking back from the store with a soda and candy in his hands and is shot dead, and the shooter gets no punishment- the time for justice is right now.

Biblically, striving for justice is a command, not a choice.

Biblical Patriotism- a Holy Ambition

I am someone who deeply loves their country. We do not have the greatest history, we have treated minorities terribly, but I am still someone who has a deep love for this nation because I was born here, and I have lived all of my life here. I am able to go to church freely, I am able to worship God freely, and heck, the government actually pays for me to go to a Christian college. That blows my mind the most. I have lived a truly blessed life here.

But my love for my country does not mean I will blindly follow it. My love for my country does not mean that I will not try to make it better.

In Luke 19, there’s a peculiar story about Jesus. In the midst of the pomp and glory of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus begins to weep. He weeps because the city-and, by extension, all of Israel — failed to recognize his lordship, and because he knew the impending destruction of Jerusalem. The scene echoed a previous lament over Jerusalem (Luke 13:31–35), where Jesus said, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (v. 34, ESV).

You see, Jesus loved his nation. But he weeped over his country because he knew they were doing wrong.

G. K. Chesterton sums up this stance perfectly in his book The Defendant. “ ‘My country, right or wrong,’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case.” True patriotism is fighting against your own country when it’s wrong.

For me that means I will not stand and say my country is great, when my black brothers and sisters are dying on the streets at the hands of civil authorities. I will not stand, while I see a President who is constantly dividing us by race, and being completely unwise with his words and actions. I will not stand.

I’ll admit, Colin Kaepernick isn’t your typical American Christian. He wears Karl Marx shirts, and is a Malcolm X fan. I do not support him in those things.

But, I respect and support him because his Christian faith has spurned him into action. He puts his money where his mouth is, and donates millions of dollars back into his community. Colin Kaepernick has a holy ambition. He is motivated by the justice that Christ seeks.

And if I played football, I would be kneeling right beside Colin Kaepernick.

Why?

Because of my love for my country.