March 30, 2008 10:00 AM
Faith and Civil Rights
Lewis was serious about his faith from an early age. “Preacher” was his childhood nickname, and at age four he had a congregation—a flock—of chickens to whom he preached on the family farm. “Some of these chickens would bow their heads, some of these chickens would shake their heads,” he recalls. “They never quite said amen, but they tended to listen to me better than some of my colleagues listen to me today in the Congress.” Lewis represents the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.
As Lewis grew up, his faith deepened, and he thought about Christianity in light of racial oppression. “Segregation was not in keeping with my Christian faith. It was not in keeping with the teachings of the Great Teacher,” he comments. As a teenager he was inspired by the actions of Rosa Parks and the preaching of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He later became closely affiliated with Dr. King and co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC.
Lewis studied, and committed himself to, nonviolent means of protest. He participated in sit-ins, peaceful marches, and the Freedom Rides. He was beaten and spat upon, and arrested dozens of times. During beatings, Lewis always sought to look his assailant in the eye, to make human contact and acknowledge the spark of divinity in every person. “You have to have the power, the willingness to forgive, and accept the suffering and the violence in the right spirit,” he says.
The discussion includes a recorded excerpt from Dr. King’s last Sunday sermon, preached at the Cathedral forty years ago. Lewis considers what Dr. King would say, had he survived until today. “He would tell us to take care of the poor, to provide for the homeless, to provide food for those that need a decent meal, to clothe the naked, to visit those in prison…and study war no more,” Lewis says, making references to Jesus’ teachings as well as Dr. King’s work for civil rights.
Dr. King “went with his gut…with his soul. He felt he was doing the right thing, and he was carrying out the mission, the calling, of God almighty,” Lewis asserts.