2021: A Year in Review
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

  • Voices
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Issue Statements
    • Governing Board
    • Careers
  • Programs
    • NC Interfaith Power & Light
      • NCIPL Overview
      • Faith in Action NCIPL
      • NCIPL Articles
      • NCIPL Resources
      • Upcoming Events for NCIPL
      • Contact NCIPL
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • PHW Staff
      • Mini-Grants
      • PHW Collaborative Pledge
      • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
      • Mental Health Advocacy
      • BIPOC Mental Health Grant
      • Growing Communities of Inclusion: A Faithful Response to HIV
      • Healthy Aging
      • Citizen Science
      • PHW Articles
      • FAQs
  • Priorities
    • Racial Justice
    • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Public Education
    • Farmworkers
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Christian Unity
    • Peace
  • Events
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Publications & Reports
    • Raleigh Report
    • Lectionary
    • Sermons
  • Donate
  • Council Store
  • Show Search

Search NC Council of Churches

Hide Search

Time to Take a Knee

Andrew Hudgins, Program Associate for Operations · September 29, 2017 · 1 Comment

It has been nearly fourteen months since Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner prior to the start of his team’s games. The decision not to stand during the national anthem, as he has repeatedly stated, was in response to the on-going epidemic of police brutality and the inequality that he and other people of color experience in our country on a daily basis.

Last week at a rally in Alabama, the president called Mr. Kaepernick, and other professional football players who have since joined the protest, a vulgar name and encouraged the owners of the teams to fire them. But he did something else that night as well. He took control of the narrative and completely flipped it, leading a significant portion of our country to believe that these players were kneeling in protest of our national anthem, the flag, and the men and women serving in our military.

This was never about any of that, but it is very telling that so many people have misinterpreted football players protesting inequality and racism as football players protesting America.

When Kaepernick began his protest during his team’s first two preseason games last year, he did so by sitting on the bench. He then consulted with a couple of military veterans about his protest, not wanting to show any disrespect to those in the military, about the proper form his protest should take. They advised him to kneel alongside his teammates rather than continue to sit by himself on the bench. Military members kneel during the funeral of a veteran when they present a flag to the veteran’s next-of-kin. As a person of faith, I kneel frequently to pray and the church that I grew up attending has a rail on which people kneel as they receive the elements of the Eucharist. Kneeling is a sign of respect, not disrespect, and it was specifically chosen as a form of protest in order to show respect to our country and all those who have sacrificed for it, while also getting his message across.

Criticizing others for disrespecting the military is an interesting position for someone who verbally attacked Khizr and Ghazala Khan while campaigning for president. The Khans are the parents of American soldier Humayun Khan, who died in a car bombing in Iraq in 2004 while trying to save the lives of fellow Americans. He also belittled Sen. John McCain while on the campaign trail for being captured and tortured as a prisoner of war.

The juxtaposition is quite jarring. If you’re a black man respectfully kneeling in order to initiate a conversation about race in America you should be fired. If you’re a white man openly mocking the sacrifices others have made for this country you can become president.

Of all people, Christians should be the first to raise questions about our relationship to the government and where our allegiances lie. Members of the early church struggled to be both citizens of Rome and followers of Jesus. Peter and John were brought before the rulers of Jerusalem and ordered not to continue spreading Jesus’ message of hope to the hopeless and liberation to the persecuted. They answered they could do no other than tell the truth about what they saw and heard (Acts 4). In another incident, Peter is again brought before the rulers and tells them, “we must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29).

Throughout scripture we are reminded not to worship idols so that we not misplace our allegiance for the object rather than that which the object represents. The prophet Daniel is celebrated in Jewish and Christian traditions for refusing to obey the command of the empire to worship an idol and pledge allegiance to anything other than God. As a result, he was forced to endure a blazing furnace. As a result of Kaepernick’s actions, he has had to endure fiery, misguided criticism and hatred.

As people of faith, we must be careful to ensure that our appreciation for the great things our flag represents does not become worship of the flag itself. Among those many things the flag represents is the freedom of speech, and in exercising that freedom Kaepernick continues to be burned. Perhaps the time has long come for us to take a knee ourselves to acknowledge as well that our allegiance is not to the empire or to an idol, but to the Prince of Peace who brought liberation to the captive and justice to the oppressed.

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Civil Discourse, Criminal Justice, Human Rights, Race/Ethnicity, Religion & Society, Worship

About Andrew Hudgins, Program Associate for Operations

Andrew was born and raised in Virginia and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work from James Madison University. That also happens to be where he met his wife, Kelly. He attended seminary in northern Virginia and worked at a church, primarily with the youth, before they moved to Houston, Texas as full-time volunteers with a Christian missions organization called Mission Year. While there, they lived in solidarity with their neighbors in an under-resourced community learning what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” When the program ended in July, 2016, they moved to Raleigh wanting to be a little closer to home and desiring to set down roots in a place for awhile. He enjoys reading, watching sports (primarily football and baseball), and playing board games.

Reader Interactions

More Like This

Raleigh Report: Sidetrack for photo voter ID
Raleigh Report: Flawed deal to resurrect Silent Sam
Path to Fairer Maps, Better Government

Comments

  1. Jim says

    October 2, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    Well said Mr. Hudgins. Well said.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Anonymous comments or comments that target individuals will not be posted (please include your first and last name). All comments must be on topic and respectful. Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed by a moderator. Comments do not reflect the positions of the NC Council of Churches.

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Facebook

Partners in Health and Wholeness

Featured

Time to Take a Knee

Latest Tweets

RT @RasuShrestha We grieve and are mortified by the staggering number of mass shootings and other acts of violence with guns in our country. We need action, not just thoughts & prayers. Sign the petition now if you agree: ✅change.org/p/interfa… #GunControlNow pic.twitter.com/hx2O…

About 17 minutes ago

Are you passionate about the health and wellbeing of North Carolina communities? Then apply for a job with our Partners in Health and Wholeness as the Engagement and Program Administrator! ncchurches.org/2022/… pic.twitter.com/0Q7Y…

Yesterday

The U.S. Supreme Court, as if rushing to settle old grievances, in recent weeks has thrashed about in a virtual frenzy of “originalism” – never mind the consequences for America’s civic well-being. ncchurches.org/2022/…

About 2 days ago

Faith Leaders! Last chance to apply this training! Learn to incorporate suicide prevention programming into your congregation’s activities. Apply at the link! ncivpb.iad1.qualtric… pic.twitter.com/vFmT…

About 2 days ago

As people of faith, we must commit ourselves to doing all that we can to support and embrace the LGBTQ+ older adults in our communities and beyond. Read more from Partners in Health and Wholeness Associate Director, Krista Westervelt: ncchurches.org/2022/…

About 6 days ago

Follow @ncchurches

Latest Tweets

Greetings! Be sure to stop by our table at the Western NC Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska this weekend! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/30bk…

About 3 weeks ago

Hello twitter family! Be sure to stop by our table at the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church in Greenville, NC starting today! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/l6X3…

About 3 weeks ago

Our mini grant cycle is now open!!! pic.twitter.com/eyRp…

About a month ago

RT @faithleadership Faith coalitions are addressing the opioid crisis by providing resources, connections and a destigmatizing vision. lght.ly/45iam80 Featuring: @okconfchurches | @ODMHSASINFO | @healthandfaith | @ncchurches | @DukeTMCI | @shannon_fleck

About a month ago

Join us for Sacred Conversations: Older Adults - Fraud & Scams on Friday, June 24th from 11 AM to 12 PM and learn to recognize common scams targeted towards older adults and how to protect yourself and those in your faith communities. ncchurches.ourpowerb…

About 2 months ago

Follow @healthandfaith

Latest Tweets

RT @mocleanair A new study found hundreds of toxins in natural gas from residential sites, including toluene and benzene in 94-95% of samples. Read more, call ALL your elected leaders for just clean energy: ow.ly/ICTi50JKSug @GCVoters @scennetwork1 @uscan @enviRN @docsforclimate @CEHN

Last week

RT @GeorgiaIPL The Supreme Court’s ruling limits the EPA’s ability to set the strong standards needed to cut carbon pollution and tackle the climate crisis. We can’t afford to stop fighting climate change. pic.twitter.com/XTC7…

Last week

RT @scennetwork1 Join us for Season 2 of @CJYpodcast! We spoke to Catherine Coleman Flowers, one of the founding mothers of Environmental Justice from the South, about the lessons learned from her activism with the civil rights movement to the modern EJ movement. #SouthernVoices #CJY #Podcast pic.twitter.com/TzEr…

Last week

RT @scennetwork1 We thank everyone who joined us for our first in-person convening since the pandemic started! We had a fantastic time and had over 30 organizations from the Southeast represented!🎉 pic.twitter.com/1KYc…

Last week

RT @scennetwork1 We made the news last week! NC Faith Leaders Call on the U.S. to Pay 'Fair Share' for Climate-Related Loss! Read the full article here: publicnewsservice.or… pic.twitter.com/nltj…

Last week

Follow @ncipl

Latest Tweets

Copyright © 2022 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine