Opposing oppressive governments is in the Christian DNA

Protest injustice through nonviolence, says Jesuit priest

Father Simon Harak, SJ, spoke about the non-violent nature of Christ at a retreat at Edmonton's
Trinity Lutheran Church March 21. Photo Ramon Gonzalez/CCN

There goes Jesus again, always inspiring the truth and ticking off oppressive governments. The B.C. Catholic has an article from Ramon Gonzalez of the Western Catholic Reporter, about a Jesuit priest who said Christians have the genetics through Christ to survive in oppressive empires:

Jesus never hurt or killed anyone, but took dramatic, direct non-violent action against injustice and state oppression, says Father Simon Harak, SJ.

As his followers, we are called to do the same, Harak said. “We are called to get involved in non-violent direct action that disrupts the machinery of sin.”

The Jesuit priest said the Christian tradition of nonviolence is needed, in part, to resist the death-dealing power of the United States, which, like the Roman Empire, oppresses millions in America and around the world.

“(As Christians) we are not strangers to empires,” Harak said, noting that the early Christians lived under a world dominated by the sole superpower of their time.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website