Historic Church Vows to Fight Trump, Defend the Oppressed

"This congregation will provide sanctuary to all who are vulnerable and oppressed by the incoming administration."

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, addressed his congregation at the historic All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington DC on the Sunday following the election of Donald J. Trump to be the United States' 45th president. TYT reporter Eric Byler ( ) sat down with Rev. Hardies, who is one of the nation's most respected gay ministers as well as a leader in the national fight for racial justice, to ask whether his advice to his church would be the same he would offer to the nation. Hardies spoke both of reconciliation and resolve to fight injustice and defend the oppressed.

Our response to a comment saying churches should stay out of politics:

"The reality is we are going to be governed either by (a) corporatists plus religious people blinded by partisanship and "white racial identity" or (b) corporatists and people of conscience and compassion whether their inspiration be secular or nonseclar. One of these two coalitions will govern us better. It won't harm anything to learn about, and have dialogue with religious communities, and, perhaps even learn how to tell the difference." — @EricByler

Our response to comments from viewers marvelling at the existence of progessive people of faith:

"There have always been progressive and regressive churches. As the abolitionist movement began to take root, circa 1830, many of the churches split over slavery. This is why we have Southern Methodist vs. Methodist, Southern Baptist vs. Baptist, for instance Other churches, like the one seen in this report, were formed for the PURPOSE of fighting slavery and other forms of oppression. The reason why we are SO MUCH MORE familiar with regressive churches in today's America is that plutocratic interests have worked very hard to annex the churches as amplifiers of their political agendas. They did so in the 1830's (slave owners) and they did so in the 1970's and 1980's (white nationalist corporatists), both times with great success. The progressive churches have continued to exist, but they have not been put in the lime light of corporate media, with the intermittent exception of progressive Black churches, especially during the Civil Rights movement. But they do exist. Two of the best known progressive evangelicals are Rev. Dr. William Barber (whom you probably know) and Rev. Jim Wallis ( ) Here is info on Wallis

Here are some remarks by Barber

— @EricByler

Listen to the report on National Public Radio: