A Christian Response to Police Brutality

    

    Despite being overwhelmingly made up of brave and selfless men and women, American law enforcement has a problem with abuse of force and relationships with ethnic minorities. Most Americans want to support frontline responders, but are struggling with this discrepancy--- How can I support my local officers and still object to some wrong actions? Can I protest the actions of a few law enforcement officers and still support the majority? How can I both support and require accountability from our police force? To find answers, let us go back—way back—to fourth century Milan, Italy and ask the fascinating character Ambrose.

Born into a wealthy, upper-class Roman family, Ambrose became the governor of Milan while still in his thirties. Milan was not an easy place to govern. Though the Roman Empire was nominally Christian, everyone from commoners to emperors brought with them ancient Roman habits, including a cycle of civil unrest. With no legal way to make their voices heard, the common people would often riot, burning government and religious buildings over some (often justifiable) grievance. The government would respond by sending the police force of that day--- Roman soldiers--- to kill, beat, and burn in retaliation. It was not an effective way to resolve anything, but it was incredibly Roman. It also leaked into Christian theological disputes, which themselves often spawned riots and gangs of proto-monks literally waging wars in the streets over the natural of Jesus’ divinity, original sin, and the relationship between church and state.

          Ambrose was as Roman as a man could be, but, as governor, he developed a reputation for fair and minimally violent resolution to conflict. He allowed diverse Christian groups to co-exist in his city and encouraged orthodox Christians to persuade, instead of force, heretics back into the Christian fold. Of course, as a governor, he enforced Roman law to the letter. But his charity won him the love of the common people, which enabled him to resolve many situations without having to send his armies to burn and kill.

          The bishop of Milan was part of a Christian group called Arians, who rejected the Nicene creed that all Catholics and Protestants today would accept. Ambrose was a Nicene Christian but seemed to have a good working relationship with the bishop. The bishop’s death prompted a new crisis among the Christians of Milan. Nicene Christians wanted a new bishop who was orthodox; Arian Christians obviously wanted another Arian bishop. As the election process dragged on, it became increasingly boisterous.

As the unrest increased, Ambrose was forced to act. Any other Roman governor would have sent in the soldiers to forcibly prevent violence; instead, Ambrose sent himself. It seemed he hoped his presence and the good relationships he had with both sides would enable the group to peaceably elect a new bishop. It did, just not in the way he expected. Once he showed up, someone in the crowd started the chant “Ambrose the Bishop!” and the chant spread like wildfire through the church and the throng outside. Ambrose was elected bishop by the mob he was trying to pacify. He accepted the will of the people as the will of God; he and his wife gave away their wealth, turned their mansion into a sort of monastery/ homeless shelter, and renounced their highborn status. Ambrose’s role in curtailing police brutality was just beginning.

After years of injustice and unrest, a mob in the distant city of Thessalonica in the Roman province of Greece managed to murder the governor in 390. Instead of arresting and prosecuting those involved, Emperor Theodosius reacted by sending in his Roman army-police force. They massacred 7,000 Thessalonian citizens in retaliation.

This was not Ambrose’s fight. Thessalonica was not his territory. He had never been there. They did not even speak the same language as his Milan congregation.  He did not care. In his mind a Christian leader cannot stand aside when the government that should protect the people overreact, abuse their power, and take innocent human lives. His anger was not directed to the common soldiers who had not received adequate training and were just following orders; it was directed at the people in power who created this mess, especially the Emperor who ordered it.

Emperor Theodosius had implemented many policies that promoted Christian morality and supported the power of the organized church. He was the most powerful man in the world and one of the most powerful emperors in Roman history. He could have ordered Ambrose executed with a word. Again, Ambrose did not care. As a governor he had answered to the Roman Emperor. As a bishop, he answered to God.

In 390, he kicked Theodosius out of the church. He excommunicated him; forbid any priest in his bishopric to allow him to take part in communion or other religious activities; and wrote to other prominent bishops asking them to do the same. And they did! In one of the most impressive acts of Christian unity of all time, every other major bishop in the Roman west--- regardless of their theological disagreements--- joined with Ambrose in his protest of excessive violence by the policing army. Theodosius had no choice. He publicly repented of his sin, completed penance as Ambrose directed, and was welcomed back into the Christian community a contrite Emperor.

The Bible has a lot to say about avoiding excessive force or punishment. Even the phrase “an eye for an eye,” which is often misrepresented about being about vengeance is about minimizing violence when pursuing justice. In the Old Testament law, it is meant to limit Hartfield and McCoy style clan violence--- you cost me my eye, so my clan will kill you. Now, you clan will kill two of us, and so on… (Ex 24). In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that among Christian individuals, they should not even demand this much retribution (Mt. 5:38).  Ambrose and his fellow bishops took those Christian principles and held their government accountable to them.

Imagine what transformation could be accomplished if, in the face of modern excessive use of violence and misuse of power, Christians banded together and demanded repentance and change from those in power. It’s a world many Christian groups are fighting for now by demanding increased police training, reasonable accountability for individual actions, a systematic look at the effects of racial stereotypes on criminal justice, blind equality before the law, and people in power to listen to the marginalized. If Ambrose were here, he would be at the forefront of this fight, joining with the Old Testament prophets and demanding repentance and reformation from those who “deny justice to the oppressed” (Amos 2:7).