I support the institutions of our community. Both in my word and through my tax dollars. I want a healthy and just community.

That’s the reason I also support public outcry and calls for justice in the midst of injustice. And the current concerns over police brutality are just such an example.

Whether it’s marching in the streets, rallying at the site of a shooting, or protesting the national anthem, these are attempts to be heard.

But not everyone wants to hear these voices.

Here’s why I think arguing against such protests is a bad idea.

Another Example:

Imagine if a big chunk of the American public responded to the long-term, systemic problem of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church with excuses. Saying that priests were justified; they felt threatened or had a rational reason to break the law and destroy another person’s life.

Imagine if we argued that we shouldn’t make such a big deal out of the abuse because it makes it harder for priests to do their jobs. #priestlivesmatter

Imagine if we published pictures of young victims in the media looking like “thugs”. And then claim they deserve what happened to them.

And then we publish pictures of the priests, looking all saintly. Arguing that they didn’t really mean to do it so they shouldn’t be prosecuted.

Remember the Boston Globe exposed the abuse and the city’s complicity in ignoring it.

Now imagine in light of the stories, that prosecutors don’t go after the abusive priests. That both the church and the judicial system let them go on serving the exact same community.

Imagine after all the public outcry and the lurid tales of abuse, the justice system still fails. And we all filter the various supporters into our fake culture war dualism of Left and Right. Filtered over whether to make it harder for abusers to abuse. And whether to prosecute the known abusers.

If the church did nothing. And the prosecutors did nothing. If our cities, states, and federal government did nothing to protect the victims and future victims. We’d protest, wouldn’t we? How else are our voices going to be heard?

We’d protest. We’d try to be heard.

So then would we still bicker over patriotism? Invoke the military?

And would we question why all that blind support for public servants evaporates when it’s teachers rather than police officers? Or even priests?

Don’t we all want true justice? And don’t we want true peace?