March 11

Ralph Abernathy and Benjamin Waugh

Author

David Barnhart
March 11, 2025

Saint Joseph, from Tuscany, at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. 2018. Own photo.

Today marks the birthday of Ralph Abernathy in 1926 in Linden, Alabama. He was pivotal in organizing aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and later became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He died on April 17, 1990. 

Today also marks the death of Benjamin Waugh, in 1908. He was a Congregational minister and social reformer who founded the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the UK. He was an early advocate of establishing a separate juvenile justice system so that children would not be imprisoned with adults, and raised awareness of child abuse and exploitation. 

Reflection: 

In a sermon he delivered in Albany, Ralph Abernathy said: 

Now nobody can enjoin God. I don't care what kind of injunction the city attorney seeks to get, he cannot enjoin God. This is God's movement. Nobody can enjoin God. There can be no injunction against God. Because Albany does not belong to the Democratic Party of the state of Georgia. Albany does not belong to the Republicans of the state of Georgia. Albany does not belong to Governor Vandiver. Albany does not belong to the white people of the state of Georgia. All-benny belongs to God, for the prophet said: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulllnes thereof, the world and they that dwell therein". And this is God's world, this is God's Albany, and God tells us that out of one blood He created all nations that dwell upon the face of this earth.

Benjamin Waugh argued:

Even the Gospel has been pleaded as a reason for letting the savage have his way with his child. “Get men converted; you cannot change hearts by laws,” it is said. This is wholly true. But what is needed is not to change hearts, but to change conduct; to make men keep blows and boots off babies’ limbs, and to put bread into sadly empty little stomachs.

Waugh faced arguments from Christians that child abuse and neglect could not be stopped by passing laws. He correctly called out religious passivity in the face of injustice. Followers of Jesus need to understand that they have a role—besides just praying for the conversion of the powerful—in shaping the laws that cause harm or promote healing and freedom.

Prayer: Liberator of all, give us the wisdom and courage to stand in solidarity with all those who struggle, to change or shape laws and systems. The Earth is yours, and the fullness thereof, and all those who dwell in it. Amen.