The liberal protest that would shock the right: Moral Monday
A left-wing protest that seeks to reclaim the banner of prayer and morality. The Tea Party would be confounded
BY KRISTIN RAWLS


It might surprise you to know that Jesus is frequently and unabashedly invoked in a protest movement that includes support for LGBT and abortion rights, but such is a simple fact of life in North Carolina. The Moral Monday protests here seek to reclaim the rhetoric of morality and – often explicitly Christian – spirituality in ways that are confounding to the Tea Party.

The twelfth consecutive week of Moral Monday protests took place on Monday, July 22, outside the North Carolina General Assembly building at 5 p.m. as usual. Thousands of people were there, this time focusing on proposed state voter restrictions and attacks on public education. It hasn’t received much attention in national media outlets, but there’s a growing popular uprising in North Carolina against the extremist policies of the Republicans who currently control state government.

Every week prayers and gospel songs infuse the air and participants offer blessings to the latest batch of 100 or so activists entering the Raleigh General Assembly building to commit civil disobedience. If you’re not from here, it may all seem a little counter-intuitive: A movement for inclusive and just secular governance that is deeply inflected with Christian ethics and arguments.