As part of movements for freedom, justice, and democracy, faith leaders and communities have turned to nonviolent action, including protest and persuasion, noncooperation, and building alternative institutions to resist systems of oppression, including authoritarian regimes. 

In the United States, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to free expression and assembly (and most states protect both, too!). When engaging in nonviolent protest, it’s important to understand the history of the practices and your legal rights, as well as the strategic intention of any course of action. 

Noncooperation tactics, which include economic boycotts, labor strikes, walk-outs, die-ins, and refusals to obey social norms, are used to restrict or deny expected behavior or cooperation with individuals, institutions, or governments. They are typically the most powerful class of nonviolent methods because they involve directly removing an opponent’s sources of social, political, and economic power. 

Civil disobedience, a subcategory of noncooperation, involves knowingly violating laws, decrees, regulations, commands or orders deemed immoral or unjust. Those who engage in civil disobedience knowingly expect and accept the legal consequences of their action.  

  

A history of noncooperation and civil disobedience

A history of noncooperation and civil disobedience

Faith leaders and communities have played key roles in noncooperation campaigns challenging authoritarian regimes in the U.S. and globally. 

During the U.S. Civil Rights movement, Black churches and faith coalitions including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference played a seminal role in organizing bus boycotts, lunch-counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides and other campaigns of organized noncooperation with segregation laws. Churches and Quaker meeting houses hosted trainings in nonviolent resistance to hone the skills in disciplined noncooperation and civil disobedience.  

In South Africa, noncooperation by Christian clergy played a key role in resisting apartheid in the 1970s and 80s. Anglican Archbishop Geoffrey Clayton sent a letter to South Africa’s prime minister stating that he refused to obey the order to segregate the congregation. In the U.S., churches and faith institutions divested from corporations benefiting from apartheid South Africa. 

During the Philippines “People Power” revolution in 1986, nuns put themselves in front of demonstrators to protect them from the military who were given instructions to fire on protesters. The nuns’ brave act of noncooperation ended up playing a crucial role in convincing the military not to fire. This act helped facilitate the security forces’ overall shift away from Marcos, leading to the end of the dictatorship.

In Hungary, following the 2010 election victory of autocratic leader Victor Orbán, Pastor Gábor Iványi of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (HEF), who had officiated Orban’s wedding and baptized one of his sons, refused to attend the Prime Minister’s inauguration in protest of Orbán’s autocracy, illiberalism, and Christian nationalism. 

In Myanmar, despite the historically close relationship between Buddhist monks and the military, some monks publicly withdrew their support from the regime during the 2008 “Saffron Revolution.” Some monks marched with their alms bowls overturned to imply that the regime’s donations were unclean and ill-intentioned. Burmese security forces responded to the protests with large-scale violent crackdowns, and while the protests were ultimately unable to drive immediate change, they helped pave the way toward democratic reforms beginning in 2011. 

In Poland, where the far-right Law and Justice party (PiS) used Christian rhetoric and symbolism to legitimize its policy agenda, faith leaders played a key role in the country’s democratic turn-around. Many bishops leveraged their positionality and religious rhetoric to oppose the PiS’ more overtly anti-democratic efforts. A prime example of non-compliance occurred during Poland’s Independence Day rallies in 2017, when the Episcopal Conference refused to celebrate Mass.

During the first Trump administration, diverse faith groups actively refused cooperation with Executive Order 13769 (“the Muslim ban”) aimed at drastically reducing the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. They offered sanctuary to primarily Central American immigrants threatened by indiscriminate roundups by immigration police.

Noncooperation and civil disobedience today

Noncooperation and civil disobedience today

Today, noncooperation by faith leaders in the U.S. has taken the form of refusing to comply with legally questionable ICE immigration roundups in places of worship and filing lawsuits to that effect. Faith leaders in Florida have organized “freedom schools” to teach a more accurate account of U.S. history in the face of government attacks on DEI in education. Faith leaders responded to anti-DEI efforts by calling for a Target Fast during the Lenten Season, encouraging supporters to boycott and support Black owned businesses as an alternative. 

Faith leaders and communities have played key roles in noncooperation campaigns challenging authoritarian regimes in the US and globally. 

  

Toolkit for noncooperation and civil disobedience

Toolkit for noncooperation and civil disobedience

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