The trail of bullying goes through churches

All of America knows that bullying is epidemic in our schools. Bullying is a major reason teenagers give for skipping school and eventually dropping out of high school. The occasions for bullying are many. Race, sexual orientation, clothes, looks, handicaps, intelligence and economic class are all used to bully. While details change, the dynamics never change. The story line repeats itself over and over again.

A bully finds ways to intimidate others to establish control over them. The person who is the object of the bullying has three choices: submit, run away or fight back. None of these standard responses produce good results.

The Palmer Arts Council is a local not-for-profit group that facilitates a variety of artistic events. A local fifth-grade teacher found a play about bullying written by Brian Guehring. Mr. Guehring was a teacher with degrees in children’s theatre from Duke University and University of Texas. He wrote the play “The Bully Show” for audiences of young people in grades four through eight. His goal was to educate teachers, administrators and students about the practice of bullying in the school setting. I have been associated with the Palmer Arts Council for several years. We decided to take a proposal to the school district. Administrators liked the proposal.

Our local teacher became the director. She is a theatre veteran. We hired an experienced theatre person to design and construct a very portable set. The play can be done with a three-person cast. An eighth-grader, a sophomore and a senior were chosen. The play is interactive with the audiences and the cast developed excellent skills in handling unrehearsed and spontaneous responses from their young audiences.

In September 2012, “The Bully Show” was presented 18 times at school sites to audiences that ranged from grades four through eight. Nearly 5,000 students saw the production. Principals, teachers and students loved the show. Teachers used the shows for classroom discussion. The long-term effect of “The Bully Show” is yet to be seen.

As an Arts Council board member, I traveled with the show and saw the production several times. I received a quick education in the dynamics of bullying.

In the play, the lead actor is the host of a television game show called “The Bully Show.” In the show, the host is presented as dedicated to bringing bullying among school children to an end. She was very assertive in the way she ran her show. There was no doubt about who was in charge. Near the end of play, she is confronted by an assistant producer for being a bully herself. When a closer look is taken, the game show host had used the very same tactics to gain the dominance and control that she found unacceptable in others.

The confrontation between the game show host and her assistant was the high moment in the play, and it was my own moment of truth. I, too, if placed in the right circumstance, can become a bully. Upon further reflection, I see myself surrounded by bullying. I live in a bully nation and am a part of bully Christianity. What we see in our school children, they have learned from parents, government and church.

Once sensitized, we can all see bullying done every day by employers, government officials, teachers and parents. Bullying is an American way of life.

At the highest level, bullying is the front-line tool of American foreign policy. We constantly send messages to the nations of the world. Behave and we will send you money. Misbehave and we will place sanctions against you. Get out of line and we have the power to crush you. Rattle your sword and we will station our battle ships off your coast.

None of these public practices teach our children the ways of peace. America in its world leadership role has refined and redefined the art of bullying. Then we seem surprised when we find bullying prevalent among our school children. Teenage gangs are simply the result of the bully system that we practice at many levels.

Where can we find a voice of sanity that will publicly call the practice of bullying to a halt? Obviously and currently it is not the Christian churches. Christians are too busy practicing the art of bullying. It begins with holy books and creeds. I cringe every time I hear preachers and devout Christians declare, “The Bible says …”

Rarely do they identify the author or the circumstance of the passage to which they refer. “The Bible says …” is the sledgehammer of Protestant Christianity. The message is all too plain — get in line or you are headed for punishment, rejection or even Hell. It is the ultimate bullying tool. It is difficult to out-gun a holy God, who has spoken with finality without error. Dynamic and authoritarian preachers are especially good at Bible rhetoric that is calculated intimidation. Preachers may be the most skilled persons in our society in the practice of bullying.

And then there are the creeds. Creeds were originally devised to force conformity to Christian belief. The creeds of Christianity have been and are regularly used as the club for bullying. The message is clear. Agree or be denied ordination. Agree or be silenced. Agree or be censored. Disagree and be labeled heretic and excommunicated.

A children’s play sensitized me to the dynamics of bullying. Everyone says that we should do something about it. It is tough to do something about it when the path of bullying takes us through our homes, schools, the halls of government and the sanctuaries of religion.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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