The Rev. Julie Peeples headlined an evening program co-hosted by Elon University School of Law that brought together dozens of community members who sought a better understanding of religious faith in the United States and its intersection with the rule of law.
A longtime North Carolina faith leader urged clergy and attorneys to “do your jobs” by speaking truth to power when she delivered a keynote address in a December symposium co-hosted by Elon University School of Law.
Remarks by the Rev. Julie Peeples, who retired in 2024 as the senior minister for the Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro, set the foundation for a subsequent panel conversation featuring two additional ministers and an attorney with experience advocating for those harmed by unjust systems.
The Law and The Prophets Symposium on Dec. 5, 2024, was co-hosted by Elon Law, Saint Matthews United Methodist Church, and West Market Street United Methodist Church, which held the program inside its downtown Greensboro sanctuary.
“There is a justice system, and then there is justice,” Peeples said. “Sometimes those are the same and sometimes they are not. The system, as we are all aware, often has a different standard for those on the margins, people of color, those living in poverty. America, as we all know, imprisons a higher percentage of its population than in any other nation on earth. And those prisoners are overwhelmingly poor.
“When religious systems and justice systems work together for the common good and equal protection, that is very good, very, very powerful. And when they are distorted, twisted, weaponized – both carry destructive force, and both can be manipulated to enable fascism and authoritarianism, and the list goes on.”
Elon Law Professor Enrique Armijo moderated the panel discussion that offered perspectives on communities of faith and their influence on the implementation and interpretation of law. The Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand, the Rev. Alan Sherouse, and attorney R. Steve Bowden joined Peeples onstage for the talk.
Church leaders and law school administrators expressed interest to the dozens of attendees that the program would be the first in a series aimed at building relationships and fostering dialogue on sensitive issues.
How to best nurture that dialogue was a recurring theme of the evening.
“Clergy, we need to stop protecting people in the pews from hard conversations and start modeling how to have risky conversations in healthy ways,” Peeples said in her keynote address. “So many people are hungry for safe spaces where they can ask questions, where they can learn about and deal with substantive issues … we need to do our job. Hold fast to hope, hold fast to the holy vision of a just world for all. That’s not inherently blue or red. That’s about basic human rights and God’s love for all of us.
“Lawyers? Do your job. Hold fast to hope, uphold the Constitution, be passionate about justice and not just the justice system. Seminaries and law schools? You need to do your jobs. Refuse to turn out any more clergy or lawyers afraid of their own shadow, terrified of speaking the truth. Together, we can start rebuilding a community centered around common good.”
