Rage Against the Machine

I was chatting to my friends Steve and Wendy yesterday. Write about ‘Rage against the machine,’ said Steve. I know that was the name of some American rock band…

In the late eighteenth century new technologies were being introduced to the textiles industry. The jobs and livelihoods of skilled workers were being threatened by machines that could work faster and cheaper than traditional human labour.

In 1811, Nottinghamshire workers known as Luddites, opposed the new automated machines. Joining together they smashed the machines, opposing their rich and powerful mill and factory owners. This movement, that then spread to Yorkshire and Lancashire, was the original ‘rage against the machine’…

Today the phrase “Rage Against the Machine” has taken on a broader meaning. It isn’t now about literal machines. It’s about the machinery of governments, organisations, forces outside our control, that oppress the weak, restrict freedom and disregard the powerless. It’s about being angry about injustice, and actively protesting, opposing, resisting…

I was brought up to have strong opinions. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was protesting against war… The Civil Rights movement in the US was highlighting social injustice and racial prejudice… For me as a good Christian boy Billy Graham was calling for people to follow Jesus. I would have understood ‘rage against the machine’ then.

But today, sixty years on, I’m content. There are squirrels in my garden, warmth in my home and coffee in my mug. I can be an armchair critic, remaining distantly apathetic, blaming everyone else for the world’s problems. As a Christian I like the Jesus who calms the storm, blesses the children, and promises rest to the weary and troubled.

Perhaps, if I’m to respond to Steve’s ‘rage against the machine’ I need to rediscover the radical Jesus, who actively opposes religious hypocrisy, who stands up for the prostitute against the authorities, who angrily clears  traders from the temple. I need to be more robust in my faith, more outspoken in my hope, and more outrageous in my love.