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A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON REMOVING HISTORICAL STATUES
It is a gift, as Robert Burns wrote, to see ourselves as others see us.
One of those “others” is Caroline Glick, who writes on her webpage from Israel: “Americans are now expected to kneel for the Star-Spangled Banner and disavow American history while swallowing whole a false, malicious new history that claims America has been a force for evil at home and worldwide since it was nothing more than a sparkle in a racist colonialist’s eye.”
Regimes in China and Iran, who violently repress even peaceful demonstrators, are mocking us and claiming we are no better than they when police and the National Guard put down street violence.
These are the inevitable consequences when a nation forgets who and what it is and when some of its citizens reject the values that built and sustained it.
Have we forgotten that the evil of slavery and Jim Crow laws throughout the South have been mostly corrected and, in some cases, atoned for in blood and legislation?
Perfect we have not yet become, but our journey is advancing, not retreating, or “sheltering in place.”
The current anarchy started with justifiable outrage over the killing of George Floyd. After peaceful demonstrations, things turned violent. Political correctness and censorship of speech quickly followed as mob rule became the norm. . .
Rioters and looters seem to think of themselves as second American revolutionaries and morally superior to the Founders, some of whose statues they are pulling down and others they are defacing.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for the removal of Confederate statues from the Capitol Building.
The irony is that most, if not all, of these notable men were Democrats, a party opposed to Reconstruction after the Civil War and the authors of Jim Crow laws. Their racist descendants opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Will these purists tear down the Richard Russell Senate Office Building, named for the senator from Georgia who opposed all such legislation?
Yes, reforms are needed as they always are in a pluralistic nation with competing ideas, especially because of our racial history. But tearing things down, including history, does not help others rise. No life is improved, no family stabilized.
“Out of many, one” is our national motto. We seem to be practicing it today about as much as the unofficial one, “In God we trust.”
Unfortunately, the tribalism unleashed on the land appears to have become out of one, many, and we are fighting each other with a zeal that would be better directed at real enemies.
As Abraham Lincoln observed in his first inaugural address: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
If only it were so today. The shame is ours that it is not.
(Excerpt from The Daily Signal. Article by Cal Thomas.)
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Comments
Cal Thomas is sounding the alarm to the American Christian. We must not succumb to the lies of the enemy of our freedoms. While there are some who would love to tear down everything our forefathers built, (whether it’s the good, the bad or even the ugly parts) we are a nation that has a History. We cannot afford to dismiss what we “together” have built. We should learn from it not try to “re-write or remove it.” People from every Nation have come to this land to build a better future for themselves and their family. Let’s build a better future than this -work on building up not tearing down! May God have mercy on us and help us to do better than this.
Cal Thomas is sounding the alarm to the American Christian. We must not succumb to the lies of the enemy of our freedoms. While there are some who would love to tear down everything our forefathers built, (whether it’s the good, the bad or even the ugly parts) we are a nation that has a History. We cannot afford to dismiss what we “together” have built. We should learn from it no try to re-write or remove it. People of Nations have come to this land to build a better future for themselves and their family. Let’s build a better future than this – let’s work on building up not tearing down!
Thank you, Go and Donna King. I say, “Amen” to your comments. To me, your comments so reflect our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Thank you, again.
I pray in Jesus’ name for those who sincerely believe destroying a statute will erase wrong(s)
committed throughout history. God is a God of truth, and history reveals how much all people need a Savior.
Forgive us for destroying the truths that point to the need that only the perfect sacrifice of Your Son’s precious blood can wash away sin and reconciles us back to our Creator.
I am thinking of history as a piece of cloth. If I remove one thread that offends me, and then another, and then another soon the cloth is weakened. The cloth is strengthened as I care for it properly, realizing
removing threads is not going to bring about good for the benefit of the whole piece. I pray tolerance and understanding on Your world, Lord. Amen.
Every individual is apart of the human race and the Lord is going to hold us accountable how we treat one another. The scripture is so well addressed about how love is the factor to be the motive to do the right thing. 1st Corinthians 13: 1-13 “Love
13 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth [1] not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; [2] 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; [3] whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. [4] 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought [5] as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; [6] but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
Charity in the scripture is love. We all who says w love God then we must first surrender ourselves unto his will and walk in newness of life. In order for us to make the right decisions we must first seek the will of the Lord and become his servant and get to the place of seeing ourselves as nothing without Christ. If you are born again believers in the Lord then we are what the scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 we are new creatures in Christ Jesus; read the Word of God and submit to his authority. We must remove hatred and everything the devil is utilizing in the lives of people in order to make right decisions. Jesus loves us but he hates liars and they will not tarry in his sight. We all must change and not think you are better than someone else when your heart is dark and cold for the Word of God then we have become religious in our walk.
Father, restore the foundation upon which our nation was established. Let us REMEMBER our history and share it with integrity. Ben Frankanklin said, I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?
Why would they tear down the statue of Abraham Lincoln? It makes no sense whatsoever! I am so very sad!
The Democrats were the party of racism . Most of the statues being pulled down, were Democrats. With great General’s like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson . Even though they fought against freedom . They were men of fortitude and ccourage
I am very disappointed but not at all surprised. One more thing, the title should read, “My/Our Perspective” as I am a Christian and I do not have the same views as you regarding this matter.
I was glad the title said “A” Christian Perspective, and not “The” Christian Perspective for the same reason I really don’t like that worship song “Our God is an Awesome God”: no, He is THE Awesome God, there is none beside Him! I can’t believe He enjoys hearing that song.
Words DO matter.
I am very disappointed but not at all surprised.
Why would you quote the slave owner in your Christian article? Y’all pushing Republican agenda and being just as divisive in the name of God. Those statutes should have never been up and we should have never celebrated their hatred. None were Christ like and this is borderline.
For your information, Robert E. Lee was opposed to Confederate monuments. Please read this article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments. I am an ex-militant African American (as in Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael), and I do not agree with the destruction/defacement of monuments of founding fathers, Confederates, abolitionists, or black men who fought for their freedom (54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment). I doubt God Almighty the Creator cares about statues. However, since we live in America, and statues symbolize/reflect our history, it is imperative that they stand so that youth can learn from whence we, as Americans, came. Also, I highly recommend that you read Orwell’s 1984. It will shed some light on what’s happening in America right now at this pivotal time in history. What MLK stood for has been nearly obliterated. Nevertheless, he did stand for all people when he stressed that it is content of character that matters and not the color of one’s skin. I also think he would be appalled by “identity politics.” What we have now–tribalism–is not at all what he died for. In essence, we are not progressing; we are regressing. We are not evolving; we are devolving. God bless you!
I so agree with everything that you said. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m also black and my parents grew up under Jim Crow segregation in the South and marched with Martin Luther King in D.C. They always taught us to love and respect all people because Christ died for all. It breaks my heart to see the destruction of monuments and museums being done in the name of black lives. As the writer of the article states “tearing things down, including history, does not help others rise. No life is improved, no family stabilized.” No. Only neighborhoods and cities destroyed, to what end?
I think we can all agree that there are still racist people in this country and that our nation is not yet perfect as injustices do occur, but we have made significant improvements from the days of Jim Crow segregation. This current wave of tribalism threatens to send us right back there with its calls for separate spaces and separate rules for blacks and the demonization of whites. This is not what my parents and others who participated in the Civil Rights movement were advocating for.
Christian or no, we are all sinners every day. There is no such thing as “our nation is not yet perfect”, as people make their own choices it will never be because “We the People” are not perfect.
And, because Christians dropped the baton of government and cultural influence generation by generation, being satisfied that our money says “In God We Trust”, we have reaped systemic ungodliness. When people are entertained by reading violence, playing games of violence, and watching shows of violence, how is it we expect to harvest a different crop?
I sure hope we as a country can remember that the evil things in history are doomed to repeat themselves unless we learn from them. I hope and pray we can remember no one is perfect and show some grace. These people from history have much we can learn from, good and bad. Destroying things will not change anything. Peaceful protest, voting, writing and calling Washington and most importantly prayer are what can change things.