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On a Racecourse, Freed Slaves Gave Thanks to Fallen Soldiers
Memorial Day is a day set aside each year to remember and honor this nation’s war dead. A day Americans recognize the liberties we enjoy were purchased at a steep price. A day we remember freedom isn’t free. A day to remind ourselves that long before there were red states and blue states there were free states.
Tolstoy’s Dilemma
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, politicians and pundits have referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “evil”. Putin’s biographer recently wrote, “he’s not mad, he’s evil”. How do we determine if someone is evil?
Putin is Evil! Sez who?
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, politicians and pundits have referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “evil”. Putin’s biographer recently wrote, “he’s not mad, he’s evil”. By what standards do we decide if someone is evil?
Except for sociopaths, all human beings are born with a sense of morality. We have a sense of what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. Is our sense of morality purely subjective or culturally constructed? Can one person say Putin is evil while another says he is good and both be correct, from their point of view? How do we determine if something is right or wrong?
The Battlefield of Ideas
In 2010, Time Magazine published 100 Ideas that Changed the World. Among history’s greatest ideas were the Big Bang Theory and Einstein’s theory of relativity. It was written, “Ideas are funny things, invisible and weightless, they have no material substance, yet they have the power to change the course of history…human history is in essence a history of ideas.”
The meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s creed
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an iconic speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Speaking before nearly 250,000 people, King said, “I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
As Americans reflect upon King’s life, his contributions to our society, and the cause of human rights, it is fitting we seek to understand the creed that animated the life of the leader of the modern civil rights movement.
Thanksgiving Blessings Provide A Time For Healing
Thanksgiving marks the day set aside for Americans to reflect upon — and give thanks for — their blessings. This year marks the 400th anniversary of America’s first Thanksgiving.
Many debates reside at intersection of theology, politics
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” With these words, Margaret Atwood calls Americans to reflect upon our times, to see if we can discern undercurrents from our nation’s past that “rhyme” with aspects of America’s present crises.
Consider the 1850s. America was in turmoil. The moral issue dividing the nation was slavery. The country had been torn apart by an 1857 Supreme Court decision holding African slaves were “beings of an inferior order” so much so that they had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect”. These legal conclusions were rooted in the repulsive belief that African slaves were not fully “persons.”
The American Idea
“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear…” These words from the song by Buffalo Springfield reverberate through the hearts and minds of Americans today: there’s something going on in America, but we’re not sure what.
In 2020, Americans have already seen President Trump impeached along party lines, suffered illness and death as the coronavirus swept across our land, producing a lockdown nearly collapsing our economy, generating a recession with 36 million claims for unemployment benefits, resulting in a stimulus package plunging Americans 3 trillion dollars deeper into debt. Just when we thought the virus was contained, it resurged, threatening a new round of illness and financial setbacks. The senseless death of George Floyd on May 25th at the hands of Minneapolis police was a catalytic event, sparking protests and campaigns to defund the police. Violent riots erupted in major metropolitan areas: businesses were looted and burned to the ground, police precincts overrun and many, including law enforcement officers, were injured or killed. Statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ulysses S. Grant were forcibly toppled by rioters and vandals defaced the Lincoln Memorial. Finally, we are in the midst of a bitterly contested presidential election year, with Republicans and Democrats both threatening that if other party wins the Whitehouse, it will be the end of America as we know it.
Welcome to the Fourth Turning
“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear…” These words from the song by Buffalo Springfield reverberate through the hearts and minds of Americans: there’s something going on in America, but we’re not sure what.
In 2020, Americans have already seen President Trump impeached along party lines, suffered illness and death as the coronavirus swept across our land, producing a lockdown which nearly collapsed our economy, generating a recession with 36 million claims for unemployment benefits, resulting in a stimulus package plunging Americans 3 trillion dollars deeper into debt. Just when we thought the virus was contained, it has resurged, threatening a new round of illness and financial setbacks. The senseless death of George Floyd on May 25th at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests and campaigns to defund the police. Violent riots erupted in major metropolitan areas: businesses were looted and burned to the ground, police precincts overrun and many, including law enforcement officers, were injured or killed. Statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ulysses S. Grant were forcibly toppled by rioters and vandals defaced the Lincoln Memorial. Shaun King, a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement, called for destroying statues of Jesus and smashing stained glass windows in which “white Jesus” appears. To top it off, we are in a bitterly contested presidential election year, with Republicans and Democrats threatening that if other party gets in power, it will be the end of America as we know it.
Will pandemic bring us closer to God?
What do you get when a virus jumps from a horseshoe bat to a human? A worldwide pandemic.
On the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Trump had little choice but to put Americans and our economy in lockdown. Time will tell whether Fauci’s cure was worse than the disease and whether his prescription fought off a great depression or caused one.
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