Charlottesville: life, liberty, and happiness up for grabs

According to a 2013 Harvard study using real-time brain imaging, race and gender are the first two things we notice about another person. Taking note of a person’s skin color is hard-wired into humans. The question is not: How to we stop noticing race? The question is: How to we prevent ourselves from allowing racism to run rampant and rip us apart? The answer has everything to do with who we allow to assign value, worth, and dignity to people.

In Charlottesville, we have a shameful snapshot of what happens when people begin to believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are up for grabs.

who decides our value and validity?

What we are seeing is what happens when we tamper with the foundations of our law and liberty. As a nation, we have never been completely Christian. That’s revisionist history. Some of our founding fathers were followers of Jesus. Some were deists. Others were rip-roaring moralists. However, our legal system was assembled with a set of basic assumptions that come from the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example, we all believe that it is good and desirable to seek “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We have to look no further than our Declaration of Independence to see that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is something that our government should protect.

We also see that these “unalienable rights” — that means these are rights that cannot be taken from or separated from any human being — these rights are not granted by our government. They are protected by our government. Where do these rights come from? Every person is granted these rights by their Creator. That’s the foundational claim of the grand experiment of United States government — Creator God has given every person the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” simply by the act of creating him or her.

no creator…no holds barred

We have had a fun fifty-year foray into experimenting with this foundation. We’ve attempted to chip away at it and try other arrangements. Partly because this foundation has been misused and abused in blasphemous attempts to justify racism and sexism in the name of God. How utterly harmful those attempts have been. We’ve also wanted to free ourselves from the responsibilities and expectations that rest on our shoulders as individuals created by God. Because, if we are created by God, then we have some kind of relationship with God. That relationship grants us the privilege of life and liberty. That relationship also comes with the notion that we have been created for a purpose and we are obligated to find and fulfill that purpose.

Many of us don’t want to face that obligation. We don’t want the responsibility of a relationship with God. So we have fought and questioned the validity of it. We’ve looked for other answers to our origins. And we have attempted philosophical and biological contortions to deny the facts about us that we cannot choose — things like our gender, race, and family of origin. We’ve picked up an ideological bottle of Windex to erase God’s fingerprints from our identity. We don’t want a Creator. He asks too much of us.

We can attempt to free ourselves from our Creator. And, for a while, freedom from the obligation of a Creator feels like the liberty we crave. We can choose our backstory. We can choose our identity. We can choose our own purpose. Fulfill our own destiny.

We want freedom. And now, we’re getting it. All of it. See, while we free ourselves from the “archaic” obligations to our Creator in order to choose our own identity, we also erase the only real claim we’ve had for freedom in the first place. So, we’ve opened the door for the mob to decide who gets to pursue happiness, who gets to enjoy liberty, and — frankly — who gets to live.

This is not new. As a people, we’ve already been choosing who gets to live based on their value to us. Slavery was allowed to endure at the founding of this nation. And in 1973, we decided that unborn children are expendable in some cases. While we’ve all been flag-waving defenders of democracy in our front yards, in our backyards we’ve been running a small orwellian Animal Farm where: All men are equal, but some are more equal than others.

And now, those animals are coming home to roost and laying rotten eggs of hatred, violence, and racism in the house. We’ve tolerated ranking people based on their desirability and value for so long now that we are no longer able to see the division in anything other than political terms. We’ve sanitized the discussion into “democrats vs. republicans” rather than tackle the matter in terms of honesty, hypocrisy, love, and truth.

why can’t we all just get along?

But, we don’t need God in order to behave civilly toward each other, right? On paper, that’s true. Just like on paper Marxism is a workable system. But theory met facts on the streets of Charlottesville. And theory couldn’t stand to protect us. The fact is, we shouldn’t need the Creator to stand between us and mob rule. The fact is, people should just be nice and accommodate every other point of view. You’re right. They should. But they don’t and they won’t. Because people are self-serving and self-preserving to the core. Every honest student of history knows this. Greed, fear, and pride win the day….the year…the millennia.

Without the authority of the Creator God as our foundation for our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, our only law is the law of the jungle: survival of the fittest. The weak, the voiceless, the minority, the underfunded and unconnected will be consumed to insure the life, liberty, and happiness of the strong. This is our Creator-less reality. The cliched question, “Can’t we all just get along?” has an answer that’s 10,000 years and one word long: No. We can’t all just get along. Why? Because we all want what gives us our own happiness, liberty, and sustains our own life. Without the authority of our Creator, we’re all in a deadly struggle for our own turf. We are either image-bearers of God or destroyers of mankind.

And don’t make the mistake of assuming that what stands in the way of life and liberty is to remove a few bad apples from among us. There are always more bad apples. If the appalling transgressions of World War 2 — and the violent reaction of the world to them — didn’t put a permanent end to this madness, then no human effort can.

Without the Creator to give us our “unalienable rights” our government has no mandate to protect those rights. Our republic has no standard for the maintaining of those rights….and the mob with the loudest voice, the best funding, and the strongest weapons is allowed to define those rights. And that’s all fun and games until the most influential mob no longer has your back.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are up for grabs when we take them out of the Creator’s hands.

the path forward to life, liberty, and happiness

If you’re interested in being part of the solution to the racism, anger, and violence, here’s where to start:

• It’s time for us to accept that there are some things about us that we cannot choose or change. It’s time for us to accept that aspects of our identity like gender, race, and family of origin are the fingerprint of the Creator. Because, when we put ourselves as our own Creator, we have only ourselves to defend our rights. The only way to for us to maintain love and protection for those who are not like us is to place ourselves under the love and protection of the one who created us all in love and with purpose.
• As a culture, we need to decide where we draw the line at human value. We need to make a clear statement of which human lives are worth defending. To avoid hypocrisy, we need to embrace and defend the value of all human lives regardless of age, race, or gender.
• There is no defensible, biblical position for any form of racism or ranking of value of human lives. According to the Bible, every person is carefully formed by God from the moment of conception with a path and purpose for living. According to the Bible, every person bears the image of God. Every human life is sacred. For the alt-right racists among us, that means skin color is not a basis for ranking worth or deciding value. For the pro-life among us, that means you aren’t truly pro-life unless you go to bat for every human life, not just the unborn. If you claim to love unborn children, but have a problem with races other than your own, check yourself.
• The first amendment guarantees the right to free speech. It does not guarantee the right to free speech without opposition. It’s time to pull out our collective cultural keyboard and hit…. control ALT-right delete.

Filed under: commentary, culture, reflections Tagged: Charlottesville, culture, faith, history, politics, racism

More WildStuff over at wildthoughts.net

Clever and Lazy is Best

“I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and […]



More WildStuff over at wildthoughts.net

Live: The Rambling Grad & History Tour

We're scooting along through east Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Because we can. And to celebrate our man Tres' graduation. Track us live...at the party...on the road...and of the wall...

Can you help identify this mystery chief?

Someone brought a vintage photographic plate into my parent's print shop this week, and we're looking for any clues regarding the subject of the portrait it contains. What tribe is he from? Do the garments indicate any specific dates or regions where this Native American may have lived?

Here's what I do know

The image to the right is a scan and inversion of the plate, showing what a print made from the plate would look like. Judging from the material of the plate, I'm guessing it's a Tintype (also known as a Ferrotype) plate. Tintype caught on as a photographic method in the US around the mid 1800's. Although still in use as a novelty as late as the 1950's, Tintype was eclipsed by better technology by about 1910. If this is in fact a Tintype plate, the date of this image would most likely fall between 1854 and 1910.

That's almost 60 years of history spanning the Civil War until the years before WWI -- a very wide span. We're going to have to rely on the subject of the portrait to narrow the scope.

Here's what I'm guessing

I am not very knowledgeable about vintage Native American attire, but I think the eagle feather headdress our mysterious subject wears is a warrior bonnet and indicates he is a chief. It could also be a clue about his tribe.

Elaborate ceremonial head wear was common to most native tribes, but the particular style of mystery chief's bonnet seems to resemble that of the Plains Indians. To me, it looks very similar to the headdress worn by the Sioux chief American Horse in this photo from c. 1900. The Cheyenne also wore very similar garments, as seen in the photo below, also from around the turn of the 20th century.

In the mystery photo, it seems that a portion of a teepee can be seen over the shoulder of the chief. If so, that would further confirm a connection to a Plains Indian tribe.

In her email to me, my mother describes some further details in from the plate scan:

I got to handle the plate for the photo! It was a piece of art in itself. The owner wants to believe he is a medicine man because she can’t see an arrowhead on the shaft. When I scanned the plate and inverted the image in photoshop then adjusted the levels, I’m seeing a pretty good sized arrowhead...do you? There is a tee pee a bit blurred in the background behind his headdress and I believe human hair on his shaft [of the lance in his hand]...The scalloped edge of his sleeve and the 4 point beaded star at his temple are all clues.

Beadwork was common to all Plains Tribes, but the geometric star pattern at his temple appears to be one of the best unique identifying marks in the image. From my research so far, both the Sioux and Sans Arcs were known to incorporate star patterns into their geometric bead designs.

Here's what we've done so far

We've combed the Library of Congress online image archive and scanned the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives with no matches. Both collections are extensive, so we're hoping some of our history-loving friends can narrow things down.

Any ideas or insights are appreciated! We'll keep you posted.

Ever wikipedia'd your alma (doesn't) mater?

Are you one of those people who didn't buy a school ring because nobody will have ever heard of your alma mater when you tell them the name? Raise your ringless hand. Me, too. Those of you who've attended a school with a name people recognize don't have this problem. Texas? OK. Arizona State? Yep. Oklahoma Baptist University? Umm, is that one of those print-your-own-diploma jobbies?

Well, if you ever wonder if anyone that matriculated at your no-name school amounted to much, try doing an online search for a list of notable alumni. I did, and I found a cool list of some crazy characters that once haunted the same halls of learning at OBU. Kind of a fun way to catch at bit of school spirit...and see whose paths you've unknowingly crossed!

I guess I'm ok with being a Bison...

"Beam me up, Jesus!"

I love history. To me, it is fascinating how things like technology, country borders, and fashion change, but the basics of who we are as people, and the questions we face about life have changed so little. I was just reminded of that fact as I finished throwing up another post on my other blog called BibleDig about how the Jews in the years leading up to the time of Christ struggled to understand how to respond to the world around them and still keep their faith in tact. One of group of Jews, called the Essenes, decided the best plan of action was to remove themselves from all things pagan and basically wait for God to wipe out all the unrighteous people around them in monastery-like communities. (It's a little nerdy, but if you want to check out was I'm talking about so this post makes sense, here it is.)

Even though they lived over 2,000 years ago, there are a number of striking parallels in the challenges the Jews in the time before Christ faced as they grappled with how to live inside a culture generally opposed to their beliefs and our own challenges as Christians living inside an unfriendly culture. We can learn from how they responded.

Like these Jews, remaining distinctive inside a go-with-the-flow society is critical to our identity and our mission as believers. Like these Jews, we must respond to the pressures of our culture in a way that is informed by our faith and our understanding of the Scripture. And, like these Jews, we are presented with the option of withdrawing from the mix of ideas and beliefs and building our own sub-culture as a coping mechanism.

While our places of worship may stand in close proximity to the culture at-large, in practice we create communities of our own far from the evil influences of pagan life where we can read, interact, speak, dine, watch, listen, and attend events - yes, even wear clothing - that indicate our disinterest in mingling with the world. Like the prophet Jonah, we seek a high and mighty vantage point from which we wait for the fire of God to fall.

It's true that we are not to be "of the world." However, we are expected to be "in the world." Jesus' prayers for his disciples and for those who would follow after them (Jesus prayed for me!) specifically requested that we not resort to isolation as a method of responding to the challenges of our times:

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. (John 17:15-18)

How did God send his son into the world? As a person. A real, live, flesh and blood person with emotions and with a body that was not immune to fatigue. Jesus "humbled himself" and "made himself low" without thought for himself. And he hung out with a rough crowd in a backwater, far-flung speck on the Roman map. And he stuck it out until the time came to lay his life down. And he laid it down. He "emptied himself." That is how God sent Jesus. That is how Jesus sends us.

Jesus does not pray that we will construct elaborate alternatives to the evils of culture so that we can prevent all contact with the unwashed masses. Jesus does not pray for us to be safe from the world, but that we'll be safe in it. Jesus does not pray that we will be isolated from the world, but that we will be insulated from the eroding influence of sin by the truth. The truth from God about our purpose for being alive and about the unhappy ruin caused by living our lives for the passing pleasures of sin with no thought of the eternity that awaits us just beyond our final breath.

On one hand, it would have been nice if Jesus would have prayed that God would do a little, "Beam me up, Scotty," the moment I trusted Christ so I wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of living in this body in this world. On the other hand, that kind of living -- living with something more than satisfying our own thirst for entertainment, ease, and recognition in view -- will, as Jesus prayed, "set us apart." That's so different, it's other worldly.

How many people do you know that really live that kind of life, yet still manage to be friendly, interesting, compassionate, and engaged in the real world around them? Now that's different! So different, dare I say, it might even be something like a city on a hill? That sounds a lot like Jesus.

Would you like to talk more? Follow me on twitter and join the conversation.

how far would you go to strike it rich?

How far would you go to strike it rich? My little mini-documentary explores a vast network of underground tunnels begun in the 1800's by miners driven to pull precious silver from beneath the mountains of Arizona. What prompted them to risk their lives hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth? The history of post-Civil War America, the lead in to World War I, and an icon of American prosperity all meet in the Silver Prince.

It's my dad's mine...and he's looking to sell. So, if you have the itch to get into the mining business, let me know... ;)

The Silver Prince from Owen Wildman on Vimeo.

Would you like to talk more? Follow me on twitter and join the conversation.

Swine Flu Rundown

Pigs don't fly, but apparently their germs do. Find out for yourself the what, why, and where of the outbreak in 10 Minutes with this swine flu primer.

• CNN: A young boy in Mexico may have been the first human case of the current strain of swine flu. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/29/swine.flu.patient.zero/index.html
• CDC’s report on the number of cases by state. Updated regularly. http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
• A brief history of the 1976 swine flu outbreak. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/03/dayintech_0324
• A brief history of swine flu current through today. (The China Daily) http://www.chinadaily.net/world/2009-04/27/content_7721007.htm
• Another history by The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/history-of-swine-flu-20090427-ak2y.html