July 4th and Politics

A Reflection

I think Christians should stay out of politics, she said firmly. We should be peacemakers.

But peacemaking is a political position, I noted . So which is it? “Stay” out or go in and make peace ?

Uh, well. Hmmm.

I’d also note that “staying” out implies you’re already out, and not in. Let’s step back for a moment and look at the whole of political debate in the American context, shall we for a moment ?

Okay.

There’s lots and lots of issues, political issues, that have cropped up in our history. A vast assortment . What stands out to you as an important issue to you, if any ?

Well, I guess race relations.

Hmm, okay. A bit more.

Slavery I guess .

Yeah that was a political issue. Fought at least 2 wars where that was a major , maybe the major issue.

Two?

Yeah.

Okay, the Civil War, and ? , she queried.

The war of Independence from Britain, I replied.

But both sides had slavery , so…I don’t.

I understand the confusion . Have you read the Declaration of Independence?

Yeah, all men are created equal, not all women, but that’s another subject .

Well if you get an old dictionary , not online but a book, and look up “man,” you’ll see it’s a gender —an adult male—but also has a definition of human being, which is clearly the sense meant there in the Declaration’s 2nd paragraph.

Okay.

Anthropology, for instance, is defined as the “study of man.” Old books . Gotta get old books. Homicide , murder, manslaughter, can be any human being, regardless of gender. A woman can be manslaughtered but has an equal right not to be.

Hmm. Okay.

But have you read the entire Declaration? Let’s focus again on the idea of slavery.

No. I haven’t read the whole thing .

The rest is a list of specific grievances against King George III. That’s Megan Markle’s great great great great great great great great great grand father in law, by the way.

!!! OmG I love Suits !

OmG #metoo.

I continued: The rest of the Declaration is a complaint detailing that the Colonists were made to be slaves of Great Britain. That’s the rest of the Declaration. It’s very specific .

Hmm. Okay, she said.

So they were against slavery , the concept, and against it in that context , when they were those who had been subjugated against their consent .

Yes. But not blacks.

Linking that back up with the first two paragraphs was what the Civil War was about , and the birth of the Republican Party before that, which caused the Civil War. Had there been no Republican Party there would have been no Civil War, no end to slavery of blacks.

She thought about this for a long moment.

Still think it’s a general principle for Christians to “stay out of politics?”

I’m thinking about it, she said. That was then. This is now .

Well, yes, now there is no slavery. We are not British subjects .And all the political things that go along with that. The separation of powers. The Bill of Rights. Much suffering has been averted for many people .

That’s…true.

What if it’s a general principle that oppressive impulses in the heart of man need to be checked, but government sometimes (that’s political) and sometimes , often, government itself needs to be checked , and if we don’t do this when it’s easy, it gets much harder later on.

Makes sense.

So peacemaking is hard. It requires one to be ever vigilant about protecting basic rights .

Maybe we shouldn’t be so concerned with our own rights ?

But be concerned with a slave’s ?

Well,

…

How do you fight for a slave’s rights if you have contempt for your own, or gave up your own ?

I have no idea.

Anyway, happy 4th.

She said: you’ve given me something to think about.

I hope you continue on this journey of struggling with politics . And that you come to make sense .

Copyright Lucas J. Mather, 2021
All Rights Reserved
Originally posted to Facebook Sunday 4 July 2021 at 11:17 am