Nobody’s Right if Everybody’s Wrong[1]
Though I am not political, taking neither side of the national debates surrounding the upcoming elections, I am not neutral. Precariously I enter the alligator invested swamp of politics and religion, a mixture history has proven volatile since the Reformation. If there is any place for Scriptural values of righteousness and justice, they must be equally applied to all parties involved in the political process.
A Generation from Long Ago
As the storm clouds of division arose, it was Abraham Lincoln who gave an ominous warning in his address at the Republican Convention in 1858, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Elected President, Lincoln stood at the helm of the United States during such fractious and devastating conflict. Here was a man who pondered deeply the ramification of the great divide and its causes. He is quoted with the following observation:
Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.[2]
Lincoln was reported when pressed that surely God must support the Union cause, he said, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”[3]
Today, political pundits have asked the question, “Is America Headed Towards Another Civil War?”
Talking about my generation.[4]
Approximately 100 years later, civil unrest once again gripped the United States. The first elected Catholic President, John F. Kennedy (1961) was struck down by an assassin’s bullet (1963) for reasons still left to conjecture, and now only entertained by conspiracy buffs. In 1968, Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, a former attorney general and a U.S. Senator fell victim to an assassin’s bullet, the reason, perhaps his platform opposing the Vietnam War and advocacy for social justice.
It was also during this time another emancipator emerged, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who championed the civil rights for a people who had been emancipated by the government almost a century before but had not been set free from the violent bigotry in the hearts and minds of men. The Baptist minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, hailed from Atlanta, Georgia, and began a campaign of nonviolent activism championing the civil rights of an oppressed people. Gathering momentum from peaceful marches and protests, the effort made significant headway resulting in the Civil Rights Act (1964), an act outlawing discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex, national origin, etc. Like John and Robert Kennedy, King had his life snuffed out by an assassin’s bullet (1968), the reasons for doing so followed his assassin to the grave.
While the battle for Civil Rights raged, another cultural and political battlefront appeared. A drug infested Peace Movement emerged in the late 60s and early 70s, a time when staged love-ins were met with the brute force of The Establishment and the images of protesters being carted off by police became the infamous image of those whom protesters deemed “out of touch” with their struggle to capture the American conscience.
It was reported that tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters disrupted the 1968 Democratic Convention, action contributing to the disarray of Convention as thousands of Yippies and Peaceniks took their protests to the convention center only to be met by barbed wire and thousands of law enforcement agents.
Perhaps one of the most searing moments of the movement came at the close of the politically volatile 60s when on May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesters at Kent State University. Four students were killed while nine others wounded.
Evolving from the sixty’s lovefest were more subtle influences other than the obvious introduction of synthetic psychedelic drugs and hard rock. Appearing from the Beatnik-Hippie sub-culture was a promiscuous and permissive value system centering on individual rights, perhaps a spin-off of the Civil Rights movement of the same era. Protested were any laws and legislation believed stifling to the free spirit evolving from the age.
Recording artist Stephen Stills wrote For What It’s Worth in 1966 and then recorded by Buffalo Springfield in a time when the United States was locked in a moral and political struggle over Vietnam. It came to be known as one of the first, if not the first, protest songs during those volatile years.
During this confusion and chaos Stills lyrics became definitive of the struggle for mastery of the American Conscience:
There’s battle lines being drawn, nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong…
Stills is also responsible for pulling Jesus into the political and cultural fray, interjecting in his rendition of 49 Bye Byes/American Children saying, “I don’t know if I want White America to remember or to forget that Jesus Christ was the first non-violent revolutionary. Dig it, oh, dig it, oh, right on, dig it, yeah.”[5]
This Present Generation
Today’s battle lines are defined in terms of economic and political terms are underpinned by the ideologies of Social Justice and the preservation of Constitutional Rights, or collective rights and individual rights. Antifa vs. Proud Boys, Red States vs. Blue States, and the Religious Right vs. the Religious Left all claim their stake in the election process. All have an agenda and that is gaining influence and control of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President, in order to impose their agenda upon others.
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump is not only a national tragedy but a defining moment in the devolving of American politics. Who truly knows the reason for the assassin’s attempt on Trump’s life, but it must be recognized that the event epitomizes the results of the character assassination each party and candidate use against their opponent. Both are responsible for the hostile events from Antifa’s violent protests, the event of January 6th, and the near-deadly attempt on Trump’s life.
Such events should not be a rallying cry but a stark warning. Neither candidate can bring healing to a deeply divided America. Regardless of who is elected, the division will become deeper and wider. Neither platform addresses the greatest need to secure America’s destiny – Faithfulness to the concepts of love, hope, righteousness, and justice in God’s terms rather than political ideologies.
Just days ago, Americans paused to reflect the tragedy of 9-11. Loving tribute to those who died on that infamous day marked the event. Yet, the true story behind the death of so many first responders on that day is with wanton disregard for their own individual rights, sacrificing those rights trying to preserve the rights of others. Their willingness to selflessly forego their right to life emblemizes what is blatantly missing from today’s political arena, a principle proved by the One who declared, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Loving one’s neighbor as one’s self can find no place in today’s American politics.
Blending political ideologies with Scriptural principles has always proven volatile and even deadly. As Christians we must come to realize Jesus’ kingdom and realm is not of this world, unfettered by political ideology and untainted by sinful parameters. (John 18:36) His throne is presently in heaven and not in Washington, D.C., London, Brussels, Moscow, or Beijing. At best, earth is His footstool.
When He returns, Jesus is not coming for Americans, Russians, Europeans, Asians but He is coming for the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. On that day we will not hear, “Hail to the Chief,” “God save the King,” but will hear, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion for ever and ever.” (Revelation 5:13)
[1] “For What It’s Worth,” written by Stephen Stills, released by Buffalo Springfield (1966).
[2] “Inspirational Stories: The Power of Words,” (2020), https://www.inspirationalstories.com/quotes/t/abraham-lincoln-on-god/. Accessed 10/16/21. (emphasis added)
[3] et al.
[4] Lyrics from “My Generation,” by British rock group, The Who, released October 1965.
[5] 4 Way Street, recorded live at Fillmore East, New York (June 1970).
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