Compelled to Listen at Gunpoint

Author Chris Rodda reported today (03/30/2011) that potential presidential contender Mike Huckabee, in a speech at the Rediscover God in America conference held in Iowa last week, stated his wish that all Americans should be forced, at gunpoint if necessary, to listen to the lectures delivered by pseudo-historian David Barton. 

Such an extraordinarily unChristian, and probably unconstitutional, intention seemed to me to require some response in protest.  I therefore drafted the following letter to Mr. Huckabee, which I have sent via the "contact" link on his webpage.  If a prominent politician believes that he has the right to compel the obedience of citizens by means of armed force, then I have serious concerns about the future of our democracy.

Mike Huckabee

via website contact page

Dear Mr. Huckabee:

I have learned that you desire to compel every American to listen, at gunpoint, if necessary, to David Barton’s lectures.  After prayerful consideration, and in accordance with the teachings of Jesus regarding appropriate non-violent response to oppressive demands (see Matthew 5:38-41), I conclude that because (a) I am an American, and (b) I would not willingly listen to Mr. Barton’s lies and distortions of our national history, I must advise you that I am one who would be subject to your desired compulsion.

I am therefore writing to invite you, Mr. Barton, and the gun-handler of your choice, to schedule a time when you will visit me and exercise your stated desire.  Please be advised of the following: (a) I do not own a television, so if Mr. Barton is not available to deliver his lecture in person, it will be necessary for you to bring along the proper equipment for display of a recorded message; (b) I intend to have three witnesses with me – one of my pastors, a representative of the local press, and an ACLU attorney.  Because one of our two pastors is a Black man, and I don’t know at this time which one might be available to attend, I request that you choose a gun-handler who does not harbor any racist sentiments.  It would be tragic if an “accident” were to happen to an innocent witness.

Because my schedule for the spring and summer is quite busy, I suggest that you submit at least three or four proposed dates for your visit.  I also invite you to read some of the articles on my blog http://singingwithcrows.blogspot.com in order to familiarize yourself with my thinking and beliefs.

Sincerely,

Marian L. Shatto

Pray for Peace, Work for Justice, Sing for Joy

Restoring the Impact

Maestro John Sinclair, during a lecture at the 2009 Moravian Music Festival regarding the latest scholarship on 18^th century music performance practices, observed that, no matter how carefully we reproduce the instruments and performance styles of earlier periods, the one thing that we cannot reproduce is 18^th century listeners.  Our 21^st century ears, having been exposed to the works of Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg, and the like, simply cannot hear as shocking the music of Beethoven and his contemporaries.  What once was startlingly innovative now sounds to us quite ordinary.

The same thing is true for stories and sayings in the Bible.  A good example of this phenomenon is the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Today we use the term Samaritan to mean helper or healer, as in the names of hospitals and counseling centers.  But to Jesus’ listeners, the concept of a “good Samaritan” was somewhere between shocking and incomprehensible.  The Jews of Bible times regarded Samaritans as apostates, idolaters – a people to be denounced and shunned.  Our pastor during my college years maintained that a way to restore the original impact of the parable was to rewrite it as the “good Communist”.  With the fall of the Soviet Union now two decades in the past, we should revise that once again, perhaps as the “good Taliban”.  Jesus’ point was that it was a member of a detested group who served as a good neighbor when religious leaders of the injured man’s own community failed to do so.

The Barmen Declaration

The Christian church, or segments thereof, has throughout its two thousand year history published statements of faith and belief.  Two of the earliest, the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, are still used in regular worship by many branches of Christianity.  The Protestant Reformation saw the formulation of a number of creedal statements, including the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, and the Westminster Declaration of Faith of 1646.  Each of them was an attempt to define an orthodox system of belief, often in the face of tremendous pressures from opposing forces.

One significant statement of more recent formulation is The Barmen Declaration.  Authored primarily by Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth, this statement was developed and signed by representatives of the Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches in opposition to the German Christian movement imposed by the Third Reich under Hitler. 

A Young Earth

In the on-going discussions between science and Christianity regarding the origin and history of the universe, there is a wide range of belief.  How much of modern biology, astronomy, and geology is accepted by any given Christian group is dependent to a large extent on their interpretation of the first two chapters of the book of Genesis.  Those who regard the creation stories found in the Hebrew scriptures as metaphor, teaching that God created the universe but not describing the exact process, usually have little problem integrating scientific calculations of a universe between 12 and 14 billion years old, and of our earth approximately 4.55 billion years old, with the theological statement, “In the beginning, God.”  (Note: “Billion” as used here is the American “thousand million,” not the British “million million.”)

Those who read the creation stories literally to mean that creation occurred in six 24-hour days, on the other hand, calculate that our earth is somewhere between six and ten thousand years old.  The range occurs because of different interpretations of the genealogies contained in various sections of the Hebrew Scriptures.  This belief is referred to as “young earth creationism.”

Criminalizing the Teaching of Non-Violence

In June 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that a portion of the US Patriot Act prohibiting the provision of “material support” to designated terrorist organizations includes training in non-violence by humanitarian aid workers.  The specific case which prompted the ruling was Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (HLP).  HLP had sought to provide training in human rights advocacy and peacemaking to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey, a small group which the US government has listed as a terrorist organization.

This ruling is, in effect if not in intent, profoundly anti-Christian.  First, it criminalizes the speech and actions of those who attempt to follow Jesus’ clear examples and teachings about how we are to relate to our enemies.  And second, it denies the possibility of repentance and conversion on the part of those to whom such training would be provided.  Ironically, two of the three dissenting justices are the two non-Christians now seated on the Supreme Court.  It appears that some of our Jewish brothers and sisters have a better understanding of “the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:42) than do most of the Christian members of our highest court.

The Gospel of Social Justice

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck provided the occasion recently (Spring 2010) for an all-too-rare display of ecumenical agreement.  In response to his broadcast denying that social justice is part of the gospel of Jesus, Christians from Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical churches joined in countering his argument with numerous affirmations of the centrality of social justice to the gospel message.

Some entertainment figures thrive on making controversial statements, and commenting on religion is always good for generating headlines.  Those of us of a certain age can recall when the Beatles garnered pages of free publicity after John Lennon offered his opinion that their group was “more popular than Jesus now.”  Before writing off Beck’s harangue as merely a publicity stunt, however, it can’t hurt to do a bit of Bible study to clarify in our own minds why his statement is so wrong.

Peace among the Peoples

In late July 2010, I had the privilege of being the Moravian representative to a conference hosted by the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.  The event, titled Peace among the Peoples, was advertised as “An Ecumenical Peace Conference on Overcoming the Spirit, Logic and Practice of Violence.”  It certainly lived up to its billing both as an ecumenical gathering and as a conference focused on the ways of peace.

European Choir Tour

The call went out two years ago.  The Moravian Music Foundation (MMF) was planning a choir tour to Prague, Herrnhut, and other Moravian locations in central Europe, and singers were wanted.  My decision to register for the tour was, as the youth term it, a “no-brainer.”  The opportunity to sing in historic churches in locations central to our Moravian heritage was not to be missed.

Gradually the planned tour took shape and substance.  The dates were set for July 9 through July 19, 2010.  Dr. John Sinclair, the immensely talented conductor of our Moravian Music Festivals, had agreed to direct the tour choir.  There would be places for up to sixty singers, and an instrumental ensemble would travel with us to provide accompaniment.  Singers who had already made the commitment to participate were encouraged to attend the 2009 Moravian Music Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to learn some of the anthems to be included in the tour repertoire.  The Festival also proved to be a good recruitment tool for additional participants.

Practical Peacemaking

In late summer 2010 as I was walking downtown, I observed a vehicle parked along East Main Street with a large sign in the rear window.  The sign read, “Save America; shoot a Liberal.”  Because at the same time there was an anti-President Obama demonstration going on in front of the Post Office, my first concern was that there was potential for a shoot-out on our streets.  Later I learned that the two were unrelated.  While the demonstrators had come from a national organization to set up shop with their signs and pamphlets for a few hours and then move on, the vehicle appears to belong to someone with local ties.

Looking for the Second Coming - Part Two

This article continues the history begun in my previous post.  I’ll begin with a few definitions.  “Eschaton” refers to the end of the world, or the end of the present age.  The study of beliefs about the eschaton is “eschatology.”  Jewish prophets wrote of “this world” and “the world to come.”  By the intertestamental period, that is, the three or four centuries immediately preceding the birth of Jesus, Jewish thought had developed a two-stage eschaton, in which the arrival of a Savior (Messiah) would bring a temporary period of Messianic rule on earth, to be followed by resurrection into eternal life with God.  The cataclysmic disruption which is understood to usher in the Messianic age is referred to as “the apocalypse,” and apocalyptic literature deals with predicted events of that time.

Looking for the Second Coming - Part One

One of the foundational beliefs of the Christian church is that Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate during this Christmas season, will return to earth at some future time.  The Apostles’ Creed, which derives from early baptismal confessions, states this belief succinctly: “He [that is, Jesus] will come again to judge the living and the dead.”  The Nicene Creed, dating from 325 C.E., elaborates this statement: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

First Amendment Challenge

During the months leading up to this year’s general elections, one of the races that I followed with particular interest was the one for governor of Hawaii.  The Republican nominee, Lieutenant Governor James “Duke” Aiona, is closely identified with the International Transformation Network (ITN), an extremely conservative Charismatic Evangelical Christian organization which is aligned with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement.  A win for Aiona could have set the stage for a serious challenge to the First Amendment rights of the citizens of our western-most state, fewer than half of whom are Christian.

The ITN and NAR advocate a brand of Christianity which falls under the general term “Dominionist.”  That is, they seek to place their adherents in positions of power in all areas of society, including business, education, culture, and government.  The ultimate goal is to transform a multi-cultural, democratic society where minorities enjoy constitutional protection and religious freedom into a theocracy in which divergent beliefs are marginalized or eliminated.

Questions about a Tragedy

During the days following the massacre in Arizona, I spent hours at my computer, searching a number of websites for news, commentary, analysis; trying to make some sense of this most recent national tragedy.  While it is still too soon to know all the details of the accused shooter’s mental state and motivation – and indeed, perhaps we never will – several larger questions about the kind of society we have created for ourselves have clearly emerged.  In this column I propose to explore what Scripture can teach us about several of those questions.