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LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Sountrack
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Monday, August 08, 2005
History: A Christian Invention Recently, someone alerted me to the presence of a group of (let's be honest) nutcase Christians hoping to get enough like-minded people to move to South Carolina so that they can secede from the union and re-establish "Constitutional government based on Christian principles." One of my first reactions (other than the typical "What the CRAP are these people thinking?") was excitement... that I can't wait to show this to my U.S. history students as an example of how history is mainly about ideas, and, somehow, the same competing ideas that we fought over in the Civil War haven't gone away. Most everyone I've told about this group has brushed them off. And my inclination is to do the same. I mean, they're obviously nuts, right? But I think about the current national dialogue and the role that evangelicals are playing in it, and sometimes I wonder... -With so many Christians equating cultural and philosophical traditions (like "limited government" and "property rights") with "Biblical Christianity" -With so many Christians seeking to justify their religious/political rhetoric with distorted, fragmented historical arguments (such as the fashionable appeal to the "Christian heritage" of our nation's founders) -With so many Christians having trouble believing that people with political differences from them can even serve the same God (one church in North Carolina even excommunicated people from fellowship because they voted for John Kerry in the last election) ...I wonder if such possibilities are really that remote. All it would really take is enough people to get inflamed enough by the political rhetoric to act, albeit in a pretty dramatic way, on their convictions. Is this so difficult to imagine? Have we become so apathetic in the status quo to think that people today wouldn't be capable of such an act? Some people today are willing to strap explosives to themselves and walk into a crowded market because of their religious/cultural beliefs. One might even argue that our nation's founding tended toward the dramatic. In the "grand scheme", is it really that great of a sacrifice to sell your house and move to another state to be counted as "one more vote"? What if the religious right was responsible for starting a second War Between the States?
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.
Stephen Zedler has a wife and three kids who he loves very much. He has been called by God to study and teach history, particularly U.S.
history. He also believes that God has called him to reform the way children are educated in America.