America the one and only! There simply isn't anyplace else in the world like it. I'm not proud of some parts of our past, of course. Even while they were crafting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution which followed, founding fathers agonized that the proclamation of our documents and the actual practice of our democracy were at odds. They chose to defer the question of slavery because without doing so the states would never have become united.
While they said “… all men are created equal,” some simultaneously enslaved an entire race of men. The disconnect was obvious. Some condemned the practice outright while others were willing to accept heinous fabrications, such as, “They aren't really human,” to explain the hypocrisy of believing the words of the declaration while denying their truth. Looking back, it is hard for us to understand how those people could have been at once fine, upstanding Christians and slave-owners.
Jim White
No one can be proud of that chapter of our history, but those magnificent words eventually won out. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ….”
At this point in our history there is much of which to be proud. I am proud of this African American who had the audacity to believe that those words applied to him. But he would be the first to admit that without the sacrifices and sufferings of those throngs for whom the promise did not apply, he could never have believed it was true for himself.
I am proud of those countless men and women who refused to give up believing in the truth of those majestic words.
I am proud that millions of Caucasian Americans who shared Obama's political views, saw his ethnicity as incidental to their agenda. I am also proud that millions of other Caucasian Americans who did not share his views were unwilling to politicize pigmentation. That's America keeping her promise.
Watching the inauguration on television, I couldn't help but be impressed. I wonder whether Washington and Jefferson and Franklin could have imagined such a day. I know that Martin Luther King Jr. could—and did. With the oath of office, the promise that we are all created equal passed from prosaic platitude to prolific practice, from hypothesis to here and now history.
But amid the celebrations, there are many sobering realities. It means that some white folks who want to hold to the debunked notion of racial superiority can no longer embrace that myth. The son of a man from Africa and a woman from Kansas was chosen to occupy the most influential position in the world. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ….” Never again will anyone have the slightest justification to pretend otherwise.
But we should not suppose that those seeking to justify their prejudices will be enthused about exploding the myth that their superior status is a gift of nature. We hope and pray that their seething anger will boil itself into a vapor and vanish.
But another sobering reality settles on both the African-American and Anglo-American communities. In times past it was true that one's race limited how far he could go or how high she could rise. The ideals of Jefferson and the dreams of King foresaw a distant day when that limiting reality would pass into the realm of fable. And so it has.
This does not mean, of course, that the races have embraced in a perpetual love fest. There's plenty of distrust flowing in both directions. Still, when Obama ascended to the presidency, any notion that a glass ceiling held back some while allowing others to rise based on their race was shattered.
For both races the implications are clear. For whites, it means that they will have to work for what they attain. It will not, and it should not, be handed to them without exertion and earning. And, it means that blacks can no longer assume attainment at the highest levels is impossible and thereby excuse poor performance.
What will be the result when no one is held back or favored based simply on what color he or she turned out to be? How will things change when we all contribute our best efforts and ideas to the marketplace of the common good? America will become even greater than she is. Great—not because we have technologically advanced weapons, not because we have a superior way of killing, but because we have a superior way of living. The ideals that inspire us and the values that guide us are based on a truth no amount of lie-telling can counter.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ….” But there's more. Our equality is not based merely on the fact that we all have 10 fingers and toes. No, according to our founding documents, America believes that our equality has its basis and bearing rooted in the Creator, God—“… [T]hat they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
We have much work to do, of course, before such equality is fully attained. In addition to racial divides, economic gulfs separating us will have to be overcome. My prayer is that finally the church will lead the way! And my personal hope is that Baptists will lead the church!
For far too long we have, as a whole, been among the last to champion “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We have opted to protect the way things are rather than fight for the kind of change that makes life better for our fellow human beings, and honors Christ. In these instances we must be liberal rather than conservative. Hear me. Don't get hung up on the words.
I pray we will be liberal in our love of all people regardless of race or economic potential. I pray that we will apply liberal encouragement to the budding hopes and emerging dreams of all children of whatever color, background, religion or gender. Will we not provide liberally to educate our youth, believing that knowing Truth sets us all free? America is the envy of the world not because of our jobs, but because of our freedoms.
We don't have to choose such liberality, of course. But if we choose against it, don't call it conservatism! Call it by its right name: Sin.