For the first forty-two years of my life, I believed the godly people version of the history of America. God called the Puritans, a Biblical people, to settle New England to begin a Christian nation - America. I was taught this version of American history at Christian colleges.
On April 4th, 1968, I had a second conversion - the conversion to a spirituality that included biblical justice. This second conversion included a keen awareness that America was fundamentally flawed with ethnocentrism/racism and economic oppression. In other words, America was born Godless than godly.
Today I am aware of the fact that the Puritans also packed British ethnocentrism and oppression next to their Bibles. Second and third generation Puritans often put greed, ethnocentrism and oppression ahead of the Biblical message. Soon Puritans were even paying money for the scalps of Indians.
The Reverand Bill McGill may be right when he declares: "The Christian coalition should stop preaching the lie that this country was founded on Christian principles and teach their children that only a godless people would be responsible for Indian genocide and African enslavement."
If you are confused about American history, I completely understand. On the one hand, we have the Washington Monument with its double message: Celebrate our first president, our founding father, but the second message is George and Martha Washington owned around three hundred slaves: Thus they participated in a massive social evil. Our founding fathers did not have the courage or wisdom to end slavery, so later these United States had to fight a Civil War at great human cost in order to eliminate slavery.
Then there is also the St. Louis Arch with its double message: Westward expansion and Indian oppression. St Louis was the base for expansion of western Christian civilization clear to the west coast. It was also the base for the destruction of Indian peoples and cultures and the stealing of Indian land.
No comments:
Post a Comment