founding fathers
At last, we came to Mt. Rushmore, a monument of such proportion that it doesn’t seem quite real, even as you stand before it. On this crystalline June afternoon, we arrived in time to hear the house band tuning up for their patriotic program, presented nightly at 9 PM all summer until September 30.
Standing before the visages of these four giants of American history, I reflected on how we call upon the name of our country’s “Founding Fathers” to justify our own political and moral positions. But which founding fathers are we talking about? Are we invoking the slave owner or the slave emancipator? Are we talking about those who didn’t feel that women deserved the right to vote or own property, even denying custodial rights to mothers? Are we talking about deists, who believed in an impersonal supreme being who created, then absented himself from an ongoing relationship with his creatures? Are the founding fathers the ones who authorized western expansion across this vast continent, usurping the lands of indigenous peoples through unscrupulous methods? When we invoke our founding fathers, we should remember that we are referencing mere mortals with failings and blind spots.
It is a temptation for all people to look nostalgically at earlier times and think it was better. Parents do it with their children all the time. Progress is certainly a mixed bag. Something is gained, something is lost. But, to my mind, the surest way to lose your own rights is to make your doctrinal creed into politically oppressive dogma. You might be right, you may have truth, but in America each person has the right to reject someone else’s truth or to come to that truth in his or her own time. In Christianity we call this "free will". We can’t legislate that people be saved from themselves. We can only offer freedom from all kinds of oppression, governmental or self-imposed.
When we invoke Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the reviled and persecuted,” we are calling on the name of One far more trustworthy than our country’s founding fathers. We are asking Him to come to the aid of those who do not have our advantages. We are asking Him to help us be more kind and understanding and forgiving, more trustworthy ourselves. We are asking to participate in shalom…universal flourishing.
Our founding fathers did one thing well. They created a form of government that is able to evolve as the realities of life change. Slavery was abolished by a change to our constitution, and women received the right to vote in 1920. More changes will be made to meet the modern complications of life in this and future ages.
However, only Jesus is the one able to save each individual who is asking for restoration. Anyone else we rely on to save us will ultimately prove insufficient to the task. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” That includes the amount of time we spend thinking about politics as well as paying our taxes. We give our time, talent and treasure when and where we must, but we save our best for Him.
Love, Liz
