On this day in 1863, the 54th Massachusetts infantry attacked the Confederates at Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Although it was a Confederate victory, the attack must have scared the Rebels something awful.
The 54th Massachusetts was one of the very first all-black regiments in the United States Army. Their leader was white abolitionist Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The idea behind the formation of a black regiment was to help bring about Union victory. Blacks were slaves in the South, so arming free blacks in the North was seen as encouraging slaves to rise up against their masters. Given how slaves were treated, it makes sense that blacks wanted to do so. Except that in this case, forming a regiment meant that the men were trained as soldiers.
Because the regiment was an all-black one, the soldiers were paid three dollars less than white soldiers. Shaw encouraged his men to take no pay because of that.
When the regiment attacked Fort Wagner, Shaw was killed as he told his men to keep going forward. The men fought bravely, but had to retreat in the end. After the battle the Confederate soldiers stripped Shaw's body naked and put him on display for a couple of days. Then buried him at the bottom of a pit and piled the bodies of other soldiers from his regiment on top of him as way to insult him. When his father asked what became of him, and Confederate soldier said, "We buried him with his niggers." This proved to be an Insult Backfire as Shaw's father replied that his son would have been honored to be buried alongside his men.
The 54th Massachusetts proved to the nation that blacks could fight just as well as white soldiers. More black regiments were formed after that. Lincoln credited these black soldiers for their part in helping turn the tide of the war in favor of the Union. Fort Wagner was never taken, but it was abandoned by the Confederates a few months later after repeated bombardment from Union warships.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Thoughts on Diversity
So the church I was worried about turned out to be run by someone who is godly and competent, and apparently qualifies to take on the job of running a church multicultural center. This is a good thing.
The only reason I initially freaked out is because I have had some rather bad experiences with the current ideas about what is often called "diversity". I'll agree that treating someone solely of the basis of race, sex, age, etc., is a bad idea, but the way it's being taught in this culture leaves a lot to be desired.
Let's start with this fact: No two people are alike. You've got men and women, each with their own personality and looks. People may have a similar body pattern (I've observed this), but no one has the same personality or looks.
With that in mind, let's look at how the issue of diversity is handled in our culture today.
Kids are taught from an early age to accept other people regardless of any differences. This is all good and well. However, as the kids grow up and move on from preschool and kindergarten to grade school on up, the tune slowly changes from "Accept other people despite their differences" to "White person-Bad, Minority person-Good".
We have all read about the troubles minority groups have faced in the past (slavery, discrimination, lynching, etc.). It used to be that white supremacy was one of the chief vices plaguing our country. Nowadays, you can't even say something bad about a black person without being labeled a racist.
Personal Experience: I had a very incompetent teacher for sophomore English. She deduced that the theme connecting all the stories we were reading was intolerance. I was already aware of the stupidities of "tolerance" as it is taught today. In this particular English class, I got the full force of it (I'm still mad at my teacher for that). She gave us a packet on The Laramie Project. Apparently, in 1991 two guys murdered a homosexual man in Wyoming. This sparked quite a bit of debate. People were shouting "Oh, he was killed for being homosexual; oh it was a hate crime, blah, blah, blah." This packet clearly left a lot to be desired. It was riddled with inaccuracies about prejudice, about Fred Phelps, the man who ran around carrying stupid signs about the murder victim in Hell, and was had more biases than the average politician (exaggerated for effect). I found out later on that the victim's murderers were thugs in the first place and at the time were high on meth. So that was not so much a "hate crime" and more of an ordinary mugging; the victim just happened to be a homosexual.
The teacher gave us a project on "tolerance" and had us go to this website on the subject. My dad looked over this website and found that there were more inaccuracies and lies on that website alone than I have ever come across in my twenty-one years; rivaled only by the incredibly stupid and inaccurate piece of junk known as my Sociology textbook from last summer. For example, one of the things the website suggested to become more tolerant of others was to "Increase my circle of friends". Whoever made this site clearly doesn't understand that most people don't make friends for a little more "diversity" in their portfolio. And most people have at least only one or two close friends. They may have a group of friends, but will only have a close bond with one of them. Therefore, "Increase my circle of friends" is not very sound advice. And making friends with someone who's black just because he's black is not a good way to go about this. In fact, it's reverse racism.
Another thing this lame excuse of a website suggested was to "Create a tolerance website". My dad said that doing so would be preaching to the choir. His reason was simple: "Are those idle thrill-seeker going to visit your website?" No one goes online to look for advice on how to become more "tolerant". They go online to spend hours playing RPGs and watch silly videos. They're not going to be interested in reading about "tolerance" at all.
How does one handle diversity? It's hard. Almost two centuries of prejudice have left many people, black, white, etc., with feelings of resentment. Everyone resents someone. And to get past this requires work. And to get rid of it is rough. What is really more important is who the person is, not what the person is. And no, being more "tolerant" does NOT mean condoning sin. All I can say is the best way to handle it is to love that person as yourself, even when their behavior offends you. Tell them that you love and respect them, but that you don't approve of immoral or improper behavior. And do it in such a way as to bring glory to God's name.
The only reason I initially freaked out is because I have had some rather bad experiences with the current ideas about what is often called "diversity". I'll agree that treating someone solely of the basis of race, sex, age, etc., is a bad idea, but the way it's being taught in this culture leaves a lot to be desired.
Let's start with this fact: No two people are alike. You've got men and women, each with their own personality and looks. People may have a similar body pattern (I've observed this), but no one has the same personality or looks.
With that in mind, let's look at how the issue of diversity is handled in our culture today.
Kids are taught from an early age to accept other people regardless of any differences. This is all good and well. However, as the kids grow up and move on from preschool and kindergarten to grade school on up, the tune slowly changes from "Accept other people despite their differences" to "White person-Bad, Minority person-Good".
We have all read about the troubles minority groups have faced in the past (slavery, discrimination, lynching, etc.). It used to be that white supremacy was one of the chief vices plaguing our country. Nowadays, you can't even say something bad about a black person without being labeled a racist.
Personal Experience: I had a very incompetent teacher for sophomore English. She deduced that the theme connecting all the stories we were reading was intolerance. I was already aware of the stupidities of "tolerance" as it is taught today. In this particular English class, I got the full force of it (I'm still mad at my teacher for that). She gave us a packet on The Laramie Project. Apparently, in 1991 two guys murdered a homosexual man in Wyoming. This sparked quite a bit of debate. People were shouting "Oh, he was killed for being homosexual; oh it was a hate crime, blah, blah, blah." This packet clearly left a lot to be desired. It was riddled with inaccuracies about prejudice, about Fred Phelps, the man who ran around carrying stupid signs about the murder victim in Hell, and was had more biases than the average politician (exaggerated for effect). I found out later on that the victim's murderers were thugs in the first place and at the time were high on meth. So that was not so much a "hate crime" and more of an ordinary mugging; the victim just happened to be a homosexual.
The teacher gave us a project on "tolerance" and had us go to this website on the subject. My dad looked over this website and found that there were more inaccuracies and lies on that website alone than I have ever come across in my twenty-one years; rivaled only by the incredibly stupid and inaccurate piece of junk known as my Sociology textbook from last summer. For example, one of the things the website suggested to become more tolerant of others was to "Increase my circle of friends". Whoever made this site clearly doesn't understand that most people don't make friends for a little more "diversity" in their portfolio. And most people have at least only one or two close friends. They may have a group of friends, but will only have a close bond with one of them. Therefore, "Increase my circle of friends" is not very sound advice. And making friends with someone who's black just because he's black is not a good way to go about this. In fact, it's reverse racism.
Another thing this lame excuse of a website suggested was to "Create a tolerance website". My dad said that doing so would be preaching to the choir. His reason was simple: "Are those idle thrill-seeker going to visit your website?" No one goes online to look for advice on how to become more "tolerant". They go online to spend hours playing RPGs and watch silly videos. They're not going to be interested in reading about "tolerance" at all.
How does one handle diversity? It's hard. Almost two centuries of prejudice have left many people, black, white, etc., with feelings of resentment. Everyone resents someone. And to get past this requires work. And to get rid of it is rough. What is really more important is who the person is, not what the person is. And no, being more "tolerant" does NOT mean condoning sin. All I can say is the best way to handle it is to love that person as yourself, even when their behavior offends you. Tell them that you love and respect them, but that you don't approve of immoral or improper behavior. And do it in such a way as to bring glory to God's name.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
What Is The Purpose?
The Wisconsin State Journal ran an article last Sunday about a church on the South Side of Madison which is building a cultural center. The idea is to bring people of other ethnic groups into the church and feel welcome.
At first glance this sounds like a good idea. However, as articles in the State Journal are notorious for leaving things out, it is not entirely clear to me what the purpose is in building this place and bringing in people from other ethnic groups. They said that one of the missions was to "be a gathering place where we can learn about each other's cultures. Fair enough.
But it doesn't say anything about reaching out to people and telling them the Good News of Jesus Christ. That might be the purpose, but there's no real indication that it is.
The other possibility (and the one I unfortunately suspect to be the most likely), is that this church just wants to make their congregation more diverse. They spoke of being a "neighborhood gathering place to bring various cultures together." That alone is not enough reason to build a cultural center.
If the purpose of this place is to reach out to other ethnic groups in order to bring more people into the Family of God, by all means; build this cultural center. Let people come and worship together and enjoy one another in Fellowship. Let us meet with fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus and share God's love with other people. The body of Christ is made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation the Bible tells us. But if the purpose is to bring other cultures together for the sake of bringing other cultures together, forget it. Don't build a cultural center. If it is not specifically for reaching out to other people, then there is no point in building one of these places. It's a church cultural center. So what? It's just a church cultural center. That doesn't mean anything to a Christ Follower unless it has the purpose of bringing people to Christ.
I'll agree with the pastor that there is a real problem with segregation. It has always been an issue since our country was being formed. But the purpose must be for the good of God's people instead of being just a cultural center that's part of a church. And as followers of Christ, we don't want the latter.
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UPDATE: It turns out that the church in question is one that my church is partnered with and the pastor is a very Godly man. So this doesn't sound like a bad idea after all. It turns out that the pastor has been working hard in that community, and that if anyone is qualified for the job, he is. We should still pray for this operation, and ask God to let it work the way He wants it to, so that it doesn't become like I often think it will.
At first glance this sounds like a good idea. However, as articles in the State Journal are notorious for leaving things out, it is not entirely clear to me what the purpose is in building this place and bringing in people from other ethnic groups. They said that one of the missions was to "be a gathering place where we can learn about each other's cultures. Fair enough.
But it doesn't say anything about reaching out to people and telling them the Good News of Jesus Christ. That might be the purpose, but there's no real indication that it is.
The other possibility (and the one I unfortunately suspect to be the most likely), is that this church just wants to make their congregation more diverse. They spoke of being a "neighborhood gathering place to bring various cultures together." That alone is not enough reason to build a cultural center.
If the purpose of this place is to reach out to other ethnic groups in order to bring more people into the Family of God, by all means; build this cultural center. Let people come and worship together and enjoy one another in Fellowship. Let us meet with fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus and share God's love with other people. The body of Christ is made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation the Bible tells us. But if the purpose is to bring other cultures together for the sake of bringing other cultures together, forget it. Don't build a cultural center. If it is not specifically for reaching out to other people, then there is no point in building one of these places. It's a church cultural center. So what? It's just a church cultural center. That doesn't mean anything to a Christ Follower unless it has the purpose of bringing people to Christ.
I'll agree with the pastor that there is a real problem with segregation. It has always been an issue since our country was being formed. But the purpose must be for the good of God's people instead of being just a cultural center that's part of a church. And as followers of Christ, we don't want the latter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: It turns out that the church in question is one that my church is partnered with and the pastor is a very Godly man. So this doesn't sound like a bad idea after all. It turns out that the pastor has been working hard in that community, and that if anyone is qualified for the job, he is. We should still pray for this operation, and ask God to let it work the way He wants it to, so that it doesn't become like I often think it will.
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