Cruising the smooth waters of Loch Ness, my eyes are peeled for any Nessie sightings. Glancing upward, the ominous clouds darkening the sky may be more of an immediate danger than a mythical monster. A castle diverts my attention as it stands sentinel at the edge of the water, or at least part of it is still standing, reigning majestically over the expanse of Loch Ness.
 
Urquhart Castle, built in the 13th century, was a Scottish military fortress. Over time, these stone walls saw many battles as the castle and surrounding land changed hands, mostly between the Scottish crown and various Scottish clans. William of Orange’s soldiers garrisoned here as they fought the Jacobites. In 1692 when the English soldiers left Urquhart, they blew up the castle rather than letting it fall to the Jacobites.
 
I am struck by the fact that ultimately, the castle was destroyed by its occupants to keep it out of enemy hands. The Jacobite uprisings were a political movement, but like many political ideologies, it was wrapped in religion. Christian nationalism is also a political movement wrapped in religion. It has a long and tangled history, comprised of unlikely bedfellows, all striving to achieve similar goals in the political arena.
 
In the previous post, we discussed the slippery slope we descend to authoritarianism when we support Christian nationalism, a dangerous political movement that distorts Christianity to destroy democracy. It sows seeds of disinformation and divisiveness to vilify and exclude groups of people different from themselves. Despite having the word “Christian” in its name, it is not a Christian movement. The end game is power through authoritarianism as its players seek to control both the government and society. Certain ideas from conservative Christianity are co-opted to legitimize its actions.
 
Christian nationalism is the culmination of centuries of domination, destruction, and oppression of minority peoples that is rooted in white supremacy. Its roots go back to the 15th century Doctrine of Discovery that gave white European settlers a false sense of entitlement that played out in the displacements and killings of Indigenous peoples and then later, the enslavement of Africans. (See Note #1 below.)
 
For brevity’s sake, we will start with the 1954 US Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that deemed racially separate schools were not equal and must not continue to be segregated according to race. White Christian schools that refused to integrate could lose their tax-exempt status. Jerry Falwell, Sr, was an outspoken racist who fought to keep his Christian academy segregated (he later started Liberty University). Bob Jones University, an evangelical Christian school in South Carolina, did indeed lose its tax-exempt status for a while because it refused to admit Black students. Galvanized by the threat of losing their tax-exempt status, these and other evangelical leaders began to work together to defeat the gains made by Black citizens during the Civil Rights Movement.
 
At roughly the same time, the Republican Party began to lose support after Watergate. Paul Weyrich, a Republican operative, saw an opportunity in a bloc of voters, namely evangelical Christians, who historically did not vote. Teaming up with these aggrieved evangelical leaders, Weyrich used the issue of abortion to enlist evangelicals to vote Republican. (See Note #2.) Weyrich and Falwell created the Moral Majority, Inc., in 1978. They worked to defeat President Jimmy Carter’s second candidacy (he was not conservative enough for them) and they even coached Ronald Reagan in evangelical jargon, ultimately influencing a landslide victory for Reagan in 1980. By colluding, the Republican party got the votes it needed, the Christian Right/Moral Majority evangelical leaders got their tax-exempt status and the power to influence public policy, all funded by wealthy conservative donors.
 
But Weyrich did not stop there. He cofounded the Council for National Policy (CNP), the Heritage Foundation, and the Republican Study Committee, which became the pillars of the radical right. CNP is a secretive, umbrella organization that brings together far-right politicians and the Religious Right, with the backing of ultra-conservative donors. Their members lead many offshoot extremist organizations based on white supremacy. They operate today as a shadow network.
 
What is particularly alarming about this evolution of organizations and the shadow network they lead are their tactics. The “playbook” of Weyrich, found in the book entitled The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement by Eric Heubeck, states that their goals are:
 
“1) Falsehoods are not only acceptable, they are a necessity. The corollary is: The masses will accept any lie if it is spoken with vigor, energy and dedication.
2) It is necessary to be cast under the cloak of "goodness" whereas all opponents and their ideas must be cast as "evil."
3) Complete destruction of every opponent must be accomplished through unrelenting personal attacks.
4) The creation of the appearance of overwhelming power and brutality is necessary in order to destroy the will of opponents to launch opposition of any kind.” (See Note #3.)
 
If these goals sound eerily familiar, it is because this is the current playbook used by this partnership between far-right politicians, the Religious Right, and wealthy conservative donors in their concerted effort to destroy specific US institutions and replace them with those they control. They introduce legislation, file lawsuits, strip funding from federal departments, and usurp the authority of federal agencies, such as the FDA and EPA. They seek to destroy democracy from the inside out, all in the name of Jesus. It is not the Jesus I know.
 
Many organizations, some of which are nonprofits, operate within the umbrella of the CNP or are run by CNP members. While this list is not exhaustive, it includes: Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Susan B. Anthony List, Students for Life of America, Live Action, Faith & Freedom Coalition, United in Purpose, National Religious Broadcasters, Alliance Defending Freedom (see Note #4), Leadership Institute, Federalist Society, American Center for Law & Justice, Heritage Foundation, Tea Party Patriots, State Policy Network, and National Rifle Association. (See Note #5.)
 
Funding for many of these organizations comes from the Prince/DeVos families as well as from the Koch brothers’ network called FreedomWorks (that also funds Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners). The National Christian Foundation is a network of wealthy evangelical donors that also funds some of these organizations. Hillsdale College is a beneficiary of the work of CNP and its donors and is an integral part of their mission.
 
Members and prominent leaders associated with these organizations include (or have included) Chuck Colson, James Dobson, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, Mike Huckabee, Mike Pence, Phyllis Schlafly, Anita Bryant, Oliver North, Wayne LaPierre, Charlie Kirk, Ralph Reed, George Barna, Ginni Thomas (wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas), Cleta Mitchell, Leonard Leo, and Jay Sekulow. In addition, 46 of 435 members in the US House of Representatives belong to the far-right House Freedom Caucus lead by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa) with vice-chairman and co-founder Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) is one outspoken member and a self-professed Christian nationalist.
 
Another member of the House Freedom Caucus is the newly elected House speaker, Mike Johnson (R-La). Make no mistake:  he is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing. His “nice guy” demeanor may deceptively cover his extremist views, but his track record reveals otherwise. Johnson, by his words and deeds, shows he is a Christian nationalist who does not support democracy, nor separation between church and state, nor human and civil rights for those he deems “other.” He promotes establishing his own interpretation of God’s law as the ultimate authority in the US government, despite the fact the Founding Fathers worked to prevent any one religion from ruling supreme (as discussed in last month’s post). The fact that he is in such a powerful position to influence legislation and is also second in line to the presidency is very alarming. (See Note #6 below more detail.)
 
The Republican party (especially members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus), the Religious Right, and their wealthy backers all stand to gain from their collusion. The Republican party gets political power through votes, the Religious Right gains power through influence over laws that impose their conservative beliefs on the rest of society, and their donors get tax breaks and other financial incentives via legislation promoted by the Republican party, making them even wealthier. A match made in heaven. Or not!
 
Christian nationalism masquerades as patriotism, wrapped in religion. Its goal is to destroy democracy and usher in authoritarianism. Who needs a Loch Ness monster when, like the soldiers at Urquhart Castle, there are people in this country who will blow up the US Constitution and its institutions to save it from imaginary enemies and thus garner all the power for themselves.
 
We cannot let them succeed. For if we do, life as we know it has ended. In the name of freedom, they will strip ours. In the name of religion, they will shove theirs down our throats.
The Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves. No Loch Ness monster required.
 
 
 
 
For additional reading on the topic of Christian nationalism, I highly recommend the following books:  Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes Du Mez, The Flag and the Cross by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, Shadow Network by Anne Nelson, The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart, How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, and The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future by Robert P. Jones.
 
Note #1:  The Doctrine of Discovery is a 15th century papal bull that authorized the domination and subjugation (including the murders or displacements) of anyone found on lands discovered by white European colonists. This document was issued by the Pope and sanctioned by the various European kings and heads of state that sought new lands in the Americas.
 
Note #2:  Please see my August 2022 post entitled How Did a Medical Procedure Become So Politicized? – Part 1 for more information on Paul Weyrich and the politicizing of abortion.
 
Note #3:  Per 2004 paraphrase by Katherine Urica from theocracywatch.org
 
Note #4: The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the legal arm of CNP, uses religion as a weapon as it works to promote anti-gay, anti-trans, and anti-abortion laws through legislation and through the court system. The ADF has initiated over 500 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in state legislatures in 2023 alone, with 70 becoming law. The ADF is behind the lawsuits to allow discrimination against gay couples by wedding planners, photographers, website designers, and wedding cake designers. Hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community have increased due to their influence. ADF is also anti-abortion and had a key role in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the lawsuit that reversed Roe v. Wade. The Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed the ADF a hate group.
 
Note #5:  This list of organizations is from Shadow Network by Anne Nelson.
 
Note #6: Mike Johnson (R-La), as a member of the US House of Representatives, was a major leader in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, both in co-designing the plan to object to certifying the results in Congress and in leading the Texas amicus brief to overturn election results in key swing states. During his tenure in the House, he introduced the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to suppress discussions of sexuality and gender identity with children. He voted against the “Respect for Marriage Act” that gives equal protections to gay couples and interracial couples. Johnson has spoken out in support of criminalizing gay sex. He has consistently voted against legalizing abortion. He is in favor of gutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs that help the poor. He is also a proponent of dismantling the Johnson Act, a bill sponsored by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (no relation!), to maintain separation between church and state. Prior to his election to the US House, he worked as a spokesperson and attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the legal arm of the CNP (see Note #4). It bears repeating that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the ADF as a hate group. 
 
 
 
 
NOTE: November is Native American Heritage Month (aka American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month). Check out these websites to learn more: https://www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/
https://www.ncai.org/initiatives/native-american-heritage-month
https://www.bia.gov/NNAHM.
 
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of Urquhart Castle at Loch Ness, Scotland.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe. Subscribers receive an email each month that includes the post with the lead photo as well as bonus photos not posted on the website. Email addresses are never sold or shared.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:

Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.

A phrase elbowed its way into our lexicon in recent years. As I learn more about it, I am alarmed that it threatens to destroy both US democracy and civil society as we know it. What is this phrase? Christian nationalism. What is it and why is it so alarming?
 
First, let’s define “nationalism.” Nationalism is an ideology that promotes extreme patriotism to one’s nation. Citizens are expected to put the nation above their own interests, rights, and liberties. Political leaders curtail individual rights in the name of national interest and hold its nation’s interests above all other nations. There are many nationalistic movements around the globe. North Korea is an example of a country that embraces nationalism to the point that they literally have the most undemocratic country on the planet. Hungary is an example of a country that is democratic in name only while being controlled by a dictator. Nationalism is a slippery slope to authoritarianism and it starts with disinformation and seeds of division sown between groups of people within a nation.
 
Christian nationalism, sometimes referred to as “white Christian nationalism,” is a political movement in the US that is associated with far-right leaning citizens and politicians. This American version of nationalism is extreme patriotism wrapped in the cloak of Christianity whose loyalty is not to the US but to its own ideas of government based on its cultural and religious doctrines. It seeks to destroy the US, its constitution, and its institutions in order to remake the nation into its own image.
 
The term “Christian” is a dog whistle for white, straight, conservative, male (typically), and native-born Americans. It is a term that glorifies themselves as “good, decent people” and to normalize their extreme beliefs. Being a true American (and patriot) is defined as being their version of a "Christian." This excludes nonwhites, LGBTQA+, women, and foreign-born people as true Americans.
 
Christian nationalism is not a Christian movement but rather a political one. The goal is not to follow Christ but to gain power and societal control. It is a distortion of the Christian faith with the goal of the destruction of democracy.
 
Through disinformation, divisiveness, and polarization, the movement seeks to subjugate or eliminate all people deemed “other,” including women, the LGBTQA+ community, people of color, and immigrants. They vilify and exclude those they deem different from themselves and seek to take away their rights and liberties, all in the name of “religious liberty.” By doing so, they enhance their own rights, privileges, and power at the expense of everyone else. This ideology does not resemble the teachings of Jesus who never excluded or oppressed anyone.
 
Recent laws implemented by far-right state legislatures curtail or ban reproductive rights and gender-affirming care*. The agenda of Christian nationalism is clearly anti-women, anti-trans, anti-gay, racist, and xenophobic. With far-right politicians in Congress and conservative judges on the federal bench, the rights and freedoms we all enjoy in the US are being stripped away. Through restrictive laws upheld by a nation’s judiciary, a democracy slides into authoritarianism where ultimately no one will have freedom.
 
One of the foundational beliefs of Christian nationalists is that the US was created as a Christian nation by the Founding Fathers, that it was always intended to be a Christian nation, and that it has veered so far from being a Christian nation that it must be destroyed and rebuilt. (Sometimes this is called Christian Reconstructionism, not to be confused with an individual who reconstructs their own personal beliefs.) A look at history, however, tells a different story.
 
The Founding Fathers never intended to create a Christian nation. The first settlers came to the New World to escape religious persecution. They understood the suffering caused by a government that imposed a particular religion on its people. The Founding Fathers created a nation that could withstand and even encourage diversity of thought and of religion, a place where freedom means individual expressions of religion. They created a free nation, but they did not create a Christian nation.
 
While mostly religious, the Founding Fathers did not agree on any one theology. However, they did agree that this country was not nor ever should be a Christian nation and they took great care to ensure that it did not become a country where one religion ruled supreme. Thomas Jefferson encouraged James Madison when the latter created the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the US Constitution) to include a “wall” between the church and state. The First Amendment includes freedom of religion and declares through the Establishment Clause that the government cannot establish a state religion. The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment states that everyone has the right to exercise their own religion.
 
If the Framers of the US Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, wanted to create a Christian nation, they had the power to do so. Instead, they went to great lengths to ensure that never happened. While the phrase “separation of church and state” is not actually used in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, Jefferson used it when describing his vision for this nation, a vision shared by the Framers who built this principle into the creation of our government. Maintaining the separation of church and state is imperative for everyone’s individual rights and freedoms.
 
Christian nationalists use the argument that the phrases “In God We Trust” on US currency and “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance are proof that the US was created as a Christian nation. However, neither of these phrases proves that claim. The phrase “In God We Trust” was first added to the two-cent coin in 1864 during a religious resurgence due to the Civil War. “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 by President Eisenhower and members of Congress to distinguish the US from communist countries during the Cold War. In fact, a much older motto for the US was adopted in 1782 by the Continental Congress when designing the official US seal: E Pluribus Unum, which means “out of many, one.” And in 1795, this motto symbolizing the principle of unity and equality that this nation was built upon was added to the $5 gold coin. History teaches us that our Founding Fathers intended this nation to be built on unity and equality, not Christianity.
 
Well-intended Christians may also believe the falsehood that the US was created as a Christian nation. But as history informs us and as stated above, the US was not founded as a Christian nation and was never intended to be. To believe otherwise is dangerous because it enables Christian nationalists to use Christianity for their own twisted purposes of gaining power and control over society. Violence is often a means to their end, just as we witnessed their destructive insurrection on January 6th, 2021. On that day we also saw Christian symbols co-opted to legitimize the violence.
 
By portraying Jesus as a warrior-king, Christian nationalists undermine the very tenets of Christianity. We know from reading the Gospels that Jesus did not come as a warrior to overturn the oppressive Roman government. His way was love, not hate. His goal was justice, not tyranny. His actions were merciful, not mercenary. Throughout history, however, many people claiming to follow Jesus perpetrated horrendous deeds in His name for the sake of power. Christian nationalists have joined their ranks.
 
The main point to remember is that the end game of Christian nationalism is not actually to have Christian values and principles rule the land. These are simply the means to the end which is absolute power and societal control. This slide from democracy to authoritarianism is indeed a slippery slope, one we cannot afford to descend.
 
Christian nationalism and its end-game of authoritarianism will win if we do not stop it. We cannot be silent or apathetic. Become knowledgeable about the issues. Stand up for truth. Call out disinformation. Vote for candidates who work for the good of all people. Support non-partisan organizations who work for free and fair elections, like the League of Women Voters (https://www.lwv.org/) and give to their education fund (https://www.lwv.org/league-women-voters-education-fund). Support organizations that fight Christian nationalism, like Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (https://www.au.org/).

We cannot ignore this threat; it will not go away. But together we can turn the tide to build a more equitable society where all are free to worship as they please and all have the inalienable rights that the Founding Fathers established in the Declaration of Independence: the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May it be so!
 
 
God, may we have eyes to see the dangers of this movement and may we have the courage to take a stand against it. For Jesus will not be mocked. His principles cannot be twisted for political purposes and for the sake of power. May we be one nation indivisible in our pursuit of love, justice, and mercy. Amen.
 
 
 
In future posts, we will look at the history of Christian nationalism, its major players, and also the dangerous implications for democracy in the US. In the meantime, I highly recommend the following books on Christian nationalism: Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes Du Mez, The Flag and the Cross by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, Shadow Network by Anne Nelson, The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart, and How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
 
 
*See previous posts on reproductive health care (Aug, Sept, Oct 2022) and gender-affirming care (June 2023).

DISCLAIMER: I am a member of the League of Women Voters. Views expressed are my own.
 
NOTE: Hispanic Heritage month began on September 15. See these links for more information: https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/
https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/hispanic-heritage-month
https://latino.si.edu/hispanic-heritage-month
https://www.pbs.org/articles/celebrate-hispanic-heritage-month
 
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Above photo of Klimsenkapelle (Klimsen Chapel) atop Klimsenhorn peak as seen from Mt Pilatus, Switzerland.


Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe. Subscribers receive an email each month that includes the blog with the lead photo as well as bonus photos not posted on the website. Email addresses are never sold or shared.
 
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.

On a recent trip to Scotland, I visited the lovely city of St Andrews. Standing on the 18th hole of the beautiful Old Course on an unusually sunny day was certainly a treat! But not far from there is St Andrews Castle, historically the official residence of Scotland’s archbishops, and also the site of a harrowing death. The castle, now in ruins, stands at the edge of the sea. The front overlooks a rolling lawn that tumbles down to the street. It is here that the plight of George Wishart, a Scottish minister, and an early proponent of the Protestant Reformation, is twinned with the castle and its occupant.
 
George Wishart was born in 1513. He studied at the University of Aberdeen and became a teacher as well as a preacher. As a schoolmaster, he taught his students how to read and study the New Testament in Greek. The Catholic Church at the time did not allow its congregants to read the Bible for themselves. Cardinal David Beaton, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, felt threatened by Wishart and his growing number of followers. He tried several times to have Wishart assassinated. In 1546, Wishart was arrested and brought to St Andrews. Although he quoted the Bible in his answers to the court as a display of his biblical knowledge, he was condemned as a heretic and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in front of the castle while the cardinal watched from the safety of his home and fortress. The spot where I stood marked the place where Wishart was tortured and burned to death at the stake.
 
Throughout his short life, Wishart was known for being kind and generous, often giving his clothes and even bedsheets to the poor. When the Plague broke out in a nearby town, he went there to take care of the sick, risking his own life and health.
 
Wishart mentored a young man who became his bodyguard. When he was arrested, Wishart refused to allow his bodyguard to follow him to the castle, which probably saved his bodyguard’s life. Wishart’s follower and bodyguard, John Knox, would play a leading role in the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.
 
Was Wishart a heretic to the Christian faith? Or was he a prophet, at the edge of a new movement, who believed in living out his faith in service to the sick and the poor?
 
The theology and tenacity of a thirty-something propelled a movement that greatly and positively impacted society. The Protestant Reformation, which began in part as a revolution in favor of allowing congregants to read the Bible and think for themselves, is credited with influencing Western culture, encouraging freedom of religion, advocating for individual dignity, and even shaping political democracy.
 
Many subsequent movements within the Church began with new interpretations of theology that cut across the grain of the old established ones. In the early 20th century, modernists like Walter Rauschenbusch promoted the Social Gospel which emphasized a regeneration of society by focusing on social issues such as injustice and oppression. The Social Gospel took Jesus’ teachings on caring for the poor and the disenfranchised seriously. These modernists from the Social Gospel movement became affiliated with moderate and liberal churches often referred to as mainline Protestant denominations. Today, these denominations include, but are not limited to, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
 
In reaction to the Social Gospel, fundamentalists created their own gospel brand that prioritized individual salvation through converting people to Christianity. The fundamentalists became known as evangelicals and are represented today by conservative denominations, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as many independent or nondenominational churches.
 
Perhaps there is a new movement afoot in the Church today. A look at some statistics is revealing. According to a PRRI study based on 2020 data, 44% of the US population identifies as both white and Christian. That is down from 65% in 1996 and 54% in 2006. Since 2007, the number of white Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated (often called “Nones”) increased from 16% to 23%. Of all Americans under 30, almost 40% identify as “Nones” (up from 10% in 1986). On the surface, it appears that lots of Americans are walking away from the faith. But are they?
 
From 2006 to 2020, the percent of Americans who identify as white evangelicals dropped from 23% to 14%. Although white mainline Christians and white Catholics also declined from 2006, both groups have experienced recent increases to 16% and 12% of all Americans, respectively.
 
What do all these numbers mean? While the number of “Nones” is increasing, so is the number of white mainline Protestants. White evangelicals, on the other hand, are seeing their numbers decline. Perhaps the “Nones” have left evangelical churches and some are warming the pews at mainline Protestant churches. It is an interesting shift in demographics. And it is a big deal in today’s political conversation where white evangelicals tend to be the most vocal but represent a shrinking portion of all Americans.
 
Anecdotal evidence indicates that thousands of white (often younger) Americans are leaving the evangelical church and either worshipping at mainline churches or not at all. Many of these ex-evangelicals grew up in the evangelical church and are now questioning the beliefs that they were taught. Some call this a deconstruction of their faith as they sift through what they believe and question why they should continue to believe the theology they were taught. Some beliefs are retained while others are discarded. This rebuilding of their faith is called reconstruction where they internalize their new beliefs and live out their newly discovered values and related theology. Many of these ex-evangelicals may still identify as Christians but eschew institutionalized, organized religion.
 
Like the Reformers in the 16th century, today’s ex-evangelicals are proponents of thinking through theology themselves instead of relying on church leaders’ interpretations. With boldness and courage like that of George Wishart, maybe they will start their own movement and reformation that begins with loving God and neighbor and extends to caring for the poor, the imprisoned, the sick, and the oppressed. Perhaps they will be considered heretical. Or maybe they will indeed be prophets teaching a new way to live out their faith. Regardless, it certainly looks a lot like the reformation, the movement, and the mission of Jesus.*
 
 
*Luke 4:18-19 – [Jesus reading His mission statement in the synagogue from Isaiah 61]“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of St Andrews Castle in St Andrews, Scotland.


Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe. Blog subscribers receive an email each month that includes the blog with the lead photo as well as bonus photos not posted on the website. Email addresses are never sold or shared.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”  Matthew 12:25
 
 
The frigid breath of winter howls through the valley. Nothing can survive unsheltered and unprotected from the elements. It is February, 1692, in the valley near the Coe River, in what is called Glencoe. The Clan MacDonald, with food stores and furry blankets, hunker down for the winter. Amidst the silence of snow, soldiers from the Duke of Argyll’s regiment call out for shelter. Led by members of the Clan Campbell, the regiment carries orders for “free quarter.” The MacDonalds, specifically the Maclan MacDonalds, have no choice but to open their homes to them. For twelve days, they feed the soldiers, unaware a villainous plot is afoot.
 
In order to control the independent clans of the Scottish Highlands, King William III of England, Scotland, and Ireland (aka William of Orange) requires each clan chieftain to pledge allegiance to him. Because the “request” is received late and due to the lengthy time it takes to travel in winter to the king’s palace, several chieftains arrive past the appointed time. Angered, the king singles the MacDonald clan out to set an example for the other clans.
 
At 5am, on February 13, the order from King William III is given to kill anyone under the age of 70. In less than two hours, the soldiers, led by Robert Campbell, slaughter their hosts. Over 30 men, women, and children are brutally murdered. Those that escape succumb to the freezing elements and die in their tracks. This fateful day is known in Scottish history as the Massacre of Glencoe. No one is ever held accountable for the killings.
 
Hospitality was torn apart by swords that day. The tension between hostility and hospitality, between clans and tribes, neighbors and neighborhoods peaked and continued for generations. Feuds fuel violence and sow seeds of hatred that grow into fields of war. Where did all this discord start?
 
This complicated history of feuding between the MacDonalds and the Campbells has its roots in both politics and religion. While the MacDonalds were mainly Catholic, the Campbells were mostly Protestant. Regarding politics, the MacDonalds supported the nationalist movement to put their own king on the throne of Scotland whereas the Campbells were proponents of uniting the countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland under one English king.
 
I find it sad that politics and religion got in the way of community and that hospitality was used for harm. What if the king had given a grace period to appear before him and not been so caught up in the abuse of power? What if there had been tolerance between clans and even forgiveness for previous grievances between families or empathy to see another’s point of view?
 
Are we much different today? While we may not brandish swords, many wield guns that make it all too easy to fatally stop an opponent with whom you disagree. Even if we do not mortally wound our adversary, we defame and name-call in the public square of Twitter and other social media.
 
Political leaders who vie for allegiance and more power often spread disinformation to further their cause. Unlike the king and others long ago in Glencoe who escaped accountability, those who sow seeds of division should be, and in some cases, are being held liable.
 
The divisiveness in this country tears apart friendships, families, neighborhoods, and the very fabric of our nation. When we stand together to fight the common enemies of climate change, social injustice, poverty, and oppression, just to name a few, we can overcome. Together. A house divided cannot stand.
 
 
God, forgive me when I hold animosity in my heart for those whose viewpoints are different from mine. Your call to love my enemies overrides my pettiness. Open my mind to tolerance and my heart to empathy. Give me the wisdom and strength to work toward unity and community. Heal the fractures in our nation and world as we seek to understand and support one another, yes, even those we consider our enemies. Amen.

Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Three Sisters peaks (with lupines in the foreground) in Glencoe, Scotland. Additional photos of a replica built to resemble the turf houses of the MacDonald clan in Glencoe in the 17th century.
 
 
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A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.”
Psalm 39:4-6
 
 
Pale pink canopies spread far and wide across the stream. A gentle breeze swirls the clusters like quiet snow that lands in my hair and around my feet. I look up and see nothing but a pink and white blanket that covers the sky, a dazzling array of Sakura.
 
On a recent trip to Japan, the timing could not have been more perfect. Cherry trees were in full bloom and they were everywhere. On street corners and in gardens, beside pagodas and roadsides, the ubiquitous blossoms turned the otherwise beautiful landscape into a magical fairyland.
 
There are over 200 varieties of cherry trees in Japan, but the most popular one is a cloned, grafted version called Somei-Yoshino, or in English, Yoshino cherry. Although it typically does not produce edible fruit, it does produce 5-petal flowers that blossom in early spring. Full blossoms last only two weeks as the lovely petals transform from pale pink to white.
 
Japanese people revere the cherry trees. Perhaps it relates to Shinto religion and their belief that God is everywhere in nature. But their reverence could also be due to the sheer beauty of the cherry trees in bloom and realizing how fleeting those blossoms are. In Japanese culture, the cherry tree is symbolic of the fragility of life. Their response to this symbol of the fleeting nature of life is to enjoy the beauty of it while they can.

Life is indeed fleeting, as Psalm 39 reminds us. I experienced this when one of my brothers passed away suddenly. We must make the most of the time we have and even to enjoy it! But Psalm 39 also gives a warning to those who place their security in their wealth. Riches and privilege will not prevent death and may blind us to compassion for those less fortunate. Psalm 39 also warns us of rushing through life as a phantom, an apparition without material substance. In our clamor for wealth, prestige, power, or fame, we may focus on what is ultimately not important. How sad it would be to come to the end of our lives and realize our pursuits were all in vain and to wonder if we had even lived at all. What would happen if, instead, we pursued a life of existential meaning and compassionate purpose?
 
The passing of actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte earlier this year gave me pause. What impressed me about his life was not the fame he had or the wealth that went with it, but rather how much time and money he spent on civil rights activism as he tried to make this country a better place for all, especially for people of color. His passion for activism grew from his mother’s words to him when he was young, after she had experienced a long day of unsuccessful job hunting: “Don't ever let injustice go by unchallenged.” Belafonte certainly incorporated this mantra into his life for decades as he worked tirelessly throughout the Civil Rights era and beyond, even into his 90’s. Belafonte did not count security in his wealth as a priority but rather he stood up for those treated unjustly.
 
Does injustice motivate you to challenge it? Jesus’ focus was based on injustice under the oppressive Roman rule (Luke 4:18-19*). He came to bring justice to those who were treated unjustly – the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed. His entire ministry was devoted to nonviolent activism in order to help those who were powerless and oppressed by a system of injustice.
 
It is never too early to make the world a better place. But it can be too late if we procrastinate.
 
As I photographed the many cherry trees, I pondered the meaning attached to them in Japanese culture. The Sakura are both objects of beauty to be appreciated and warning signs to be heeded. My first attempt at Haiku (which took 2nd place in a contest!) sums it up:
 
                                                  Sakura petals
                                           Fall silently to the dust
                                               For life is fleeting.
 
 
God of nature and all things, thank You for the beautiful cherry trees and the reminder that life is fleeting. Help me make the most of the life I have, to challenge injustice, and to make the world around me better for those who are powerless, poor, and oppressed. Amen.
 
 
*Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of cherry blossoms at Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa, Japan, and photo of Gojunoto Pagoda on Miyajima Island, Japan.
 
 
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AS A FOLLOW-UP TO LAST MONTH’S POST ON TRANSGENDER YOUTH:
To support vulnerable trans youth, consider giving to a suicide-prevention organization that focuses on LGBTQ+ youth called The Trevor Project at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

June is Pride Month, when we celebrate people in the LGBTQIA+ community and their freedom to express their true selves. However, the rights and lives of many in this community are under a very real and existential threat.
 
According to translegislation.com, 556 bills* have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year, with 71 becoming law, that seek to “block trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist (emphasis mine).”
 
These bills are used to galvanize politicians’ constituents through fear. Impacts on individuals’ lives are ignored. Compassion is nonexistent. Truth is disregarded. With this blog post, I hope to dispel the disinformation and harmful myths so that love and truth will prevail.
 
But first, some definitions are in order (see additional definitions below).

• Gender identity is a person’s innate sense of their gender; it is not sexual preference or orientation.
• Gender presentation is how someone looks or dresses and does not necessarily indicate their gender identity.
• Gender dysphoria is, according to the NIH’s National Library of Medicine, a "marked incongruence between their experienced or expressed gender and the one they were assigned at birth." Gender dysphoria, if left untreated, can have devastating consequences because of this incongruence. Anxiety, depression, substance abuse, self-harm, and sometimes suicide result when a person does not feel at home in their own body.
• Gender-affirming care, according to the World Health Organization, is the medical, psychological, and behavioral care “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity” when that identity does not match the assigned sex at birth. For children and teens, this can include puberty blockers, hormone therapy, counseling**, speech therapy, breast binding, genital tucking, hair styling, and makeup lessons.

 
Nineteen states’ legislatures have passed laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming care to minors. It is only a matter of time before these laws will be expanded to all trans people, regardless of age. Some current bills, if passed, would indeed ban transition care up to age 21 and in at least one state, up to age 26.
 
Some proponents of these bills use the cover of “protecting our children,” calling this issue a “political winner.” They use fear to create an imaginary enemy from which to save the world and to be seen as the hero. However, using fear-mongering tactics to achieve political purposes does a disservice to all people, including children, and harms trans children, teens, and adults exponentially.
 
Let us look at several myths regarding transgender, especially regarding transgender children and teens.

Myth #1 – Gender-affirming care “mutilates” children’s bodies.

Referring to gender-affirming care and surgeries as “mutilation” feeds into a narrative driven by fear. Moreover, it perpetuates the idea that cisgender bodies are more valuable than transgender bodies, and that transgender bodies are somehow “ruined” or “defective.” Both cisgender and transgender bodies are valid.
 
In any case, current medical protocol prohibits genital surgery on a minor        as part of gender-affirming care.

Myth #2 – Trans children are receiving life-altering surgeries.

As noted above, genital surgeries are not performed on minors. Often, puberty blockers or hormone therapy are prescribed to trans adolescents, not trans prepubertal children. 

Puberty blockers stop the onset of puberty and give a trans adolescent an     option to delay changes their bodies will undergo at puberty so they can decide how they want to present. If puberty blockers are stopped, puberty begins. Note that puberty blockers have been used for decades in children with abnormally early puberty.

Hormone therapy (hormones of the gender they identify with) helps trans people develop the body that is congruent with their gender identity. Because of new anti-trans laws, some states already make it difficult for trans adults to continue hormone therapy which can have devastating consequences, particularly psychologically, if hormone therapy is stopped. Like puberty blockers, hormone therapy is also used in cisgender people. For example, estrogen and progesterone are often used in menopausal cisgender women.
 
Note that parental permission is needed for top surgery for 16-17-year-olds. Top surgery refers to either the removal or augmentation of breasts. Interestingly, cisgender female teens make up 1.5% of all breast augmentation surgeries.

Myth #3 – Trans children will grow up to regret their gender-affirming care decisions.

The regrets expressed by trans adults are not that they transitioned, but that they did not transition sooner. Transitioning earlier would have saved them the pain and agony of living with gender dysphoria.
 
For those trans adults who have surgery, the regret rate is 1%. The most common reason given for regret is the difficulty of being accepted by family and society after surgery. Interestingly, of all surgeries performed on anyone for any reason in the US, there is a 14% regret rate.

Myth #4 – Trans children (and trans teens and adults) are mentally ill.

The myth that being trans causes mental illness is false. What is real, though, is the devastating emotional toll on a trans person due to the lack of support from family, friends, and employers, as well as the taunts, discrimination, and physical and sexual violence they suffer for being trans.
 
Anti-trans laws help create an atmosphere of hatred and fear that encourages hate crimes and violence against transgender people. One in two will experience sexual assault and abuse sometime in their life. Trans children are also subject to violence and sexual assault, even at school. This trauma greatly impacts their mental health. For trans children, the bullying, violence, and teasing disrupts their education.***

Myth #5 – The government should control the medical care trans children receive.

Banning or restricting health care flies in the face of established medical protocol. The American Academy of Pediatricians “recommends taking a ‘gender-affirming’, nonjudgmental approach that helps children feel safe in a society that too often marginalizes or stigmatizes those seen as different. The gender-affirming model strengthens family resiliency and takes the emphasis off heightened concerns over gender while allowing children the freedom to focus on academics, relationship-building and other typical developmental tasks.” Likewise, the American Medical Association strongly opposes restrictions to gender-affirming care. Some physicians believe that withholding gender-affirming care is unethical. Like other medical decisions, gender-affirming care is best left up to the patient and their physician, not the state.

Myth #6 – By controlling what is taught in schools, we can keep a child from identifying as trans.

According to a Washington Post-KFF poll in 2022, one in three trans adults knew before they were ten-years-old that their gender identity was different from the sex assigned to them at birth. Even young children can experience gender dysphoria but they may not have the language to describe it. Not talking about it at school or home will not keep someone from identifying as trans: it will only prolong their suffering until they can access gender-affirming care.

Myth #7 – By controlling gender-affirming care and restricting teaching about it, we are protecting children.

A great disservice is done not only to trans children but also to cisgender children when gender-affirming care is banned, restricted, and not discussed in schools and homes. Cisgender children will not learn to accept their peers and will feel validated in bullying and teasing their trans classmates.
 
As noted above, these laws are not just aimed at children. They are designed to eliminate all gender-affirming care and eradicate trans people themselves while garnering votes for the politicians who create and support these laws.
 
 
It is important to understand that gender identity is a human construct, like race. Society ascribes certain characteristics onto different genders (or races) and determines which gender (or race) is more valued. While our gender and race impact who we are, our truest selves are much more than how we present.
 
The existence of trans people is threatening to some cisgender people. The blurring of genders into nonbinary and transgender upsets the existing patriarchal power structure where cisgender men are at the top. When some feel threatened, they will do whatever it takes to keep themselves in power – by passing laws against trans people ostensibly to eradicate them.
 
Jesus came to promote a new power structure, one not based on who is at the top, but one based on who is at the bottom. The currency is this new world order is not hate, greed, and fear, but love, justice, and mercy. Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me (from Matthew 25:40).
 
When we operate from a basis of fear and hate, we are not following the God who is love. When we refuse to love all our neighbors, we violate God’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). When we scapegoat a group of people to either maintain our power or to make ourselves feel superior, we are crushing the image of God in people He loves.
 
Following Jesus’ example, we are to love the marginalized, to care for the oppressed, and to help set them free from the oppressors. Feeling love and compassion is not enough: we must put faith into action by educating ourselves on the oppression in our midst, by fighting disinformation through truth telling, by calling or writing our legislators to denounce anti-trans laws, by voting out politicians who power-grab through oppression, and by partnering with organizations who are working for justice.
 
When we see feet on the necks of trans children, may those feet not be ours. Instead, may we lend a hand to help them up and use our feet to carry them out of oppression, to live their lives as image-bearers of a loving God. May we indeed be the hands and feet of Jesus in an old-world order obsessed with hate, greed, and fear.
 
 
 
 
*Some of these laws ban trans girls from playing on girls’ sport teams, ban drag performances, or allow public bathrooms to be used only by people presenting as the sex assigned at birth. (As an aside, I know of one young cisgender woman in a state with a bathroom ban who was kicked out of a concert for using the men’s bathroom when the line at the women’s bathroom was very long. Truly these laws have unintended consequences.) For purposes of this blog post, we focus on the anti-trans laws aimed at banning gender-affirming care.
 
**Counseling to help them understand gender dysphoria, to help them communicate their identity to family and friends, and to help them deal with the often cruel and hateful actions of others.
 
*** Discrimination and violence directed at trans teens and adults have a direct impact on their housing. For trans teens, 20-40% of homeless youth are trans; they are often turned out of their homes by their parents. One in five trans adults experience homelessness, one in five experience discrimination in housing, and one in ten are evicted because of their gender identity.
 
Additional definitions:

• Cisgender (or “cis”) is a person whose gender identity corresponds to their biological sex assigned to them at birth.
• Transgender (or “trans“) is a person whose gender identity does not correspond to their biological sex assigned at birth. A person assigned female at birth but who identifies as a man is called a transgender man or trans man. A person assigned male at birth but who identifies as a woman is called a transgender woman or trans woman.
• Nonbinary is the gender identity of a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Some nonbinary people also identify under the larger umbrella of transgender.

 
For more information on anti-trans laws by state, see the American Civil Liberties Union’s website here.

To support vulnerable trans youth, consider giving to a suicide-prevention organization that focuses on LGBTQ+ youth called The Trevor Project.
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of a rainbow over the mountains on Maui, Hawaii.
 
 
NOTE: As mentioned above, the month of June is Pride Month. Here are some resources:  PBS, History.com, and the Smithsonian Institute.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  Matthew 5:9
 
 
As I walk toward an historical monument, the theme of a book I once read flashes through my mind on repeat: man’s inhumanity to man. Feeling sad and a bit overwhelmed, I photograph the building that was the only standing structure near the epicenter of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. While all other buildings around it were flattened, the A-Bomb Dome miraculously survived. It is a reminder of the destruction of which humans are capable.
 
On this spring day with the cherry trees in full bloom, it is difficult to imagine the horrors of that day and the subsequent weeks, months, and years. But walking through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum brings the destruction into focus on a more personal level. Photographs of the people of Hiroshima, particularly of the children, tell the story of the devastation that engulfed the residents that day. A photograph, at first glance, looks like a picture of a tattoo gone awry; it is actually the imprint of a woman’s kimono that burned into her skin. People were maimed or killed. Many died later from the radiation. The temperature that day reached almost 7,200 Fahrenheit. People were crying out in thirst and trying to catch the black rain that fell from the sky to drink, not realizing that it was radioactive and would burn their insides. The chaos that engulfed them is difficult to comprehend, because at the time, they had no idea what had just destroyed them and their world.
 
I leave the museum and walk to clear my head. The images stick in my mind, despite the beauty of the blossoming cherry trees that line the river running by the museum. Man’s inhumanity to man has no limit.
 
Shortly after the museum visit, I tour Shukkeien Garden in Hiroshima. What a contrast the beauty of this peaceful place is with the horrors of the atomic bomb. That something so beautiful can be made from something so horrible is almost incomprehensible. Yet, the people of Hiroshima press on toward life. They believe there should never be another Hiroshima and today they work toward global peace to ensure it never happens again. What a story of forgiveness, fortitude, and grace.

There are many mini-Hiroshimas in our world today, from wars to mass shootings. May we, like the people of Hiroshima, work toward peace, globally and in our communities. May we take tangible steps to end violence and may we strive to make the world a better place, one of peace and forgiveness, and even of beauty.
 
 
God of peace and grace, how Your heart must break from man’s inhumanity to man. Violence indeed begets violence. While living under brutal Roman oppression, Jesus preached against violence, even retaliatory violence, saying that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. May we help create the kingdom on earth that Jesus talked about, where violence has no place and where people live in harmony with one another. What a heaven on earth that would be! Amen
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the A-Bomb Dome and Shukkeien Garden, both in Hiroshima, Japan.


NOTE: May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To learn more, go to AsianPacificHeritage.gov, History.com, or PBS.

May is also Jewish American Heritage Month.
Check out JewishAmericanHeritage.org and JewishHeritageMonth.gov.


Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.

 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  Galatians 6:2
 
 
Winding my way up the steep and slippery marble steps, I approach the summit. The ancient imposing structure is just ahead. But I hardly notice. Instead, I spy a smaller, more inviting columned building to my left that captures my attention and captivates my imagination.
 
I stand on the Acropolis, the hill that towers over Athens, Greece, where the iconic Parthenon has stood for millennia. Yet, the smaller temple called the Erechtheion is where I focus both my eyes and my camera lens. On the southern portion of this temple stands an ancient porch, the roof of which is supported by the most exquisite marble statues. Their braided hair and flowing gowns, carved so delicately and life-like, exude strength and fortitude.
 
Caryatids (pronounced “keh-ree-ah-tids” with the accent on the “ah”) denotes supporting columns that are in the shape of young women. This ensemble of six statues has graced the porch of the Erechtheion since 406BC. They have stood regally throughout time, turbulence, and forces that would have destroyed them. They are majestic, yet they are not royalty. They are stone, yet they are graceful. They are strong, yet they are burdened under the weight they carry. I stand mesmerized.
 
Legend has it that during the second Persian War in 480BC between the Persians and the Greeks, the Greek city of Caryae sided with the Persians. In addition, King Xerxes I of Persia (the same one in the Bible’s Book of Esther) received intel from a Caryae resident which proved pivotal in the Battle of Thermopylae, causing Greece to lose the battle. For their treachery, the men of Caryae were killed by their fellow Greeks and the town’s women were carried off into exile and forced to do hard labor.
 
My eyes continually sought the Caryatids throughout my time on the Acropolis. I wondered who they were and what was their story. Were they as majestic as they appeared or were they simply defiant? Did the weight on top of their heads represent the burdens they carried in life under difficult slave work? Were they to be admired for their beauty and strength or vilified for collaborating with the enemy? Or were they merely to be pitied for being caught up in the politics of the day?
 
I cannot help but wonder how I would feel if I had been in their shoes. To see my kinsmen murdered and to be carried off into slavery is difficult to even contemplate. To feel the weight of the injustice of it all would be too much to bear. Yet, many people today carry the burdens of injustice on their shoulders due to oppression, discrimination, and modern-day slavery. Do we even see them? Do we care? How can we take on their burdens and thus fulfill the law of love?
 
Memorialized in marble, this story of the maidens of Caryae has stood the test of time. Our response to injustice is a story not yet etched in stone. How will this story be memorialized in history? Only time will tell.
 
 
God, by bearing another’s burdens, I fulfill the law of Christ, that is, the law of love. Your commandments are to love You and to love people. By showing love, not judgment, I am better equipped to sympathize, empathize, and even grieve the burdens that weigh others’ down. May taking on another’s burden in love motivate me to work to eradicate their burden and dismantle the systems of injustice that created it. Amen.
 
 
NOTE: While Greece lost the Battle of Thermopylae, they ultimately won the war. Persia was defeated. Greece would move forward during a period of development that would mark the start of Western civilization. Today the Caryatids at the Erechtheion are well-made replicas. The original statues were moved to the Acropolis Museum in Athens to protect them from the elements. One statue, though, is missing from this museum; it was taken from the Erechtheion in 1802 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and is currently on display at the British Museum, London. The Acropolis Museum holds an empty spot in hopes of its imminent return.
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Erechtheion with its porch supported by the Caryatids, at the Acropolis, Athens, Greece.
 
 
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
 
 
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™


The Caryatids at the porch of the Erechtheion, Athens, Greece:

The Erechtheion overlooking Athens, Greece:

The missing Caryatid, a replica at the Erechtheion of the one housed in the British Museum:

Close-up of a Caryatid at the Erechtheion:

The real Caryatids inside the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece:

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!  Amos 5:24
 
 
A young Black man is brutally murdered by people ostensibly hired to protect him. Community and national leaders send their thoughts and prayers. Is that enough? Delving into why this unarmed 29-year-old skateboarding, Fed-Ex working, father of a 4-year-old was fatally beaten, kicked, and tasered by Memphis police officers is revealing.
 
I write this on the day after Tyre Nichols’ funeral and a week after body cam video of the horrific and senseless beating by police officers was released. I can’t imagine what his family, friends, and co-workers are experiencing right now and how their hearts must be broken.
 
Killings by police officers happen at least 1,000 times per year in the US. An average of three people per day are murdered by police. In 2022, of the 1,048 people killed by police, 313 were Black, 502 were white, 17 were Native Americans, and 216 were Hispanics. While there are more white people killed by police than Black people, the rate at which Black people are killed is more than double that of white people (37 per million Black people vs 15 per million white people). The race of the officers who instigate these killings makes no difference.
 
Almost half of all Americans believe that these are random events or that these statistics are the result of a handful of bad actors. While there are some police officers who genuinely care for the communities in which they serve, these murders are the direct result of a systemic problem: an institution that rewards militant warriors, that trains police officers to exert power and brute force, and that uses military-grade weapons from the US armed forces. These are not one-off killings. This is not the result of the victims’ crimes or missteps. This is a system of police brutality.
 
Police brutality impacts all of us, directly and indirectly by killing people and by draining public funds. With its roots in racism, the many implications today disproportionately affect non-white people.
 
What is police brutality, how did it start, and how has this system of policing evolved to the point where many Americans, including whites, no longer trust the police with their protection? Police brutality can be defined as deadly or excessive physical force that is unnecessary in providing safety.
 
To trace the roots of the modern-day police department, we have to go back in history to colonial America. In the North, as early as 1636, night watchmen patrolled communities to guard against gambling and prostitution. By 1838, port cities like Boston had outgrown the use of night watchmen and had established their own police departments as a way of protecting their cargo at the docks. By the late 1880’s, driven by the influx of European immigrants (often seen as threatening to the existing population), all major US cities in the North had police departments. The first large-scale use of police brutality occurred during various labor strikes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to “control” these workers. The police were not held accountable.
 
Meanwhile, in the South, police departments evolved differently. In 1704, white slaveholders in the Carolinas created the first slave patrols to ensure slaves did not revolt, to confiscate any weapons possessed by slaves, and to return runaway slaves to their masters. The use of brutal force was common and encouraged. After the 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, slave patrols morphed into militia-style groups to enforce Black Codes which were laws during Reconstruction that restricted former slaves' civil rights, such as the right to work and the right to vote. By the 1900’s, municipalities had created police departments to enforce Jim Crow laws that had replaced Black Codes. Civil rights protests in the 1960’s against inequality and Jim Crow laws were met with excessive force by police.
 
Throughout this long history, the institution of slavery, the fear of immigrants, and the protests for civil rights have been threaded together with police brutality into a fabric of systemic racism and social injustice. History shows us that whenever Black people assert their civil rights, they are met with police violence. When the psyches of white people are embedded with the notion that Black people need surveillance for suspicious activities and that white people need to police them, police brutality will continue. Perhaps hearts and minds need to change as well as systems.
 
Policing often emphasizes control rather than safety and police brutality dehumanizes Black and brown people by not seeing them as fully human or created in the image of God. Systemic racism and inequality must be addressed for police brutality to end and officers must be held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law. Until then, “law and order” is a travesty of justice.
 
We need programs that will uphold the dignity of all people while creating public safety and justice. Just as hospitals are not the only solution to public health, police are not the only solution to public safety. There are many possible solutions. Some have already been tried and proven to be beneficial to compliment, not compete, with police work.
 
Only about 1% of all 911 emergency calls are actually violent emergencies where police officers need to respond. Some solutions involve rerouting nonviolent emergencies to mental health workers to reduce the amount of time police officers spend dealing with problems they were never meant to solve. This approach saves lives as well as public funds.
 
Crime prevention is another approach to public safety. Programs that provide addiction treatment and teach violence prevention can prevent crimes from happening. One interesting idea that has been proven to reduce gun violence is to provide green spaces in high-crime neighborhoods by cleaning up vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There are many other ideas that can work to reduce crime and can cost less than traditional policing.
 
Police reform is difficult because each state has its own laws and budget regarding policing. With laws often being too vague and with the shield of “qualified immunity”, police officers are not held accountable. Powerful police unions are adept at protecting their members from accountability, particularly in preventing them from being fired. When criminal charges fail, victims’ families often sue the police department involved. When they win, the settlement costs are borne by taxpayers.
 
If state governments and municipalities could rethink traditional policing, they could create public safety programs that would save lives and lower costs to taxpayers. Because there is no one-size-fits-all program, each community should tailor programs to fit their unique challenges.
 
What can we as ordinary citizens do? We can call or write our representatives in Congress to encourage them to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act*. We can contact our state legislators and local leaders to push for change. We can also give to organizations like the NAACP that are in the fight to protect people from police brutality.
 
The horrendous murder of Tyre Nichols is unimaginable. How can we reimagine a better way to justly maintain order in our society while respecting human life? Will we dare to create a new system of public safety that provides various resources to address both violent and nonviolent emergencies? Can we imagine a better world where people are safe in their communities? I think it’s possible. But it requires more than thoughts and prayers.
 
 
Lord, through Your prophet Amos, You condemn our worship of You as hollow when we ignore the systems of oppression and injustice in our midst. Forgive me when I fail to see that Your desire for justice is like a fast-flowing river, a flash flood, that will overtake these brutal systems and destroy them. Help me work with You in dismantling these oppressive systems and in creating safer communities that respect all human life. Amen.
 
 
** Under the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, most no-knock warrants and the use of choke holds would be prohibited. Police officers would be held accountable with less or limited qualified immunity. The transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments would be limited. Training would be required regarding what to do when other officers use excessive force. Federal officers would be required to wear body cameras. A national registry would be created for complaints against officers. As an incentive, noncompliance by states would reduce their federal funding. While this is not comprehensive enough, it is a good first step.
 
Note: Solutions to public safety recognize that crime is linked to both poverty and inequality. Addressing these underlying causes of crime are needed as well but are beyond the scope of this blog post.
 
 
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.
 
 
MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. Check out https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ and https://www.pbs.org/show/womens-history-month/ .
 
 
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A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
 
Some of the many waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia:

Limestone cliffs reflect in a lake at Plitvice Lakes National Park:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
-  Excerpt from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
   (This poem in its entirety is engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty.)
 
 
Rumors swirled through the streets. Idle gossip slithered through the market stalls. Who were these wealthy foreigners who had appeared, after traveling for weeks, and bestowed the most expensive gifts on a certain child? Did these strangers also bear warnings to his parents that their son’s life was in danger? Perhaps these new parents worried for their son’s safety as they wondered what to do. But God had a plan. Through a dream, He directed their path.
 
The start of the liturgical season of Epiphany marks the time when the Magi, sometimes referred to as the Three Kings, travel a great distance to follow a bright star in the heavens.  When this celestial light stops over a stable housing a poor couple and their swaddled infant, the Magi worship the Christ Child and lavish Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Do they suspect King Herod’s nefarious plan to kill Jesus? Perhaps they warn the new parents. Perhaps Joseph isn’t convinced of the danger or is unsure of a plan, until through a dream, God instructs him and his family to flee (Matthew 2:13-18*).
 
Leaving in the middle of the night, Joseph and Mary escape with the Infant Jesus to cross the border at Egypt. How tired they must have been from traveling so far. How hungry they must have been. How traumatized they must have been from having to flee for their very lives.
 
The Bible doesn’t speak to the Holy Family’s time in Egypt. But we do know that they were foreigners in a foreign land. Immigrants. Refugees. Did Mary and Joseph speak Egyptian? It’s doubtful. They had to navigate a new country with its different language, customs, laws, and even different food. Nothing was familiar to them. They had to find a new home, not knowing how long they would be staying. They arrived at the border with no sponsor, no connections, and no place to live. What if they weren’t even safe there? What if Herod’s reach extended into Egypt?
 
Yes, God had told them to flee to Egypt. Through the Magi, He also provided rich gifts that perhaps were used to buy food and housing or used to barter for clothing and furniture. Or maybe those gifts provided a place for Joseph to set up a carpentry shop to create his craft in his newly adopted country.
 
I can’t help but think of the parallels today of people who are compelled to leave violent or horrendous living conditions in search of a safer and better life for themselves and their children. Like Joseph and Mary, they travel long distances, often on foot, to reach the southern US border.
 
Their plight differs from that of the Holy Family. Instead of living quiet lives in their new home country, they encounter hostility. Many are forced to turn around and return to the violence they thought they left behind. Some are forced to wait in unsafe places in Mexico. And some are misled to board buses to the north, arriving on a frigid Christmas Eve without food or blankets at the official residence of the US Vice President. (This actually happened when Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) sent 3 busloads of immigrants this past Christmas to Washington, DC, without food, warm clothes, or blankets and abandoned them at the official VP residence.) Others, deceived by lies of promised jobs in Martha’s Vineyard, were flown in private planes to Massachusetts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). New York City and Chicago are also frequent destinations of this type of forced travel from border states. Like pawns in a political chess game, these helpless immigrants in search of a better life are tossed around like unwanted trash.
 
Yet in God’s eyes, they are valuable. They are created in His image.
 
In Matthew 25:35, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger [foreigner] and you invited me in.” Jesus says that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Him. The consequences of not doing for the least of these is eternal punishment, the antithesis of eternal life (Matthew 25:45-46**).
 
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus calls all people from all nations. He judges individual actions, but He also judges nations. How will the US be judged by God for its mistreatment of refugees at the southern border? I shudder to think how we’ve missed the mark.
 
For our lack of compassion, we will be judged.
 
From a practical standpoint, refusing entry to hundreds of thousands of immigrants will have dire consequences and not just for the immigrants themselves. With Baby Boomers retiring, the current labor shortage will only worsen, but it can be mitigated with the influx of refugees. Perhaps hard-working people from other countries can help fill this gap, and in the process, help fulfill their own dreams of living in a safer country and being able to provide for their children.
 
Before the Holy Family’s flight, the Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt. After God, through Moses, rescued them, He tells them in Deuteronomy 10:18-19, that “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”
 
What if you found yourself in a situation where you had to flee your home country? Would you want to be treated as if you were cattle? Would you want to be kept in cages or forced to be bused or flown to an unknown part of a foreign country with no resources? The Bible’s Golden Rule*** tells us how to respond to the refugees at our border. Will we obey it?
 
Jesus was a refugee in Egypt. Perhaps if we saw Jesus in each of the children and adults arriving at our border, we’d seek better and quicker solutions to the situation. We’d write to our representatives in Congress to implore them to seek humane treatment for those arriving destitute, traumatized, and afraid. We’d vote for politicians who see these immigrants as people created in God’s image and who promise to help them (and who work to fulfill those promises). Perhaps we’d support organizations that work to help immigrants, from the legal aspects of seeking asylum to helping them find housing and employment. In doing so, maybe we’d be placed on Jesus’ right, with the “sheep”, who Jesus rewards with eternal life in heaven. If only we truly did for the least of these.
 
 
Heavenly Father, may I see refugees and immigrants as people created in Your image. May I extend the compassion of Christ in practical ways, not only to help them one-on-one, but also to work to undo the chains of oppression and the systems of repression that seek to do them harm. May I treat immigrants and refugees as I would want to be treated, with compassion, kindness, and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
 
 
NOTE: There are many immigration lawyers who work, often for free or on fellowships, to help immigrants and refugees at the border. These organizations, like Immigrant Justice Corps (https://justicecorps.org/), need your support to do all the work they need to do. Other organizations, like Lutheran Immigration and Resettlement Services (www.lirs.org), seek to resettle refugees and immigrants into the community, helping them find a new home, paying the rental deposit and several months’ rent, and also helping them find employment, if they can actually legally obtain work. For more info on organizations serving immigrants and refugees, check out Charity Navigators at https://www.charitynavigator.org/search?q=immigration.
 
Immigration laws in the US are in need of reform. Read up on this issue to learn more and to learn how you can help. See https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/news/ to get started. Write to your representatives in Congress to put this issue in the forefront. Check local organizations where you live to see who is actively helping to resettle refugees and see how you can help.
 
 
 
*Matthew 2:13-15: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
 
**Matthew 25:45-46: “He (Jesus) will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
 
***The Golden Rule - Matthew 7:12 – [Jesus says,] “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
 
 
Text and photograph copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the replica of the Statue of Liberty, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France.
 
Do you know the story behind the Statue of Liberty? Click here to see photos and to learn more.
 
February is Black History month. Click here to learn more.
 
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A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.

Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).

Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice.  Click here to learn more.
 
 
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™