From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:
By 1965 a century had passed since the end of the Civil War, but in some parts of the South, blacks still lacked the right to vote. Literacy tests, registration requirements, and other barriers hindered them on Election Day. Hoping to draw attention to the problem, civil rights workers planned to march more than fifty miles from Selma, Alabama, a town where blacks had suffered much violence and discrimination, to Montgomery, the state capital.
On Sunday, March 7, 1965, about 600 protesters began their march. They had barely started when they met a line of state troopers and policemen, some on horseback, who ordered the crowd to turn back. When the marchers held their ground, the police attacked with tear gas, bullwhips, and billy clubs, driving the activists back into Selma.
The nation was shocked by televised images of “Bloody Sunday,” as the brutal assault came to be known. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. immediately called on civil rights activists to converge on Selma for another march.
On March 21, after even more bloodshed, some 3,200 marchers left Selma again, this time under the protection of the National Guard. With King leading the way, they walked along Highway 80 through rain and chilly weather, camping out at night and singing hymns of freedom. By the time they reached the capital on March 24, thousands more had joined them. “In a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested,” King told a swelling crowd the next day. “I stand before you this afternoon with the conviction that segregation is on its deathbed in Alabama.”
He was right. The Selma-to-Montgomery march opened many eyes to the need for change. Later that year, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which helped ensure voting rights for all citizens.
Every day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click here to subscribe.
Welcome to the Intersections Blog, where I try to work out where politics, pop culture, and the Bible meet
So What's This All About?
In case you didn't know, I'm in the multi-year-long process of posting a Christian devotional at the TAWG Blog. The TAWG Blog is, and always will be, mostly apolitical. For the most part, Bible-believing Christians will find little to disagree with there. But I also firmly believe that God's word can--and should--inform everything in life, and this should include politics and popular culture. How should we vote? How should we respond to hot topics such as abortion, capital punishment, taxes, and other issues? Which party, if either, is closer to the Biblical ideal? Tony Campolo and Ron Sider, Evangelicals whose political leanings are on the Left, have made the case in several of their writings that God wants his followers to vote politically on the Left more than on the Right. At times, some of them have gone so far as to equate voting on the Left with obedience to Christ, either subtly or not-so-subtly contending that the converse is true as well: If you vote Republican, you're sinning against the Savior.
I don't agree. I think that to the degree they actually resort to the Bible, they're misinterpreting it. With a whole bunch of caveats, I think politically conservative positions are a lot more compatible with the Scriptures than the Leftist positions.
Just to clarify, I would never accuse people who disagree with me--especially siblings in Christ--of what they accuse me of. I don't judge my own heart, much less anyone else's, and I don't equate political disagreement with theological fidelity to God. I have no reason to doubt their love for the Lord and "for the least of these," but I believe that they're sincerely wrong.
Just to clarify, I would never accuse people who disagree with me--especially siblings in Christ--of what they accuse me of. I don't judge my own heart, much less anyone else's, and I don't equate political disagreement with theological fidelity to God. I have no reason to doubt their love for the Lord and "for the least of these," but I believe that they're sincerely wrong.
So there are two main purposes for this blog. One is to make a case for my political beliefs based on Scripture. The other is a bit more vague, basically to work out my political beliefs and figure out what's based on Scripture and what's based on my own biases. I certainly don't have all the answers. Some of this stuff I'm still figuring out. And I'm certainly open to correction. As long as you make your case civilly and based on Scripture, feel free to make a comment, and I promise I'll post it and consider your arguments thoughtfully and prayerfully. Who knows? Maybe we'll learn a little something from each other.
May God bless our common striving together towards both the "little t" truth and "Big T" Truth. Our watchword here is a line from C. S. Lewis's The Last Battle: "Further up and further in!"
P.S. -- Below on the left is "Topics I've Covered" which lists everything I've posted topically. It's come to my attention that some people would like to see everything just listed for them. If that's you, you can get it here. Thanks to my friend Stephen Young for the tip!
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