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.
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!

Friday, May 4, 2018

The Freedom Riders

From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:

On May 4, 1961, thirteen men and women, black and white, boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., and set out toward New Orleans. Their mission: challenge segregation practices on public transportation. History remembers them as the Freedom Riders.

The U.S. Supreme Court had already ruled that segregation in interstate bus travel was unconstitutional. But in several Southern states where Jim Crow laws still prevailed, it was considered a crime for whites and blacks to sit side by side on a bus. Yet that’s exactly what the Freedom Riders did as they headed south. When they stopped at bus stations, they sat together in segregated waiting rooms and at lunch counters.

By the time they reached the Deep South, trouble was waiting. Near Anniston, Alabama, angry whites firebombed the bus. The Freedom Riders barely escaped with their lives. In Birmingham, riders on a second bus were beaten with clubs and lead pipes. In Montgomery a mob surrounded the church where they sought refuge.

Some Civil Rights activists urged the Freedom Riders to halt their journey. Despite the danger, more people joined the effort. But the Freedom Ride came to an end in Jackson, Mississippi, where police herded the Riders through the bus station and into paddy wagons. More than 300 went to jail.

The Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans, but they achieved their objective. Inspired by those brave few, more Americans worked to break segregation and lead the country down a better road. In 2001, when some of the Freedom Riders made a fortieth anniversary bus trip retracing their route, the mayor of Anniston welcomed them with the keys to the city.

Every day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. It's "a daily newsletter that will teach you key events that took place each day in American history." Click here to subscribe.

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