Live Not By Lies! - Redux

Almost a year ago, I wrote an encouragement to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's essay, "Live Not By Lies."

I'm reminded of that essay often.

A couple people have sent me screenshots of a guy who is writing about me by name - in a forum that is invisible to me - with some, shall we say, interesting accusations.

The good news is that he is not a brother pastor.  I don't know the guy.  I don't believe we have ever met.  We're not even Facebook friends.  I don't really care what some random guy on the Internet thinks about me (even if he is a Lutheran).  But I do care about the truth.  And he is not speaking it.  There are some people who have read his remarks, who are not happy about them, and have written to me.  He is attacking my reputation, and the reputations of others.  He is also running down Gottesdienst (for whom I write and serve on the editorial board), and trying to lump us all together.  

First of all, everyone is entitled to his opinion.  Disagreeing with me, and even disliking me, is just fine. I also have no problem with someone being vociferously critical of Gottesdienst.  To each his own. But I do have to admit being disappointed at being spoken about by name in a format that I'm not a party to - by a fellow Christian and Lutheran.  But I also realize everyone operates by his own core values.  At any rate, I decided against publishing a response at Gottesblog.  This is really more of a personal matter, so I'm responding here.   

There are basically three issues that I would like to reply to:

1) Donald Trump

My critic writes:

Virtually everything that Larry writes identifies his own Trumpist-Right Wing Populist politics with the cause of God.  I used to love Gottesdienst when it was about liturgy.  Now it's about the politics of the writers, which are predictable based on their age, gender [sic], and social class - in other words, most of their positions are generated by sociological factors which are simply baptized by them into being divine mandates.

He mentions Trump a second time in his screed.  As far as Gottesdienst goes, my critic assumes that we editors and writers are all in lockstep regarding politics and in our assessment of Donald Trump.  One of my fellow editors in particular, with whom I go back many years, is vociferously anti-Trump, and is vocal about it.  He did not vote for him, and will not vote for him.  He thinks Trump is gross and disgusting.  Why my critic thinks we all vote and think as a bloc is beyond me.  There is just no evidence for this.  Moreover, our editors and contributors include three generational cohorts: boomers, Xers, and Millennials.  We are all male (which is a sex, not a gender), because we are all LCMS clergymen.  Yet we do not think in lockstep.  And the suggestion that all people of the same sex, the same age, and the same socioeconomic status all think and vote the same way is bizarre and does not comport with reality.

As for me (not that it is any of my critic's business), I voted for Trump.  I will probably do so again.  I liked many things about his presidency: the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the appointment of a good number of conservative constitutional judges to the federal bench, and even the slight tax cuts and minor rollback of regulations were a boon to the economy - even bringing manufacturing back to the United States.  We all remember how things turned around after Trump's election.  That said, other economic opinions and policies of President Trump were awful, in my opinion.  He was also terrible on Covid.  He is socially liberal.  He surrounded himself with warmongers, as well as some disturbing religious advisors like Paula White.  So he is a mixed bag, again, in my opinion.

All that said, the real world of politics is about choices.  Frankly, I think even a moderate and flawed conservative like Donald Trump is far preferable to the likes of Joe Biden.  That is simply my assessment, and it is hardly radical or outlying or controversial.  I'm not even a registered Republican.  I don't belong to any political party, and am a registered independent.  I suspect that most members of LCMS churches will also vote for Trump, and probably have a similar assessment of him.  I'm far from slavish in my support of any politician.  Moreover, I can't find very much at all that I had to say about Trump in my blogging and writing when he was president.  I found my critic's remarks odd and baffling.

2) Christian Nationalism

My critic writes:

The key to Christian Nationalism is that you see your politics as implement [sic] a divine blueprint for society, and you identify the mission of the Church at least partially with implementing said blueprint.  Beane thinks that devoting his blog entries to attacking the progressive left on racial issues is a cause of God.  In some cases, there is a theological issue at work - like Christian anthropology.  Nevertheless, most of the time it has nothing to do with theology, and has more to do with his own personal preferences and prudential judgments, many of which are in my opinion highly flawed.

Interestingly, two weeks ago, I wrote a piece at Gottesblog entitled "On Christian Nationalism."  The main takeaway of my actual opinion of Christian Nationalism is right there for anyone who wants to read it.  Basically, my contention is:

• Christian Nationalism is not defined, but is used as a slur across the political spectrum.
• It can run from one extreme of simply believing that rights come from God instead of from the government, all the way to theocracy.
• I would love to live in a Christian country - and in fact, would like to see everyone on the planet be a Christian in a Christian nation (this is called "evangelism" and "love," for we Christians believe that means they have salvation, and we are to "make disciples of all nations"), not that it would be a Utopia, but it would be an improvement to our secular state's redefining of marriage, legal infanticide, euthanasia, sexualizing children in our public schools and libraries, and statues of Baphomet in the Iowa statehouse.  What Christian would prefer the alternative to a nation whose laws and mores reflect Christian ethics?  
• All people seek laws in accordance with their own ethical viewpoints and religious scruples, even liberals who call themselves Christians (who want a nation that reflects their own definition of Christianity).
• There have been both good and bad Christian Nationalisms in history.

Interestingly, my critic made no mention of this article.

3) Wearing Vestments at a Confederate Monument

My critic writes: 

He obviously also thinks that maintaining pro-Confederate statues as being a divine cause since he shows up to rallies wearing his vestments.  I have seen the pictures with my own eyes.  I don't mind saying that I think this is deeply inappropriate, and not in harmony with Christian values as I understand them from the NT.

Interestingly, this came up in conversation just a few days ago!  I did a house blessing for a married couple who are friends and frequent visitors to my congregation.  My wife came with me, and we had a lovely time.  Our friends treated us to dinner afterward.  In the conversation, it came out why they visited our church for the first time (they are not Lutherans).  

We had met them at a social event a few years back, and I had also seen them occasionally because of my fire service and motorcycling connections.  But they had never visited the church.  The lady had heard from a friend in Alabama who saw footage online of a Lutheran pastor from the New Orleans area who was at the Jefferson Davis monument in New Orleans in 2017, vested and praying for peace in the middle of a tense standoff.  She was moved by this.  Our friend had a hunch that it was me, and sent her friend a picture of me from Facebook.  Her friend confirmed that it was me.  I had no idea that I was being videotaped at the time.

That is when she and her husband decided to visit our parish.

But here is the backstory that my critic knows nothing about, but assumes only some kind of sinister motive on my part.  No, I did not "show up to rallies in [my] vestments."  I wore vestments one time, and one time only, because I was leading Vespers.  And there is a reason why I did that.  

I had friends and parishioners that had been gathering for peaceful vigils at the three Confederate monuments in New Orleans.  The mayor was playing politics, and told the police to stand down, even as mobs of Antifa, led by a Communist agitator, became menacing to those who had gathered at the monuments to show opposition to their removal.

This was in 2017.  These monuments in New Orleans were among the first to be removed.  Today, not only Confederate, but also Revolutionary-era monuments, and others, have been removed, and in some cases, violently toppled by mobs.  All over the country, statues of Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, Father Junipero Serra, Stephen Foster, Theodore Roosevelt, and even Abraham Lincoln have been removed.  Around the world, we have also seen similar removals of statues of Queen Victoria, Sir Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as the destruction of ancient Buddhas by the Taliban.  It is also common to see paintings in museums being defaced, and even ruined, by woke activists.  In addition to the statues of Lee, Beauregard, and Davis, thugs in New Orleans vandalized a monument to the Roman Catholic priest Father Abram Ryan with red paint and human feces - toppling it, and causing the city to remove it.  The beautiful gilded statue of St. Joan of Arc in the French Quarter, a gift from Orleans, France, was also vandalized.  The Archdiocese was strangely quiet.  

Names of streets (thirty-eight in New Orleans) have been changed.  Names of military bases have been changed.  School names have been changed (a school in New Orleans named after George Washington was changed a few years ago when this movement was in its infancy).  There was an attempt - so far unsuccessful - to remove the statue of Andrew Jackson (the hero of the battle of New Orleans and an iconic landmark in front of the city's cathedral) as well as the statue of Iberville - the city's founder.  A mob videoed itself removing the bust of a philanthropist from the courtyard in front of city hall in broad daylight, and threw it in the Mississippi River with impunity.  Only those who fished the statue out of the river and rescued it were threatened with prosecution.

Anyone who doesn't believe that there is an attempt to rewrite history isn't paying attention.  The Gemini AI debacle is the latest in the bizarre attempts to create an Orwellian alternate remembrance of our past.  A couple of quotes from 1984 come to mind:

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

One could not learn history from architecture any more than one could learn it from books.  Statues, inscriptions, memorial stones, the names of streets - anything that might throw light upon the past had been systematically altered.

 

I am hardly alone in my desire that we keep the monuments we have, and build more to honor other people whose stories should also be told.  That is exactly what I was saying in a rare response to a reporter when this picture was taken.  I don't believe my reasonable remarks made it into any article.  It didn't fit their narrative - nor does it seem to fit my present critic's biases.

The 2017 monument defenders who gathered at the three monuments being targeted by the mayor of New Orleans were a motley crew.  Yes, there were bikers and "rednecks," - and also professors, lawyers, community leaders, a mayoral candidate, military veterans and active duty soldiers, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, young, old, descendants of the men honored by the monuments, and ordinary people who love American history - who stood together at the monuments.  I was present some of the time at all three monuments.  At no point did I ever hear a single racial slur from the monument supporters.  I cannot say the same of the anti-monument crowd, which included bussed-in Antifa demonstrators, Communist agitators flying the hammer and sickle, and the usual cadre of angry woke activists from the local well-heeled universities.  They hurled profanity and racial invective at the minorities who were pro-monument.  Their main leader was a pro-Bolshevik Communist.

As crowds gathered on both sides, the situation became tense.  We heard rumors that the police were ordered by the anti-monument mayor to stand down and would not intervene in the case of violence.  People on both sides were open-carrying.  But things still remained peaceful.  Then, as busses of Antifa activists showed up, the anti-monument side suddenly surged toward the monument defenders at the Jefferson Davis monument.  A woman was slashed by a razor.  An elderly veteran had a burning US flag thrown in his face.  A woman in a wheelchair had a bottle thrown at her head.  Monument defenders scurried up the pedestal, and the police finally intervened.  They separated the sides and erected barricades.  The mood was even more tense.

When I heard what happened, that is when I put on my vestments, grabbed my hymnal and my Bible, and came to the Davis monument to pray.  When I began Vespers, I was surrounded by monument supporters who knelt.  Along with the Vespers service, I prayed an ex corde prayer for peace, and called on both sides to remain non-violent.  The anti-monument crowds cursed and mocked.  They were vile and hateful.  

I also went around and implored the pro-monument folks not to respond with violence, to show restraint, and to pray.  I ministered to the veteran who was having a bout of PTSD.  

A lot of people thanked me for being there, and said that my presence had a calming effect and helped de-escalate matters.  I am happy to say that no shots were fired by any monument supporter - not then, and at no time afterwards.  I'm not taking credit, but I do believe in the power of the Word.  I believe prayer matters.  I was the only clergyman there.  I wish there had been more.  I wish there had been a lot of us.  I wish there had been lots of clergy on the other side of the barricades as well.  But there weren't.  Would my critic have preferred that the Word of God went unspoken there, and that prayers for peace would not have been offered?  Would he have rather just let the pressure build with no mention of Christ?  

Or is he just angry that I wasn't on the Antifa side of the barrier?  

Anyone who has ever been in a mob situation with armed people knows how tense and unpredictable it is.  It was a powder-keg, and we Christians are called upon to be peacemakers (Matt 5:9), no matter which side we may take in such matters.  That is "living in harmony with Christian values... from the NT" and with our calling as pastors of Christ's church.

Another violent incident happened at the Beauregard monument that was quite scary.  A woman who was a descendant of General Beauregard brought her ten-year old daughter to see the monument before it was removed.  She was standing next to my 12-year old son.  In broad daylight, in heavy traffic, a man stopped his car right in front of us in the roundabout, pointed a gun out the window, and pulled the trigger.  He hit the little girl.  Fortunately, it was only a paint ball gun. She was hit in the chest and in the arm.  The projectiles broke her skin and caused bleeding.  It certainly could have been worse, but it was a scary moment.

At the Beauregard monument, the pro-monument folks were corralled behind a barricade as anti-monument activists pressed in on them from all sides.  I was being squished against the barricades and asked the police officer why he wasn't doing anything.  His answer confirmed our suspicions.  He replied, "Do you think I like just standing here?"

The Lee monument was also the site of surging Antifa mobs.  Although it was a tense situation, no firearms were discharged.  There were a few blasts of mace, however, in response to some pushing and shoving.  I shot video of what appeared to be a voodoo priestess contorting and twerking in the faces of the pro-monument folks.  I prayed the Psalter during that tableau.  The Lee Monument had been vandalized the year before in a riot following the 2016 presidential election.  It was spray-pained "Die, Whites, Die."

Of course, this is not to say that every person of a different race was at one another's throats.  

Regarding that one occasion where I vested and prayed at the site of the Davis monument, I am glad that I did it.  I would do it again.  I don't care who approves or disapproves.  I don't care who lies about my motivations.  My conscience is clear.  As I said, I wish we had more clergy praying - and that we had them on both sides of the barricades.  The Roman Catholic archbishop (who favored the monument removals) could have shown up.  He could have also brought calm to the situation, but was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was holed up in his cathedral - which incidentally flies a Confederate flag in the nave.  

Had my critic simply asked about my opinions and my motivations, I would have been happy to relate all of this to him. But he didn't.  He didn't care enough for the truth to even find out.  Sadly, I'm no longer surprised at such behavior.  That's how things are done now - in both the world and the church.  Sometimes all we can do is pray for our Lord's speedy return.  

We don't have to defend ourselves from every attack.  But I do think it is important to tell the truth - especially in the face of untruths - not just for our sake, but for the sake of others who are being attacked as well.  Lies are destructive, and sometimes the lie of omission is more damaging than the lie of commission.  The devil is the father of lies, and the name "Satan" means "Accuser."  

Whether we agree with others' opinions or not, I think we should consider the wise words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (whose monument was also defaced by Communists two years before the events in New Orleans): "Live not by lies."