Most of us saw the tragic events in Charlottesville that sparked a continuing national awareness and debate over a number of social issues centering in racism, ethnic supremacy, monuments, and the like.  Like many, I have spent respectable time pondering these issues and now want to add my reflection to this discussion in the hopes that it will bring some clarity and focus to the confusion that has arisen.  In many ways, understanding what happened in Charlottesville (and other places for that matter) is a portal in seeing how post-Christian our culture really is.

Several observations that frame my reflection:

Racism, ethnic supremacy, slavery, bigotry, and all of their “cousins” have existed practically since the beginning of time after the Fall of Adam and Eve.  At its deepest level, these things go beyond sin to the very “pit of hell” evil.  History records for us too well the plights of these evils and all the leaders and nations that have done them.  Only the redemption in Christ offered in the gospel can save our culture and world from these destructive horrors.  The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is called upon to speak and to act against these evils in gospel-informed ways, as the truths of the Bible have “no expiration date.”

This debate has progressed to the point of discussing the place of monuments, remembering historical events, people and the decisive moments of history that surrounded them.  What I find so disturbing at this moment is not the discussion over their place in the public landscape, but the RAGE that exists in certain groups to use violence and destruction as their modus operandi to resolve them.  I ask myself: Why is this RAGE so intense and prevalent?

We see from the Charlottesville rage and other events (far too many at this point to recount) the display of actions and attitudes that are distinctively post-Christian in nature.  In the previous decades before this one, western culture as a general-rule-of-thumb possessed more Judeo-Christian moral tenets within society’s decision-making matrix than they do today.  In times past, when times of crisis or points of difference emerged in the public debate over an issue, many of those Judeo-Christian moral tenets structured the public debate for resolution.  Even many of those who were held in bondage to slavery or oppression of some kind often relied upon the truths of these Judeo-Christian principles to give them hope for a better tomorrow.  Today, there is a VOID of these JC moral tenets.  In this void there is often the presence of a narcissistic, existential, and deconstructive paradigm that seeks to re-interpret, to cleanse, to re-write, and to present a new kind of meaning that is often drastically different than the day in which those monuments were erected and when the “history happened.”  This “reinterpretation” represents the post-structural philosophy known as “deconstruction.”  We have Jacques Derrida and his followers to thank for this movement and turn in interpretation.

With this deconstructive agenda, points of reference from the past (i.e., statues, monuments, etc.) which once had fixed spheres of meaning (especially from the people of the day that established them) are now reinterpreted to mean something different.  Often people today who argue for or against a monument or statue HAVE LITTLE CLUE what that monument stood for in the day it was originally constructed and unveiled.  In too many instances, they have not looked at the pages of history, both its good and bad record.

History is an instrument that points us both to the good and evil of life.  It is much like the dollar bill in your pocket.  That dollar bill is neutral in its own composition: it can either bless/help someone in need, or it can cause detriment when its holder chooses selfishness over philanthropy.  WE NEED HISTORY–interpreted correctly from the day the events occurred–to render perspectives and viewpoints that are TRUTHFUL, not made-up machinations and false narratives that do not align with the actual record.

Because I have friends on both sides of this “monument discussion,” as well as on other social issues, I say to you: we need this debate, done with civility and respect.  But unless the tenets of Judeo-Christian morality that formed this nation become more apparent in the discussion, it will be a fruitless attempt to resolve them, for we will continue to see violence, rage and their cousins mark the platform for engagement.

The Charlottesville event (not many of its residents) is a vivid reminder that our times are distinctively post-Christian, and until the church penetrates and influences society more with the gospel and its moral tenets, we will continue to see our culture spiral downward.  Without the implementation of the Judeo-Christian framework that structured our nation, we are doomed–like Rome of old–to fall into an abyss of defeat and cultural annihilation.