Protestors have been tearing down monuments. It began with Civil War military leaders, but has now gotten to the point where monuments are destroyed not only for Civil War leaders who fought to preserve the confederacy, but now includes Founding Fathers and even General President Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The standard for destruction is anything that violates the purist standards of today’s violent protestors. Lincoln allowed native Americans to be executed though he released hundreds for whom there was not sufficient evidence of a capital crime. Roosevelt said bad things about not trusting native Americans. Historical figures are not judged on the basis of the great gains they produced for the United States and the world, but on the basis of anything that can be discovered that is a negative to them. The arrogance is amazing! And of course, no historical figure can escape. This shows an underlying anti-Americanism in some of the anti-monument protests. The problem is mob influence and politicians giving into the mob. A discussion on monuments is in order. There can be referendums on the monuments on government and public property. People can be elected in part on their position on monuments. However, those few who decided to illegally act to destroy monuments and historical figures appoint themselves to decide for the rest of the people. This is wrong.
The talking points on both sides of the debate are shallow. One side says no one should be honored who supported slavery. Washington and Jefferson had slaves so their monuments have to go. The other side, even supporting the Confederate Generals, says that the anti-monument people want to destroy our history, and we need to learn from history. Really? We cannot learn history from a book but need a statue? I did not travel to the South until I was in my 30s and did not take note of Confederate statues until I traveled to Richmond, Va. In my 40s. I knew some of the Generals displayed showed great courage in battle. I cannot see how such statues in a museum with plaques telling their stories, both the good and the bad would not be better. On the other hand, we are inspired by the monuments of people who made great gains for us in history by seeing their memorials and perhaps reading more about them. This was my experience after seeing the monuments to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln in Washington, D. C. I read large biographies of all of them. The authors pointed out their errors. Jefferson wrote the great words on liberty but was really an end justifies the means politician. Lincoln ended up being magnificent but was not always such. His monument is truly inspiring and justified. As a Jew, I have been moved by the courage of Martin Luther and the great gain that came to the world by the Reformation, and also am pained by his later in life Anti-Semitism. I don’t seek to destroy statues and pictures of Luther. My standard for public monuments would be that the sum of their lives produced great gains for humanity, for the Gospel first of all, in human rights, religious progress, the betterment of human beings in humanitarian ways, progress in medicine, then invention, and art. There are many that should have monuments that don’t. Some of the great anti-slave abolitionists are a case in point and also some of the great black leaders in the fight who maintained dignity and did not give in to hatred. On this basis, though I am sad about him holding slaves, Washington’s biographer Flexner argues that he was conflicted and hence freed his slaved at his death. However, the gain from Washington is incalculable. He would not seek or accept royal power though it was offered to him. He stepped down after two terms and set a trajectory of limited executive power. King George III said he was the greatest man of his age. His humility in exercising power and his integrity is beyond any political leader I know of in history. John Adams (see the great McCullagh biography) was right up there with him. He was anti-slavery! Theodore Roosevelt would rate high in integrity and concern for the ordinary people and his anti-monopoly policies. He was a man of extraordinary courage.
Today’s anti-American historical revisionists are the thinkers behind much of the unrest. They pick and choose the information available to paint a bad picture only. As I noted in one post, the ability of the Bible to really be submitted to has been an amazing historical struggle. This is the reason why we find some who defended slavery or anti-Semitism or prejudice. The idea that all are equally created in the image of God and deserving of love, respect, and justice has been hard to attain but it has been more attained in the West due to Biblical influences than anywhere else.
Let us use some historical imagination and note this analogy. By the second century, the Church Fathers had become anti-Jewish and supported replacement theology whereby the Jews were no longer elect. I will not seek to tear down their statues though they were so wrong. They came to this view so early because the destruction of Israel and Jerusalem by the Romans was so devasting, maybe even the slaughter of 1.5 million people, that to them this proved the final rejection of the Jewish people. The teaching of the Bible just did not get through. So also, when explorers discovered primitive societies, in most cases, they did not discover peaceful advanced societies. Sometimes they discovered societies where tribes were slaughtering each other and enslaving those they conquered. There was cannibalism and child sacrifice. Just look up the level of child sacrifice in the Americas. Where these people created in the image of God? Yes, but unless one had a mind renewed by the Word as some missionaries, it was all too easy to see a subhuman race. Any human being and any human ethic group can be transformed by the Gospel, and this has been proven. I note this to say that Columbus did wrong and was not sufficiently submitted to God’s word, but he also discovered child sacrifice in the Caribbean. Let’s not glorify the native peoples!
When we deal with the issue of monuments, let’s return to rational more holistic evaluations. Let the monuments be of those who produced great gains for the United States and humanity. Then let’s note that the only hope for humanity is the Gospel and submission to his Word. I dare say that the violent protestors and monument destroyers are not being led by the Spirit of God.