My cousin Dave and I walked down toward the Lincoln Memorial. It was around 9:30AM, it was already getting hot and the foot traffic was becoming more dense and slow-moving. It converged on the sidewalk around the Washington Monument, which is on a hill overlooking the Reflecting Pool. At the other end of the pool Lincoln's statue gazed down on Americans assembled shoulder to shoulder with a sense of shared purpose.
We couldn't get close enough to see the stage but there was a jumbotron on the other side of the trees. We went there with thousands of others from all over the country.
The "Restoring Honor" rally was conceived by Glenn Beck, the controversial radio and TV personality who talks largely about politics. But the event avoided political topics for its 3-1/2 hour duration. Military heroes were honored for their sacrifices and Americans who exemplified the touchstones of hope, faith and charity spoke.
It was August 28, 2010 - exactly 47 years after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the same steps. Dr. King was warmly remembered for his dream that his four young children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." His niece, Alveda King, fondly spoke of "Uncle Martin" and attendees applauded when his name was invoked by speakers of various colors.
Christian preachers like Dr. King drove the civil rights movement, but since that time Christianity has been ridiculed, slandered and attacked. Secular Humanism, which denies God and believes man's reason is sufficient, has replaced faith as our philosophical paradigm.
Where has this gotten us? Out of wedlock births have exploded. Frivolous lawsuits have replaced reconciliation, forgiveness and fairness. The idea that sometimes things happen that aren't anyone's fault has fallen victim to the notion that there's always a victim. A crazy quilt of business, racial, sexual, union, environmental and other interest groups narrow-mindedly fights for government favor without regard for the greater good. Teachers fear lawsuits for either disciplining students or supportively touching them. Regulations have crippled the ability of businesses to compete and wrecked entire industries. Politicians spend billions on problems that can't be solved by money. And we've been splintered to the point where many people see ethnicity as more important than country or faith.
The result? First moral, and now fiscal, bankruptcy.
We went to Washington, DC to express our disagreement with the government's actions and were surprised the rally turned into a religious revival. But think about it: Beck is right. The result of man's ruling according to his own opinions without the guidance of a greater power is clear. It has failed.
At the end of the program hundreds of thousands of people sang Amazing Grace together. It was a moving moment that made you wonder what would happen if the rest of the country had the same mindset.
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Thanks for the thoughtful and insightful post, my friend. For those of us who couldn't attend, it was a visual into the event. Honored to stand with you in Spirit and Truth!
ReplyDeleteI do not understand how Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon and therefore a member of a cult, can gain such influence with christians who proclaim that God's Word is what they stand on. I implore you to read this article, http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6462
ReplyDeleteand consider what Beck really stands for.
I read the article and see where the writer's coming from, but I think he's over-analyzing and misconstruing the nature of the event. People attended because they're fed up with Washington's latest policies and because many have seen society's harmful drift away from Biblical principles. I don't think many- if any - of the attendees are for "social justice" or "pagan spirituality," and if these were overtly pushed the crowd would have reacted negatively. Maybe the writer's correct; I don't know. But if these were the messages Beck was sending, they weren't received by the listeners.
ReplyDeletePeople weren't there to "follow" Glenn Beck. He tapped into the country's widespread dissatisfaction and provided the only outlet for regular Americans to demonstrate it in Washington before the election. The message I took from it certainly comports with my beliefs as a Christian and I don't think the message is any less valid just because it was delivered by someone I may not agree with otherwise.