Memorial Day with a Twist

Twice in the same week I was looking in the Book of Mormon and came upon the same scripture.  Thursday evening while I had a few moments I randomly opened to the Book of Alma, chapter 46 and began reading in verse 9 about a conflict which had divided the people of the land. 

“Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.

 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.” 

An interesting and troubling comparison came to mind; that I could substitute Obama’s name for Amalickiah’s in the verse as if they were the same.  I tried to dismiss the thought; the idea that we had someone who intentionally would attack the predominant religion of the people while at the same time doing his best to undermine individual liberties would make such a person treasonous and worthy of our deepest scorn. 

And yet…isn’t Christianity under attack by the Obama administration at this very moment; specifically the Catholic Church and freedom of religion as it applies to each of us individually?   An article by Jack Cafferty on CNN’s website brought up the issue of Obamacare and the Catholic Church.

“The Catholic Church is suing President Obama for violating the freedom of religion that is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

In what’s being called the largest legal action of its kind, 43 separate Catholic institutions filed lawsuits in a dozen different federal courts this week.” 

Then I thought about the racial tensions that have exploded in the past couple of years, racial tensions which were healing in large part to our nation working to make Martin Luther King’s “Dream Speech” come to fruition.  Isn’t it amazing “the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men”; a reference to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the influence he had on Barrack Obama over 20 years teaching Black Theology under the guise of preaching Christianity.

“Around mid-March in 2008, some of Wright’s more extreme statements began circulating in the news, including him referring to the United States as the “U.S. of K.K.K. A.” and arguing that the September 11 terrorist attacks stemmed from America’s corrupted foreign policy, the New York Times reported.” 

Then there was Obama’s Harvard Law school mentor, Professor Derrick Bell to consider.  Bell was praised for, “…pursuit of racial and social justice and his dogged critique of liberal incrementalism in universities and elsewhere was like a persistent wind that changed the landscape of law schools and influenced the larger academic world as well,” wrote Harvard law professor Lani Guinier.

“Bell was a founder of critical race theory, which examined the intersection of race, power and law in a harsh portrayal of American society as one dominated by class and racial conflict.” 

Critical race theory isn’t any different then Black theology; it segregates rather than integrates, divides and blames rather than heals our nation.  Martin Luther King is rolling over in his grave at the so called advances in race relations under the Obama administration; but I’m getting off target a bit.

This morning I was thinking about Memorial Day and our reverence for those who died in battle defending our liberties.  I had recently read a reference to the “Banner of Liberty” which Captain Moroni made from a piece of clothing, a flag hoisted up for all to see as they battled against evil as related in Alma 46, starting in verse 12:

“And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land --” 

Oh to have a righteous leader in troubled times; hopefully, a prayer that resides in our hearts.  Memorial Day is upon us; our honored dead have flowers placed at their grave markers across the country and scattered cemeteries in distant lands.  It is a sacred day intended to rekindle our foundational priorities.

“Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.”  Alma 46:20 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.