You see them on television. They scream at the police, often provoking confrontations with the authorities or contentious onlookers. They spout revolutionary slogans, claim to represent the people, and promise to seize control of the government by any means necessary. They have grievances and want resolution (or revolution) now! These are children of the same foul spirit as other terrorist are.
I’m talking about the radical left.
They are sometimes dressed in military garb, with bullet-proof vests, and make-shift helmets, weapons often within easy reach. Many of them know what many Americans do not know–How this country was founded. How this country lost its way. How the politicians have been corrupted and have betrayed them. How to make pipe bombs and incindiary devices. Many have committed felonies and some are wanted men.
I’m talking about the extreme right.
You find them in Portland, Oregon; Lancing, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Washington, D.C.
The typical, law-abiding American with a grievance and an intent to protest in good faith wears something comfortable for the occasion. They do not order riot gear and shop around for bike helmets. They bring bottled water, not truncheons, mosquito spray, not mace. They wear N-95 masks, not ski masks (or gas masks.)
In his remarks on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, President George W. Bush eulogized the souls of those lost on 9/11, and commended the heroism of first responders and those ordinary citizens who confronted the terrorists on Flt 93 and elsewhere. At that time, we stood together as a nation. But he lamented the fractures in society that have emerged only two decades later:
“A malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment,” he said. “That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together.”
President Bush also included a warning to dangers on the horizon that was as portentous as it was sagacious.
“We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”
Note that President Bush does not say our duty is to join them, but rather our duty is to confront them. Peacefully. With the truth. At the ballot box. Before it is too late.
Read President Bush’s speech here.
This sort of violent confrontation is not what Christians have been called to do. If you dress to kill, you are certainly not a peacemaker, or representative of the Kingdom of God. A Christian does not forfeit his or her Constitutional rights when they become saved, but exercising those rights should not bring shame and discredit on our Lord.