Preamble To R.I.S.E. | Freedom's Journal Institute for the Study of Faith and Public Policy
By: Dr. Eric Wallace (Freedoms Journal Institute for the Study of Faith and Public Policy)
The founders of the United States were not conservatives. The principles enumerated by Dr. Wallace are part of the bedrock of American liberal/progressive values. Upon that bedrock we have built a sovereign nation dedicated to liberty and the pursuit of human potential endowed by God.
In today's world, these American liberal/progressive values are considered conservative. But that is a false etymology. These aren't conservative principles and values; these are the real American liberal/progressive values at the heart of what makes the United States exceptional.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Introduction To R.I.S.E.
I'm Dr. Eric Wallace, President, and co-founder of Freedom's Journal Institute for the Study of Faith and Public Policy. It is my privilege to share with you the R.I.S.E. principles, an acronym and guiding philosophy, developed by Freedom's Journal Institute to rally our communities together to collectively rise and build.
These principles: Responsible government, Individual liberty and fidelity, Strong Family values and Economic Empowerment) represent our unique articulation of conservative ideas and values meant to both vigorously challenge "liberal" ideology; as well as, to create a paradigm shift in how people view matters of faith, race, and public policy.
The purpose of this video series is to clear up misinformation about what it means to be a conservative.
In recent years, conservatism has been maligned as, racist, out of touch, or just for rich people.
This characterization could not be further from the truth.
Our hope is that as a result of this series, the R.I.S.E. principles will begin to help to dispel these false narratives, as well as inspire a whole new generation of people who are willing to stand for what they say they believe, and to actively engage in the political process that represents us.
This is the first of five videos, which we hope you will watch in their entirety.
The Preamble
Human history is replete with men and women who willingly stood against the tyranny and opposition of those individuals and governments that refused to recognize the Sovereignty of God.
They fought to preserve their liberties, and the freedoms of those dearest to them, against all odds. These early Freedom Fighters fought—and even gave their lives—as they clung to a set of principles, convictions, and values written upon their hearts, and ingrained in their minds. These principles gave rise to a vision for freedom, which has been passed down from generation to generation.
As conservatives, we too pledge to hold to a set of core values and principles that are foundational to our political philosophy. These have been dubbed the R•I•S•E principles, Responsible government, Individual liberty and fidelity, Strong Family values, and Economic Empowerment.
At the core of the R.I.S.E. principles are those biblical doctrines, which duly recognize a Sovereign God as the Creator and Sustainer of all life. They acknowledge that, out of chaos, God brought forth order; and that He declared the work of His creation "good." They recognize that man was created in the image of God, and given authority to "rule and subdue" the earth, which is what gives mankind purpose. It is also what makes each human being a "unique" creation with God-given potential.
The R.I.S.E. principles acknowledge that God is the originator of government or "the law" from the prohibition in the Garden of Eden, to the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai; to Jesus' proclamation of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. These principles recognize that since the Fall of man, mankind has been in rebellion against God; and that humanity in its fallen state needs God's redemption.
Additionally, the R.I.S.E. principles acknowledge that God has provided redemption for all mankind through the advent, death, and resurrection of His son Christ Jesus. And, a promise that to everyone "who believes" in the Son of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who writes upon the heart a moral law, which is testified to in Scripture. This "new" law allows people to govern themselves, and to live in peace with God and one another as members of a new political reality known as "the Kingdom of God."
It is from this foundation that our Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and established the Constitution of the United States of America. In it, they wrote of "unalienable rights," which come from our Creator (and not from men); along with the conviction of equality of all mankind before God, as they battled to overthrow the tyranny of foreign rule. Furthermore, it is this same worldview with which many of the heroes of our past, such as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, fervently fought to maintain the principles and values of freedom and economic empowerment—principles we, today, continue to fight for in our modern society.
And lastly, to this, the R.I.S.E. principles acknowledge America's African American history, which includes a storied history and legacy of struggle against social injustices— one, which is deeply rooted in the conservative principles upon which this nation was founded. We also acknowledge that distinctive to this heritage is the presence of the Black Church, which has served as the core of the Black community; as well as the center for social, political, cultural, and economic activity.
As a political philosophy, Black conservatism is based on those African-American traditions, values, and experiences (both political and cultural), which place God at the center of our existence; and, which securely root the tenets of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Holiness into the political fabric of American society.
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Dr. Wallace isn't appealing to anarchists, anti-establishment activists, or revolutionaries who call themselves liberals. These posers and impostors of the political left have corrupted the meaning of liberal in today's America.
These principals and values are not conservative; these are the real American liberal/progressive values upon which the United States was founded.
America is NOT a theocracy. This is nothing but subversive theocratic ideology hidden behind a veil of goodwill.
You have churches on nearly every corner in some cities, religions get tax exempt status, religion is injected in virtually every aspect of American life, many national holidays are directly linked to Christianity, they have an Easter Egg hunt on the white house lawn every year. No one is being prevented from worshiping whatever God they want, there is no attack on religion, there is no need for some religious movement to make America more religious or to favor one religion over another. Those who believe their faith is under attack are delusional, they're simply angered with the temerity of those who refuse to validate their fantasy beliefs.
Yes, our founders were liberals and the liberals and progressives of today continue their great tradition. The ones who were trying to force their religion on others who were trying to "conserve" the status quo of slavery, of bans on blacks and women voting, bans on interracial marriage, bans on gay marriage, they were conservatives and still are, that hasn't changed.
Here we have an ordained minister pushing religion as an answer to government and claiming that religious conservatives of today are somehow the liberals of yesterday. It's laughable on its face. Religious conservatives are still trying to force their faith on others, they're still trying to ban gay marriage, still trying to ban abortion, still trying to establish their religion and their God as the one true religion and true God in America to the exclusion of all others.
America is NOT a theocracy and never will be and that's a very good thing.
That is correct. The United States is not and never will be a theocracy. The protestant Christian beliefs that influenced the founding of the United States were (and are) that issues of theocracy are a matter of choice. God endowed people with liberty to make their own choices concerning religion; a government of men cannot improve upon the will of God.
Then the religious should stop trying to inject their faith into the government of men. The religious should stop trying to legislate morality and simply live their own faith and set a good example. If you hate homosexuality because your religion told you to, then don't be gay, that's your choice. If you hate abortion because your religion told you to, then don't have an abortion, that's your choice. If you hate adulterers because the bible told you to, then don't cheat on your wife or husband, and perhaps you should think about not voting for known serial adulterers on their third wife. Live how you want to live, you have the freedom to do that in America, you can live as religious as you want or worship Satan for all I care, just stop trying to make some "new political reality known as "the Kingdom of God." Religion and politics don't mix, keep religion out of government and then we won't have to worry about the religious zealots trying to turn us into a theocracy.
Then do not allow science to become a surrogate for God. Science can only study God's creation, after all.
The will of God cannot be overcome by men.
That's some pretty whacky nonsense there Nerm.
No one is. Anyone who wants to believe in God is welcome to do so.
The difference between science and God is that scientific understanding is developed by formulating hypotheses from observing the real world and based on such observations; experimental and measurement-based testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses; and then refinement of the hypotheses based on the repeated experimental findings. Belief in God (or Gods), however, is based on a hypothesis written down centuries ago by nomadic herdsmen who heard voices and rely on zero evidence, zero proof, zero testing and can never be refined or corrected since it claims to be the perfect word of God.
Science and politics mix just fine, we need science to inform our politicians so they can make educated decisions on when to issue hurricane warnings or how to address the very real effects of global climate change. Science has saved millions of lives and is integral to making good sound decisions.
Religion and politics don't mix. Prayer didn't create penicillin, science did. Alexander Fleming may have been a Christian but as he said, he was not particularly religious, so his religion had nothing to do with his discovery.
Science is also open to critique and revision when better or more thorough science experimentation can be performed, religion is not.
Why would something we know is based in fact be a surrogate for some fantasy belief no one has ever been able to prove?
I'm not saying people can't believe in the fantasy, that's their right, it just shouldn't be used as the basis for living considering those Gods and faith change depending on where you're born. Science, however, is the same no matter where you live on this planet. Gravity works whether you live in America, India or Iran.
An understanding of science may allow politicians to make educated decisions but an understanding of God allows politicians to make moral decisions.
An understanding of science does not provide moral guidance for the application of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge has allowed mankind to understand and utilize the power of God's creation. But using the power of God without following the guidance of God has proven to be unwise.
Sometimes seeking God's guidance, through prayer, is necessary to use scientific knowledge wisely. Without moral guidance, scientific knowledge can allow mankind to unleash evil onto the world.
You can't legislate morality
You can't legislate the sun to shine, either. Physics does not alter how the universe functions; God's creation has authority over physics. God has authority over morality in the same way.
Morality cannot be legislated any more than physics can be legislated. God has authority over both.
Again, what whacky nonsense.
god has no authority over anything.
Which God?
It's pretty easy to win this argument if you want to, just prove your God exists to the exclusion of all others and then empirically show that you represent or know what that God wants from mankind and know how that God wants humans to behave and I've no doubt most people will fall into line. If not then you may want to refrain from proclaiming things you have absolutely zero evidence of. You might as well claim it rains because God is crying since science and reality seem to matter so little to you.
Yes, that is the great difficulty, isn't it?
There have been thousands of gods across thousands of cultures throughout human history. We can accept that as an overly redundant flaw in humanity and ignore the evidence of history. Or we can accept that history as evidence that a deity is a rational conclusion that has been arrived at independently across separate cultures and across time.
Disparate peoples have been asking the same moral questions throughout human history. And those disparate people throughout history have arrived a a rational conclusion: God.
God is the word, the universal moral code, that provides moral guidance for a society. When God is overthrown society falls apart. When men become the source of the universal moral code then evil is unleashed upon the world. History provides the evidence.
I accept that two things about humans are somewhat universal, the need to have explanations for the unexplainable and the desire to be right. This has created the thousands of different versions of some higher power which is the only commonality between them, the claim that there is a higher power. The rest of the descriptions of Gods vary as much as people do, both how they are described, physically, their emotions, their supposed desires for humans, the way they want to be worshiped, all vary greatly with no real constant.
The one constant of it being a higher power, which is derived from the need for explanations, in Gods case specifically our origins, need not be true in any way. We accept that we exist, and therefore must have an origin, therefore until we are able to completely decode our DNA or complete the fossil record and have definitive proof of every step along the way in our evolution, man can only fantasize about our origins. Those with the best imaginations that usually put the people they are preaching to at the center of the story, get liked by those being preached to, remembered and passed on to future generations, sometimes to be refined by future theologians into new religions. There are over 2500 different versions of Christianity, so even one religion can't contain all the specific desires of its adherents and so there are many schisms and splits over doctrine.
Billions of humans throughout human history, have been sacrificed on the alter of religion because of those two human truths, the desire to explain our origins and the desire to be right. One belief will dominate a region and then another region with its own version come into conflict and each ones desire to be right sparks wars and death. Now, to be fair, those religious conflicts almost always mask the fight over resources, land and power, religion is just the most powerful tool in a regional rulers quiver to employ against their own populace to get them riled up in righteous rage against their heretical opponents.
We know that many laws and rules were created by rulers long before the bible was written or the ten commandments were supposedly carved into stone by the God of the Hebrews. The Code of Hammurabi contains virtually every one of the rational moral codes from the ten commandments, the only ones it doesn't include are all the jealous worship only me laws.
This can really only be said of those cultures which have attempted to root out religion and God altogether. Those that simply refuse to run their nations as theocracies but give people the right to worship how they want do quite well.
Total nonsense. Our moral code is based on a definable constitution, not some ephemeral Gods wishes. Every law we have is based on how we as humans are effected either positively or negatively. That's why our constitution does not include the first five commandments, "I am the Lord your God", "Thou shalt have no other gods before me ", "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ", "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" and "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy". In fact, the constitution bans any attempt to force the citizens to worship any specific God and bans the government from establishing any brand of religion whatsoever.
The rest of the laws in the ten commandments are about the effect on other humans, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, all were crafted by man long before the commandments were.
Yes, it does, which is why your fanciful opinions about the divinity of moral laws is proven false its face.
Human beings will never have evidence that God exists, nor will we ever have evidence that it doesnt.
God is by definition a supernatural entity and human beings cannot explore the existence of possible entities that originate outside of the existence (nature) we know.
We can speculate about it and of course debate about it, but we can and will never "know" .
Which is why the default position on God's existence cannot be fairly claimed by either side, although atheists try to claim it all the time.
That's a fine explanation if one completely ignores the practices of prayer, devotion, and worship. People have been speaking to God and seeking guidance from God throughout human history. God has served a greater need than some sort of pseudo-scientific explanation for material reality.
History really does show that when humans become the source of morality, evil is unleashed upon the world. And that history does suggest that theocracies allow humans to impose their own morality upon society. The United States got it right by protecting civil liberties that allow God a place in society that is separate from strictly human morality. God can provide moral guidance for government but government cannot overthrow God.
God has a place in government because that government is subservient to the moral guidance of God. When that government replaces God with human morality then evil will be unleashed upon the world.
What history shows is that societies who ignore the moral guidance of God do not endure.
So I take it you have no response to my claim since your response contains zero evidence that anyone has ever spoken to "God" at any time, ever.
Again, more empty rhetoric without evidence.
Without evidence or even examples your words are hollow nonsense.
Are you buying your replies from the "Rhetorical Nonsense Emporium!"? Nothing you claim is backed up by even a single fact.
just more bullshit. The vast majority of societies that have come and gone had some form of religion governing their laws. It's been tried over and over and over for thousands of years. Not a single religious society has been able to actually solve mankind's problems. No moral law or moral codes have even been proven to have been derived from actual Gods or any supposed "superior beings". I get it, some sniveling piece of shit white Christian patriarchs want to claim they have all the answers, but they can go fuck themselves because they are nothing but little twisted dingle berries on the ass of nature who don't know shit and simply desire power which they believe they can gain through controlling religious belief and the millions of gullible dumb shits who ascribe to it.
Exactly!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ETuytz7tJ98
So another article from the ultra religious, conservative organization, that every 'article' they publish is about how evil Liberals are....
Not exactly an objective source....
History cannot be influenced by personal desires. The facts of the past cannot be altered. History is objective.
Rejecting the history of protestant Christian belief influencing the founding of the United States merely to suit a personal bias certainly cannot be considered an objective critique of that history.
I don't understand what point you are trying to make.
No religious institution should be deciding any public policy.