Friday, June 5, 2015

Oh No! White Christians Are Being ‘Erased’

I have to laugh when conservatives talk about the “grievance culture” on the left. Some grievances, of course, are entirely justified and legitimate. And then there’s the grievances of Pat Buchanan and the rest of the xenophobic right. He actually thinks white Christian men are being “erased” from American culture.

The culture war against Christianity is picking up speed.

Last week came word Saint Louis University will remove a heroic-sized statue of Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet S.J. from the front of Fusz Hall, where it has stood for 60 years.

The statue depicts Fr. De Smet holding aloft a crucifix as he ministers to two American Indians, one of whom is kneeling.

Why that’s just horrible. However shall you survive a statue you’ve probably never even seen being moved? And I like that term “ministers” to American Indians. That “ministry” was usually accompanied by a great deal of bloodshed as an incentive to convert.

According to SLU Assistant Vice President for Communications Clayton Berry, “some faculty and staff … raised questions about whether the sculpture is culturally sensitive.” Senior Ryan McKinley is more specific: “The statue of De Smet depicts a history of colonialism, imperialism, racism and of Christian and white supremacy.”

But if the founder of Christianity is the Son of God, then Christianity is a superior religion. What Ryan and those faculty and staff seem to be ashamed of, uncomfortable with, or unable to defend, is the truth for which Saint Louis University was supposed to stand.

Notice that he does not deny the argument that the Catholic conversion of Native Americans was, in fact, colonialist, imperialist, racist and white supremacist. He doesn’t even engage that fact at all. He just thinks that if Christianity is true, that’s all okay. And I have to admit, his position fits very well with the Bible, which contains repeated commands to slaughter people and force them to convert. But whether Christianity is true or not, such actions are barbaric and vile.

Another drive is underway by feminists to remove the visage of Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill and replace it with that of a woman, preferably a minority woman. Jackson, it is said, was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the Cherokees in the Trail of Tears.

Yet, Jackson, slashed across the head by a British soldier in the last days of the Revolution for refusing to polish his boots, was also arguably the greatest soldier-statesman in American history.

Gen. Jackson led the 1815 defense of New Orleans against the British invasion force, and crushed the Indian marauders in Florida, drove out the Spanish governor, and cleared the path for annexation.

In other words, he engaged in colonialist genocide. Again, note that Buchanan does not even attempt to engage the undeniable fact that Jackson was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the Trail of Tears. He just doesn’t think it matters. Poor Pat. It’s just so hard to be a white Christian man in America.

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