By Vince Coakley with Dr. Steve Crosby
It is intriguing that as
our esteemed Mayor prepares to leave our city to fill a Cabinet position in
Washington, we learn about the true spiritual convictions that apparently
undergird his beliefs and policies.
In case you didn’t know,
Mayor Anthony Foxx, going against the grain of others who will “turn to God in
a day of prayer and meditation,” argued in
his proclamation May 2 was better served as A Day of Reason because "the
application of reason, more than any other means, has proven to offer hope for
human survival on Earth."
Mayor Foxx
is also mistaken in his history in implying that our forefathers based our
republic on the thoughts of the Age of Enlightenment and reason. No, Mr. Foxx,
that is what the French revolution was based on, and the result was beheadings,
secret police inquisitions, and imprisonments. The American experience was not
a theocracy of state religion as in the blood-soaked soil of Europe, but
neither was it the perfection of secularism that Mr. Foxx would have the naïve
believe. It was a hybrid of the Age of Reason infused with a Biblical
worldview. Our forefathers were a
mix of theists, deists, and atheists and even the atheists were positively
disposed to the teachings of Christ, though they despised organized Christian
religion (with good cause, I might add!)
Mr. Foxx
wants to excise the portions of history that don’t suit his progessivist
agenda. The battle cry of the revolution, “No King but King Jesus,” doesn't fit
Mr. Foxx’s very prejudiced progressive spin of the history.
Let me
help Mr. Foxx with some history that he probably didn’t get at New York
University:
· The first and almost only Book
deserving of universal attention, is the Bible. – John Quincy Adams
· It is impossible to rightly govern the world
without God and Bible. - George Washington
· What students would learn in American schools
above all is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is the duty of all Nations to
acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful
for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors. - George
Washington
· . . . God who gave us life gave us liberty. And
can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only
firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of
the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot
sleep forever. – Thomas Jefferson
· I am a real Christian – that is to say, a
disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ. – Thomas Jefferson
· Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and
social duty of each individual. Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of
your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man
ought to take from us. - John Hancock
Well, enough. I could go
on.
The facts are such an
impediment to a progressivist agenda. It ruins their mythology.As Karl Marx taught, any lie is all right if it
accomplishes the dream. Truth be damned--it’s so “inconvenient,” as Mr. Gore
might say.
I also want to say that
I have no problem with people who have views that differ from mine. We
do live in a pluralistic society and I respect that. But I do
believe the convictions of some “leaders” reveal a type of intellectual
arrogance that has proven to be illogical and unreasonable…and in some cases,
deadly.
I am a man who believes
in the ultimate authority of God and his sovereignty over the earth. I
also believe that through revelation we learn some foundational truths and
values that are not negotiable. Man does not reason his way to
understanding them. If he is wise, he simply bows before his Creator
and accepts them.
And yet in this God does
not relegate us to a position of being mindless robots. He appeals to us, “come
let us reason together.” The key though is to understand that we are
not equals. Because He transcends us, it is logical and reasonable that we
would recognize He knows better and His knowledge, reasoning, and wisdom should
prevail.
With this in mind, I am
suspicious of people who don’t recognize these realities. What it
usually means for those in political office (or aspiring to be) is that they
believe themselves to be THE authority, and that the power of their reasoning
is what we should bow to. This is the ultimate definition of Statism: the State
replaces God. Need an example? How about this? One name
of God revealed in the Old Testament: Jehovah-Jireh, or Yahweh-Jireh. It means
“Yahweh will provide.” So what does it mean when the government insists on
taking on this role? Very simple: those who promote dependence on government
programs are really promoting a rival god… and too often those gods prove to be
themselves.
We all know that the
reasoning of most politicians has not been serving us well.
On the local level, what
kind of reason compels us to bleed hard working citizens with onerous taxes to
pay for sports complexes for millionaires and billionaires?
What kind of reason
promotes wasteful transportation projects like Light Rail and Street Cars?
What kind of reason
compels a Mayor to disrespect the hard work of a man who spend decades building
one of the biggest engines of economic growth in the city? (Charlotte Douglas
Airport) …and for that matter, insult leaders of one of Charlotte’s biggest employers?
And we should ask a few
questions about the man Mr. Foxx may soon be working for, President Barack
Obama:
What kind of reason
causes us to run up a debt topping 16 trillion dollars? Worse,
yet, what kind of reason compels a President to proclaim that there’s no real
need to balance the national budget, let alone start paying off the debt?
What kind of reason
motivates the man who will be his boss to chase terrorists around the world
with drones, and yet send military supplies and $250 million dollars to the
Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt?
What kind of reason
would motivate so called leaders to promote lax border and visa policies,
leaving our homeland vulnerable to terrorism?
What kind of reason
would motivate Mr. Foxx’s future boss to leave our homeland and even overseas
employees unprotected through incompetent and senseless policies, and then
attempt to deceive us about what really happened?
What kind of reason
fails to recognize that setting records for food stamp dependency is nothing
less than a crisis that requires immediate attention?
What kind of reason
leads to policies that cause Blacks and Hispanics to lose even more of their
wealth?
Mr. Foxx, if this is the
kind of reason you call for, let me just say: no thanks. We’ve had more than
enough. As you do more of your “reasoning” I, and others, will pray that God will open the eyes of millions of
Americans to see the bankruptcy of mere human reason. And one more thing: I
pray God will have mercy on us, and spare us from the reason of politicians
like Mr. Foxx and President Obama.
Vince Coakley is host of The Vince Coakley Radio Program.
Dr. Steve Crosby is a Christian author and lecturer based in the Charlotte area.
