Yesterday, the Supreme Court in a 7 to 2 decision came down on the side of decency, America, Mom and Apple Pie.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority (actually three concurrent majorities) told a humanist (read: atheist) organization to take a hike.
The problem in their eyes was a giant “Peace Cross” erected in 1926 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to commemorate the dozens of soldiers from their town which died during the Great War. That this had to be fought in the first place shows how much we have already lost as a culture, of this, there can be no doubt. But like Don Quixote, we sometimes have to fight just for the sake of it. Tolkien himself said much the same thing when he wrote about the “Northern theory of courage”, how it is right to fight even if you know that you’re going to lose.
Let me expand a little further here: the Aesir (the gods of the Northmen) knew that during the final battle of Ragnarok that the Frost Giants, Hel, the Midgard Serpent and Fenrir the Wolf would ultimately prevail against them but they didn’t care. They fought –regardless. This mythic understanding of eternal battle permeated Norse culture and infused it with the courage to go about and fight and not care about winning or losing. Tolkien for his part injected this bravado into his own legendarium and it no doubt accounts for enduring popularity of his literary corpus. St Paul called this “fighting the good fight” and he never stopped even though he was met with failure after failure, eventually losing his own life.
Unlike the Norsemen, we, however, know how this war will end. Our side will prevail in due time when the Lord says it is time. As such, we should not despair but go on fighting, even if we lose a battle or two (and we have lost many). Nevertheless, the Good Lord, knowing our weakness, allows us a palpable victory every now and then to keep our morale up.
Yesterday, we won one such battle. And it was huge. Let us revel and feast and then rest so that we can fight another day.
For a more complete analysis, please take the time to watch the following video by Dr. Steve Turley (an Orthodox blogger whom I have highlighted previously).
Thank you God and Amen!
Indeed!
A lot of credit for this win belongs to Rich Douglas of Maryland, a lawyer , a Navy Reserve officer, George W Bush presidential appointee to the Pentagon in the 2004-08 perioid, and a patriot.
Rich’s relative is on the memorial and he bit into this issue like a junk-yard dog and wouldn’t let go. Brandenburg, MD (where the memorial is) is an Eastern suburb of Washington DC.
What’s instructive is that all the great “Greek Orthodox” in Maryland like Paul and John Sarbanes and all the powerful “Greek lobby” were absent from any opinion about this or even help.
Silly me! It didn’t involve Greece or Cyprus or Constantinothing.
The few, the brave, stood up.
HOOAH !
Sad, isn’t it? I think the last time Orthodox bishops in America did anything resolute and courageous was back in 2003 when they issued their declaration against gay “marriage”. There’s no way that the GOA contingent is going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole today.
Unless of course it can be shoehorned into a resolution about reopening Halki or something like that?
RE: “Constantinothing”
Good one, “ArmyGuy”!
If you send me an email at chaplain.webster@gmail.com and disclose your name, I shall, God willing, give you full credit for that phrase, if and when I use it in print.
In addition, I intend to make a “pilgrimage” to that Peace Cross in nearby Bladensburg, Maryland, at the earliest opportunity after I return, again God-willing, to my beloved Virginia home following my retirement as Dean of Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY, at the end of August.
Simply amazing isn’t it? How sad to say the least. Shame on them. But then again, they probably have no shame.
And thank God to the few and brave for standing up. God bless them!
It’s sad they had to justify it partly on the grounds that it is a historic monument. But I suppose that’s for the best, because the edgelords will want to put up a Baphomet statue next.