A football team by any other name, would smell as sweet?

Names that stink and why to change them!

You can tell by my profile, and other references on my blog, that I am passionate about working with Indigenous communities across the U.S. and around the world. The story of how I got involved in work with Aboriginal people in Australia and Native people here in the U.S. is a long one that I'd be happy to tell you about sometime...but that's not what this post is about.

In fact, I am passionate about racial diversity more broadly and am thankful to serve a God who pursued racial diversity at "infinite cost" (if you haven't heard or read John Piper's sermon on that issue, you should! Even if you’ve heard his regular sermons, he’s particularly ‘loose’ and funny, as well as his usual incisive exposition and application of Scriptures)

You may not like it…

To lay my cards on the table: I think all thinking people (particularly believers) should not call the Washington football team anything but that. I don’t think we should buy their merchandise, I don’t think we should wear their clothing, I don’t think we should attend their games…until they change the name.

What’s the problem?

At the beginning of a woeful season for the Washington team (from here on, I’ll just refer to them as WT), the Washington Post published an editorial that expressed support for the team but embarrassment (that I share) “to embrace a team that is so terribly named.” Other news outlets have called the team “historically the most racist franchise in professional football"

Native advocates claim that the nickname is clearly a racial slur that attaches a negative stereotype to Native people. One Native attendee at a WT game described their experience as follows:
Any doubt that I was standing at ground zero of Native American Hell was dispelled when I saw what must be the largest and most blatant public display of a racial epithet anywhere in the world — the [team’s nickname] painted in massive block letters across both end zones. (To grasp Native Americans' outrage and humiliation, try to imagine the most hateful and disgusting racial or religious slur that could be used to describe you displayed in colorful, 25-foot letters throughout your community.)
(emphasis added – read the whole article here)

The Response: WT Management

In reaction to a court case in the 1990s and broader expressions of dissatisfaction, team owner, Daniel Snyder, has said the name is intended to honor Native people. The logical conclusion is, therefore, that the name is not racist. As the Post points out “it really is not up to the offender to characterize the nature of the offense. We can't imagine Mr. Snyder, or anyone else for that matter, sitting in a room of Native Americans and referring to them as [the team’s nickname].” One Native writer recommends, that if the intent is really to honor Native people, the owners/home towns of teams with Native mascots should have a meaningful discussion about the best way to honor Native individuals and communities.

The Response: Native People

While there are clearly Native people who feel very strongly about this issue (including colleagues of mine), I see at least two interesting perspectives. The first is the ‘we have bigger fish to fry’ argument. One Native person argues that the name is offensive but, "the issue should not be as big or as time-consuming as it is, and perhaps we should just try to understand the weird customs of the colonizers." The second is the ‘how many people really care’ argument. An Annenberg Public Policy Center survey found that only 9 percent of Native people find the name offensive. Many Native people and scholars who work on this issue regularly, see some problems with the methods of those surveys (particularly claiming the margin of error is significantly wider than the pollsters say and that those self-identifying as Native people, are not necessarily Native).

A twist…

African American writer, Bill Fletcher Jr. makes some interesting points from the perspective of Black America’s experiences, referring to the Confederate flag and the impact of historical racial epithets. The most striking passage is this:
when I insist that something needs to be done about the name of the [WT] it is not just that I believe that it is an insult to Native Americans, though that would be enough to demand a change. Rather it is in addition a demand against the continuous and racist demonization of the enemy of the month, or in the case of Native Americans, the enemy of the last five centuries.

The Post’s editorial makes a similar argument – even if some Native people are ok with it, changing the name is a statement about the kind of society we want to live in. They point to the local example of another team owner in Washington, who was “bothered by the high D.C. murder rate [and so] changed the name of his basketball team from Bullets to Wizards in 1997.”

Colleges Leading the Professionals

Some readers may be aware of the NCAA’s decision in August 2005, to disallow teams from hosting post-season events (like basketball’s March Madness) or bringing their mascot with them when they play in post-season games. Less than two weeks ago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign exhausted its legal options and retired their Chief Illini mascot (a source of half-time entertainment played by a white student painted red and dressed in a costume and headdress).

A Native leader who has been involved in the anti-WT mascot movement for a long time, Susan Shown Harjo, reflecting on the outcry over UI’s decision, shared her theory that “some of the Chief fans really don't disrespect Native people. They just don't know any.” She shared the sadness of a Native ceremonial leader who felt that “people in D.C. cared more for the Washington football team than they did for real Native people.” Her article has a wonderful list of Native people who are contemporary and historic leaders across the hundreds of Native communities in the U.S., very worth reading!

What does it all mean?

I know some of you WT fans are panicked or just plain mad at me! The article by Fletcher, that I mentioned above, suggests a few strategies that may help you take some concrete baby steps toward getting the name changed!

* DC Residents: don’t go to the games
* Everyone: don’t purchase their merchandise
* Send an email through the ‘Locker Room’ on the team’s website.
* Have your community organization, school, labor union, or religious institution send an e-mail note or hard copy letter to the WT insisting that they change their name.
* Contact opinion makers, including but not limited to elected leaders, asking them to speak out on this issue.

My hesitation to even name the team’s nickname, comes from the fact that I know, appreciate, work with and am friends with Native people. If you’re not willing to do any of the things suggested above – get to know some Native people! If you do, I think Susan Shown Harjo's expectation will be met: “After even a brief exploration…you may kick yourself over the great many Indian people you missed while following the [WT].”

Updated Wilberforce Thoughts

Oops! Only when the resident, card-carrying John Piper fan club member is out of the house (at our church's women's retreat) could I neglect these three awesome posts by John Piper, reflecting on Wilberforce and how his life brough glory to our great God:

Tribute to Wilberforce #1
The role of Newton and Wesley in encouraging Wilberforce's efforts

Tribute to Wilberforce #2
Not unrelated to my previous posts on suffering, here Piper reflects on Wilberforce's joy as the foundation of his usefulness and endurance.

Tribute to Wilberforce #3
Reflection on the moment of victory!

How sweet the sound. But what about the view?


A quick review of Amazing Grace and Reflection on William Wilberforce





Standing among the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as an influential Christian whose name/s are unlikely to make it into the 'top ten names in Sunday School' list, William Wilberforce, is an under-acknowledged figure in British history who changed the world through his fervent pursuit of the abolition of the slave trade.


With today's U.S. release of the movie Amazing Grace, things are changing. There was even talk this week of a Republican presidential candidate being referred to as a 'Wilberforce Republican' for the blend of conservative social positions with compassionate foreign policy.

A group of guys from our Bible study went to see the movie tonight. I thought it was quite well done, a little slow in parts but for the most part accurate to Wilberforce's life. It provided a character portrait of Wilberforce in the midst of a narrative about the slave trade. Unlike a biography, it wasn't focused exclusively on him but it gave you a fairly good grasp of his experiences as they rose and fell with the fortunes of his bill to abolish the slave trade. Christianity Today's review is a pretty good overview of the movie - both strengths and weaknesses, complete with discussion questions to think about after the movie (see it here).

I read a biography, God's Politican, a few years ago and pulled out the following quotes to give you a sense of Wilberforce's life and accomplishments.

His signature quote
God Almighty has set before me two great objects - the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [society's morals]

A wonderful idea to keep our focus
[Wilberforce] would often spend time before a dinner party thinking out what he called "launchers," topics which would naturally lead on into deeper conversation. Among his papers was found a "Friend's Paper," marked "to be looked at each Sunday," listing thirty of his friends. Against each name stood thoughts of how best to help each to take the next steps toward a fully satisfying experience of Christ.

An interesting comment that is still relevant to politician's clamoring for the religious vote
When a profession of Religion opens the road to respect and power there is always a great deal of religious hypocrisy

Death, C.S.Lewis and you

Below you will see some thoughts from friends from different parts of the world and thoughts from our emails during our time in Tucson.

I vividly remember the experience of death on campus during Melanie and my time at the University of Arizona. In October 2002, a student from the nursing school shot and killed three instructors and himself. It gripped the campus. I remember talking with fellow students in class in the week it happened. I shared about the different reaction of nursing students as against those who were on 'main campus'. The distance is only 1/4 of a mile, one major road separates the nursing school from the main campus. That was enough. Like the return to 'normal' life so quickly after 9-11, it's easy to distance ourselves from suffering. Literally within hours (perhaps less), people acted as if nothing had ever happened.

The response of a fellow student will never leave my memory: "Well, you don't want to think about it too much - you'd spend your whole life contemplating your own mortality".

While I was and am not saying that "contemplating your own mortality" should be the focus of our lives, the fragility of life MUST convict us of the truly important things in life and allow the frivolous to take their rightful place in the background.

The link is somewhat dubious, but these musings make me think of at least one life change we could all prayerfully consider. From C.S.Lewis's 'The Weight of Glory':
It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter [or the death that proceeds it]; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal...But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.


Thoughts from you and me...

South African:
This is the verse of the hymn that gets sung the least, which is weird, because I think it's the best for comforting the afflicted. "Be still, my soul, when dearest friends depart;And all is darkened in the veil of tears;Then shall thou better know His love, His heart,Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repayfrom His own fullness all He takes away."The other verses of the hymn are awesome, too.

Tasmanian:
I think that when death suddenly becomes a close reality, it certainly helps to bring ourselves back into perspective.

American:
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." (Ps.145:18) We seek out God more when we experience difficulties and it's comforting to know that God is continually present. The omnipresence of God should motivate us to cling to Him more fervently.

Another excerpt from my emails about Mel's Dad:
Praise God for the body of Christ. We have been overwhelmed by the support of brothers and sisters from DC and Tucson (and beyond). Every call, email message, and prayer has been appreciated – we love you guys so much and are so thankful for God blessing us with so many faithful friends (some of whom happen to be family too!)

God has encouraged us through the love exhibited by his body. We have seen, more intimately than we have for a long time, the proper working of each part of the body "so that it builds itself up in love" (Eph 4:16). The opening passage of 2 Corinthians has often been an encouragement to us:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God…He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 10-11

Standing on the shoulders of giants ...

Thanks to those who have commented already, I encourage you to continue meditating on the issue of suffering and feel free to post comments.

Today I thought it might be interesting to seek out the thoughts of leading Christian writers on the topic. Here are some 'quotes from the giants':

*****

Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church...

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away. Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

*****

I have come to see that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle. (Christianity Today, Jan, 10, 1994, p. 21)

I have never heard anyone say, "The deepest and rarest and most satisfying joys of my life have come in times of extended ease and earthly comfort." Nobody says that. It isn't true. What's true is what Samuel Rutherford said when he was put in the cellars of affliction: "The Great King keeps his wine there"—not in the courtyard where the sun shines. What's true is what Charles Spurgeon said: "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

John Piper, Why we can rejoice in suffering

*****

Are there other Christian writers or favorite passages of Scripture, that summarize your views on suffering and the Christian life? In the coming days I hope to add other perspectives but would welcome your suggestions.

While not a giant - per se - I found this blog/review of Piper and Taylor's Suffering and the Sovereignty of God interesting.

Suffering, to what end?

God has given Melanie and me cause to reflect on suffering quite a bit over the past few months. Why does God bring suffering into our lives? How are we meant to react? What does it achieve?

I will try and pull together a few thoughts on this subject over the next week or so. This first post includes an exerpt from one of the updates Mel and I sent when her Dad had his accident back in October 2006. It was an event that brought the important things of life into focus and allowed the urgent things, that we so often fixate on, to fade into their proper place in the background.

We have been taught many things, particularly from the book of James. It has been amazing to take joy in encountering a trial like this (James 1)! It has not been easy or fun, but God – often through the graciousness and love of his people – has been there reminding us that there is so much more to this life than what we often let it become.

We have also learnt FORCEFULLY that "Instead [we] ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:15). Our flight plans have changed more than five times and as I write this note, I hope we will be home in DC late on Wednesday night. God has proved his timing is perfect and every frustrating circumstance that has kept us here has been clearly illuminated as God's gracious and perfect timing.

In a congregational sharing time, on our return, I shared how convicted we were that James's encouragement to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" was neither a pithy Christian version of 'don't worry be happy' nor a retrospective platitude 'look back and laugh.' Rather, James is forcefully calling believers to embrace difficult times as those that develop perseverance and lead us to maturity.

It is my conviction, and observation, that without difficult times our spiritual muscles atrophy.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on this. Feel free to post comments to keep the discussion going.

What does "love your enemies" really mean?

So here's a doozy- what do the Washington Post and Sunday's sermon have in common? Read on and find out!

A piece in the Post caught my attention back in October and I saved the link. The article, 'Why everyone you know thinks the same as you," provided some food for thought to consider the people I spend time with. The article talks about 'homophily' the idea that "people seem to be drawn to others like themselves." More on the article in a moment.

This past Sunday, our pastor continued our series on the Sermon on the Mount. The passage was Matthew 5:43-48 (to check out the audio and or video file, go to the website).

The thrust of the message was a look at the passage in Leviticus where the Israelites are told to "love your neighbor as yourself" and the extrabiblical add-on "hate your enemies." Jesus turns this on its head and tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. For context, we also looked at the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and reflected on the fact that part of the shock value of the story is - the Samaritan was racially and religiously different, and he was the one Jesus' listeners were told to emulate.

Our pastor defined the source of most conflicts in the world as a clash of race and/or religion. One of the key applications from the sermon was therefore to love those who are different - build friendships across racial lines, with your Muslim colleague at work; pray for those who are different.

I think this application is critical but see another area of application for myself that my fellow Washington-area residents (and others around the world) might find helpful.

Race and religion are really subsets of a broader category - culture. We tend to dislike (even if passively) those who don't agree with our cultural viewpoint. It can be big picture - capitalism vs socialism; or fairly nuanced - covenantal vs dispensational. The Post article pointed to research that showed American culture is increasingly segmenting with "Ever larger numbers of people seem to be sealing themselves off in worlds where everyone thinks the way they do."

Think, for example, about cable news channels. Many conservatives choose to watch Fox News because they get sick of the bias they see in the mainstream media. Christians with conservative political views may make the same decision, but that's where things can get tricky. Watch or listen to conservative talk shows - it's like political blood sport! Take Bill O'Reilly's show for example, it is predicated on attacking cultural difference - protecting one (cultural) perspective by undermining (and at times demeaning) another. This issue transcends the political spectrum and is just as evident in liberal talk shows as it is in conservative ones.

So what's the point?

The Post author did not take a position on whether homophily was right or wrong but he did make an observation that is very instructive:
In politics, for example, the fact that people rarely have friends with different views makes it difficult to seek common ground or to examine one's positions closely. Most of us would be hard-pressed to provide clear explanations for our political beliefs.
When we think through the political lens it means, if we're not careful, we are ceding 50 percent of the population that needs Jesus just as much as those whose political views we share. When we think about it through the lens of the Great Commission and the call to evangelism, the implication can be devastating - highly segmented culture presents high barriers for seeking and saving the lost and may affect our ability to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have.

Jesus lived cross culturally. He initiated a Christian counter-culture, not a Christian sub-culture. We must love those who are socially, politically, economically different and we must take seriously the call to pray for them.

Are you a Republican? Pray for Democrats, that God would lead Democrats into your life that you can win for Christ. That victory will be of much more significance in eternity than midterms and presidential elections.

Are you an Evangelical? Pray for liberal believers, that God would draw them to the truth of the gospel and give you wisdom to love those liberal believers that he places in your life.

What is the area where your personal prejudices and animosities have undermined your witness? What is the issue that allows your culture to overcome your desire to see God glorified?

It’s time to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.