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Note: This essay first appeared in the
November 2008 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
In the midst of one of the greatest economic crises in American
history, millions of citizens celebrated like never before. Jumping up
and down, dancing in the streets, hugging strangers, shedding tears of
joy, the emotional outpouring that began near midnight of November 4
and continued for days afterward was unlike any the nation had ever
experienced. In public parks, private homes, cities and villages,
churches and bars, the euphoria conveyed hope unbottled and redemption
suddenly found. Yet the celebration was not confined to America.
Citizens of nations large and small, young and old, wealthy and poor shared in the
spontaneous outburst of emotions.
Themes abundant within
biblical stories, Jesus' teachings, and the struggles and eventual triumph of
early Baptists, hope and redemption are historical threads seldom found within the political realm. Yet what better time to interject
hope and redemption in the public and political arena than in the era of post-9/11 fears,
ongoing wars, escalating social and cultural clashes in America, worldwide
economic upheaval, and spiraling religious intolerance and hatred. The
election of an African American as president of the United States, in short,
conveys a simple but powerful message: the equality of humanity theorized in
the Declaration of Independence has been realized as never before, and the
yoke of oppression and injustice can be overcome in extraordinary ways.
Having been
both oppressed and oppressor, Baptists are intimately familiar with hope
and redemption. Thomas Helwys gave his life in opposition to religious
tyranny. Roger Williams stood up to religious intolerance and established the
basis for modern, pluralistic democracy. Isaac Backus and John Leland
devoted their lives to the defense of pluralism, the abolishment of theocracy
in colonial America, and the establishment of the world's first secular
nation. Collectively, these heroes of our faith maintained the flame of hope
and strove for a day of redemption for all persons persecuted by oppressive governments
and religious establishments.
Yet in the
years following, white Baptists in the American South embraced and propagated
the enslavement, and later segregation, of African Americans. Not until
Baptist minister and prophet Martin Luther King, Jr., and the courageous
congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, were blacks in
America able to realize equality under the law, and even then many white
Baptists refused to renounce racism long harbored. In the chasm between legal
writs and societal racism, hope remained guarded, while redemption cautiously
crept forward, ever closer yet ever distant.
While not banishing
the demon of racism, this month's presidential election is a monumental marker
along our nation's ongoing journey toward systemic justice and equality, an
accomplishment with worldwide significance. At their best, Baptists past and
present have been fellow pilgrims in this centuries-old journey. Even as our
nation and the world now bask in the warm rays of hope and redemption, clouds
of fear and despair yet hover nearby. May we as Baptists renew our commitment
to the great biblical, and human, themes that have the power to overcome the
ugliness and greed that separates earth from heaven.
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