A wise friend once told me “The fight to preserve freedom is far easier than the fight to gain it.” He would know. He lives in Denmark, where the Unions are run more like mafias and extremely ill people, even small children, are denied life-saving medical treatments because of the way Denmark’s socialized healthcare system is run. My friend is now part of a political movement within Denmark pushing for democratic reforms and more economic freedom. He at least still has enough freedom in his country to do that openly.
I am ruminating on all of this in light of the aftermath of our great nation’s election and in light of where the World Race has recently taken me. When I scroll through my facebook feed now, most of the posts are vitriolic outcries against our new president elect or against conservatives. Then there are some posts by people who try to shine a light of reason into that hysteria and assuage people’s fears, or direct their fervor toward issues that merit concern. I realize of course that a similar reaction was seen when President Obama was elected, except then it was conservatives decrying liberals and there was no rioting in the streets.
The most disturbing aspect of my facebook feed, above all of the mudslinging and generalizations of entire people groups as racist or homophobic, is the response I see to the posts that try to bring reason – “disagreeing with my fears is being dismissive of my concerns”.
Put in blunt fashion, people are saying “If you don’t agree with me, then you are dismissing me. If you don’t agree with me, then you obviously don’t understand me or you’re against me.”
I’ve recently been to a place where that line of logic has been pushed to its fullest extent. It’s called North Sikkim. I bet most of you have never heard of it until now. Until just a few decades ago, Sikkim was an autonomous Buddhist kingdom before it became part of India.
Many years ago, a couple from Finland moved to Sikkim, hoping to gain access to Tibet for mission work. They never were able to go to Tibet, so God had them stay in Sikkim. They ministered to the people of Lachen and Lachung, two of the northernmost villages bordering Tibet and Bhutan. They taught people Finnish weaving techniques and designs, seen to this day in the rugs made in Lachen. They taught the villagers how to cultivate cabbage, carrots, apple orchards, and various other green foods. Evidence of these farming techniques can still be found there. That couple sought the welfare of their community and loved the people well, in both spiritual and practical ways. They introduced new and different ideas and beliefs and thereby spread life and joy. They joined in the work of love that God had already begun in the hearts of the people of Sikkim.
But a landslide in Lachung killed that Finnish missionary couple and in the wake of their death the believers of North Sikkim vanished. Most believe they went into hiding, but nobody knows exactly. The Indian government closed off free access to Northern Sikkim, installed military police checkpoints, and now pay the people of North Sikkim a stipend to remain Buddhist.
The government there is so afraid of differing beliefs and non-traditional thought that it is willing to pay people to agree with the philosophies and religion with which it is most comfortable.
“If you don’t agree with me, then you are against me.”
And it is willing to go even further than that. Try mentioning the Gospel or Jesus to a local in Lachen or Lachung. A once open and cheery conversation will turn icy. People will leave the room wordlessly and while you as a foreigner might just be asked to leave North Sikkim, the one local who stayed to listen to you for courtesy’s sake will be beaten by military police.
“If you listen to a differing viewpoint, then you are against me.”
Theirs is a culture antithetical to listening. Without listening there can be no understanding. Without understanding there can be no reconciliation. Without reconciliation there can be no positive change and no freedom. If you doubt me, look at the opposite of reconciliation and its fruits. Resentment and fear bring bondage, self destructive anger, and it annihilates once vibrant and fruitful relationships. Imagine what resentment and fear does to an entire nation and you have will some idea of what it is like to live in Sikkim and never feel safe enough to express or believe in a differing viewpoint, even if you would do so out of love as the Finnish missionaries did.
America is a far cry from such an oppressive culture as Sikkim, but do not make the mistake of thinking that it could never fall to that level. Student groups and grassroots organizations around the country campaign for censorship and safe spaces. They call for social stigmas and limiting labels to be put on those they view as overly privileged because of skin color or socio-economic status. They even call for a removal of those people’s voices and viewpoints from the arena of public discussion. All this, because those people hold opinions and worldviews different than their own, and that, they say, makes them feel unsafe, oppressed, and fearful.
When free speech is seen as something oppressive and to be feared and listening is seen as something incriminating, we will be headed down a dark path not unfamiliar to countries that have never experienced the freedoms and opportunities we are afforded in America.
As Christians, we believe that Christ set us free for freedom’s sake. We don’t need to fear differing viewpoints and opinions. Though we may disagree with people, we are not called to demonize them or go to any effort to make enemies of them. We are actually called to engage them and to love the people who hold those opinions. And we are called to contribute Christ to that dialogue. In so doing, trust is built, love is forged, people listen to one another, and doors for the Gospel are opened in people’s hearts.
We have those opportunities in America because of the freedoms preserved by our government, the sacrifices of the men and women who served and are serving in our armed forces, and the vigilance of American citizens in generations past. We have ultimate spiritual freedom because Christ said yes to the cross for love of all of us. But if we perpetuate a culture that fears different viewpoints and demonizes and makes enemies of those who hold them and those who listen to them – if we perpetuate a culture fearful of love and of listening – we trample on those freedoms and on those who sacrificed to restore them to us when we were broken and oppressed.
I urge you, as one who has traveled the world and experienced first hand the alternatives, to fight to preserve a culture of dialogue, of listening, of the free exchange of ideas and the freedom to disagree. Fight to preserve a culture of love and to take back ground we’ve lost to an emerging culture of fear. Fight, by living out the boldness and the love of Christ in us, to preserve freedom. Because the fight to win it back once we’ve lost it is stacked against us in ways most cannot imagine. The fight before us now, to be sure, is beset with strong opposition from those that perpetuate and are bound by fear, but we can only overcome by bold perseverance and courageous love. Stand firm.
Fight for it now, because it’s what we stand for as Americans. Fight for it now, because it is who we are in Christ.
