{"id":23768,"date":"2024-07-03T13:13:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T20:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/?p=23768"},"modified":"2024-07-03T14:19:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T21:19:48","slug":"the-one-you-feed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/the-one-you-feed\/","title":{"rendered":"The one you feed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rev. Paul Graves<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Recently, a friend reminded me of an old story usually attributed to Cherokee folklore about a grandfather sharing some wisdom with his grandson. The elder describes a fierce good vs. evil battle between two wolves within oneself. When the child asks which wolf wins, the grandfather responds, \u201cThe one you feed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is helpful in so many contexts, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, let\u2019s plop it down in the middle of what \u2013 for a large majority of people \u2013 is the feeding of a dangerous political trend: White Christian Nationalism. A February 2, 2024 article by Politico<\/em> identifies some allies of Donald Trump brazenly planning to inject Christian Nationalism into all of American culture if Trump is elected president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of their strategies is a destructive grab for political and economic power through \u201cProject 2025\u201d, developed by The Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who strongly believe in the separation of church and state and the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, this prospect is both dangerous and likely illegal. It could also seriously damage the spiritual foundations of our cultural traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian Nationalist movement is determined to impose a toxic and exclusive form of Christianity into the fabric of our federal government. Many \u201ctrue believers\u201d see their version of Christianity as a mandate for them to exercise domination over all aspects of American society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, they believe America was founded as the \u201cPromised Land\u201d for white European Christians and that the founding fathers meant to create a Christian nation. (\u201c<\/em>Axios Explains: Christian Nationalism on the March,\u201d<\/em> June 24, 2024<\/a>) They base their passion and determination on a fundamentalistic interpretation of the Bible and American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A distressing extension of this Christian Nationalism effort happened on June 19, 2024. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into state law that public schools must display a poster-size copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom. \u201cIf you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original law given which was Moses. \u2026 He got his commandments from God,\u201d Landry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Landry\u2019s conflating of Old Testament theology with New Testament Christian theology is simplistic and naive. This law could also damage Louisiana children\u2019s and teenagers\u2019 long-term view of Christianity as a viable, welcoming faith tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, on June 24, 2025, nine Louisiana families filed a federal lawsuit against their state\u2019s education department and their local school boards to challenge the constitutionality of this new law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The families are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian-Universalist and non-religious. Two plaintiffs are clergy: a Unitarian-Universalist (whose husband is Jewish) and a Presbyterian pastor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All assert that the new law \u201csubstantially interferes with and burdens\u201d the parents\u2019 First Amendment right to raise their children in whatever religion (or non-religion) they want (NBC News report<\/em>). I encourage us all to see how this lawsuit plays out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which wolf do you want to feed when the challenge facing you is about how your religious liberty may well hang in the balance in our country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One wolf seems hungry to impose one form of religious indoctrination and uniformity on what may be deceptively called \u201creligious liberty.\u201d The other wolf desires to be nourished by the religious diversity and personal and social freedoms that keep our society stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our American culture is far from perfect, and our journey toward a \u201cmore perfect union\u201d is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the nourishment we need to continue that journey seems clear. We can\u2019t afford to feed the wolf who devours our freedom of religion. We must feed the wolf who nourishes those freedoms!
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong> is a retired elder member of the Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In commentary, Rev. Paul Graves shares a Cherokee folklore of two wolves representing good and evil, using it to highlight concerns about White Christian Nationalism. He warns against projects like “Project 2025,” designed to infuse American culture with Christian Nationalism, risking constitutional violations and the erosion of religious freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinioneditorial"},"yoast_head":"\nThe one you feed - Greater Northwest Area | News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/the-one-you-feed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The one you feed - Greater Northwest Area | News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In commentary, Rev. 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