RIGHTS VS RIGHTEOUS Law vs. Love

It is not new that religion and oppression go hand in hand. Throughout history, man has used religion to further his agenda and oppress others in the name of whichever God he claims to worship. For too many of us, God is just an idea and not a governing spirit of our salvation or an example of love for one another. Right here in America, many people place the founding fathers on a pedestal of having the moral high ground, using the Bible to shape the ideas of American law; they fail to remember or even talk about how those same founding fathers and many thereafter used the Bible to oppress their fellow man. Instead of embracing the fruit of the spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23), some chose the deadliest of sins (see Proverbs 6:16-19) and did so in the name of God and country. 
In America, there has been a propensity for the law and rights granted to us by the constitution, but the laws have never fully sustained all of its citizens. Historically, Americans revel in patriotism screaming “God Bless America,” while systematically excluding an entire race in that same spirit of patriotism, and establishing oppressive legislation in the name of said God.  The superiority complex that permeates some Americans helped to create a system of oppression that supported slavery and continues to affect the landscape of the country today. People did not just support slavery; they invoked scripture in attempts to keep others in bondage. They traced their theology back to Noah and his son Ham, who was condemned to servitude for mocking his father (see Genesis 9:20-27). Quoting Colossians 3:22 was also popular because it speaks of a slave’s responsibility to his master. Between misuse of the Bible and oppressive legislation, an entire race in America had no chance of embracing their civil liberties. 
Although founding father George Mason said, “The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth,” it did not prevent the infringement of unalienable rights to people of color. The creation of several constitutional laws and supremacist ideas further oppressed an entire race of people: 

• In 1787, legislation reduced the black population to less than human by the 3/5th Compromise. The compromise allowed a state to count three fifths of each Black person in determining political representation in the House of Representative, counting slaves fairly in both the North and South delegations. 
• In 1831, North Carolina passed legislation making it illegal to teach slaves to read or write. 
• As early as 1867, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld segregated railway cars because “the natural law which forbids racial intermarriage and that social amalgamation, which leads to a corruption of races, is as clearly divine as that which imparted to the races different natures.” State supreme courts in Alabama, Indiana and Virginia used this same rationale to justify bans on interracial marriage.
• In 1901, Georgia Gov. Allen Candler defended unequal public schooling for Blacks because “God made them Negroes and we cannot by education make them white folks.” 
• Ross Barnett won Mississippi’s governorship in a landslide in 1960 after claiming, “The good Lord was the original segregationist.” 

There were countless laws created to oppress people of color, commonly known as Jim Crow laws or the Black Code. So-called Christians would continue to embrace and teach this underlying system of government-sanctioned oppression and segregation in this country. 
With all the oppressive acts committed in America, in the name of God, where is the love? Where are the true principles that Jesus taught and embraced? How different would this country be if the men who formed it actually embraced Godly principles and were true Disciples of Christ? One can only imagine. 
But in the here and now, many Americans continue to hold onto the hypocrisy of standards created by our forefathers and would like to see this nation as it was centuries ago. Many laws were ratified to include all American citizens, but attitudes will not change without God.  When we approach each other with the spirit of love, forgiveness, unity, respect, and peace, we can begin to better the relationships among us. 
Just know that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness and salvation…pride, racism, homosexuality, drunkenness, thievery, dishonesty, fornication or whatever sin we each struggle with are ALL considered spiritual death by God. We may not like what others do or who they are, but God loves all of us equally. He extends each of us the opportunity to rectify our souls (see John 3:16). 
This country needs supernatural healing; the kind that only comes from a loving and just God. When we realize that we are nothing without love then we can began to heal the rift that centuries of hatred and oppression created. 
Prayer: Thank you Father God for your word! It is truly a blessing to find everything that we need within you and your word. Please Lord, help each of us embrace the love you place within us & continue to lead and guide us in the ways of righteousness. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we have a clear understanding of what we find in your word. Help us to be more than just readers, help us to be doers of your word as well. We praise you for your sacrificial love and all that you are and all that you have given us to draw us nearer to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

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