Desperately Seeking the True Meaning of Words

In this last part we’re still exploring Scott Allen’s desperate attempt to convince Evangelicals that a toxic new religion is out to redefine words. In this part we’ll look at the intrinsic problems with a dictionary that Allen says is “built from the Bible up for a nation of free people.

Built From the Bible Up

Allen:  America’s founders understood this. Noah Webster, “the father of American education,” compiled the “American Dictionary of the English Language” in 1828 because he recognized that a nation of free people required a dictionary built “from the Bible up.” His dictionary contained a greater number of biblical definitions than any other reference volume before or since.

Noah Webster’s dictionary online has a list of over 1,000 words that are in the King James bible but are not currently in common use. It’s an interesting read, if you’re up for it. Maybe If we bring back words like abhorred, haft, bewail, or concubine we’d be a better society.

Liberty and Justice For All?

Allen: In the old dictionary, “justice” was defined as equal treatment regardless of race, sex or religion. In the new dictionary, justice is equal outcome, regardless of personal action or behavior. 

For somebody who is promoting biblical truth, we certainly don’t see the same level of integrity from Allen himself. Does anyone else see the problem here with the idea that in an old dictionary “justice” would be defined “as equal treatment regardless of race, sex or religion”?  

Allen called the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary a dictionary built from the bible up for a nation of free people. Let’s put this quote in the context of the times in which this dictionary was written.

A Nation of Free People?

• January 7, 1822 – The first group of freed American slaves settle a black colony known as the Republic of Liberia when they arrive on African soil at Providence Island. The capital, Monrovia, is named after President James Monroe. (In 1824, the city was renamed Monrovia after James Monroe, president of the United States at the time. Monroe was a prominent supporter of developing the city as a place to relocate formerly enslaved Black people from the United States of America and Caribbean islands, as an alternative to abolishing the institution of slavery in America.)
• July 4, 1827 – In New York State, slavery is legally abolished.
• April 14, 1828 – The copyright for The American Dictionary of the English Language is registered and the book published that year by Noah Webster.
• April 6, 1830 – Joseph Smith organizes the Mormon Church, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Fayette, New York. He published the Book of Mormon on March 26, 1830.
• May 26, 1930 – The United States Congress approved the Indian Removal Act which facilitated the relocation of Indian tribes from the east of the Mississippi River. Although this act did not order their removal it paved the way for increased pressure on Indian tribes to accept land-exchange treaties with the U.S. government and helped lead the way to the Trail of Tears.

The Trail of Tears as painted by Robert Lindneux in 1942. More than 60,000 Native Americans were forced to leave their ancestral lands and travel to reservations thousands of miles away.

• October 8-10, 1832 – The six-year campaign known as the Trail of Tears begins when Washington Irving, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, and Captain Jesse Bean, at the Arkansas River, begin one of the first steps in the U.S. campaign to remove Indians from their homes on the east coast.
• December 29, 1935 – The Cherokee tribe is force to cede lands in Georgia and cross the Mississippi River after gold is found on their land in Georgia, which results in the Treaty of New Echota. (After gold is found on their land? Justice served? Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to then President Martin Van Buren saying that the removal of the Cherokee people from their land was… “Such a dereliction of all faith and virtue, such a denial of justice… such deafness to the screams for mercy were never heard of in times of peace… since the earth was made.”)
• November 7, 1837 – Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1802-1837), a native of Albion, Maine was murdered in Alton, Illinois by a pro-slavery mob while defending his right to promote the abolition of slavery in the United States. (Wonder how many Christians were in the mob.)
• September 3, 1838 – Frederick Douglass, the future abolitionist boards a train in Maryland to freedom from slavery, with borrowed identification and a sailor’s uniform from a free Black seaman.
• October 27, 1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues an order for the expulsion of Mormons from the state of Missouri.
• February 15, 1839 – In Jackson, Mississippi, the first state law allowing married women to own property in their own names is passed. (Women wouldn’t earn the right to vote for another 80 years.)

Justice for all… white men.

Noah Webster’s 1828 definition of “justice” only applied to men and specifically to white men.

“Commutative justice consists in fair dealing in trade and mutual intercourse between man and man… it is a duty to do justice to every man, whether friend or foe.”

But justice only applied if the foe was a man… a white man. In 1828 the expression “do justice to every man” did not apply to Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, anyone with brown skin and obviously not to women of any colored skin.

An Erosion of Power

Allen: The “oppressors” use language to create a “reality” that is imposed upon so-called victims– often without them being aware of it– as a means of maintaining power and privilege. The “victims” can liberate themselves by “unmasking” these (untrue) socially constructed realities.

There is possibly no better example of this than Allen himself. Being a white male from North Carolina, it’s not at all surprising that he, as a person of privilege, is completely insensitive to the 1828 phrase “a nation of free people”. And when the “so-called-victims” try to liberate themselves by unmasking these untrue socially constructed realities he says they are eroding the biblical meanings of words.

Is 1828 really the time for which Allen wants us to get the “true” meaning of our words? We’re starting to see just why he is opposed to language changing to be more inclusive. There can be serious consequences for actually allowing liberty and justice “for all”. Especially for those wishing to maintain their power and privilege. So, what is Allen really afraid of?

A New Sheriff on the Block

Allen: Over the years, as this toxic new religion has begun to displace Christianity at the center of the culture, biblical meanings have been eroded, and words have been redefined. A new foundation is being laid—word by word—a foundation for a culture that is already showing itself to be intolerant, uncivil, inhumane and tyrannical.  

One doesn’t have to dive too deep into YouTube to find a plethora of Christians spewing hate speech. From where I stand, these Evangelicals are the ones who are intolerant, uncivil, inhumane and tyrannical. Why doesn’t Allen address them? Instead, he’s decided to do battle with a toxic new religion (that doesn’t even really exist). While at the same time, he ignores an even more toxic old religion in his own back yard. It’s easier to vilify some fictitious enemy than to confront the toxicity amongst your own.

Let Language Grow

An article in QuirkyScience shines a different light on how language shapes culture and how culture shapes language.

“The transference of ideas or concepts is communicated through ever-growing, ever-changing language. Language is alive. New ideas should not be shackled by old terminology. Language should expand with expanding knowledge.

This obviously is not how Allen views language.

Allen: For too long, Christians have stood by and allowed this to happen with little resistance—often uncritically adopting (and thus reinforcing) the new meanings. It is high time this come to an end. If we as followers of Jesus fail to steward the true meaning of words and language, who will? If we do nothing to resist this toxic new religion, how can we say that we love our neighbors? As Kelly Monroe Kullberg says, “Biblical truth and wisdom are the highest love for human beings.”

Highest Form of Love

Allen is suddenly trying to make this whole argument appear to be an altruistic endeavor to show that he, as a good Christian, loves his neighbor; (something that has been noticeably lacking until now). Due to the level of deception Allen uses in this article, I’m not convinced that his evangelical version of “biblical truth’ is actually true. Nor do I believe that Allen’s Evangelical version of Biblical truth is the highest form of love for human beings.

In my first draft of this paragraph I wrote that it obviously must be a very scary time for Christians, but as I thought about it, I realized that it’s not quite true. It’s not a scary time for ALL Christians. It just seems to be a scary time for Evangelical Christians and more specifically White Evangelical Christians. They’re so threatened by anyone who doesn’t believe as they do. Why?

I have Christian friends who rather than being obsessed with defending their version of the truth, they’re obsessed with God’s Love. When I have visited their church they talk about it a lot. They don’t seem to be threatened by my confessions of non-belief. Why should they be? Their favorite verse and mantra comes from Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what the Lord requires of you. But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Which they do. How could my non-belief threaten that?

Unlike Allen, my non-evangelical Christian friends say that for them, God is the highest form of Love. Their church’s mission statement says, “God’s love is accessible and available to everyone, everywhere. The embrace of God is an inclusive, unstoppable love that calls us to believe and bear witness to the belovedness of every human being. God’s love is eternal, always welcoming, and does not require any transaction on our part.”

Imagine…

From where I stand, it’s possible to imagine a world that’s different from the paranoia filled world created by evangelicals. Let’s not fear teaching critical theory in our schools and universities. Imagine a society of thoughtful human beings who are gaining a full and true understanding of how the world works. Imagine a group of people who understand that language is ever growing and ever changing. Imagine a language that is alive and expands as we expand. Imagine a world where new ideas are not shackled by ancient terminology and mythology. Imagine a world where you can tell Christians by their love and not by how they define words.

It’s easy if you try!

 

 

From Where I Stand

Dale Crum