Russell Moore's Bad Argument for Good Riddance to the Lee Statue

Russell Moore, public theologian, has weighed in on the city of Richmond, Virginia taking down the statue of Robert E. Lee.  https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september-web-only/robert-e-lee-statue-confederacy-good-riddance.html   Predictably, he was for this. What I don’t understand is how Dr. Moore thinks there is anything remotely Christian about this act.  He splashes a few bible verses on his claim, arguing vaguely this is a matter of community, but really he’s simply making the run-of-the-mill argument that Robert E. Lee was bad and the South was bad for engaging in the Civil War because of slavery, so we shouldn’t ever have any monument that reminds us of bad and because it hurts some people’s feelings.  It’s not a particularly noteworthy argument, nor is it particularly Christian.

            The Bible gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout.  God isn’t afraid that we know what happened in the past and God doesn’t hide it from us.  Dr. Moore knows this.  If you think this isn’t so, just read Judges.  In the opening moments we find a guy getting his thumbs and big toes cut off!  We read of people lying, cheating, raping, and more throughout the Bible.  Taking the Lee statue down is an effort to hide history.  Hate to tell all the Lee statue haters – the history is still there.  The Civil War still happened.  By the way, the North won and slavery was abolished.  The 13^th amendment, ending slavery, is still valid.  Statues themselves are morally neutral – they simply represent a person, place, or thing.  That some of us imbue that statue with meaning A and others with the opposite meaning B is a matter or our own conscience and thinking, not a feature of the statue itself.

            Let’s do a quick thought experiment to flesh this out.  Let’s say the city of Louisville, where I currently live, puts up a statue of Gandhi.  I can see that as a representation of peaceful protest, or I can see it as an ode to Hinduism (I can, of course, probably see it as other things, but let’s keep this simple).  The first is perfectly acceptable to me; the second is odious as I believe Hinduism is a path to eternal hellfire and damnation.  Since I am free to think what I want when I see the Gandhi statue, I don’t have to conclude the city of Louisville means for this statue to proselytize for Hinduism and rant and rave about how awful and unfair and offensive this statue is. I am free to think about the peaceful protest aspect or I can think about how I should, as a Christian, be more mindful of my own efforts to spread the Gospel message. Perhaps I can decide to simply ignore the statue altogether if it gets me frothing at the mouth every time I see it.  I have options here that don’t involve insisting the statute be torn down because of its “offense” and I am also free to turn the alleged offense into something positive in my own mind.  Could the same not be said of the Lee statue?

            Efforts to take down so-called offensive statues or other items is much more an effort to sanitize than to immunize.  People don’t stop being racist because a statue of Robert E. Lee is no longer in Richmond, Virginia.  Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun.  Sinfulness is part of our DNA and will remain so until Christ calls His own home or sends those who are not “of him” to hell.  Racists as the current lingo goes are gonna “racist” whether the statue remained or went. 

            Taking down this statue is no triumph for Christianity.  It is a triumph for a worldview that thinks history is irrelevant and immaterial.  It is a triumph for those who believe hiding problems solves problems.  It is a triumph for weak and little minds that can’t imagine anything beyond “Lee bad.”

            Christians like Dr. Moore pandering to the nonsensical notion that this somehow brings about community are sadly mistaken.  Rather, those offended by the statue get what they want and then move on to the next “offensive” item.  They are rarely satisfied.  Those ambivalent about the statue (probably most people) are taunted by self-appointed moral superiors, such as Dr. Moore, and either veer towards feeling guilty for not being sufficiently understanding or veer towards irritation with the virtue signaling.  Those angry about the statue being taken down remain angry and don’t somehow receive a revelation that they need to change. None of this seems conducive to community, undermining Dr. Moore’s primary argument for why he claims “good riddance” to the statue.

            Perhaps a more appropriate response to things like this is to remind ourselves of the world we live in “under the sun.” Yes, it is filled with anger, disease, evil, bitterness, ruthlessness, ambivalence, and general malaise.  Yet, for those of us in Christ, there is still beauty and decency to behold.  The sensational redness of a cardinal or the dull grayness of a dove both remind us of the brilliance of God’s variety in creation.  Common grace causes even non-Christians to help others in need.  Sacrifice for the sake of others takes place frequently during times of disaster (hurricanes) and trouble (9/11).  Quibbling about whether a statue does or doesn’t offend some people hardly measures up to the task of bringing the Gospel message to the nations and discipling those who believe (Matthew 28:19-20).

            So, Dr. Moore proclaims good riddance to the statue because . . . well somebody’s feelings were hurt and that’s bad. I don’t like hurting people’s feelings either. But nothing about this action does anything to forward the gospel message. In fact, quite the contrary, it proclaims loudly and clearly that some people are acceptable because they were offended by the statue and some people are not acceptable because they weren’t offended by it.  But Wendell Berry would be in favor of taking it down, so . . .

            Dr. Moore could have made his case about community by pointing out that as we preach the Gospel to others we have an opportunity to show the great offense is our own sin towards a completely holy God.  The only person in the universe who has any right to be offended is the Triune God. We are total hypocrites as we fuss about this offense over here but ignore another offense over there.  We pick and choose and lose sight of the worst offense of all: Jesus hanging on the cross because of OUR sin.  Community arises among sinners who are saved by God’s grace through faith, not by trying to sanitize history.  Some of you will understand the following: Dr. Moore missed the point.