What I learned in Russia

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Happy Birthday America.

The First Amendment says:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

In 1993 I traveled to Russia with a group of friends from Denver, Atlanta and other American cities. The people were most gracious and excited to have openness to receive Americans to exchange ideas about what is important in our lives.

Our group was there to share the love of Jesus for all nations and all people.

The first meeting was in a grand hall of a major university in Barnaul Russia. Thirteen times zones from Denver I was quite shocked to hear some things for the first time.

A lady who was a professor of literature told about her grandfather being killed by Stalin along with millions of other Russians for their opposition to him. She loved Russia and knew its history well, but she made it clear she had no respect for what Stalin had done to her family and to the culture of Russia. Russia is well known for great literature but also known for oppression of its own people. She said Stalin had imprisoned and killed millions without any due process and justice.

At the time of America's beginning the Founders had experienced government and religious oppression from England and such was common in many nations.

For them the free exchange of ideas was necessary for the survival of a representative democracy.

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
Ben Franklin

So we started with the idea of the free exchange of thought. Now we have evolved so that anyone who stands up for any traditional ideas must automatically be considered guilty of hate speech.

On the other hand, We have people who claim to follow Jesus pushing hate instead of love.

Those who are uncomfortable with dialogue about religion and morals must rethink where this leads us. We must give others respect and freedom and we must expect it for ourselves as well.

As we celebrate this 240th Birthday for America I pray we can learn to deeply listen to each other and grow spiritually as a result.

Larry Wishard
7.4.16

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