Ms. Callahan's post here is hyperbolic.  No one has suggested
that the cross is a "horrid thing."  And I am not sure to whom
she is referring when she writes inclusively that "everyone
knows," in as much as "everyone" does not include me.  Nor can
she know with any assurance whether those who express regret
or not, Christian or otherwise, are sincere in their belief.

Calvinist doctrine teaches the doctrine of absolute depravity,
which is to say, the unredeemed human will is incapable of
*any* morally correct act.  Since God offers grace only to
some people, and since the unredeemed human can do nothing to
earn or merit it, it behooves all of us to be humble.  We may
or may not be among the saints, when God judges between "the
quick and the dead."  Satan, the great deceiver, can mislead
us about our own prospects of salvation--assurance, in other
words, can never be complete.  Hypocrisy, among those who
claim "visible sainthood," is rife.

All of this is standard reformed theology.  Those of us who
are believers, and who locate ourselves within these
commitments, will recognize that final judgment belongs to
God, and not to us.  Its hard enough to achieve personal
assurance.  Its presumptious to pass judgment in such a
cavalier fashion about people whom we do not know.

This is one important reason, by the way, why Madison (who
understood his theology considerably better than most
evangelicals do today) advocated strict separation of church
and state.  The danger, as he well knew, was greatest when the
rulers are hypocrites.  Given the viciousness, and the
corruption, introduced into politics today by the degrading
process of (civic) election, who can doubt that a great many
of the civicly elect, by their very participation in the
process, reveal the doubtfulness of their theological
election?  I hesitate to draw individual judgment--it is
possible that some pure men and women survive the process. 
But the process surely does seem designed to favor the
unscrupulous and the unprincipled over the Godly.

Do we *really* want to trust our religious faith to such
people?  Does anyone really doubt that a great many of our
civicly elect have used professions of religion for secular
purposes?

All best,
Kevin

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:53:36 -0800
>From: Clara Callahan <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: Re: Wren cross at W&M  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Let's just do what it is we're going to do (get the horrid
and offensive thing OUT of here) and deal with the unwashed
masses who may protest later because everyone knows that once
something like this is done, not much is going to be done to
undo it.  Offer some fake, faint words of regret, pretend to
humble onesself as a "Christian" who has "seen the light of
diversity," create a committee to "handle things" and get back
to business as usual.
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html