"Have You Been to Jail for Justice?"

I got a couple of comp tickets to see Peter, Paul and Mary last night. I thought it would be a nice date night for me and Carissa, my eight year old. You know, "Puff the Magic Dragon" and all that. In my naivete, I said to my wife over dinner last night, "Boy, I hope they don't spend all night ranting and raving about politics." I wouldn't call it ranting and raving - more like a constant dull whine. The kind you get in your car. But instead of fixing it, you just push the car over a cliff to put it out of its misery. After nearly two and a half hours, I was just about ready to gauge my eyes out with a spoon.

Let's see, which part was the wackiest: the two blatant references to accepting the gay/lesbian lifestyle, the equating of rejecting illegal immigrants to "bigotry" (in a song, appropriately named "Hey Mr. Bigot"), the speech Mary gave where she got a stem cell transplant for her leukemia but they "weren't the type the President hates"; then she considered reversing the procedure if she found out her stem cell donor was a Republican. Then there's the song that spawned the title of this entry, "Have You Been to Jail for Justice", an obvious 60's hold over. There's just something odd about seeing Mary violently shaking her cane at the audience, yelling, "SEND 'EM ALL TO JAIL!!!!" as if she's yelling for the neighborhood punks to get off her lawn.

Average age of the audience: 55
Average number of conservatives present: 1

Several thoughts went through my head as I sat being "entertained" -

First, if I attempted to yell, "Shut up and sing!", I wouldn't been hurled from the balcony. So I sat there and took it like a man. Speaking of men...

There were supposed to be two men singing on stage. I couldn't find them. Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey are nice guys. Sweet, kind, compassionate, thoughtful. They're Mr. Rogers! I kept thinking, in true Wild at Heart fashion, "They may be heroes, famous for their protest songs; but I wouldn't want them to be my dad. I wouldn't want to be like them." They're soft, almost feminine. It's all about emotion to them. There is no realism, no facts. Just love one another, be tolerant and compassionate, and everything will be OK. They may be bold, but it's the boldness you would see from a woman. It's no wonder gender roles are blurred in their politics - they seem rather confused themselves.

I also considered the weight of their message. They advocate harmony and working together. All that "This Land is Your Land/If I Had A Hammer/We Shall Overcome" business. But they are so antagonistic to anyone who doesn't agree with them. If I, as a Christian who is a conservative, told them I work to reduce poverty and bring equality to the inner city, but only by using a Gospel-centered program, they'd ridicule me, call me intolerant and narrow-minded. It's only inclusive if it includes everyone who thinks like them.

Lastly, I was struck by the lengths they would go to stand up for ca-ca politics and dogma. I was seeing images of myself standing up for the cause of Christ, press conferences, books, speeches, confrontation, etc. "Have I Been to Jail for Justice?" No. And I'm ashamed by that. Not that I have been thrown in jail for my faith. But do I live so that all would know what I beleive from day one? Do I witness for Him when it's convenient, or when someone needs to hear? What legnths would I go to proclaim that He Lives, He has His being in us. We need to move on the offensive, beat back the darkness. Would we stand on the corner and protest if the government tried to take our religious freedoms away? Risk losing our jobs, our homes, etc.

This week's Today's Pentecostal Evangel magazine details the plight of the persecuted church around the world. Some of the stories will make you sick. Blatant human rights violations. Now, the Peter, Paul and Marys of the world will defend these foreigners right to religious freedom (at least I hope so, or we're in bigger trouble than I thought) overseas, but will attempt to pass laws to shut Christians up here! They will stand and sing pseudo-spirituals, but approve of a school denying a Christian student the right to pray in school. Shouldn't the children of the sixties be so open-minded, that ALL ideas would have equal value in the marketplace. But there is something they hate about the cross. And those who follow Him. We're narrow-minded, intolerant. We deserve no place in the public square.

I think it's going to take a new Martin Luther King, Jr. in our generation. Someone with the stones to face all the onslaught of the lefties and come out smelling sweet. Only a God-anointed person could do that. I'd get chewed up in three seconds. But God has a man, I know it. We almost need to create a new protest streak. Amazingly enough, the last one is now in power in many places. And they rule by fear an intimidation, the very thing they accused their parents' generation of. It's truly amazing to see how they've become what they once feared.

Well, I've sufficiently washed all the liberalism off. At least all Carissa remembers is "Puff" and stopping by the gift shop and getting a new Beany Baby. Thankfully, she's too young to be brainwashed. I can't say the same for the more than 2,000 who were there with me.

I also want to tackle the Ted Haggard mess. As one who wrote (what is now slightly prophetic) On the Fritz, the story of a pastor who is dismissed from his church based on sexual allegations, I think I offer a fresh perspective on it all. Hopefully, tomorrow. If not, soon. You'll see...