Darwin calls it natural selection, and popular culture calls it "Survival of the Fittest." Darwin refers to the adaptability of an entire species over thousands or millions of years-ESPN applies it to individuals or teams of people who will win over another on a particular day. In this country, in our history, some people become heroes and some become villains, but the bottom line is, violence is part of the very make-up of this nation, and somewhere in the mix we are evolving. I will tell you all about Patriots day and its bloody history. The only reason that this discussion will be about Revere, McVeigh, and Darwin, is that April 19 is a watershed day for all 3 men and their histories.
Before I went to Chicago for my big visit, I had to choose a sermon topic for today to announce in the newsletter and other publications. Looking over Mike's website, I saw many interesting names, ideas, and topics to choose from, and one was his stated interest in Darwin, and a quote by the man. When I followed a link to the Darwin website, I noted that he died on April 19, and that I would be preaching on April 17. While this should have been enough, my theologian heart should have stopped right there, and I should be sharing my insights on Darwin-which I will-I could not shake my sense of time. Certain dates are just burned into my brain, and April 19 is one of them.
Having just moved from Maine, I know that April 19 is Patriots Day. It is true that now the government is calling September 11 Patriot Day, but in Maine and Massachusetts, Patriots Day will always be the third Monday in April. It commemorates the first day of the Revolutionary War. On the square at Lexington and Concord, the battle is re-enacted every year, and in Maine and Massachusetts the schools are closed, as are most businesses. The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots Day when everything is closed down, and around Northern New England, school children hear Longfellow's poem, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Considered a patriot, a hero, a champion and founding father, his public, historical image is very different from another self-proclaimed patriot whose shot was also heard round the world on this day, Patriots Day-Timothy McVeigh.
McVeigh chose Patriots Day to protest against his government by blowing up the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people in the worst act of terrorism in this country until the events of September 11, 2001. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Taking into account, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the destruction of the Murrah Building, and the day that Darwin left us, now I will share some thoughts on these three men and their lives. Using Darwin's theory of natural selection, called "Survival of the Fittest," and probably mis- applying it for theological purposes rather than scientific ones, we can look at the place that community has in determining who will survive as a hero and who will be put to death.
Theologically, I asked myself, who did Revere and
McVeigh think they were? Did they understand
themselves to be patriots, or terrorists? The
question is of vital importance because we biblical
types examine who Jesus thought he was-did he
understand himself to be divine, regardless of what
we have done to his memory? Did he understand
himself to be a savior? Have the history books and
poets immortalized Revere and our federal
government killed McVeigh, while Revere and McVeigh
understood themselves both to be fighting
oppressive government?
World Book Encyclopedia explains Darwin's theory
thus:
In most cases, according to Darwin, no two members of any species are exactly alike. Each organism has an individual combination of traits, and many of these traits are inherited. Darwin claimed that gardeners and farmers commonly developed special kinds of plants and animals by selecting and breeding organisms that had desired traits. He believed a similar selective process took place in nature. Darwin called this process natural selection, and others have called it the survival of the fittest.
Darwin showed that living things commonly produce many more offspring than are necessary to replace themselves. The earth cannot possibly support all these organisms, and so they must compete for such necessities as food and shelter. Their lives also are threatened by animals that prey on them, by unfavorable weather, and by other environmental conditions.
Darwin suggested that some members of a species have traits that aid them in this struggle for life. Other members have less favorable traits and therefore are less likely to survive or reproduce. On the average, the members with favorable traits live longer and produce more offspring than do the others. They also pass on the favorable traits to their young. The unfavorable traits are eventually eliminated. When this process occurs in two isolated populations of one species, members of one species may become so genetically different that they will be regarded as separate species.
Prior to the events of April 19, one in 1775, and one in 1995, these two men, Revere and McVeigh, had very different backgrounds. Besides the fact that they lived in different centuries, there are several facts about their lives that I want to hold up for examination. McVeigh served in the military, fought in the first war on Iraq, and was honorably discharged. Revere, by being a member of the "Sons of Liberty" was a traitor to his native country, England. While serving in the Revolutionary War that he helped to start, he was accused of cowardice and insubordination and court martialed for the loss of Massachusetts' entire trading fleet under his command. Before their military careers, McVeigh had a clean record. Revere was famed as a copper engraver and metalsmith. His most famous work, before the war, was an engraving of the Massacre perpetrated on Bostonians by the 29th Division of Britain's army. A sketch artist had shared his drawing of the event with Revere, who stole the piece and copied it onto copper with no credit to the artist. McVeigh did not marry or have children. Revere had eight children by his wife of 16 years. When she died, he remarried within 5 months, ostensibly to have a caregiver for his children while he was off being a founding father.
Darwin suggested that some members of a species have traits that aid them in this struggle for life. Other members have less favorable traits and therefore are less likely to survive or reproduce. On the average, the members with favorable traits live longer and produce more offspring than do the others.
Revere understood that urging his fellow freedom fighters to engage in battle with Britain meant that lives would be lost, and he continued his efforts. In an interview with McVeigh in Time magazine, he said this about war:
MCVEIGH: When you're on the ground, and you're not in the rear of the action, you're right up front, you realize that the people fighting are no different from you.
They've got a wife and kids at home, they've got a family. They don't want to be out there. And you don't want to be there. You realize you must fire on them or be killed yourself, that's the reality of war. When we took most of the surrendering Iraqis the first day and saw how badly they had been treated and learned that the Republican Guard was behind them, not to back them up, but to make them hold in position, it completely changed your view of the war.
I was taken aback by what I had been told. We all thought we were doing this for our country and these people are terrible, every single one of them. You get over there and you realize two things, they're not so terrible and how is this helping my country?
And now my time of playing devil's advocate is over. If you feel uncomfortable, thinking that I am defending McVeigh's actions, rest assured that I am not. I am, however, defending his life. His crime led to his death in 2001 by the federal government-the first federal death sentence since 1963. I stand firmly against the death penalty, even in cases like McVeigh's, or any other widely publicized person, and I question any call to arms, even from history. Ever since I read chapters from "Lies my teacher Told Me," I have never been able to look at historical figures the same way, believing their idealized, saintly life stories. Revere does not really sound like a shining example of family man, or humble artist, or exemplary military hero. Prior to his terribly heinous act of terrorism, McVeigh does not sound like a monster. It is important for popular opinion, however, to paint McVeigh as an inhuman, monstrous being with no love or humanity in him. Darwin said that "The unfavorable traits are eventually eliminated. When this process occurs in two isolated populations of one species, members of one species may become so genetically different that they will be regarded as separate species." That is what our government does to people on death row, because by making them into monsters it is then all right to kill them.
In opposition, we have a poet-Longfellow-- who thought the folk tale of Revere's ride interesting enough to put to rhyme, even though for 60 some years people had not given Revere much thought. It is due more to the poem than to Revere himself, that we remember him.
Applying Darwin's theory of evolution to the violence in this country, perpetrated by this government, my musing has brought me to a single question. Have we become more violent as a culture? Has the same country that produced Revere and his Sons of Liberty also produced the woefully wayward freedom fighting of Timothy McVeigh? I am firmly against killing people, whether in war, by lethal injection, or by bombing innocent civilians. Yet, all of these things happened in our country, and this is what I will think about on April 19.
Have we become more violent as a country? In this century we put to death a bomber. In the 1700's we, here in Virginia, had Gallows Road, which led straight to the courthouse on 123, where we killed criminals and political dissidents. Would Darwin's theory have us evolving to be more aware of acting in love, or in violence? "Darwin suggested that some members of a species have traits that aid them in this struggle for life." Is violence against each other part of the evolutionary process? I believe it is not. I believe that we are more alike than we are unalike, and that community is the only thing that will save us. Being in community--working to save everybody and not just ourselves--will be why our species survives, and not because we have become more effective at killing the dissenters. Our country may not agree, and this is why I am part of a faith community who believes in the inherent dignity and worth of every person.