On removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust from the Capitol

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Yesterday, the state Capitol Commission voted 7 to 5 against removing the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol (link). I think the bust of  Forrest probably should be removed from the State Capitol and moved to the State museum but I can't work up a lot of passion around the issue.  I feel those bust in the capitol should be reserved for people worthy of being revered and honored.  Forrest' early leadership roll in the KKK, his roll as a slave trader and his roll in the Battle of Fort Pillow probably make him unworthy of being honored.  Governor Haslam, Senator Lamar Alexander and various other political leaders have called for removing the bust. I can go along with those calling for the removal but it is with reservation.  I am glad there is a process in place that tempers opinions of the moment.


Despite coming down on the side of removing this bust, I think we should be concerned about the growing iconoclastic frenzy of tearing down of statues and monuments.  President Andrew Jackson owned slaves and he is responsible for the removal the Cherokee to Oklahoma.  By the time of their removal in 1838, the Cherokee had adopted the ways of white settlers. The Cherokee were not a threat to anyone. They were farmers, they became Christians, developed an alphabet, and printed a newspaper. The Trail of Tears has been roundly criticized as immoral and inhuman.  Yet, I do not want to remove the statue of Andrew Jackson from the grounds of the Sate capitol.

Andrew Jackson

If we start removing the statues and monuments to  every former slave owner and everyone who does not conform to contemporary values, then President Trump is right when he ask if the Washington monument and Jefferson Memorial are not next. The path of tearing down statures to historical figures is a slippery slope. If we are going to undo any honor bestowed on historical figures who were imperfect, then we have a lot of tearing down to do. If the standard is that only those who conform to our current standard of values are worthy of being honored then a lot of monuments must topple and every town or county or street named Columbus or Washington or Jefferson needs a name change.

Sam Davis, Confederate hero

While I am OK with removing the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the place of honor in the Capitol, I generally oppose the trend of tearing down historical statues across the country.  Some of the statues honoring Confederate generals however, were erected in late 1950's and early 60's as a show of contempt for federal intervention to force the South to desegregate and end Jim Crow.  This is the same time period in which several Southern states incorporated the Confederate battle flag into their state flags in a defiant stand against integration.  Some of the statues erected during that period probably should come down. 

In determining which statues should come down, I think their artistic merit, when they were erected, and who they honor should be considerations. In my view, some, but very, very few, and only after a slow deliberative process should any statures be removed.

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Will You Affirm or Deny the Nashville Statement?

By David Fowler,  Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) - This week a group of evangelical heavyweights met in Nashville and released a document called the "Nashville Statement." It speaks to the issues of human sexuality rooted in the psalmist's declaration that it is God "who has made us, and not we ourselves." Not just the content but the structure of the statement itself was important. Its structural importance was brought home by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry's response to it.

 ... Mayor Barry tweeted that the Statement “does not represent the inclusive values of the city (and) people of Nashville.” 

Perhaps it does not. But that Mayor Barry responded is significant. The Statement was theological in nature, not political, so by responding, Mayor Barry, consciously or unconsciously, recognized that the theological always has implications for the political. 

 And so, with its inclusion of denials, the Nashville Statement left Mayor Barry with no room to accept its affirmations and still politically embrace homosexual marriage and sexual self-identification. Read more

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Bellevue Republican Breakfast Club special guest Joni Bryan, Founder The 917 Society

Joni Bryan

What: The Bellevue Republican Breakfast Club hosted by Betty Hood.
Who:  Special Guest Joni Bryan, Founder The 917 Society.
When: Saturday, Sept. 2, 2016, 8 a.m
Where:  River Art Studio, 8329 Sawyer Brown Rd


The 917 Society, a 501(c)3 non-profit, exists to empower every 8th grader with the knowledge of their individual freedoms and their very own copy of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution Project's objective is to provide every Tennessee 8th grader with U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions and to complete an exciting educational video narrated by veteran journalist Nick Clooney and an interactive website. The program is free to participants and seeks to fulfill a 2004 federal unfunded mandate that all schools that receive federal funds are to hold a program on the Constitution, on or around Constitution Day. The 917 Society is also opening up the program for private and homeschool students and expects to reach over 100,000 students this year in Tennessee. The 917 Society has plans to expand into all other states offering this free program to celebrate Constitution Day each September 17th. The Constitution is the one thing that binds us all together no matter our differences.

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Mayor Barry's attack against a basic statement of Evangelical Christian belief

A mayor’s backlash against a basic statement of Evangelical Christian belief signals an ominous turn in the culture wars.

By David French, National Review, August 30, 2017- Don’t ever forget that, for some folks, “separation of church and state” is a half-measure. It’s just a pit stop on the road to de-Christianizing America. It’s a temporary means to a much bigger end. Over the weekend, I was honored to sign a document called the Nashville Statement. It’s a basic declaration of Christian orthodoxy on sexuality, sexual orientation, and sexual identity. Its 14 articles can be boiled down to a simple statement: We believe the Bible is the word of God, and the word of God declares that sexual intimacy is reserved for the lifelong union of a man and a woman in marriage. It acknowledges the reality of same-sex attraction as well as the reality of transgender self-conceptions, but denies that God sanctions same-sex sexual activity or a transgendered self-conception that is at odds with biological reality. In other words, it’s basic Christianity.

Sometimes, however, one needs to state the obvious. There are powerful peer and cultural pressures that are pushing Christians to compromise on core principles.

....  Barry’s statement, however, is different. It’s not separation of church and state, it’s a declaration of state against church. (link)

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Mayor Barry says 'Nashville Statement' does not represent city's values

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has created the “Nashville Statement,” stating that marriage is between one man and one woman. ... Barry tweeted Tuesday morning that the “so-called ‘Nashville Statement’ is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.” 

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Below is the text of the Nashville Statement. To see the source material and a complete list of initial signatories, follow this  link.

The Nashville Statement 

“Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…”

 -Psalm 100:3

Preamble
Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female. It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God. This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ lose her biblical conviction, clarity, and courage, and blend into the spirit of the age? Or will she hold fast to the word of life, draw courage from Jesus, and unashamedly proclaim his way as the way of life? Will she maintain her clear, counter-cultural witness to a world that seems bent on ruin? We are persuaded that faithfulness in our generation means declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it—particularly as male and female. Christian Scripture teaches that there is but one God who alone is Creator and Lord of all. To him alone, every person owes gladhearted thanksgiving, heart-felt praise, and total allegiance. This is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves. To forget our Creator is to forget who we are, for he made us for himself. And we cannot know ourselves truly without truly knowing him who made us. We did not make ourselves. We are not our own. Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be. We believe that God’s design for his creation and his way of salvation serve to bring him the greatest glory and bring us the greatest good. God’s good plan provides us with the greatest freedom. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it in overflowing measure. He is for us and not against us. Therefore, in the hope of serving Christ’s church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.

Article 1
WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church. WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

Article 2 
WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.

Article 3 
WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female. WE DENY that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth.

Article 4 
WE AFFIRM that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing. WE DENY that such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.

Article 5
WE AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female. WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.

Article 6
WE AFFIRM that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about “eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb.” With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known. WE DENY that ambiguities related to a person’s biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ.

Article 7 
WE AFFIRM that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture. WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.

Article 8 
WE AFFIRM that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ, as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life. WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.

Article 9 
WE AFFIRM that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality— a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality. WE DENY that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior.

Article 10
WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness. WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

Article 11 
WE AFFIRM our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female. WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s design of his imagebearers as male and female.

Article 12
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.

Article 13 
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender selfconceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female. WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will.

Article 14 
WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ’s death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure. WE DENY that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.

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On on Friday June 26, 2015, At-large Metro Councilwoman Megan Barry, a Nashville mayoral candidate,
performed the first same sex wedding in Tennessee. 

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Melania Trump’s heels

If I were in an

If I were in an emergency shelter in Houston and First Lady Melania Trumps showed up in a pair of black snakeskin stilettos heels, it would brighten my day and lift my spirits. I love sexy women in stiletto heels. (link to story)

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Joe Carr considers Republican primary challenge against Sen. Bob Corker

Former State Representative Joe Carr who in 2014 ran against Senator Lamar Alexander in the Republican primary and lost and who in 2016 ran against U.S. Rep. Diane Black and lost is considering a primary challenge to Senator Bob Corker.  Carr is a tea party aligned, pro-Trump Republican who has been critical of Bob Corker's criticism of President Trump.

While Corker may be venerable to a challenger to his right, I seriously doubt that Joe Carr can defeat Bob Corker.  To put it mildly, Joe Carr is a fringe candidate with unorthodox views.  While in the State House he introduced a bill that called for the arrest and criminal prosecution of any Federal agent who attempts to enforce certain Federal gun control laws here in the state of Tennessee.  That would have clearly violated the supremacy clause of the Constitution.  He subscribes to the discredited theory of nullification, he believes the First Amendment does not apply to Muslims and the Second Amendment should allow one to carry a gun onto the private property of another regardless of the desires of the property owner. 

Carr says he will make up his mind about challenging Corker sometime after September 14th. Other people considering a challenge to Corker are Andrew Ogles, state director for the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity, and State Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden. 

For more on this issue see, Joe Carr considers Republican primary challenge against Sen. Bob Corker.

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Thoughts on Charlottesville

Phil Roe

by Phil Roe - Last week, neo-Nazis, KKK members, and other white supremacists came together for a rally in Charlottesville at the heart of the University of Virginia’s campus, which led to the death of a 32-year-old counter protestor, Heather Heyer. We must be clear and unequivocal in rejecting and denouncing this hateful ideology. I am extremely saddened by these acts of violence, bigotry and hate that occurred last Saturday – my heart is still grieved. In order to move forward from this act of domestic terrorism, we must shine light on the darkness and talk openly and honestly about this abhorrent ideology. 

As I said last week in response to this tragedy, racially-motivated intimidation and violence have no place in today’s society, and groups fueled by hate must be condemned in the strongest terms. These groups are not representative of American values. 

While we must be unequivocal in condemning these groups, protest groups on the left, such as Antifa - which advocates violence in response to speech it disagrees with, also escalated the conflict unnecessarily. The right to free speech can lead to discourse that must be condemned, but as a free society we must also be committed to addressing it peaceably.  

When America declared its independence, we aspired to create a nation in which “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” While the path to equality hasn’t always been straight, we can unite around this founding moral principle and become stronger as a country.

Phil Roe represents the First Congressional District of Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is physician and co-chair of the House GOP Doctors Caucus and a member of the Health Caucus. Prior to serving in Congress, he served as the Mayor of Johnson City, Tennessee. 

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A morning garden break

Since almost retiring this year, I have had more time to work in the yard and enjoy the flowers.

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President Trump fires back at Sen. Corker with tweet

President Trump fires back at Sen. Corker with tweet

 To view the Corker statement to which President Corker is responding, see this:  Sen. Bob Corker critical of Trump, says he hasn't displayed 'competence' to be successful

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White House calls Corker's remarks about Trump's competence to lead 'ridiculous'

White House calls Corker's remarks about Trump's competence to lead 'ridiculous'

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Old hatreds made new

by Marion Smith, The Washington Times, August 21, 2017 - Amid the chaos of Charlottesville, two specters from the previous century’s darkest hours have re-emerged. Alongside the well-publicized Nazi symbols on full display during the “Unite the Right” rally, so too were Communist hammers and sickles brandished by the opposing anti-fascist or “Antifa” protesters. Many have rightfully condemned the neo-Nazis and their Ku Klux Klan allies leading Riefenstahl-esque, torchlit processions through our streets, but there has been virtual silence about the neo-Marxists and anarchist comrades hurling bricks and incendiary bombs, all the while refusing to acknowledge communism’s long record of totalitarianism, racism and death.

Lining up against one another in public, clubs and bats in hand, those on the far right and the far left are horrifying replications of our nation’s greatest historical foes. At their respective beginnings in the 1910s and 1930s, both the communists in Russia and the national socialists in Germany comprised tiny minority factions in their countries. But they became the loudest, the best organized and the most violent.

Indeed, 78 years ago this week, Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and Joseph Stalin’s USSR co-launched World War II by signing a nonaggression pact. Negotiated by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, their regimes agreed to conquer Europe by dividing it in half. Fascism and communism ignited a conflict that would consume millions of lives by marching shoulder-to-shoulder into battle.

Within days of signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Hitler’s armies invaded Poland. Over the next several months, Stalin invaded Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the other half of beleaguered Poland. For nearly two years, the Nazi SS and Soviet NKVD (predecessor to the equally-dreaded KGB) intimately collaborated. Soviet secret police, for instance, rounded up German Jews who had escaped to the Soviet Union and handed them over to the SS.

Then in 1941, Hitler broke the pact and attacked the Soviet Union. When the war ended, the Nazi regime was finished, but the Soviet empire lived on—sustained by its domination of Eastern Europe. Partisans in the Baltic forests who had fought occupying Nazi forces promptly repositioned their rifles toward the Red Army. And pro-fascist collaborators slotted seamlessly into the Eastern Bloc’s nascent state security apparatuses.

Even as late as the 1980s, most in the West expected that the Soviet Union—despite its obvious weaknesses—would persist indefinitely. However, refugees from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and other “captive nations” began organizing protests on Aug. 23, the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, calling it “Black Ribbon Day.” They stressed to the world that Stalin—who was made over by fellow travelers in the West as “Uncle Joe”—was actually an enemy of peace in World War II. They further urged Americans to oppose the Soviet Union, which still controlled much of Central and Eastern Europe.

My Comment: This op-ed can be read in The Washington Times.

I thought President Trumps handling of the Charlottsville violence was tone deaf, insensitive, inarticulate and distracting from advancing his own agenda.  I disagree with the President. I do not think "good people" march under a Nazi flag and shoulder to shoulder with members of the Ku Klux Klan.  I think President Trump picked the wrong time to say something that needed to be said, however.  While "good people" do not march under a Nazi banner, neither do good people march under the banner of the hammer and sickle.  Those who embrace Communism have no moral authority to condemn Nazism. While there may not be moral equivalency between those marching with White nationalist in Charlottsville and those who marched in opposition, there is moral equivalency between Nazism and Communism.

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Conservative Groups of Middle Tennessee meets Thursday, August 31st

Conservative Groups of Middle Tennessee

Thursday, Aug. 31st at Logan's Steak Restaurant on Elliston Place near Vanderbilt University/West End Avenue

Event starts at 5:30 for networking and the meeting will be held from 6pm - 7pm. The agenda of the meeting is a wake-up call to unite our different groups to secure our freedoms and make our nation and state strong. We will concentrate on issues that affect all our freedoms from religion, healthcare, and constitutional rights insured by the constitution of the United States. 

The speakers will focus on upcoming policies, new legislature, and political issues and their effect on the American People. Our keynote speakers are: State House Representative Susan Lynn and Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall.

Please RSVP to Tony Roberts Tonyr549@hotmail.com or Dan Davis  18247@gmail.com

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