ESPN reports that the University of Kentucky’s African American and Africana Studies program asked UK’s president to change the name of Rupp Arena. They suggest the name of Adolph Rupp, the legendary basketball coach, “has come to stand for racism and exclusion and alienates Black students, fans and attendees.”
That request is consistent with the current Cancel Culture’s determined efforts to tear down statues that honor confederate leaders and remove all symbols of past white supremacy. Some have gone so far as to deface memorials to American icons George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. At the present rate, America will soon have no heroes…and no history!
Genesis 6:9 reads: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Dennis Prager in his new commentary on Genesis wrote that by stating that Noah was righteous among the people of his time, “the Torah makes it clear we are to judge people by the standards of their age, not the standards of our age.”
That’s true. Many of us had grandparents who used tobacco. In fact, some country church buildings had spittoons under the pews! Smoking and chewing tobacco were accepted practices among the good people of that time. Now we understand how harmful nicotine is and judge the use of tobacco by a different standard. Our forefathers didn’t have the documentation about the cancer-causing effect of smoking we have.
I’m not a UK fan, so it doesn’t matter much to me what name is given to the University of Kentucky basketball arena. But I have to admit, regardless of his imperfections, Adolph Rupp was an outstanding basketball coach with a remarkable record, and he deserves recognition. It’s wrong to judge historical figures by the moral standards of our time. By doing so, we wind up concluding no one before us was a good person, and no one deserves honor, which is an absurd conclusion.
The patriarch Jacob married two sisters within a week and had children by four different women. Yet the Bible says God loved Jacob and honored him as the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus later raised the bar by reemphasizing monogamy and purity. But it would be wrong to go through the Bible and strike out all references to Jacob, including the many times when God identified himself as, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God has always used very imperfect people. That’s the only kind He has.
In the current Cancel Culture climate, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone soon accuses Jesus of being a misogynist because He didn’t have any female disciples. That’s ridiculous…and blasphemous. We shouldn’t impose today’s awkward, arbitrary quotas on the perfect Christ who lived in Galilee 2000 years ago.
Dennis Prager adds, “This issue is quite relevant to our time. In America, for example, students are taught from the youngest age that many of America’s founders owned slaves and that America itself allowed slavery (in the south). Therefore they are told these were bad men, and America was a bad place….” Ignorance of the Bible has led to a loss of wisdom in the western world. People familiar with the Noah story have the wisdom to know that a person must be judged as God judged Noah: “In his age.”
Prager concludes, “At the time of America’s founding, virtually every society in the world – including non-western Asian, African and Muslim societies practiced slavery, often in far greater numbers than America did. Moreover, it was America and the western-based (Judeo-Christian) civilization that abolished slavery before any other civilization did. And ultimately, the American founder’s values created a nation that provided more non-whites with more liberty and more prosperity than any other society. This is how George Washington and Thomas Jefferson should be judged: the way God judged Noah – in his age – and by the freedom-loving freedom-spreading society they ultimately created.”
Can you imagine a generation 200 years from now looking back on us and saying, “He supported politicians who endorsed the murder of unborn children? How horrific! Take his name off the street!” Or, “She contributed to global warming by frequently traveling in a gasoline-driven automobile? Remove the placard on the wall that honors her! What a wicked person!” The list of potential future evils is long.
The most famous hymn in the Christian faith was written by a man who was a slave trader and by his own admission a wretched man. But John Newton repented of his sin and was dramatically transformed by Jesus Christ. Later in life, Newton became a supporter and an inspiration to William Wilberforce, who led the fight to pass the British Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in that empire. Instead of deleting Amazing Grace from our hymnals because it was written by a despicable human being, we rejoice that Jesus Christ can save “a wretch like me.”
Jesus cautioned against surface judgments when we don’t know all the facts. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).
There are times when it’s necessary to make moral judgments: when you get married, invest your money, choose a baby-sitter, or vote at the polls. And admittedly, some legendary heroes need serious revaluation. But the judgment of historical figures needs to be made mercifully because we are all flawed human beings. It’s time to cancel the Cancel Culture because, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.”
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