In Wyoming, we are surrounded by glorious mountains and vast plains. Such beauty that when witnessed over a century ago caused Katherine Lee Bates to write, “purple mountain majesties, above a fruited plain.” What she didn’t do is turn around to take a selfie!
Bates was not of our narcissistic age. She wasn’t driven by “self,” trying to show the world that she had been “there.” She wrote of a dream far bigger than herself. She wrote, “America, America! God shed his grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!”
Theologian Dallas Willard once remarked “you cannot stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and shout, I am awesome!” When confronted with vastness and beauty of such enormity, it should cause us to see ourselves as we truly are, “one out of many.” God’s humble creation. Only then can we finally understand the dream of America, “out of many one” e pluribus Unum.
This merits some explaining. E Pluribus Unum does not mean that we are Marxist masses deriving our rights from government. No, our rights are God-given. What makes us one is a shared dream of America. “One out of many” is not in the sense of those who preach the secular doctrine of radical autonomy apart from God-given morality, where “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” Such “oneness” is driven by self.
True liberty is neither anarchy nor tyranny, it is seeing ourselves and our fellow man as God sees us. This liberty loves God with an entire “heart, soul, mind and strength and loves neighbor as self.” Such a vision is what drives our motto of “Advancing Biblical Citizenship.”
Biblical Citizenship works to protect life, to ensure human dignity, to ensure that Wyomingites are free to express themselves at home, online, at work, at church, and on campus. It seeks to protect families, build strong marriages, and protect the minds bodies and relationships of children.
Biblical Citizenship happens when men and women see themselves as part of God’s Creation and know that they will answer Him for how they live their lives. A wonderful sense of hope arises from knowing that God is with us as we stand together for Him!
God bless,
Nathan Winters
Executive Director