Conservative Christian talk-show host Tony Beam’s words may be a dangerous and divisive statement in today’s political climate. Indeed, there are plenty of people on the right and the left who may take them as “fightin’ words.” I consider them wise.
Here is what he said: “My values are deeper than the culture of the moment.”
The culture of the moment has a lot to teach us all, whether we are being challenged or doing the challenging. Any adult alive today remembers a time when homosexuality was treated as aberrant and cause for derision.
And thanks to streaming services, we can see just how ensconced that attitude was in the 1990s – spend a little time with “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and compare the fearless way race and class were critiqued with the constant stream of demeaning jokes about being gay.
You may be persuaded that sexuality is a continuum or that “male and female God created them,” but the respect due to all people, however they identify, has permeated everyone to the left of Westboro Baptist Church. Just look at the reimagining of “Fresh Prince” as “Bel Air.”
At the same time, some immediate cultural norms have allowed for very bad behavior directed at people who are out of favor with some thought leaders.
Just about everyone agrees with Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, but there are plenty of judgments being passed on people based on their age, income, privilege or ethnic/religious identity unapologetically.
The notion that the culture of the moment has the authority to exclude an individual from society by consensus of the aggrieved does not pave the way to a better world for us all.
Tony Beam and I do not share an identical set of values. In fact, we may have fewer values in common than most, all things being equal.
But he understands that the evolution of values must be thoughtful and deliberate, resting on deep-set foundations, not swift and impulsive as a response to what is momentarily in favor – even if motivated by a desire for a more just society.
Impatience is a hallmark of contemporary social change, while patience is something too often urged on the oppressed by the oppressor. Yet, I also contend that decisions made out of pain are as impermanent as those made out of pleasure – both are fleeting and almost always result in overreaching.
The better solution, though not the immediately popular one, is reached by a process that seeks to understand causes, not merely address manifestations.
Most faith traditions rest on values that are deep and long-standing. People who hold to those traditions – Beam to his, Moline to his – find that a sense of grounding is essential to embracing change. After evaluating it.
And there, of course, is the rub. Whatever metaphor you choose – roots, bedrock, foundation, age – carries with it a presumption that persistence equals worth.
If it has borne fruit, remained unmovable, kept the roof over our heads, lasted this long then there is a logic to offering the presumption of merit. The counter argument comes from those without food, permanence, shelter or a place in history. And they are, of course, correct.
Is it possible to redress those material and cultural grievances without demanding that deep-set values be abandoned? I think – mostly – the answer is yes.
The process is neither so dismissive as those who hold uncompromisingly to the status quo would desire, nor so facile as those for whom change is the only important thing would contend.
It is hard work to prevent today’s people of advantage from merely swapping places with those lacking advantage, thus beginning the cycle all over again.
The mandate of the culture of the moment – any moment – is to persistently pose questions to the deep-seated values that brought us to our current resting point and thus cause, forgive the pun, unrest.
The purpose of deeper values is to challenge the culture of the moment to provide more than slogans as answers to those questions.
It is, I admit, exhausting. But in the end, the only way to reach higher is to go deep.
