When one is asked to kneel, the question that is immediately begged is, "To whom?" If we are being asked to kneel to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, then we must kneel immediately. He is God.
But if we are being directed to kneel before a glorious, shining angel, a thousand times more powerful and glorious than any human being, the answer is different. We are forbidden to kneel to angels, regardless of how powerful and glorious they may be. (Revelation 19:10) And if we are forbidden any kneeling to such glorious, godly creatures, how much more are we forbidden to kneel to feeble, fallen, sinful humankind.
"Taking the knee" (as it has come to be known) is thus the pose of a fool, unless it be a declaration of humble submission to the King of kings.
Joshua Lawson, writing in The Federalist has it exactly right:
The kneeling phenomenon demanded by the radical left in the wake of George Floyd’s death—and embraced by those guilted into submission—creates a two-tiered social stratification of “kneelers” and “those who refuse to bend the knee” that’s wholly un-American.
Mobs resulting from years of citizens saturated in “critical race theory” and grievance studies have pressured far too many into believing they bear guilt for the past sins of others. Now they kneel in fealty to that false reality or are exiled from society.
Unfortunately, it’s also moved beyond just kneeling.
A crowd in Webster, Massachusetts, recently forced Police Chief Michael Shaw to lie face-down on the ground for eight minutes. In Cary, North Carolina, a group of Caucasians washed the feet of black organizers to “ask for forgiveness.” Not to be outdone by the latest woke trends, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee at a massive anti-racism protest at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Worse, kneeling—either figuratively or literally—doesn’t even satisfy the mob. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said all the “right” things to the radical leftists holding Guilt Court but was still heckled out of a public square for refusing to defund the police department. The truth is, even mobs tire of the readily subservient and easily obedient.
‘We Will Never Serve Your Gods’
Deep down, we know kneeling in submission to the whims of mobs or tyrants is wrong. Both our ancient stories and our modern myths reflect this truth. Instead of bowing to the altar of collective guilt, our exemplars should be Hanania, Mishael, and Azaria—though most know them by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
When Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II commanded all his officials to bow down before an immense golden idol, the three men refused. They knew the prescribed penalty, one that was far worse than mere social ostracization or bullying. Failure to bow meant incineration in a vast furnace.
Yet they also knew that to prostrate oneself before something other than God was wrong. And so, they did not bow. They did not kneel. They stood firm for what they knew to be right. Ultimately, though they were cast into the superheated flames, they were saved by their faith. We know who the heroes were in that episode, and it wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar or the henchmen that followed through on his tyrannical orders. . . .
Showing the Way Out
One of the more frightening realities of the “kneel sessions” is that they represent the semi-successful takeover of an entire cultural narrative, which has now been thrust upon a temporarily cowed majority. We must show people frightened by the collective guilt mob that, as Jordan Peterson once explained, “It is not virtuous to be victimized by a bully, even if that bully is oneself.”
Americans in a position to defy this nonsense must show their intimidated neighbors that peaceful resistance to the collective guilt mob is possible. Courageous men and women must rise and say, in one voice, “I empathize with all those who suffer, but I will not be bullied into accepting the sins of others. I bow to no earthy figures.” If that happens, then we will win.
Alexis de Tocqueville saw the potential for faltering democracies to create weak citizens who bow to social pressure. “There is,” he noted, “a great difference between doing what you do not approve or pretending to approve what you do; the one is done by a weak man, but the other belongs only to the habits of a valet.” Americans should reject both choices. Giving in will not abate the mob, it will only embolden them.
Tocqueville’s warning on what can happen under a soft despotism is eerily prescient:It does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them, and directs them; it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; … it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.Since this nation’s inception nearly 234 years ago, hundreds of thousands of brave Americans have died to ensure we will never have to kneel—not to a movement, not to a cause, not to those who seek power over our minds and souls.
We don’t have nobility in this country, nor do we condone one segment of the population coercing or bullying another segment into silence or emotional servitude.
We did not kneel to British tyranny. We did not kneel to Nazi fascists. We did not kneel to ruthless, Japanese imperialists. And though it took generations to muster the required resolve, we did not kneel to the Soviet Union’s quest for global domination.
If we are worthy of our Declaration, our Constitution, our flag, and our highest ideals, we will not bow to a movement that has quickly become intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt.
Americans do not kneel. We stand.
Joshua Lawson is managing editor of The Federalist. He is a graduate of Queen's University as well as the Van Andel School of Statesmanship at Hillsdale College where he received a master's degree in American politics and political philosophy. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaMLawson.
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