Stand Out

Reflections on Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, Lesson 8

Tyranny triumphs when all the truthtellers are successfully silenced and the lies define reality.

Don’t be silent.

Different lies serve different purposes. Some are the lies we all tell when we’re ashamed of something we’ve done, while others seem like harmless grandiosity. We learn to ignore the lies.

Other lies are intended to create division through humiliation and dehumanization, as people are forced to take sides. Will we denounce the lie or tell the victim to stop being so sensitive?

Then there are the big lies, which are told to establish loyalty to the leader by demanding that followers “reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears. It [is] their final, most essential command.” (Orwell, 1984.)

To accept the lie is to submit to the authority of the leader instead of the authority of an evidence based reality. This results in consequential decisions being made on the desires of the leader, regardless of evidence.

The lies slowly divide people into four groups:

The true believers. They trust the leader and hand over the candle of truth they held. The sycophants. They know the truth, but are motivated by their own selfish desires, so they let the leader extinguish their candles.

The worn down majority are tired or frightened or don’t think it makes any difference and eventually conform to the darkness. They blow out their own candles, often with the expectation that the truth will prevail - somehow.

The truthtellers. The ones who keep standing, allowing some light into the darkness. The risk is high and might result in slander, loss of relationships or employment, exile, imprisonment, or death.

Tyranny triumphs when all the truthtellers are successfully silenced, it is defeated when people refuse to live in fear and stand up to tell the truth.

To the silent majority, who believe in liberal democracy and evidence based reality: let your light shine.

When you light your candle, others will see you, and they will know that they aren’t crazy and they aren’t alone. Not everyone will like what you have to say and that’s hard, but silence also sends a message.

I know that it’s hard. I never wanted to do this. I want to quit almost everyday. I would much rather go back to a time when we all lived in a shared reality, but there’s no going back, and we all have to work together to create that future, to bring the light into the darkness.

You don’t have to take on everything, but choose one lie at the heart of an issue that you’re passionate about, and tell the truth. There are many different ways to speak your truth and the the next several lessons will explore some practical ideas. Today, here’s my story.

I became aware of the harm caused by “biblical inerrancy,” when I discovered that many Christians had been taught to follow the Bible instead of Jesus.

This if often referred to as the “high view of Scripture,” when in reality, it is a low view of Jesus - it is a means to undermine the authority of Christ by claiming the whole Bible is Christ. It is a strategy to subjugate Jesus to any convenient biblical text in order to justify bigotry, discrimination, oppression, and dehumanization. It’s intentionally divisive.

In my role as a professional Christian educator, I began making an effort to teach the truth about the Bible. I was fortunate to have a space where I could teach, write, and develop curriculum.

It wasn’t until I started researching the rise of White Christian Nationalism in 2021, that I understood that biblical inerrancy is not just a difference of opinion, like baptism or worship styles, rather it is a lie. It didn’t start off as one, but it became one in order to establish a supreme authority so that followers would “reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears” and deny their own experiences.

During and after Covid, I developed displays and experiences to invite the public to engage with the complexities of the Bible, but following a leadership change, there was an effort to silence me. I refused to blow out my candle and I had to leave. I’ve published two books, I write these blogs, and I’m working on my third book.

I know it’s hard and the risks are real, but the risk of silence is greater.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” — Dr Martin Luther King Jr

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” — Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moment when we accumulated silent things within us.” – Gaton Bachelard

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” — Elie Wiesel

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” — Paulo Freire

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White citizens’ “Councilor” or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direst action” who paternistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Photo by Jahanzeb Ahsan on Unsplash

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