{"id":1256,"date":"2013-08-15T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/there-is-power-in-the-name-right.html"},"modified":"2013-08-15T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T16:40:00","slug":"there-is-power-in-the-name-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/there-is-power-in-the-name-right.html","title":{"rendered":"There is POWER in the NAME…Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Earle Fisher<\/a><\/span>
R3 Contributor<\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m usually up to speed on current events \u2013 especially those with religious and political impact.\u00a0 However, I was taken aback when my students in my World Religions class informed me of a judge ordering the name of a beautiful and bouncing baby boy to be changed from Messiah DeShawn Martin <\/span>to Martin DeShawn McCullough<\/span>.\u00a0 The class took an awkward level of pleasure in the look of confusion, disgust and disdain on my face when they blindsided me with the information.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
My look and perplexity was due to a series of problematic factors with this \u201cruling.\u201d\u00a0 Ruling here is an apropos term because it implies the forcible imposition of one\u2019s own cultural, ideological, political and even religious values on a person or group one perceives to be beneath them or under their authority and control.\u00a0 Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew<\/span>\u201cruled\u201d that what Jaleesa Martin bequeathed to her child as a namesake (Messiah) was improper, inadequate and unwarranted.\u00a0 She grounded her \u201cruling\u201d in her own religious and cultural biases suggesting that since the child would be reared in a predominantly Christian community that people would, \u201c<\/span>put him at odds with a lot of people<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 She went on to say that Martins child had not \u201cearned\u201d this \u201ctitle.\u201d\u00a0 I guess the months of labor Jaleesa endured didn\u2019t \u201cearn\u201d her the right to name her child something that is phonetically and consistent in alliteration with what her other children have been named either.\u00a0 No way around it, this is a #<\/span>EPICFAIL<\/span><\/a>!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I believe it is this type of smug, religiously misguided bigotry that proves a) people in political platforms bring their theology with them (irrespective of how oppressive it may be) to their places of political leadership and b) matters of faith, especially in America, are subversively inundated with racial undertones.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>To be clear, I don\u2019t presume Ballew to have intended to be so dehumanizing to Martin (both the mother and the child).\u00a0 She very well may have presumed she was doing them a favor.\u00a0 But when people are ignorant of cultural nuances and the blurred lines of piety and politics these types of governmental faith faux pas are inevitable, and in many ways all too common.\u00a0 People ought to have the liberty (granted by God AND the U.S. Constitution) to name their child what they choose \u2013 irrespective of the politics of respectability that attempt to force underprivileged minorities into a white-middle-class conformity.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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To suggest that what a person has chosen to call their child is not a name, but in fact, by Ballew\u2019s estimation, a \u201ctitle\u201d is not only a violation of the first amendment, it\u2019s a violation of a Christian mandate to \u201clove your neighbor like you love yourself.\u201d\u00a0 Ballew obviously sees herself and her community as above Martin.\u00a0 It is no different than Hebrew children in the biblical narrative being renamed (without any reference to their own sanction by the Babylonian political and religious elites).\u00a0 We\u2019ve forgotten the name (and by proxy the historical identity and ancestral heritage) of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah because \u201c<\/span>The palace master GAVE THEM other names<\/span><\/a>\u201d \u2013 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (who is referred to in several African American communities as \u201cA BAD NEGRO!\u201d)\u201d\u00a0 The same is true of the lovely Hadassah, whom we have come to know as Esther.\u00a0 There is something oppressive at work when people attempt to rename others without their consent.\u00a0 To seek to modify one\u2019s name is communicate a divine type of power over them.\u00a0 This spiritual and immoral stop-and-frisk from the bench of Newport, TN ought to send shockwaves through our religious and political communities.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Sadly, many people in the faith community may find Ballew\u2019s actions to be rather auspicious.\u00a0 Some probably argue that she is merely, \u201cstanding strong for the faith of this great country.\u201d\u00a0 This cultural ignorance and religious bigotry is magnified when we adopt mythical narratives of American being a \u201cChristian Nation\u201d or founded on \u201cChristian principles\u201d.\u00a0 Historical and rhetorical research would inform us that our founding fathers were Deists\u2026 not Christians (NEWSFLASH: The name Jesus or the term Holy Spirit is not stated ANYWHERE in our founding documents).\u00a0 If we are going to honor our founding
\n documents and the lofty ideals of this nation we cannot object (and surely not \u201crule\u201d or \u201coverturn\u201d) when Hispanics name their child Jesus, when Muslims name their child Jihad or when African Americans name their child Jaleesa.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
In names, we find identity, creativity, heritage, legacy and personhood.\u00a0 Biblically, when people\u2019s names were \u201cchanged\u201d it usually communicated a change in character traits or ownership. I wonder if Ballew, all while wearing a robe in a \u201ccourt\u201d, subconsciously feels as though she owns those who enter her courtroom.\u00a0 What kind of impractical and insensitive theology supports this type of political and legal (or dare we say illegal) judgment?\u00a0 And where is she learning this from?\u00a0 I wonder who her pastor is and what he\/she has to say about this\u2026 probably nothing!\u00a0 Obviously, there are some of us who need our theology overturned.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Follow Earle on Twitter @pastor_earle<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

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by Earle FisherR3 Contributor I\u2019m usually up to speed on current events \u2013 especially those with religious and political impact.\u00a0 However, I was taken aback when my students in my World Religions class informed me of a judge ordering the name of a beautiful and bouncing baby boy to be changed from Messiah DeShawn Martin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThere is POWER in the NAME...Right?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Earle FisherR3 ContributorI\u2019m usually up to speed on current events \u2013 especially those with religious and political impact.  However, I was taken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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