The tyranny of consensus
A couple weeks ago I finished my pastorate in Vermont and moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, where I will be starting a new pastorate next week.
Last week we found that our new town doesn’t have fireworks on the Fourth of July. The reason is not that these folks don’t love their history. Exeter played an active part in the American Revolution and even has a museum dedicated to American independence here in town. Instead, the town chooses to honor their history by pushing their celebration from the fourth to a date later in the month, when in 1776 one of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence arrived in town and was read to the assembled crowds.
Here’s how you might picture that event in your mind 238 years later: a guy in a three-cornered hat rides into town holding the Declaration. Someone else stands in the middle of a crowd and reads it. And then, because everyone loves freedom, there's a huge block party complete with fireworks and everyone is happy to be an American.
