Tag Archives: England

20th Century, eugenics, Fascism, Health, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Medicine, Minnesota, omnipresent history, Science, Uncategorized

Minnesota Eugenics Society Forms 1923

Charles-F-Dight-letter-to-Hitler

1923

“In the early 1920s, Charles Fremont Dight, a physician in Minneapolis, launched a crusade to bring the eugenics movement to Minnesota. He combined the moral philosophy of eugenics with socialism and espoused that the state should administer reproduction of mentally handicapped individuals. His main lines of approach included eugenics education, changes in marriage laws, and the segregation and sterilization of what he called “defective” individuals. Dight organized the Minnesota Eugenics Society in 1923 and began campaigning for a sterilization law.” *

England was the birthplace of eugenics, and Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, the movement’s father. The term became the name of a progressive project of improving the human species by controlling genetic selection. He aimed to apply the creed of “survival of the fittest” to the human race. Think of it, perhaps, as an attempt to create human thoroughbreds.

American progressives founded or led many organizations like Dight’s during this era: Eugenics Record Office, National Conference on Race Betterment, the American Breeders Association, New York Zoological Society, and the Human Betterment Foundation. Leaders of the movement included: Harry Laughlin, Charles Davenport, Leon Whitney, Madison Grant, Paul Popenoe, Eugene Gosney, Margaret Sanger,  and progressive philanthropist Clarence Gamble. As a brief example of the severity of this movement were Mr. Laughlin’s call for mass sterilization of 10% of the population of the US.** 

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. We recognize that Dr. Dight sought to improve our state through advocating for eugenics. We recognize that he sought the betterment of his fellow Minnesotan through work in medicine, socialist politics, and as an educator at Hamline and the University of Minnesota. We give You thanks for his heart to bless others, and minimize disease and suffering.

That said, we recognize the limitations, firstly, of any political system to bring lasting change to our State. Humanistic politics cannot touch the heart and spirit of human beings, but it can mostly control external behaviors. Will You forgive our faith in the progressivism of this era instead of You? Will You forgive the idea that behavior modification does not necessitate a change of heart? Will You forgive our misbelief that compliance equals agreement, but taken to its extremes is an agent that fractures human souls and spirits?

Next, we have simultaneously believed in the goodness of the rule of man and have stood in opposition to the rule of man in our espousal of socialism.  We negated the wisdom of Madison, Adams, and Jefferson that our rights are unalienable. That means that a human being has no power to alienate, dispose of by surrender, barter, or gift the rights given by the Ancient of Days.**** Will You forgive the sins of dualism during this era with our attempts to hold two contradictory beliefs simultaneously? More importantly, will You forgive this affront to Your parental rights and value of every human being?

As a citizen of Minnesota, and a child of G-d, I disavow the judgmental, cursing misbeliefs of Dight. I disavow his national socialist (Nazi) medicine empathies that science can create a “master race” through eugenics, and that such control would be beneficial. I disavow Dight’s letter to Hitler praising his efforts to “stamp out mental inferiority”.*** Will You take the sins within these root untruths that have cursed our State for nearly 100 years up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Will You bless genetic research that comports with Your values system?

Will You forgive our attempts to impeach You as the Sovereign of our civil, legal, and political authority of our society?Will You forgive our contemptuous dismissal of that which You have created as perfectly imperfect? Will You help us recognize that all genes, even broken, diseased, or “politically undesirable” ones have a purpose and worth in Your culture? Will You give us wisdom and humility as scientists as we attempt to genetically modify Your creation? Bless us in Minnesota to see that, perhaps, every gene bears Your fingerprints and is, therefore a bearer of “unalienable rights” and priceless worth?

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,… 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28 Berean Study Bible

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie (Washington DC: Regnery, 2017)pp151-155.

*** Read more on Dight and the ties between Progressivism, Socialism, and Fascism in this movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fremont_Dight

http://praythroughhistory.com****http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/AmericanIdeal/yardstick/pr3.html

 

 

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20th Century, Boys, Environment, Exploration, Faith, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Leadership, Men, Minnesota, omnipresent history, outdoors

Minnesota Boy Scouts Organization Forms 1910

journal_1913boyscouts

1910

“A growing fear of “boys in trouble” leads to the founding of Minnesota’s first Boy Scout troop, only eight months after the organization arrives in the United States from England.” * 

What can I say and pray about the Scouts, Lord? For openers, thanks that it’s founders sought a way to connect boys with each other. Each Scout is an important part of his troop. For many, this is a first affirmation of their value as a human being and in his maleness. He learns that he can do his part and become worthy of trust. 

Even in failure, like forgetting key food items for a camping trip, the troop may rib him, but ultimately close ranks and support him. That Scout learns, “ I can make do if I’m in need, and overcome temporary discomfort.” What an important lifelong lesson!

Next, the Boy Scouts will get a child or teen out of his home environment. A city kid will see places that are truly wild and untamed. He will get to know nature, stop fearing the outdoors, and learn a proper respect for living things. He may explore the deserts, make camp in the snow, or learn wilderness survival. The Scouts exist to both invite and instill a sense of adventure in young men. 

Finally, a Scout becomes aware that he can learn expertise. A simple item, like a rope, becomes the means to teach him knots and lashings, but also symbolically recognizes his work by earning a merit badge. Why do the Scouts collect merit badges? Maybe, because its a tangible symbol of honor given by significant males, and then reinforcing the message in a ceremony that says“Well done!”

Lord, thanks for this important event in 1910. Thanks for, thereby, giving thousands of boys a place to belong, share adventures, learn life skills, and to give and receive honor. Will You help them thrive in helping Minnesota boys become men? Will You give us inspiration as a society to create more pathways, like the Scouts, that call our boys out of complacency and into a life of purpose, expertise, relationship, and adventure? 

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**More on the character traits taught by the Scouts. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/content/scout_law-1760.asp

 

 

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18th Century, government, History, Intercession, Jesus, Minnesota, war

England claims 1763

Battle_of_Zorndorf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“England acquires France’s claims east of the Mississippi and all of Canada through the treaty that ends Europe’s Seven Years’ War.” *

Father, You have given us boundaries: as individuals, families, and nations! You  are a gentleman, and respect our self-imposed limits. You allow us to make good choices. You allow us to make bad choices. Thanks that You are our good dad who lets us learn through following our desires to their ends!

Lord will You unravel the tangle imposed by this claim? Lord, will you forgive any harsh judgments of the people of England, France, and their disputes surrounding the Mississippi? Will You forgive their land-based rivalries in Canada? Will You unite Minnesota in the heavens so we can be united as a people in our familial, social, political, and ethnical realms?

We judge each other so quickly and easily, forgetting that we too have betrayed. Have mercy on our assessments of other Minnesotans! Have mercy on the grudges of this state’s past, present, and future!

*Note – PrayThroughHistory uses the timeline located for several years at the Minnesota Historical Society Web site, at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm .  The current URL is www.dipity.com/Minnesota/History/Minnesota-History/ and only works if typed, not pasted, in browser. It is worth the effort!

 

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