There Is POWER In The NAME…Right?

by Earle Fisher
R3 Contributor

I’m usually up to speed on current events – especially those with religious and political impact. 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 to Martin DeShawn McCullough. 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.

My look and perplexity was due to a series of problematic factors with this “ruling.” Ruling here is an apropos term because it implies the forcible imposition of one’s 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. Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew“ruled” that what Jaleesa Martin bequeathed to her child as a namesake (Messiah) was improper, inadequate and unwarranted. She grounded her “ruling” in her own religious and cultural biases suggesting that since the child would be reared in a predominantly Christian community that people would, “put him at odds with a lot of people.” She went on to say that Martins child had not “earned” this “title.” I guess the months of labor Jaleesa endured didn’t “earn” her the right to name her child something that is phonetically and consistent in alliteration with what her other children have been named either. No way around it, this is a #EPICFAIL!

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. To be clear, I don’t presume Ballew to have intended to be so dehumanizing to Martin (both the mother and the child). She very well may have presumed she was doing them a favor. 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. People ought to have the liberty (granted by God AND the U.S. Constitution) to name their child what they choose – irrespective of the politics of respectability that attempt to force underprivileged minorities into a white-middle-class conformity.

To suggest that what a person has chosen to call their child is not a name, but in fact, by Ballew’s estimation, a “title” is not only a violation of the first amendment, it’s a violation of a Christian mandate to “love your neighbor like you love yourself.” Ballew obviously sees herself and her community as above Martin. 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). We’ve forgotten the name (and by proxy the historical identity and ancestral heritage) of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah because “The palace master GAVE THEM other names” – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (who is referred to in several African American communities as “A BAD NEGRO!”)” The same is true of the lovely Hadassah, whom we have come to know as Esther. There is something oppressive at work when people attempt to rename others without their consent. To seek to modify one’s name is communicate a divine type of power over them. This spiritual and immoral stop-and-frisk from the bench of Newport, TN ought to send shockwaves through our religious and political communities.

Sadly, many people in the faith community may find Ballew’s actions to be rather auspicious. Some probably argue that she is merely, “standing strong for the faith of this great country.” This cultural ignorance and religious bigotry is magnified when we adopt mythical narratives of American being a “Christian Nation” or founded on “Christian principles”. Historical and rhetorical research would inform us that our founding fathers were Deists… not Christians (NEWSFLASH: The name Jesus or the term Holy Spirit is not stated ANYWHERE in our founding documents). If we are going to honor our founding

documents and the lofty ideals of this nation we cannot object (and surely not “rule” or “overturn”) when Hispanics name their child Jesus, when Muslims name their child Jihad or when African Americans name their child Jaleesa.

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

Follow Earle on Twitter @pastor_earle

There is POWER in the NAME…Right?