Letter to United Methodist Church Bishop Holston of South Carolina

Working down the lists of churches that have hosted either the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) or the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention services I am writing Bishop L. Jonathan Holston of the South Carolina Conference United Methodist Church by certified mail. The United Methodist Church (UMC) hasn't every hosted a national convention service for the SCV since 1990. However, UMC churches do host the SCV for meetings.

The following is the letter:

                                                                                                1/14/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

Bishop L. Jonathan Holston

South Carolina Conference United Methodist Church

4908 Colonial Dr.

Columbia, SC 29203

Dear Rev. Holston:

The United Methodist Church is the fourth most frequent host for neo-Confederate organizations United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention memorial services from 1990 to 2013. I enclose a bar graph of denominations which host the SCV and a bar graph of denominations which have hosted the UDC from 1990 to 2013 and a map of churches which host either the SCV or UDC national convention services.  These documents can also be found online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is planning on holding their 2014 convention in Charleston, SC and they will be looking for church facilities to hold their convention service. Enclosed is a table of churches which the SCV conventions have used in the 21^st century. Though the United Methodist Church (UMC) has not hosted the SCV since 1990, the UMC does host neo-Confederate national conventions and SCV chapter meetings.

Please find enclosed documentation about the SCV. Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html .

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar. I also enclose a copy of my academic resume which is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

I ask that the United Methodist Church not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta