Email to staff of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia

I sent the following email to the staff of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. I got two replies, but not a commitment to stop hosting neo-Confederate groups.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) has had their conventions at the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia every even year since the year 2000 and they have announced that the 2014 convention is going to be in Richmond. The Sons of Confederate Veteans (SCV) is scheduled to have a convention in Richmond, Virginia in 2015.

So when I am writing churches and faith groups I am mentioning both events. The following was the email I sent to all the staff which had emails on their webpage.

Emailed 2/1/2014

Dear St. Paul’s Episcopal Church:

If you go to www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm you will see that St. Paul’s church hosts neo-Confederate national conventions more than any other church in the United States. Look at the tables on the page for the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Also looking at the bar graphs the Episcopal church hosts almost half of the national neo-Confederate convention services.

In 2014 the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is scheduled to have their national convention in Richmond, Virginia and in 2015 the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is scheduled to have their national convention in Richmond, VA.

I am an investigative researcher into the neo-Confederate movement. I have been published internationally in peer reviewed academic journals, by university presses, and in “Black Commentator.”  You can see my resume online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

The racism and extremism of the SCV is well documented in this “Black Commentator” article. http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html. I am currently writing an article about the UDC, but I can send you documentation.  In 2013 they had an article in their magazine about Reconstruction which is startling in terms of its racism.

Neo-Confederate groups usually seek out a historical and architecturally impressive church. When a church allows a neo-Confederate group to use their church they lend the prestige of their denomination and the architectural prestige of their church building to the neo-Confederate group.

I ask you to not allow the UDC or the SCV to use your facilities or church building for their upcoming national conventions.  

Please share this email with Rev. Adams-Riley.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

Co-editor of “Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction,” Univ. of Texas Press, 2008 (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhagneo.html), and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’” Univ. Press of Mississippi 2010. (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338).  Author of chapter about the Civil War and Reconstruction in the notorious Texas teaching standards in Politics and the History Curriculum: The Struggle over Standards in Texas and the Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  http://www.keitherekson.com/books/politics-and-the-history-curriculum/