National Cathedral decides to get rid of Confederate flag stain glass, maybe the United Methodist Church will learn from this example and give up the Confederacy.

The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. has decided to get rid of their stain glass Confederate battle flags.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/06/08/washington-national-cathedral-to-remove-confederate-battle-flags-from-its-windows/?tid=sm_tw

These stain glasses were donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in the 20th century, I think in the 1940s or 50s. They considered it one of their prize accomplishments.

This follows after St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, first dis-invited the UDC and then decided to get rid of Confederate memorialization.

This is the story about St. Paul dis-inviting the UDC.
http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2014/nov/07/confederates-hold-service-downtown-church/

This blog posting has a whole host of articles about St. Paul's giving up the Confederacy.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2015/10/st-paul-episcopal-church-moves-to-rid.html#.V1oXN_krKiM

Perhaps this will get the United Methodist Church to give up enabling neo-Confederate groups.

The campaign against churches enabling the Confederacy is documented at:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html

The Episcopal Church was the leading enabler of neo-Confederate groups, but that seems to be coming to an end.

I am tied up with an important project, but I plan to get back on the topic of churches. The action of removing the Confederate battle flag from the National Cathedral will send a message to all the churches.

There are other churches with Confederate stain glass battle flags such as at the Old Blandford Church in Petersburg, Virginia. Now that stain glass now can be questioned. If one church has gotten rid of a Confederate battle flag, why not another.

Religious Scholar gives his assessment of the meaning of Confederate iconography at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond

http://openfriendshipinaclosedsociety.blogspot.com/2015/08/signs-of-crimes-and-forgiving-victim.html


The above is the link. The reassessment of church's connections to the Confederacy is happening.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is the church I wrote back in 2014. They first decided to disinvite the United Daughters of the Confederacy, then they decided to assess their Confederate imagery in the Church.


The correspondence and news articles can be read at this link.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richmond-2014-2015.html

St. Paul Episcopal Church moves to rid itself of Confederate symbols, Ashley Luskey chatters to try to save the white geographic space

In 2014 as a result of my letters to them, St. Paul's Episcopal Church dis-invited the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2014/nov/07/confederates-hold-service-downtown-church/

This is part of my general campaign to get churches to not host neo-Confederate groups.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html

To my surprise St. Paul's Episcopal Church has further decided to get ride of Confederate memorials that are part of the church itself.

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_fda4f734-e732-5c7f-bbe3-5f66f1f09cb3.html

This effort is not unique to St. Paul's Cathedral. Another Episcopal Church, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. is getting rid of its Confederate stain glass.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/living/national-cathedral-confederate-images/

The effort by St. Paul's has led to discussions by historians, including one by Ashley Luskey who published a rational for St. Paul's to keep the Confederate memorials.

Kevin Levin did an interesting blog posting with links to two articles on the topic.

Kevin Levin's blog posting is:

http://cwmemory.com/2015/10/01/st-pauls-episcopal-and-the-limits-of-public-history/

Christopher Graham blog posting is:

https://whighill.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/historians-doing-historian-things-on-confederate-monuments-is-not-enough/

Then there is Ashley Luskey's writing on the topic:

http://publichistorycommons.org/ashley-luskey-civil-war-memory-post/
She voices the usual justifications, "history is being white washed" etc. She doesn't seem to get it that the Confederate symbols glorify the Confederacy and have power as long as they are in their place.

I have written this before, "Every Confederate monument whispers, 'Civil Rights might be the slogan of the day, but white supremacy is for the ages.'"

Kevin Levin's blog posting and Christopher Graham's posting make good points and refute Luskey.

I think that all three however miss the big picture about race and Christianity and these historic churches.

These historic churches are usually downtown in metropolises of substantial size. In many cases people whose parents or grandparents attended those churches have moved (fled) to the suburbs. In a lot of cases the church is finally closed down and sold to another denomination with an urban demographic. ( I mean minorities.)

There is a church in my neighborhood a few blocks away which was sold since the members were getting tired of driving from the suburbs into Oak Cliff, a part of Dallas. I was told that they held on for a while, but as the older members died off and the younger members were growing up in the suburbs it finally came to an end.

In other cases, for churches that think they are universal and that have a history of African American and Hispanic members will, they will consider recruiting members from those people that live downtown.

I can tell you that Ashley Luskey's chattering rationalizations aren't going to be generally accepted by minority members.  I am sure that the Walter Williams of the world will be glad to go to a church with Confederate symbols, but most African Americans don't want Confederate symbols around when they are dealing with life issues.

Another issue is that Christianity's center of gravity is leaving the West. Christianity started as a religion in Asia and its center of gravity is leaving or has left the West. Interest in religion is declining in the West. Christianity is thriving outside the West.

The Anglican Communion has a great many members in Africa. It is a global faith.

The Confederacy is baggage that American Episcopal church doesn't need if it wishes to be connected to a global Christianity. The same goes for other American churches.

Besides planning on writing Richardson and Dallas churches in the coming year, I am planning on writing religious leaders concerned with race overseas and in Africa. Let the United Methodist Church explain to their members there why they are fooling around with the Confederacy.

Front page article in "Richmond Free Press" about Churches hosting the United Daughters of the Confederacy, St. Paul's Episcopal Church had dis-invited the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Historic Richmond Foundation doesn't seem to care that it is enabling neo-Confederates. UPDATE

The link to the article in the Richmond Free Press is:

http://issuu.com/richmondfreepress/docs/rfp_110614/1?e=13821893/10042171

UPDATE: Another link to the article which people might find easier to use.
http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2014/nov/07/confederates-hold-service-downtown-church/?page=1

You will need to click on it to enlarge it, and there is a square button to really enlarge it.

The article is on pages 1A and 4A at the bottom of the page. The issue is Vol. 23 No. 45, Nov. 6-8, 2014.

The Historic Richmond Foundation is defending their decision to rent to the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).  Mary Jane Hogue's rationalizations show an organization which doesn't care about racism.

The UDC refused to respond to inquiries from the Richmond Free Press.

What was very interesting was this section of the article:

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Downtown had hosted the UDC memorial service eight times since 1994 and agreed to host it again this year. But the church later rescinded the invitation, according to the church's rector, the Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, after the UDC failed to agree to a meeting with congregation members to discuss the group's views and how they impact other people. 

"I've been here six years and questions grew among some of the people at St. Paul's wondering if hosting that was consistent with who we are at St. Paul's," Rev. Adams-Riley said. "We were wrestling with  that."  

He said UDC officially initially agreed to meet congregants, but then pulled out of the meeting. He said he then informed them they'd have to hold the memorial service elsewhere.

The Episcopal Church has chosen to reject the Confederacy and they are the first denomination to do so. It sets a good example for other churches and denominations.

This news story also shows that this issue will reach the public. Other churches will have to consider that their record will be before the public. I think that alone will bring an end to the practice.

Finally it shows that simple persistence can do a lot.

Episcopalians not hosting the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Richmond, VA

It turns out that the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is having its memorial service at Monumental Church which is run by the Historic Richmond Foundation.

http://www.historicrichmond.com/preservation-monumental.php

Evidently they found nothing wrong with enabling a neo-Confederate group.

It does show that the Episcopalians, though not responding to my letters, have decided not to host the UDC this year.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church had hosted the UDC six times since 2000 and every year the UDC had their convention in Richmond 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012.

www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

So it is somewhat odd that they didn't host this year. I think my letter writing campaign has had an effect.

One scenario I had for the campaign was that the denominations wouldn't reject the Confederacy outright, and would avoid responding to me as much as possible, but instead quietly not accept reservations.

In Charleston, SC the denomination that hosted the SCV was a church with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).  There hasn't been a SBC church hosting the SCV since 1990, and only once for the UDC in 2001. I hadn't even written them thinking they wouldn't do it.

All four of the denominations I did right, including both factions of the Episcopalians, did not host the SCV.

What is interesting is that the neo-Confederates have been castigating the SBC for their apology over slavery since 1993. The SBC aided their own enemies.

So it seems that I will need to write other denominations even if they have only hosted once since 1990.

It maybe that with no public declaration from any denominations I will achieve my goal in terms of getting mainstream denominations not to host neo-Confederate groups.

"12 Years a Slave" movie wins "Best Picture" Oscar. UPDATED: Additional material has been added.

From the Los Angeles Times, "12 Years a Slave" movie wins "Best Picture" Oscar.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscars-2014-academy-awards,0,6353563.story#axzz2utpQbMQk

The Gone With The Wind view of slavery seems to be gone with the wind. All the years of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) trying to portray slavery as somehow justifiable is undone.

Further the movie "12 Years a Slave" is going to be used in classrooms to teach students about slavery.

http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/24/12-years-a-slave-will-be-taught-in-schools/

The following is a trailer for the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg

Double click to get full view.



You can get a PDF of the original book here.
https://ia600500.us.archive.org/5/items/12yearsaslave00nortrich/12yearsaslave00nortrich.pdf

This is a "New York Times" article about the book from 161 years ago.

http://gawker.com/this-is-the-161-year-old-new-york-times-article-about-1-1535199589

A good article worth reading about kidnapping of free African Americans in Antebellum New York City to be sold into slavery.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/untold-history-beneath-12-years-article-1.1706946

The response of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) will likely to be either to wail and moan that it is an attack on the South, or shift through the movie and find some minor or minute technical error to make the claim that the whole movie is is historically inaccurate, or to make up some historical claim which they will represent as a historical error to claim that the whole movie is historically inaccurate.

Primarily though they will bring up a lot of historical claims which don't really relate to the movie but will serve as a distraction and misdirection away from the substance of the movie, but which they will claim some how discredits the movie.

A particular way they will attack the film without discussing the contents will be to focus on attacking Hollywood and the film as a product of Hollywood.

H.K. Edgerton will be showcased with the idea, that if any black person rejects the movie than the it is okay for the SCV members to reject it also for whatever reasons that might motivate them.

Of course there could be just a lot of ranting and raving too.

Maybe St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond should get a copy and review it.

Perhaps I will suggest that the leadership of the United Methodist Church (UMC) consider viewing it before they continue to host the UDC and SCV. Maybe the UMC will give up the Confederacy. www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

Richardson, Texas and Richmond, Virginia pages online.

The web pages for Richardson, Texas 2016 and Richmond, Virginia 2014, 2015 are now online.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/Richmond20142015.htm

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/RichardsonTexas2016.htm

Letter to the Rectors, Vestry, and Ministers of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia

The following is the letter which I am sending by certified mail to the rectors, vestry, and ministers of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, tomorrow on Monday. The letter is address to Rev. Adams-Riley and copied to the others listed at the end. I wish the leadership to be entirely informed about this issue.

At this blog posting I have the email I sent last weekend.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2014/02/email-to-staff-of-st-pauls-episcopal.html#.UveWjfldWSo

I don't think they will want to be know as America's leading church for hosting neo-Confederate groups.

I will be sending a copy to the Episcopal bishops also, along with a letter addressed to them.

                                                                       February 10, 2014

                                                                       Edward H. Sebesta

                                                                       esebesta@tx.rr.com

Rev. D. Wallace Adams-Riley - Rector

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

815 E. Grace St.

Richmond, VA 23219

Dear Rev. Adams-Riley:

I am an investigative researcher of the neo-Confederate movement. I am published internationally in peer reviewed academic journals and by university presses as well as in Black Commentator. I enclose a copy of my online resume which is also available at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

I am writing you to request that your church stop hosting the neo-Confederate groups the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The 2014 UDC national convention is scheduled to be in Richmond, Virginia. From the year 2000 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has hosted the UDC national convention services every other year, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012. Please see the Excel table enclosed. From 1990 to 2013 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church hosted the UDC national convention services 9 times, out of the 12 times an Episcopal Church has hosted the UDC from 1990. If you look at the enclosed bar graph of denominations hosting the UDC from 1990 to 2013 you can see that St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has by itself made the Episcopal Church the most frequent UDC convention hosting denomination, more than all the other denominations combined.

The 2015 SCV national convention is scheduled to be in Richmond, Virginia. Though St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has only last hosted the SCV in 1996, Episcopal churches in general are tied with Roman Catholic churches for hosting SCV national conventions since 1990. I enclose an Excel table of the churches that hosted from 1990 to 2013 and a bar graph of hosting by denominations.

The bar graphs and Excel tables mentioned above are also online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

One concern I have developed in investigating neo-Confederate groups is how they are enabled by mainstream organizations such as corporations, churches, government bodies and others. So I have decided to ask these groups to reconsider their relations with specific neo-Confederate groups. It is all well and good that I have written on extremist Confederate Christian nationalist for the Canadian Review of American Studies (http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf), but I have realized that the enabling of a racist historical consciousness in the general public and racist neo-Confederate groups by mainstream churches is as detrimental to America as these fringe churches. The Christianity advocated by the SCV is largely similar, you can review their Chaplain’s Chronicle online at http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php.

 The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an extremist and racist group of which is extensively documented in a Black Commentator article which is available online at a free guest link at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html.  (Link is also in my online resume.)

In the summer of 2013 I had a successful campaign getting corporations to stop supporting the SCV as reported in a Black Commentator article which is available online at a free guest link at http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html. (Link is also in my online resume.) It took eight days for this campaign to succeed. I regret to say that so far the temples of Mammon were much more willing to give up neo-Confederacy than the churches of Christ.

The SCV often selects a historic and architecturally impressive church to hold their national convention service. When a faith group allows the SCV to use their church there is an implied endorsement to the extent that the SCV is an acceptable group to be using their facilities which normalizes them despite their extremist and racist agenda. The use of a historic and architecturally impressive church lends the prestige of the church building to the SCV.

I ask that St. Paul’s Episcopal Church not enable the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2014 or in any other year by allowing them the use of their facilities.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy has a lengthy history of supporting white supremacy going back to the early 20^th century shortly after they had finished organizing. You can see many primary documents regarding their racism at www.confederatepastpresent.org and use the search term “daughters.”

However, their racism is not confined to the past. This is an organization that currently runs a Red Shirt Shrine to glorify a violent white supremacist group in 19^th century South Carolina and of which they are proud of as documented in the June/July 2001 UDC Magazine article, pages 23, 24, and the cover of their magazine. In an article in the Dec. 2012 UDC Magazine, pages 11-14, is an appalling racist article in which the infamous post-Civil War Black Codes of the former Confederate states are defended, African American men are represented have been potential rapists, the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution is argued to be misguided, freed African Americans are asserted to have been incompetent to be citizens. The article asserts, “Newly liberated Negroes were not prepared for their freedom…” These are but two contemporary examples of the UDC’s racism. Documentation enclosed.

Allowing the UDC the use of a prominent historical and architectural church such as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church enables the UDC by lending the UDC the use of the building the prestige of the building as well as the prestige of the Episcopal Church.

Finally the SCV and the UDC exist to glorify the Confederacy a government created to perpetuate slavery and white supremacy.

The British academic, Michael Billig in his landmark book, “Banal Nationalism,” discusses the fact that the discussion of nationalism usually revolves around extremists to the exclusion of seeing the banal nationalism in everyday life. Billig contrasts the focus of the usual analyst of nationalism to the analyst of banal nationalism as follows:

The analyst of banal nationalism does not have the theoretical luxury of exposing the nationalism of others. The analyst cannot place exotic nationalists under the microscope as specimens, in order to stain the tissues of repressed sexuality, or turn the magnifying lens on to the unreasonable stereotypes, which ooze from the mouth of the specimen. In presenting the psychology of a Le Pen or Zhirinovsky, ‘we’ might experience a shiver of fear as ‘we’ contemplate ‘them’, the nationalists, with their violent emotions and ‘their’ crude stereotyping of the Other. And ‘we’ will recognize ‘ourselves’ among the objects of this stereotyping. Alongside the ‘foreigners’ and the ‘racial inferiors’, there ‘we’ will be – the ‘liberal degenerates’, with ‘our’ international broadmindedness. ‘We’ will be reassured to have confirmed ‘ourselves’ as the Other of ‘our’ Other.

By extending the concept of nationalism, the analyst is not safely removed from the scope of investigation. We might imagine that we possess a cosmopolitan broadness of spirit. But, if nationalism is a wider ideology, whose familiar commonplaces catch us unawares, then this is too reassuring. We will not remain unaffected. If the thesis is correct, then nationalism has seeped into the corners of our consciousness; it is present in the very words which we might try to use for analysis. It is naïve to think that a text of exposure can escape from the times and place of its formulation. It can attempt, instead, to do something more modest: it can draw attention to the powers of an ideology which is so familiar that it hardly seems noticeable. [ Billig, Michael, Banal Nationalism, Sage Publications, London, 1995.]

I extend Billig’s concept to a concept of banal white nationalism. My paper on it is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/breaking.htm. The presentation of racist groups in sensational media reports are of largely marginal individuals who we will socially never run into, who have belligerent attitudes and behaviors, use racial slurs, have poor middle class decorum, and who perhaps wear funny clothes. Like Billig’s extremists, they reassure us that we aren’t racist since we are not like them. However, if we realize that racist attitudes and practice need not be confined to belligerent individuals shouting racial slurs or confined to physical assaults, we should not be so self-assured ourselves and have to examine a much wider range of practices and consider if we are involved. Suddenly it can be people that we know and who socially circulate in the circles we circulate or it can be us circulating in those circles.

The UDC as a well mannered genteel group is largely not perceived as racist despite their ongoing practice as mentioned earlier in this letter.

There is a great opportunity for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to take a leadership role among American churches and set an example by stopping the hosting of neo-Confederate groups.

Again, I ask you not to host either the SCV or UDC. Additionally, I am asking for your help in my campaign against mainstream enabling of neo-Confederate groups by setting an example by not hosting either the SCV or UDC.

Regards,


Edward H. Sebesta

CC: Senior Warden & Vestry member Mark Gordon, Junior Warden & Vestry member Steve Micas, Vestry Advocate Spiritual Formation Board Christie Montgomery, Vestry Advocate Faith In Action/Outreach Board Bruce Cruser, Vestry Advocate Worship Board Brian Levy, Vestry Advocate Faith In Action/Outreach Board Michaelle Justice, Vestry Advocate Parish Life Board Dick Carlton, other Vestry members: Kia J. Bentley, Tom Smith, Barbara Davis, Chip Jones, Missy Benson, Sid Jones, Jennine Sherrill, and Cindy Wofford, Associate Rector Rev. Kate Jenkins, Downtown Missioner Rev. Melanie Mullen, Minister of Christian Formation Rev. Claudia Merritt.

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/