This is the draft press release which goes out this coming weekend to media, social justice groups, etc. I will be printing it out in the morning and editing

Which Church is Hosting the

Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2016?

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is having their 2016 national convention in Richardson, TX on July 13-17, 2016 http://www.scv2016.org/. Unlike past practice, but as in 2014 the SCV is going into stealth mode and is not announcing at which church their memorial service will be.

A campaign is underway to convince churches in the Dallas, Texas area not to host or lend their facilities to the SCV. A reasonable person would see that it is a racist and extremist organization by any reasonable standard which is documented at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html. The campaign to get churches not to host neo-Confederate groups is documented at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html and the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/412080045663443/.

However certain denominations have past records of hosting neo-Confederate groups.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS: They hosted the 2014 SCV national convention. It is documented online here. http://www.timesexaminer.com/historical/1914-2014-national-reunion-of-sons-of-confederate-veterans. A letter was written to the president of the Southern Baptists and copied to all 60 plus board members. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/southern-baptist-convention.html. There was no reply.  A letter was recently sent to the head of the Southern Baptists in Texas and all the board members and hopefully there will some response. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Historically they have frequently hosted SCV events.  (See enclosed Bar Graph.) In 2014 the former Bishop of Dallas was written but there was no reply. A letter was recently sent to Bishop Ferrell and hopefully there will be a reply. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH: Historically they have frequently hosted SCV events (See enclosed Bar Graph). In 2014 the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas was written and the reply was that he didn’t know of any church hosting the SCV, but he didn’t say that a church wouldn’t. Bill Murchison, contributor to Southern Partisan and former board member of the Texas League of the South is influential in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. A follow up letter has been sent to Bishop Summer and hopefully there will be a more definitive reply. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: They haven’t hosted too many SCV events, but many of their churches host SCV monthly meetings (See enclosed Excel sheet). The UMC has hosted national events for the United Daughters of the Confederacy repeatedly despite correspondence asking them not to. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/united-methodist-church.html.

The North Texas Conference Bishop McKee was written to in 2014, recently a follow up letter has been sent and hopefully there will be a reply.  Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html. 

PRESBYTERIAN USA:  They are in the top four of hosting national neo-Confederate convention events. (See enclosed Bar Graph.) The 1^st Presbyterian Church in Texarkana, AR, lent their facilities to the Children of the Confederacy national convention in 2015. Presbyterian Voices for Justice has raise the issue (See http://www.pv4j.org/network-news/new-network-news-june-2015.pdf) but it remains to be seen if the Presbyterian USA church will give up the Confederacy. Correspondence in 2014 went unanswered. Hopefully they will respond to a recent letter sent in 2016.   Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS: From the Bar Graphs you can see that other denominations have also hosted neo-Confederate events. Additionally certain Christian Reconstructionist groups and reactionary Presbyterian denominations have had an affinity for the Confederacy.

The article, "The US Civil War as A Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South," in the Canadian Review of American Studies, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 253-284, describes these conservative denominations. (Available online at: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf).

As some denominations stop hosting neo-Confederate groups others may step in to take their place. Remember it might be your church, ask and find out.

CORRESPONDANCE DOCUMENTED ONLINE:

As other religious leaders, denominations, churches and anti-racist groups are written to the correspondence will be online at: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html. Additionally documentation can be sent via Cloud Services to those interested.

CONTACT:

Ed Sebesta can be contacted by email at edwardsebesta@gmail.com. His curriculum vitae is enclosed. He was recently awarded the Spirit of Freedom medal by the African American Civil War Museum and is published by university presses, peer-reviewed academic journals, and Black Commentator. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/curriculum-vitae.html. 

Court Street United Methodist Church Scheduled to host Children of the Confederacy in Lynchburg, Virginia

COURT STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH SCHEDULED TO HOST CHILDREN OF THE CONFEDERACY

The Children of the Confederacy (CofC) is a group run by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to teach children that the Confederacy and its leaders were glorious.

They have an annual convention. The next is scheduled in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The Court Street United Methodist Church is scheduled to host the CofC Thursday, July 16, 2015 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm.

I am looking for someone in the area to help me in convincing them not to host. I think that if they knew that it was likely to come to the public's attention they would probably dis-invite the CofC.

I wrote them this certified letter:

April 25, 2015
Rev. Dr. Mark A. Tinsley
Court Street United Methodist Church
621 Court Street
Lynchburg, VA 24504

Dear Rev. Dr. Tinsley:

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 curriculum vitae which is also available athttp://www.templeofdemocracy.com/curriculum-vitae.html.

Recently I had a byline for an article at Politico, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/civil-war-american-south-still-loves-confederacy-116771.html#.VU4Fu_lVikp

I am writing regarding your hosting the Children of the Confederacy 61st Annual General Convention memorial event on Thursday, July 16, 2015. This is an organization run by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to indoctrinate young people that the Confederacy was glorious and not that it was an effort to perpetuate slavery and white supremacy. I enclose documentation that your church is chosen for this event.
Please find enclosed an article from the Richmond Free Press regarding churches hosting the 2014 UDC National Convention in Richmond, Virginia. In the article is the account of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church deciding that even though they have hosted the UDC eight times since 1994, they disinvited the UDC in 2014 and will not be hosting them in the future. This is the church that was attended by Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. The article is online at http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2014/nov/07/confederates-hold-service-downtown-church/

The United Methodist Church is the denomination 2nd most frequently hosting UDC national convention events and the only Methodist denomination hosting UDC national events. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Christian Methodist Church have not hosted since 1990 a single national convention of even of the UDC or the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). In fact I haven’t run across these other three denominations ever hosting a neo-Confederate event of any type at any time. I enclose two bargraphs of denomination hosting mentioned.. You can see these bargraphs online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html. 

This is somewhat surprising that the United Methodist Church hosts any neo-Confederate groups given that John Wesley was an abolitionist.

Given that it may well be that the Episcopal Church is going to stop hosting neo-Confederates, the United Methodist Church runs a risk of going forward starting in 2013 of becoming one of the leading denominations hosting neo-Confederate groups.
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/uploads/3/5/2/3/3523099/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 UDC has a lengthy history of supporting white supremacy going back to the early 20th century shortly after they had finished organizing. You can see many primary documents regarding their racism atwww.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 19th 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 14th 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…” In a Nov. 2007, UDC Magazine article, page 15 article the pro-KKK book “Southern By the Grace of God,” is recommended as a “treasure” to be given to members’ children. These are but three contemporary examples of the UDC’s racism. Documentation enclosed.

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 http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/breaking-the-white-nation.html.  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 in which we circulate.

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

I am writing you to ask you to not lend your facilities to the UDC for their 2015 Children of the Confederacy convention or for any unit of the UDC for any event. When a church lends their facility to the UDC or other neo-Confederate organization besides enabling them by giving them the use of their facility they also lend the prestige of their denomination and often a prominent historical church.

Sincerely Yours,
Edward H. Sebesta

United Daughters of the Confederacy can't find a church for their 2015 Convention

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) can't find a church for their 2015 convention.

This is the link for the information about the upcoming convention.

http://ncudc.org/2015.html

They are going to have the service in the hotel in which they are meeting.

I wrote the pastor of the Edenton Street United Methodist Church and though he claimed that his church had never agreed to be the host for the UDC service they weren't going to host the UDC. However, the UDC had the Edenton Street United Methodist Church listed in their original 2015 web page which is archived at the Internet archive as follows:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130611041742/http://ncudc.org/2015GeneralConv.html

Of course it might be that the service is being held at a church in Raleigh, NC.

I had written a coalition of churches that claimed to be for social justice, they didn't want to deal with it, but I suspect that they also made a note not to host the UDC.

The Campaign for 2015, getting churches and other mainstream institutions to give up the Confederacy and stop enabling neo-Confederated groups

The major focus for 2015 will be to get churches and other mainstream organizations to stop enabling neo-Confederate groups.

The campaign with the churches is documented at www.templeofdemocracy.com. You can look at the over view of the campaign, or the campaign by denominations and cities. The letters written and responses will be reported on those pages.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) will be having their national convention in Richmond, Virginia and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is having their national convention in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Edenton United Methodist Church pastor has written me and told me that they are not hosting the UDC and that he doesn't know why his church showed up on the North Carolina Division UDC website as being a hosting church. I don't know whether to believe him. I am not saying that he isn't to be believed, but I don't think the North Carolina Division UDC would have the Edenton United Methodist Church as its location for its service if it didn't have some idea that it was going to meet there.

Last year I had a lot of time devoted to developing a presentation I could take on the road and present and getting together a working set of equipment for the presentation. This year a lot more time will be devoted to this campaign.

Wrote President of the United Methodist Church about hosting neo-Confederate groups.

I wrote Rev. Rosemarie Wenner, President of the United Methodist Church (UMC) about their hosting neo-Confederates.

The letter is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/UnitedMethodistChurch.htm

I copied the other members of the Executive Committee.

I did include some bar graphs of UDC hosting and SCV hosting by Methodist denominations. There is only one bar on the graph since it seems that the other Methodist denominations: African Methodist Episcopal Church, and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Church have no record of hosting neo-Confederate groups. Perhaps there is some obscure doctrinal difference that I don't understand between these Methodist denominations and the United Methodist Church. 

United Daughters of the Confederacy realizes that they are an embarrassment to the churches

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) has realized that they are an embarrassment to the churches. They are going into stealth mode.

If you view this web page http://www.ncudc.org/2015GeneralConv.html today (3/16/2014) about the North Carolina Division of the UDC you will notice that they are planning on having a church service for their 2015 reunion at a church in downtown Raleigh, NC.

However, if you go to the Internet archive and view their web page as it was on Jan. 1, 2014:

https://web.archive.org/web/20131109190519/http://www.ncudc.org/2015GeneralConv.html

The above link stopped working, try this link below.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130611041742/http://ncudc.org/2015GeneralConv.html

You would see that they are planning to have their memorial service at Edenton Street United Methodist Church.

I have a printed out Google Cache page showing that as late as Jan. 22, 2014 the web page mentioned Edenton Street United Methodist Church. http://esumc.org/

Edenton Street United Methodist Church also runs The Gathering which is at this link. http://estreetgathering.net/ They are current with the trends, they are multiracial, and it might be that they are sharing space occasionally with the UDC.

The Edenton Street United Methodist Church has a concert for Black History Month:  http://esumc.org/news-item/concert-for-black-history-month/ and they were listed as the church for the North Carolina Division UDC.

There is no reason that the UDC would hide the fact that they are meeting at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church unless they realized their accommodation by the Edenton Street United Methodist Church would be an embarrassment to the Edenton Street United Methodist Church.

It might be argued that the church name was dropped from the North Carolina UDC web page for the 2015 reunion so Ed Sebesta wouldn't know about it. Certainly that is one reason. But if the UDC's presence at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church wasn't embarrassing my writing to the church would have no effect and my being aware of this reunion at Edenton Street United Methodist Church would have no effect. If the Edenton Street United Methodist Church thought hosting the UDC was a good thing they would put it on their website.

There are two important things in this recent development.

1. The UDC has realized it is an embarrassment to churches. They are starting to pull the names of the churches from their schedules to spare the church embarrassment. The UDC is acknowledging that they are an embarrassment through their actions and demonstrating through their actions that they realize that a large fraction of the public has a negative perception of them and that their public association with a church would undermine the church's reputation. Also by keeping the name hidden of the church they plan on meeting at they communicate to the membership that they are undesirables.

2. The UDC has listed what churches they will be meeting at as one of the positive features of their conventions. If they stop listing the church they give up a selling point of the convention.

3. As they cover up their involvements with churches they start writing themselves out of the historical record.

At some point the UDC will be pulling the name of the churches from their published schedules for the upcoming conventions and won't be mentioning the churches in their reports for the convention.

Additionally once they start sneaking about to have their memorial services at a church they then make the church a collaborator. It can't be imagined that the church leadership would be unaware that the memorial service is being conducted in such a way to avoid pubic scrutiny as the church leadership observes that their church name is not listed on the UDC schedule and as the topic of churches' hosting neo-Confederate groups becomes more and more a matter for discussion among the public. The church leadership thus transitions from being an witting passive host to being an active supporter of the UDC.

Also, if something is being done covertly, secretly, isn't it a mystery, a subject of interest? Isn't their a potential of an expose'? Doesn't it become a dirty secret?

Also, if the UDC knows that there is a developing controversy over this matter, but they conceal it from the church they plan to meet at, how will the church feel when they find out that they were kept uninformed?

Has the Edenton United Methodist Church cancelled the North Carolina UDC memorial service at their church? I don't know. I got an unsolicited email from someone claiming to be a member of the church. Later he said that the church had cancelled, but the person wasn't using one of the church's email addresses. When I asked that there be confirmation by the church I didn't hear back. I emailed the same person at his official Edenton United Methodist Church email and I didn't hear back. So I sent a certified letter asking him to confirm the emails sent. So far haven't heard back but it is too soon to say whether I am going to hear back or not.

However, the North Carolina UDC convention website does mention that it is going to be  local church. If the UDC was actually rejected I think that neo-Confederate would be complaining all over the Internet.

If I don't hear back I am writing the staff of the church by certified mail. I will also be giving reasons why they shouldn't host the UDC.

At this time I can't say whether the North Carolina UDC convention will be happening at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church in 2015 or not, but I have I have a long time between now 2015 to find out.

So far I am not hearing much back from the churches except when they want to tell me they aren't involved, or won't be involved. Except in one case, I am not getting anyone defending the practice of hosting neo-Confederate groups. If the churches thought it was a good thing they would be defending it. They know it is a dirty secret also. (I will be blogging about the church leader who defended the practice.)

I will be blogging on the Edenton United Methodist Church matter as things develop.

I am already winning in this campaign. The campaign is documented at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

Churches which host Children of the Confederacy national convention services added to Churches of the Confederacy web page

I have a table of churches which have hosted the Children of the Confederacy (CofC) which is an organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

It has been added to the main page tracking the campaign regarding churches enabling neo-Confederate groups.

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

The reporting on the national conventions of the Children of the Confederacy is a little uneven and so for some years it isn't known whether they had a church service and if so where.

The three denominations stand out: Episcopal Church, Presbyterian USA, and the United Methodist Church.

This upcoming year the Children of the Confederacy will be using the First Presbyterian Church of Texarkana, Texas.

http://www.firstprestexarkana.org/

"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.

More web pages disappear, Alabama Div. Sons of Confederate Veterans deletes major web page in response to Church writing campaign

I was looking for www.aladivscv.com/camps.htm on the Internet for Alabama Division Sons of Confederate Veterans camp meeting locations. I couldn't find it.

It is archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20130818164435/http://aladivscv.com/camps.htm. You will notice that there are tabs at the bottom for each section of Alabama.

You can see it is an extensive list of where Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) camps meeting in Alabama including many churches. When it was on the Internet I printed it out with URL and date stamps on each page for my records.

When I inquired on Facebook, Grand Bay First United Methodist Church had told me that the SCV hadn't met at their church for some time and I had told them it was listed that they did and gave them the URL.

I don't know if it is true or not that the SCV no longer meets there. I will have to make inquiries.

It will be a major change if the SCV meetings in churches are done in secret. If in the future that becomes the practice than any church hosting them is in collusion. If in the future that becomes the practice the SCV can't but feel that they are a potential embarrassment to a church at which they meet.

Decatur United Methodist Church and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, collusion?

The First United Methodist Church of Decatur had on their web page www.decaturmethodist.org a listing for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in their calendar.  Sometime between the Jan. 7, 2014 Google Cache snap shot and today 3/1/2014 the SCV regular meeting disappeared from their schedule.

As of today 3/1/2014 the listing is still in the Google cache. It won't be there for long.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:97_kwvCmz1wJ:www.decaturmethodist.org/templates/System/details.asp%3Fid%3D58517%26PG%3DEvents%26CID%3D1347159%26rDate%3D2014-01-14+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

However, the calendar with the listing of the SCV is at www.archive.org.

https://web.archive.org/web/20131219084143/http://decaturmethodist.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=58517&PG=events&RecordType=&pkg=

You will have to wait a bit while it loads.

It seems that the First United Methodist Church of Decatur is covering up the fact that they let the SCV use the Wesley Center.

The First United Methodist Church of Decatur has been careless and hasn't entirely covered its tracks.
http://www.decaturmethodist.org/clientimages/58517/building%20use%20guidelines.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140301200024/http://www.decaturmethodist.org/clientimages/58517/building%20use%20guidelines.pdf

The SCV is still listing the First United Methodist Church of Decatur as a meeting place.

http://www.asjcampscv983.org/history.htm

http://www.asjcampscv983.org/news.htm

I had contacted the First United Methodist Church of Decatur and had blogged on the issue also.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2014/01/first-united-methodist-church-of.html#.UxI4l_ldWSo

Evidently the response was to hide the enabling of the SCV. It might be asked whether the church did stop hosting the SCV. If they did, I think they would tell me and the local SCV camp would be listing a new meeting place.

The documentation of the campaign to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

Confirmation. Boston Avenue United Methodist Church did host the United Daughters of the Confederacy national convention in 2013

I came across this newsletter for the Maryland Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in which they mention that they had their service at the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, OK.

This is the direct link to the newsletter.
http://www.mdudc.org/Newsletters/UDC_Division_Newsletter__-_Winter_2013.pdf

This is the Internet Archive link to the newsletter.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140219115149/http://www.mdudc.org/Newsletters/UDC_Division_Newsletter__-_Winter_2013.pdf

From the newsletter:

The Memorial Service on Sunday afternoon was held at the beautiful Boston Avenue United Methodist Church. The church is in downtown Tulsa, OK and has a congregation of over 8,500.

This shows how the architectural prominence off the building is used to enhance the prestige of the convention. Notice the reference to the location of the church and the size of the congregation to inform the reader that the church which allowed them this space is important.

The campaign is documented at www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm.

Writing, writing, Episcopal Bishops

I will be mailing certified letters to the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Richmond and the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is planning on their national reunion in Richmond in 2015 and in Richmond, TX, a suburb of Dallas, in 2016.

The letters are fairly similar to the letter in this blog posting of the letters to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA. The Dallas letters don't discuss the UDC.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2014/02/letter-to-rectors-vestry-and-ministers.html

The Dallas letters don't discuss the UDC.

With the series of letters I am writing the Episcopal Church, they are going to become aware that their workings with neo-Confederate groups are acquiring visibility. They may or may not say something about the issue, but I don't think the Episcopal Church wants to be publicly identified with the Confederacy or have any controversy regarding either the Confederacy itself or neo-Confederate groups. The SCV will just find that churches aren't available from the Episcopal Church though various reasons might be given.

As always if you go to www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm you can find the documentation on the campaign or links to other pages with documentation on the issue. Sometimes there will be a lag between a blog posting and updating the web page.

I will be writing the Roman Catholic bishops next. I am going to write the major denominations which host neo-Confederate groups first for all the upcoming national conventions for the UDC and SCV. First the Episcopal Church, then the Roman Catholic Church, then the United Methodist Church and finally the Presbyterian Church.

After writing the national leadership of the Episcopal Church and the conservative Anglican group, I will be writing the Archbishop of Canterbury. At some point I will be writing Pope Francis if action is not forthcoming from the Roman Catholic in America.

Again these churches might not have anything they want to say on the issue, but I don't think they want to be involved with controversy.

This is just the beginning. There are the interfaith groups in each city. There are social justice groups in these denominations. There are African American organizations within the denominations. There are social justice groups in these cities outside the denominations. Gradually awareness of the issue will get out there.

I will be writing national leaders of each denomination or the next level up.

At some point one denomination may take a stand. If any denomination takes a stand it will focus attention on the others.

Even then there are additional actions after this. I am curious what African Methodists will think of the United Methodist Church in America hosting neo-Confederates. What will the Episcopal Churches in Africa think about the fact that the Episcopal Church in America hosts almost half of the neo-Confederate national convention services. It very well might not be of great immediate or practical importance to them, but I can't but feel that it will mean something when they reflect on it in a quite moment between the day's busy affairs. Some African nations have historic sites about the slave trade. What would they think about American churches that host neo-Confederate churches?

I really can't and won't write Africa until I have exhausted writing letters to the leadership of the denominations in America and they do nothing.

Beyond this I will be writing scholars on the issue of race and religion both in the United States and elsewhere.

Basically as denominations realize that the letters will never stop and that through one way or another this issue will get before the public, they will have to consider what will their record on the issue will have been.

Churches that host United Daughters of the Confederacy meetings

I have added into the table at the following link churches that host United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) meetings and events besides the national conventions.

The link is:

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

The UDC table is below the table for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The UDC meets more often in members homes and also many chapters don't have web pages or their web page is not working. So there may well be more occasions where the UDC does meet in member's homes. I will have to find alternative means to get the meeting information.

However, the table is a start.

Churches that host the Sons of Confederate Veteran meetings table updated.

I have updated the table of the churches that host Sons of Confederate Veteran (SCV) meetings and have put it in this web page.

www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm

If there is a church that hosts a SCV meeting and it isn't on the list email me with the URL that documents it.

The other web page with just the table has been taken down.

UPDATE:

I have decided that since this table is likely to be updated frequently I have put the table back at this URL.

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

Churches Hosting Neo-Confederate Events

These are specific churches where neo-Confederate events have occurred. Mostly it is regular Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) monthly meetings.

This web page has been deleted http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm and the table has been moved to:

www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm


Many denominations are represented, but what is interesting is the preponderance of United Methodist Churches. However, this is through Googling and I might have some type of sampling bias.

UPDATE:

I moved the table back to the original URL:


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

John Wesley's book "Thoughts on Slavery" is available online free at Google Books

Google books has John Wesley's book, "Thoughts on Slavery."


http://books.google.com/books?id=iTdcAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=thoughts+on+slavery&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x6raUufkKYnOsAS1rYCIDQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=thoughts%20on%20slavery&f=false

In reading it you will soon figure out that the symbol "f" is used for the "s" sound. For example speaking is spelled "fpeaking."

I put this link in this blog and will do elsewhere as a benefit for the United Methodist Church who seems to have forgotten the anti-slavery views of John Wesley.

First United Methodist Church of Decatur hosts regularly Sons of Confederate Veteran meetings

What is ironic is that the Sons of Confederate Veterans meet in the Wesley Center at the First United Methodist Church of Decatur, Texas.

John Wesley an early Methodist leader was also against slavery.

http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_32.html

From this website about John Wesley's abolitionism:

The focus that Wesley needed came when Granville Sharp contested the case of a runaway slave (James Somerset) in the courts. Wesley was moved to study a text by the Philadelphia Quaker, Anthony Benezet. Wesley's journal shows that Benezet's work, and Lord Mansfield's deliberations in the case of Somerset, caused him much disquiet.

Two years later, in 1774, he wrote a tract called "Thoughts on Slavery" that went into four editions in two years. In it, he attacked the Slave Trade and the slave-trader with considerable passion and proposed a boycott of slave-produced sugar and rum.

Yet this church hosts monthly the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Allowing the SCV to meet at their church in a center named after Wesley makes a mockery of Wesley and also makes a person wonder if the First United Methodist Church of Decatur really has any understanding of the life of John Wesley.

This meeting is listed on the church calendar and it is no secret to the parishioners. Are they insensible to reflective thought?

http://www.decaturmethodist.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=58517&PG=Events&CID=1347159&rDate=2014-01-14

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

Bar Graph of denominations of churches that host neo-Confederate organizations. Seems the Episcopal church is the Church of the Confederacy Update

These graphs were generated as part of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church campaign. www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm.

Histogram of the denomination of the churches that host United Daughters of the Confederacy national convention services 1990 to the present. Click on image to see whole graph if you are not seeing the whole graph. It seems the Episcopal church is the faith of the Confederacy. UPDATE: I was able to get the specific Baptist denominations.

The distribution is different for churches that host national convention services for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Again click on the picture if you can't see it all. For the SCV the Episcopal church is still frequent, but the Roman Catholic church is more frequent. For eight years either a church wasn't used for the SCV national convention service or it wasn't possible to determine which church was used. Even so the Episcopal church and Roman Catholic church turned out to be frequently used.

Well we can see who is dreaming of a plantation Christmas.

The campaign against churches enabling neo-Confederacy can be followed at this web page: www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm

Boston Avenue United Methodist Church has hosted the United Daughters of the Confederacy before

It appears that in 1999 the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church hosted the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) national convention on Nov. 7, 1999.

It is really spitting in the face of Carol Moseley-Braun. It appears there is some ongoing relationship between the Boston Avenue UMC and the UDC.

The campaign against churches enabling neo-Confederacy can be followed at this web page: www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm