League of the South is deceived by "Duck Dynasty" Update:

One would think that the neo-Confederate League of the South (LOS) would have learned from the life of the Southern Avenger. When I first heard about the Southern Avenger, Jack Hunter, who had been formerly a professional wrestler, and was then a columnist for the Charleston City Paper in South Carolina, I saw him as an individual hired to basically entertain the readership of the paper as a freak.

To the LOS the Southern Avenger was a hero and I was an elitist to even think that the paper hired him as a freak show to amuse there readers. For the LOS references to him go to this link.  http://lsrebellion.blogspot.com/search?q=avenger.

Later it turned out that the editor for the Charleston City Paper explained that the Southern Avenger was hired exactly for the purpose as I had stated to amuse the readers as some sort of atavistic curiosity.

It also turned out that the Southern Avenger in an attempt to hold his job with U.S. Senator Rand Paul repudiated everything he had said as Southern Avenger. This disappointed the LOS as they explained in their blog postings. http://lsrebellion.blogspot.com/search?q=Jack+Hunter

So you would think they would have learned their lesson.  They haven't learned at all, this is LOS President Michael Hill's public announcement about the show Duck Dynasty. http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/phil_robertson.php

This concerns Phil Robertson's statements in an interview in Esquire magazine which have caused him to be suspended from the show Duck Dynasty by entertainment channel A&E.  This has gotten all of the American right wing in an uproar.

I had been vaguely aware of them by seeing articles about Duck Dynasty here and there, but haven't been much interested. Though their appearance called up certain stereotypes, I thought it was probably likely that off camera they could be quite different. I haven't seen a single episode, I don't watch TV and don't like reality TV.

However, with recent reporting I have gotten a sort of idea of what A&E was presenting in the show which is a cast of characters living and acting out a certain type of southern rural stereotypical existence. A&E were evidently doing very well with this show. The show avoided various statements about gay or racial minorities that would have gotten it into trouble.

What the LOS doesn't seem to comprehend is that Duck Dynasty is a product which is sold to make a lot of people a profit.

The Robertson's clan's role was to act out stereotypes on camera, but without saying things that would offend different groups. This way they could appeal to two different audiences. One would be those would identify with the Robertson clan or would want to be them and would assume they had additional attitudes about gays and minorities. The other audience would be those who wanted to watch them as a freak show and would assume likely they had certain attitudes about gays and minorities.

A&E could make money off both audiences without being seen as pandering to homophobia or racism. Everyone, Phil Robertson included, could have laughed all the way to the bank. His job description was to lead his family in living out stereotypes for the amusement of the viewers without getting A&E or the show in trouble.

This cartoon in the Los Angeles Times explains succinctly the purpose of the show.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-horsey-on-hollywood-duck-dynasty-20131223,0,2345996.story#axzz2ohovKTPa

Evidently Phil Robertson didn't understand this, or perhaps he understood it all too well, and upset the whole arrangement by saying what he did in Esquire magazine. Suddenly A&E was at risk of seeming to have knowingly pandered to bigotry to make a dollar. Yes, the Duck Dynasty show does make money, but A&E has a lot of other shows also, and an ongoing brand image to maintain. So they suspended Phil Robertson. A&E would be irritated that he didn't understand his job description which should have been obvious to him.

I think Phil Robertson understood exactly what he was doing. He and his show has gotten a lot of media attention. Though I am not sure he has calculated very well. The reports are that other channels are interested. However, I am not sure mainstream media channels want to risk their brand image by picking him up in this type of situation. Also, media channels are likely to be wary of a product that might come with problems and a producer of that product who is reckless or doesn't care about his media partners. So Phil Robertson very well might find another channel but not one with the ability to promote his show or deliver audiences over the long term.

I tend to believe that Phil is sincere about his beliefs, he isn't making them up. According to reports when he was younger he was into drugs and excessive alcohol and his rigid religious faith keeps himself in line. Without it he might fall back into his old ways. He can't afford to have a flexible religion, things have to be a choice between heaven and hell, otherwise he might go to back to his prior habits before he found his current religious beliefs.

In the end though it is about selling a certain southern stereotype to the public for profit. If Phil hasn't figured this out, he will. The LOS is likely to be disappointed in the outcome when he does. When the LOS figures out that it is about selling a certain southern stereotype to the public for profit they might be embarrassed.

What is surprising is the the LOS loves Duck Dynasty but abhors Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. They really are the same thing.

UPDATE:

A&E has reinstated Phil Robertson. A&E have a lengthy statement of many nice sounding things. I think everyone involved decided that they needed to make lots of money.

St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral of Jackson, MS hosts neo-Confederate function. Update:

The St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral of Jackson, MS hosted the 59th annual Children of the Confederacy (CofC) convention memorial service. The Children of the Confederacy is a youth group run by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to indoctrinate their children in their neo-Confederate beliefs. It is open to both men and women.

Their website is at:

http://standrewscathedral.org/

They express many fine sentiments on their web page, but evidently it doesn't preclude assisting neo-Confederate groups.

I haven't yet compiled all the churches that hosted the national convention memorial services of the CofC. It is one of the compilations that I am going to work on.

UPDATE:

I contacted them and they informed me that St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral isn't a breakaway church. So this isn't just an activity of breakaway Episcopal groups.

Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church in Elba, Alabama is dreaming of a white Christmas.

In the October 2013 issue of UDC Magazine on page 33 the activities of the Gen. Edmond Winchester Rucker Chapter 2534 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy it is reported as follows:

In April, Gen. Edmond Winchester Rucker 2534 hosted their seventh annual Confederate History and Heritage Month luncheon ceremony at Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church in Elba, AL.

I have not been able to find a web site for the church. 

The luncheon was something like a memorial service "A moving roll call was conducted with each attendee standing and giving the name, rank, and regiment of a Confederate ancestor, then extinguishing their candle." 

The denomination is called Primitive Baptist. 

"Miami Herald" columnist reviews racist past of some Confederate memorials and the lunatic fringe that defends them.

This column by Fred Grimm of the Miami Herald explains the racist back ground of some monuments and memorials in Florida and Georgia and the lunatic fringe that continues to defend them.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/21/3831619/in-florida-when-it-comes-to-race.html

This is an excerpt from the column:

The day after Thanksgiving, Georgia state workers outraged southerners nostalgic for segregation by quietly moving the 12-feet-tall bronze statue of white supremacist Tom Watson from the capitol grounds to a nearby park. At the turn of the last century, the Georgia congressman whipped up white voters with vicious, hateful, lunatic diatribes against blacks, Catholics, Jews (“thick-lipped rakes who glut their eyes upon handsome Gentile women.”) His newspaper argued that lynching blacks should be legal. That blacks should not be allowed to vote. He was among the Georgia politicians responsible for the infamous 1915 Atlanta lynching of a Jewish factory worker, Leo Frank, on the flimsy evidence that this “member of the Yankee Jewish aristocracy,” as Watson called him, had raped and murdered a 13-year-old Anglo girl.

Yet, Watson has his admirers, who were aghast to discover that his statue, with the inscription, “defender of right,” had been relocated down the street. Georgia State Rep. Tommy Benton denounced Georgia’s surrender to “political correctness.” Benton introduced a bill that would outlaw moving historic monuments, arguing that “if you start taking down every monument because you find one or two things you don't particularly like about that person, there won't be any monuments left.” Though even a middling historian could count more than one or two things not to like about Tom Watson.

What is interesting about this column is that Grimm is not representing the issue as it was done frequently in the past by the media. In the past the media would represent the issue as if there was no objective historical record and that there was just a lot of different view points. Or they would say that in the interest of peace or general public good feeling that the monument should be moved or the flag changed, and emphasize that they have Confederate ancestors too and as Southern as the next person. They would not condemn the Confederacy, just plea for public harmony.

Grimm has none of this nonsense. The monuments, flags and the Confederacy, and Tom Watson are bad, and the excuses made for the Confederacy and people like Tom Watson is just rationalizing nonsense.

The attitude towards the Confederacy is shifting.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/21/3831619/in-florida-when-it-comes-to-race.html#storylink=cpy

Duval School District drops the name Nathan Beford Forrest for local high school.

The Duval School District in Jacksonville, Florida drops the name Nathan Beford Forrest for local high school. The article is online here:

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/breaking/article/338755/17/School-board-votes-to-change-name-of-Forrest-High-School

The vote was 7 to 0.

I helped some with this by providing information on Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), Florida secession, the history of racism in Florida of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). With www.confederatepastpresent.org I can readily provide information. I have other information on my bookshelves, in files, in my computer.

I have the following book in my collection and was able to send some image files of pages from the book.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1YMfAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22S.E.F.+Rose%22+Ku+Klux+Klan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YaqvUpGxH8O0sASB8YGQDQ&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=Forrest&f=false

Essentially, it shows that the whole Nathan Bedford Forrest hero worship is about white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. This book was endorsed by the SCV and the UDC.

Earlier I had provided information about the SCV in the form of this article. http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

My contribution was just one among many, but I hope to help out in many struggles against neo-Confederacy in the years to come. When the groups fighting neo-Confederacy have the information they need I think they have more confidence going forward. I think politicians seeing the documentation have to think how this will appear on their records in the years to come that they were informed, knew the facts, but voted supporting neo-Confederacy anyways.

Every name that is changed makes the remaining Confederate named buildings seem less normalized and more abnormal.

Web page on churches of the confederacy and the campaign to get mainstream denominations to drop neo-Confederate groups.

The following web page is the main web page tracking the campaign to get mainstream denominations to drop neo-Confederate groups.

Information which I post in this blog will be in it. Other information which won't be in this blog will be in it. The web page will refer to relevant media and will refer to other web pages relevant to the campaign.

The entire campaign on the effort to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. 

Letters to the Roman Catholic bishop and the Episcopal bishop in South Carolina asking them not to allow their churches to be used by the Sons of Confederate Veterans for their activities. UPDATE:

I wrote to the Roman Catholic bishop and the Episcopal bishop in Charleston, South Carolina asking that they not allow the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to use their facilities. The letters were mailed on 9/20/2013. I have not heard back.

My next step is to write the Roman Catholic Archbishop in Atlanta, Georgia, and if that fails to write Pope Francis in Rome. Similarly I am going to write the national head of the Episcopal church. Though given that the Episcopal church in America is breaking into two denominations I may be writing two individuals to make sure that I am writing the correct individual who is the next higher up for the Episcopal bishop.

One person has commented that the Episcopal churches that do host the neo-Confederate organizations are often the churches splitting off into a new conservative Episcopal denomination.

The two letters follow:

ROMAN CATHOLIC

Rev. Robert E. Guglielmone

Bishop of Charleston Diocese

119 Broad St.  Box 818

Charleston, SC 29402

Dear Rev. Guglielmone:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (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.

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.

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 your 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 

EPISCOPAL 

UPDATE: I have been informed by Holly Behre, director of communications of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, that Bishop Lawrence is a bishop in his own breakaway diocese at the time of this blog posting update 12/15/2013.  Right Reverend Charles G. von Rosenberg is the Episcopal bishop of Eastern South Carolina.

Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence

Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina

P.O. Box 20127

Charleston, SC 29413

Dear Rev. Lawrence:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (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.

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.

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 your 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

Note: The entire campaign on the effort to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. 

Louisiana State University Press has page up about the book "Loathing Lincoln" by John Barr.

Louisiana State University Press has page up about the book "Loathing Lincoln" by John Barr. The link is here:

http://lsupress.org/books/detail/loathing-lincoln/

"Washington Post" columnist John Kelly asks, "Why are Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson honored at Washington National Cathedral?" Yes, indeed why are they?

The link to Kelly's column is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-are-robert-e-lee-and-stonewall-jackson-honored-at-washington-national-cathedral/2013/12/10/af3429f2-60e2-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story.html

The National Cathedral is an Episcopal church. The Episcopalian church hosts neo-Confederate organizations more than the next three denominations combined. It is not surprising that their most prominent church honors the Confederacy.

This is a map of of churches that host neo-Confederate organizations.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zfTqFzugXJv8.kpb21pK6SVwo Note that the table covers up the San Diego UDC church hosting.  I show a screen capture below. Click on it to see full map.

NOTE:  To look at the data more in detail you will have to go to the map on the link, not the screen capture. Look at the data table to see how many times an individual church hosted. Also, you may not see all the pins in cities that have had several churches host neo-Confederate organizations. You will have to expand the map to see them all, in particular Richmond, VA.

The following are bar graphs of neo-Confederate organization hosting by denomination from 1990 to 2013. Click on the bar graphs to see them full size.

The campaign against churches enabling neo-Confederacy is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

Sons of Confederate Veterans are not getting the armory in Jacksonville, Florida. Pleased to say I helped.

I haven't blogged much lately since I have been busy helping out the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) in Jacksonville, Florida in their attempt to prevent the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) from getting the use of an armory building which was to be given to them by the city council .

As recently as Dec. 3rd the Finance Committee of the Jacksonville city council voted to lease the armory to the SCV for $1 a year.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/12/04/city-committee-supports-sons-of.html

However, on Dec. 3rd Sopio Sokoni, head of the local chapter of the SCLC, and I got in touch and I gave him the link to the article about the SCV online at Black Commentator documenting their racism and extremism. The following is the link to the article:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

Tonight the vote shifted to 17 to 0, 2 abstaining, to not lease the armory to the SCV. Even the SCV's friend, city council woman Kimberly Daniels who had been wanting to lease it to the SCV voted to withdraw the bill to lease the armory to the SCV.

Sokoni had made a press release based on the Black Commentator article and sent it out to media and elected officials. I also sent him some documentation to corroborate the press release.

The Jacksonville SCLC's efforts is what lead to victory here, I just contributed something to help out.

I am also helping the Jacksonville SCLC with getting the name of the Nathan Bedford Forrest high school changed.

The larger picture is that the SCLC now knows that there is someone who has done the research on neo-Confederates and has the documentation and has it readily available to share to support efforts to block the agenda of neo-Confederates.

Tonight I told Sokoni that I would be willing to help any SCLC chapter out if they are opposing neo-Confederates. So hopefully other SCLC chapters will be more willing to take on neo-Confederates after seeing how the battle can be won.

I think the word will get out to other groups opposing neo-Confederacy that I am available as a resource.

New book out on Anti-Lincoln writers, "Loathing Lincoln," available for pre-order at www.amazon.com

Click on the photo to see it all. 

The above is the front side of a T-shirt sold by Southern Partisan magazine.Click on photo to see it all.

John Barr's book, "Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present," is now available for pre-order at Amazon. The link to pre-order the book is:

http://www.amazon.com/Loathing-Lincoln-Tradition-Conflicting-Dimensions/dp/0807153834/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385932739&sr=8-1&keywords=John+mckee+barr

Louisiana State University Press is releasing the book April 7, 2014. The book is based on his prize winning dissertation.

The book covers anti-Lincoln writers from after the Civil War to the present. I helped John Barr with the research for the book. He visited my library at my house where I shared with him the articles form Southern Partisan and Chronicles magazines attacking Lincoln, and my neo-Confederate anti-Lincoln materials, books, and artifacts.

I also read the early drafts and later drafts of the book and gave inputs for each chapter. I must have spent dozens of hours reading the drafts and giving written and oral feedback. I have also informed Barr of every new anti-Lincoln book and kept him up-to-date on the anti-Lincoln literature. John Barr now has a shelf of anti-Lincoln books to show the media.

Over the decades I had indexed and noted the various neo-Confederate attacks on Lincoln, but largely collected information knowing that someday I would be able to give it to someone to put it to use. I don't have enough knowledge of the life of Lincoln or the Civil War or 19th century history to give the material an adequate treatment.

John Barr has the historical back ground to treat adequately these materials.

What I think is going to be interesting is when the public realizes that there is this modern movement that hates Lincoln.  Lincoln is the personification of the modern democratic egalitarian America. This is why he is hated so much by neo-Confederates who dream of a hierarchical society. The attacks on Lincoln are attacks on modern democratic egalitarian America.

Some so-called "heritage" groups are going to seem much more ominous to the American public as the public realizes how hostile neo-Confederates are to Lincoln, that it isn't a few cranks, but a movement, and further realize that this movement is hostile to modern democratic egalitarian America. Also, it will be realized that indulging the Lost Cause view of the Civil War has consequences.

It is very gratifying to see that over 20 years of my labors gathering materials about the anti-Lincoln hatred of the neo-Confederate movement will have aided the production of a book letting the public know about the anti-Lincoln neo-Confederate movement.

The following is the backside of the T-shirt shirt shown above. This T-shirt was worn by the Oklahoma bomber. Click on photo to see it all.

Against Violence in a democracy

I want to make it clear about where I stand on violence and destruction conducted in a democratic society. More specifically our democratic society. 

I am entirely against it and it is wrong.  The resort to violence or to destruction against an opponent is wrong. The issues of the day are not to be resolved with violence but with the democratic process and debate. 

My opposition extends to other malicious acts, such as using an organization's envelops to send back weighty objects to rack up charges.   I am not going to go into a big theoretical definition of maliciousness, you know what it is when you see it. If you are working out a rational why it isn't, then probably it is malicious.

One negative of resorting to violence is that you invite retaliation in kind. I only mention this to those who can't be reasoned with in any other way. Violence also gives sympathy to your victim. Again, I mention this to those who can't be reasoned with in any other way. 

Violence subverts society and the discussion of issues and is injury to another person. 

I am not precluding self-defense, I someone is getting ready to throw a rock at a window, by all means act. 

Also, I am not saying that if you say something appalling you should be granted immunity to other consequences. If you are saying something that people think is appalling they certainly have a right to say it is appalling. Logically, people will consider your fitness for a position or question your judgment. This opens up all sorts of questions which I am not going into.

I just want to make it clear that if someone is considering vandalism or violence I am not going to excuse it or rationalize it or do less than condemn it outright. 

From time to time I will be stating an opposition to vandalism and violence to make it clear where I stand. 

Christmas carols and the United Daughters of the Confederacy

In the Nov. 2007, Vol. 70 No. 10, issue of UDC Magazine, the official publication of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), on pages 12-14, Sybil R. Willingham, UDC Historian General 2006-2008, has an article, "Christmas Songs as Propaganda," about which Christmas songs were written by abolitionists.

Willingham doesn't directly say don't sing Christmas carols written by abolitionists. What she says in the conclusion of her article is:

As you gather round with friends and family this Christmas, perhaps you will join in singing some of the old favorites that our Confederate ancestors sang too. Merry Christmas.

The unspoken message is that the reader should consider whether their Confederate ancestors would have sang a particular Christmas carol or not depending on whether it was authored by an abolitionist in their selection of Christmas carols to sing. A UDC member would not have to be told not to sing a particular song, they would reject it knowing it was written by an abolitionist.

Willingham also writes:

Some of our favorite hymns that we enjoy singing today contained controversial verses that have since been removed.

"O Holy Night"

The article explains that the carol "O Holy Night" was written in France. Willingham informs the reader that this Christmas carol became very popular starting before the Civil War and during the Civil War because of the 3rd verse of the song.

Truely He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His Gospel peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!

This must be one of the versus which Willingham finds controversial. Breaking chains to free slaves! Ceasing oppression! Well, perhaps this is controversial for the UDC membership.

The carol "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day" Willingham informs us is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, titled "Christmas Bells," set to music in 1872. The carol omitted the 4th and 5th versus of Longfellow's poem which referred to the Civil War.

Willingham then concludes the article with a section, "The Songs We Love." She comments, "It is doubtful that the aforementioned songs were sung in their entirety in Southern churches and homes during the War" in referring to songs written by abolitionists.

She then describes Christmas carols which were sung in the Confederacy: "Hark, the herald angel sings,"; "O Come, All Ye Faithful,"; and "Silent Night." These would be the "Songs We Love."

Willingham also points out that "Jingle Bells," was written by John Lord Pierpont, who enlisted in the Confederate First Georgia Cavalry."

Anti-Union campaign in the South compares a labor Union to the Union army of the Civil War and identifies with the Confederacy

Rather interesting article online here:

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15886/volkswagen_gave_money_to_anti_unio_group_that_used_pro_confederate_rhetoric/

The anti-labor union campaign asks people to oppose the labor union like the Confederate army opposed the Union army during the Civil War.

This is another news story on the same thing.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177162/lets-defeat-invading-union-force-vw-plant-our-confederate-ancestors-says-anti-uaw-consul

The organization CEI has pulled their Op-Ed from their web page. Fortunately the Internet Archive has the article here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130806152303/http://cei.org/op-eds-articles/union-invasion-uaw-targets-tennessee

From the Op-Ed

One hundred and fifty years ago an invading Union army was halted at Chattanooga by the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. The Battle of Chickamauga was one of the bloodiest days of the entire Civil War, and a resounding defeat for the Northern forces. Today Southeastern Tennessee faces invasion from another union— an actual labor union, the United Auto Workers (UAW). The UAW has its heart set on organizing Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant, which employs several thousand and supports thousands more throughout the Southeast.

Actions like this helps alienate a large demographic against the Confederacy. I doubt it is effective anti-union tactic, but I am sure that the American labor unions will take notice and it will be effective in encouraging an anti-Confederate sentiment.

The United Methodist Church chooses the Confederacy

I did not hear back from the national, state, or local leadership of the United Methodist Church that they decided to not host the United Daughters of the Confederacy so I am assuming that they went through with it on Nov. 10, 2013.

Also, they weren't willing to comment on it. It is something they don't want to defend to the public and hope that it will be something they will not have to explain to anyone. Not exactly moral leadership.

One of the following denominations is not like the others. Can you guess which one? Click on the following image to see the full graph.

Note: The entire campaign on the effort to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. 

The Christian Confederacy: A Map of Churches that Host neo-Confederate organizations. Updated

This is a link to a combined map of UDC and SCV hosting churches.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zfTqFzugXJv8.kpb21pK6SVwo

It is interactive. It isn't the greatest.

You should open up some cities since you only see one or two markers and there have been multiple churches in the city that have hosted such as in Richmond.

Also, the legend for the map is covering up a church in San Diego. The names are to the left and there is no positioning to keep them from overlapping. Some of the churches hosting more than once, but I can't seem to find how you indicate it on the map.

I am still learning the software. However, it seems it is made for only simple maps and is a google throw away software.

You would also think that there would be someway that the map would open up in Google Blog.

Source data is at www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm and also on the map itself.

I have bar graphs of churches that host neo-Confederate groups at this blog post.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/10/histogram-of-denominations-of-churches.html#.Un-GrfmsiSo

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

With friends like this you don't need enemies. Ron Paul speaks at rally for Ken Cuccinelli about nullification. UPDATE:

With friends like this you don't need enemies.

In Virginia one reason Republican candidate for governor Ken Cuccinelli is so far behind the democratic candidate is that a 3rd party Libertarian candiate is pulling a fair percentage of the vote, something like 7 or 9 percent. Not real big, but large relative to the lead of the democratic candidate over Cuccinelli. It is assumed that these voters would vote for Cuccinelli.

So Cuccinelli had Libertarian Ron Paul come to one of his rallies to support him. The article is online here:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/ken-cuccinelli-ron-paul-urges-nullification-virginia-governor-2013-election-99358.html?hp=r1

Ron Paul talked about nullification and spoke against the 17th amendment to the Constitution. The 17th amendment has the U.S. Senators directly elected.

One of the big problems in the polls is that Cuccinelli is seen as being too extreme. So Cuccinelli might pick up some Libertarian votes but he might further lose people who seem him as being too extreme.

If Cuccinelli wins this election nullification and other elements of neo-Confederate ideology will take a large step in being mainstreamed. However it is not seen as likely that Cuccinelli will be elected. I suppose I should update this posting tonight.

UPDATE: Cuccinelli lost by a very small margin, about 1% or a little less.

But even if Cuccinelli loses, nullification and elements of neo-Confederate ideology still will be mainstreamed to some extent into conservative circles.

"Slate" article, "How Fears of a Slave Revolt Drew the South into the War - The Revolutionary War."

The Slate article, "How Fears of a Slave Revolt Drew the South into the War - The Revolutionary War," is online at:  http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/american_military_history/2013/11/battle_of_hampton_and_lord_dunmore_s_proclamation_how_fear_of_a_slave_revolt.1.html

It is an interesting article written by Eric Herschthal, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Columbia University.

When the "New York Times" was pro-neo-Confederate

When  I say when the New York Times was pro-neo-Confederate I don't want to imply that it doesn't have sympathies with the Confederacy today.

This is a short item from The Southern Magazine, April-May 1934, Vol. 1 No. 2, "Mississippi Edition," which was published by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). Individual issues were often dedicated to a state or a region.

On page 28 is the section titled, "The Main Street of the South," by Anne V. Mann. One of the articles is titled, "Southern Society Pays Honor to Five.

The text of the article as to the New York Times is as follows:

The New York Times of March 3rd says: 

Five persons who "contributed unusual achievements in the perpetuation of the history and traditions of the South" during 1933 received parchments of distinction from the New York Southern Society last night at its annual Dixie dinner dance at the Waldorf-Astoria. 

[The article mentions Mrs. Livingston Rowe Schuyler as one recipient then continues.]

Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, was honored as "a greater leader in journalism and in public life,  whose lofty and patriotic career reflects such credit upon the South." The parchment was accepted by his daughter, Mrs. Arthur Hays Sulzterger, representing Mr. Ochs, who was unable to attend. 

[The article then goes on to list the other recipients.]

It is not surprising that the New York Southern Society gave Ochs an award. Ochs gave a neo-Confederate rendering of the news as the Confederate Veteran reported in a 1903 article. I boldface the relevant section in this part of the article.

The New York Times, one day's issue, includes; The news section, 28 pages, the annual financial supplement, 56 page: the quotation supplement, 4 pages; the magazine supplement, 16 pages; the magazine section 6 pages; the winder resort section, 8 pages -- total, 118 pages. 

A few years ago the New York Times, with all its prestige was about to succumb. At that critical period, Mr. Adolph S. Ochs, as thoroughly "self-made" as any American, with experience in the Chattanooga Times, beginning in his boyhood, had ambition for the ownership of that venerable New York daily, and securing the cooperation of friends, he assumed the responsibility, and determined to publish "all the news fit to print" on conservative, dignified lines. It was a prodigious undertaking, and Mr. Ochs won. 

The feature of this enterprise of interest to VETERAN Readers is that the Southern people may read the New York Times with perfect satisfaction. They get the news reliably all the time with never a word of discredit upon their section. [Confederate Veteran, Vol. 11 No. 1, Jan. 1903, page 40.]

Given the time period at which Ochs was publishing the New York Times it was a paper that was opposed to civil rights and supportive of white supremacy. The Confederate Veteran continued to mention the New York Times and Ochs favorably in larger articles with his picture and a half page picture of the New York Times' skyscraper and informing the reader that Ochs and the paper were in alignment with Southern opinion.

From a 1905 article:

The New York Times was in ""hard lines" when Mr. Ochs bought it, and now it is not only far beyond any question of reliability but, better still, it is one of the most conservative and one of the ablest newspapers printed. Indeed, it rarely misses giving "all the news fit to print." Mr. Ochs's southern friends rarely have a wish that is not developed in the New York Times. [Confederate Veteran, Vol. 13 No. 12, Dec. 1905, pages 578-578]

Adolph S. Ochs was a supporter of the Lost Cause. He donated $1,000 to the Lee Mausoleum Custodian Endowment Fund in Virginia in memory of his departed mother. [Confederate Veteran, Vol. 35 No. 3,  March 1927, page 112.]

It turns out that though his father was a Captain in the Union army his mother smuggled quinine into Kentucky for the use by the Confederacy. His mother, Barbara Levy Ochs was a "devoted" member of the A.P. Stewart Chapter of the UDC. Her brother was in the Confederate army. [Confederate Veteran, Vol. 36 No. No. 5, May 1925, page 164.]

It might well be a good project to see how this identification with the Confederacy affected the New York Times' reporting and publishing.

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

University project to map the churches that host neo-Confederate organizations

A university geography department is going to produce an electronic map of churches that host neo-Confederate groups. I am going to supply them with the data this coming weekend.

With these electronic maps you can represent the geographic data multiple ways. By neo-Confederate organization, by time, by denomination, etc.

The geography department has a map of the month program and this map might make it.

League of the South gets major press coverage for demonstration, helps let general public know that neo-Confederates are bigots. UPDATE: More news coverage

The League of the South (LOS) protest in Murfreesboro, Tennessee got coverage in The Tennessean, the major daily for Nashville, TN. There was even a counter protest.  The article is online at:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131012/NEWS01/310120087/Counter-protesters-outnumber-League-of-the-South-rally-attendees

In the article the LOS shamelessly claims that  they aren't racist, but I don't think they are fooling anyone.

This is the Southern Nationalist blog on the event.
http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2013/10/11/southern-nationalists-protest-mass-immigration-in-tennessee/

Evidently there has been some other coverage in other significant media.

Middle Tennessee Public Radio
http://wmot.org/post/demonstrators-counter-demonstrators-face-murfreesboro

The student paper at Middle State Tennessee University covered the protest.
http://www.dnj.com/viewart/20131012/SIDELINES01/131012001/The-League-of-the-South-protests-in-Murfreesboro

The only unfortunate thing is that The Tennessean article didn't mention the anti-Jihad signs like the other articles, but they all mentioned the anti-Somalia sentiments. I think Muslims will realize it is an anti-Muslim event. Perhaps it will get coverage nationally in the Muslim media. I can only hope so. After reading The Tennessean article any immigrant from any country will realize that neo-Confederates are against them personally.

What is great about this type of media coverage is that members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) will be having to say to people, "Oh we are not like them," in reference to the LOS and realize that the people they are talking to aren't entirely convinced.

It also educates a lot of people that neo-Confederates may have a fairly obvious racial agenda but they will deny it regardless of the evidence. This will undermine the UDC and SCV when they are busy denying being racist.

I can only hope that the LOS and SNN continue these protests. In a year they will accomplish more to change public opinion against the Confederacy than the NAACP has done in ten years.

After the Uvalde, GA protest, I thought that though these protests were doing something to alert the public against neo-Confederacy, it was going to be rather minor in impact. The coverage was in local papers with small circulations. The Tennessee protest got major media coverage which alerted a lot of people about the neo-Confederates.

Hopefully the future protests of the LOS will get major coverage. However, this so far has represented a lot of activism for the LOS and it might be that they will tire out and go back to conferences and papers and essays. Michael Hill is probably thinking of an essay or lecture about the Southern Agrarians, "The Empire," and what Allen Tate and Richard Weaver thought about Muslims or Africa or Somalis or something and it is time for another conference and they will do a protest again some indefinite time in the future. I really fear that they are tired out and they won't have another protest.

I probably should have had all my blogging on these protests with the theme that I was really, really, outraged, yes outraged, angrily outraged by these protests, and that would encourage them to continue protesting, but it is hard to do when you are laughing.

The most amusing thing is that the LOS and the SNN haven't realized that they are being used. Pro-immigration forces would love to have the LOS and the SNN be the face of the anti-immigrant movement in the United States. Why do they think The Tennessean is covering the protest?

Already some anti-immigration groups are probably working to disassociate themselves from the image of the LOS and SNN and complaining that the LOS and SNN protests are being give undue coverage in The Tennessean.

UPDATE: There continues to be more news coverage. It might get regional coverage in the South. I can only hope.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/D4/20131013/NEWS/310130045/Opponents-League-South-outnumber-supporters-protest

Pat Buchanan speaks about secession at "Town Hall." We learn something about the patriotism of some conservatives, are they American patriots or all along they were only white nationalists?

Pat Buchanan has this article at Town Hall about secession being the coming wave in national politics.

http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2013/10/11/is-red-state-america-seceding-n1720999

What the article doesn't mention is that Pat Buchanan was an editor of the neo-Confederate magazine Southern Partisan for many years.

The article asserts that the Vermont secessionist movement is somehow left. It isn't. I tracked a lot of its board members back to Southern Partisan magazine and reactionaries appearing in Chronicles magazine.

The article is a summary of the arguments for secession that appear in the neo-Confederate movement updated to the latest geopolitical developments.

What is most interesting is it reveals how contingent the American patriotism of some conservatives. They were true to the red, white and blue as long as they felt that it was reasonably certain that American patriotism was for a white nation. Now that it is becoming more certain that America is becoming a multiracial democracy they are talking break up of the nation. Buchanan may be true to the red, white and blue, but now it is the red, white, and blue of the Confederate flag.

It is one thing when this type of stuff turns in up in World Net Daily, www.wnd.com, another thing when it shows up in Town Hall.

I see it as another example of how secession is creeping into the conservative mainstream.

The "Southern Partisan" Confederate Republican Party T-shirt

This was sold some time ago by the Southern Partisan magazine. I purchased one.  Before this t-shirt had been made the leaders of the Republican Party had already given interviews to the Southern Partisan: Jesse Helms, Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, Dick Armey and a lot of other Republicans. So making up this T-shirt wasn't so unreasonable. Many leading Republicans had also had also had dealings with the Council of Conservative Citizens. www.cofcc.org. I must have taken two dozen photos of this t-shirt.

Political reporting is full of reference to Republicans being secessionists or Confederates

I am somewhat overwhelmed by the reporting over the government shutdown and partisan politics referring to secessionists, neo-Confederates and the Confederacy.

Here is the latest article at www.Salon.com online.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/right_wing_coup_deluded_secessionists_have_already_won/

The title is, "Right-wing coup: The deluded secessionists have already won," by

Thanks to a confluence of three events, the S-word — secession — is once again in the air. In Washington, new questions are emerging about whether the United States can function as a unified nation after a partial government shutdown was engineered by a largely regional party — one whose home territory looks eerily similar to the Confederacy. Adding to the questions about the viability of the post-Civil War union is the fact that the shutdown has been orchestrated by aTexas legislator whose state party stalwarts — including its governor — seem to support secession, to the point of taking concrete legislative steps to prepare for independence. On top of all that, in states across the country, incipient secession movements have sprung up only a few months after secession petitions flooded the White House website.

Then there is this article, "Tea Party's Shutdown Lunacy: Avenging the Surrender of the South." Doug Henwood is interviewed. Link below.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/tea_partys_shutdown_lunacy_avenging_the_surrender_of_the_south/

Then there is this Michael Lind article, "Tea Party radicalism is misunderstood: Meet the Newest Right."

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/06/tea_party_radicalism_is_misunderstood_meet_the_newest_right/

I think Lind makes a very good point by saying that people misunderstand the Tea Party by trying to portray them as backwards. In my research on the neo-Confederates though I think they are very reactionary and need to be stopped, I was never stupid enough to think that they are stupid. If I thought they were stupid I wouldn't have bothered to research them. Lind writes:

The third misconception is that the Newest Right is irrational. The American center-left, whose white social base is among highly-educated, credentialed individuals like professors and professionals, repeatedly has committed political suicide by assuming that anyone who disagrees with its views is an ignorant “Neanderthal.” Progressive snobs to the contrary, the leaders of the Newest Right, including Harvard-educated Ted Cruz, like the leaders of any successful political movement, tend to be highly educated and well-off. The self-described members of the Tea Party tend to be more affluent and educated than the general public.

This is a Gawker story about a Republican House Representative who in his historical analogy made the Republicans the Confederates.

http://gawker.com/gop-rep-compares-shutdown-to-gettysburg-republicans-to-1442038231

Then there is this article where a former Republican operative calls Tea Party Republicans "neo-Confederates." Raw-Story also reported on this.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/ex_gop_insider_unloads_blame_neo_confederate_insurrectionists_for_shutdown/singleton/

At Bloomberg a columnist says that comparing the Tea Party is wrong, they are more like Calhoun's nullification supporters.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-08/tea-party-tactics-lead-straight-back-to-secession.html

This is the Washington Post article, "The Rise of the New Confederacy," which  I blogged on a little while back.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-04/opinions/42713963_1_federal-government-south-carolina-union

This article refers to the South, the Confederacy and the Affordable Health Care Act in the Daily Beast.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/03/how-the-south-blocked-health-care-for-those-who-need-it-most.html

A lot of these articles are at Salon but they all aren't.

Tulsa media coverage of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Avenue hosting of the United Daughters of the Confederacy

My letter to the Tulsa Beacon made their online page. It is a small conservative newspaper in Tulsa.

The letter is online at:

http://tulsabeacon.com/boston-avenue-controversy/

I mailed a great many letters over the weekend to Tulsa local religious leaders concerned over race and board members of the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry and the Tulsa Interfaith Alliance. I updated the Boston Avenue page at www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm with the correspondence.

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

Letter to the Senior Minister of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church

The letter is online and at www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm.

The other correspondence to other individuals and organizations is also at this page as well as a list of churches which have hosted nation convention services for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).


Note: The entire campaign on the effort to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. 

Letter to the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry about Boston Avenue United Methodist Church hosting the United Daughters of the Confederacy

I am mailing by certified mail this morning a letter to the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry (TMM) about Boston Avenue United Methodist Church hosting the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) national convention service. I am also asking that TMM directory Ray Hickman's irate email to me be allowed to go into the public record. The TMM was formerly known as the Tulsa Council of Churches and is an organization made of a great many churches in Tulsa.

This letter and other letters written to United Methodist Church (UMC) officials are all online at:

www.templeofdemocracy.com/bostonavenue.htm

At the conclusion of the letter I mention that I am discovering that this campaign is also an inquiry measuring American Christianity on the issues of historical memory, the Confederacy, and race.

I am planning of sending a great many copies to various individuals, groups, media organizations etc. in Tulsa and elsewhere.

Readers of this blog can help by making the above web page widely known.

Note: The entire campaign on the effort to get churches to not enable neo-Confederate groups is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. 

"Washington Post" Columnist Colbert King article, "Rise of the New Confederacy"

Washington Post columnist Colbert King has an opinion piece "Rise of the New Confederacy," about the Republican Party and the Tea Party. You can read it online here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/colbert-king-the-tea-party-resurrects-the-spirit-of-the-old-confederacy/2013/10/04/95b37f6e-2c7b-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html

What I find amazing is that a Washington Post columnist would write something like this. I don't think the Graham family would much like a column like this. Well the Graham family is gone. The Confederacy is no longer safe at the Washington Post.

Media interest in story about the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church and the United Daughters of the Confederacy

I have gotten some media interest in the story about the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). I had sent them an information package by post and tonight emailed them documentation.

Of course they may not run with the story. But the campaign against mainstream religious groups enabling neo-Confederates is underway.

I am contacting numerous media sources and also religious groups in Tulsa and elsewhere to get the campaign going. So I am not depending on just one contact. More later.

League of the South publicizes that neo-Confederacy is anti-Islamic

I thought the upcoming League of the South (LOS) demonstration in Tennessee was going to focus on Hispanics, but it seems that it is going to focus on Muslims.

There are articles in a local Tennessee paper discussing the upcoming LOS demonstration. None of them have a positive view of the LOS.

http://www.t-g.com/story/2006003.html

http://www.t-g.com/story/1999081.html

I have been only slightly successful in letting people know about the fact that the neo-Confederates have an anti-Islamic component. I did get this article published by a Hispanic Muslim group in Texas.

http://hispanicmuslims.com/articles/alamokosovo.html

I think though that most Muslims guess that people who fly the Confederate flag are hostile, but it helps to have a group like the LOS confirm this.

The first news story listed above is something that Muslims in Tennessee can forward to their friends, national organizations, religious groups. The LOS is making it easy to alert the American Muslim community that neo-Confederacy is anti-Muslim.

Change.org petition asking the National Religious Broadcasters to drop the Institute on the Constitution program. SIGN NOW.

Warren Throckmorton has been campaigning against the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) broadcasting the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC) program. The IOTC is run by neo-Confederate League of the South board member Michael Peoutka.

There is a Change.org petition asking that the NRB drop the IOTC. It is presented by a group calling itself the Cleveland Area Pastors, which are a multi-ethnic coalition of evangelical pastors.

http://www.change.org/petitions/national-religious-broadcasters-drop-the-institute-on-the-constitution

The web site for IOTC is http://www.theamericanview.com/ They call themselves the American View but in reality it is the Confederate View. 

Warren Throckmorton has consolidated all his blog postings investigating the League of the South. They are well worth reading and this is the link:

http://wthrockmorton.com/institute-on-the-constitution/

You can read how IOTC is against women voting and a lot of other typical neo-Confederate ideology. SIGN NOW. 

The petition says: 

Cincinnati Area Pastors is a multi-ethnic group of evangelical leaders, committed to creating and preserving unity in the Body of Christ. It has come to our attention that NRB airs, and endorses, a program by Michael Peroutka: Institute on the Constitution. Mr. Peroutka is an unashamed board member of the League of the South, and has pledged his business and family resources to that effort. League of the South is a neo-Confederate movement endorsing secession from the current government, and a return to the Confederate Constitution of 1861. League of the South’s main goal is to see the South become a separate nation led only by whites. Its leader, Michael Hill, applauds slavery, as well as Jim Crow; and is vehemently against multiculturalism and diversity. 

Our commitment to unity makes it impossible for us to overlook this promotion by the NRB. As leaders, we must hold NRB responsible for the divisive ideology it has espoused through connection with Mr. Peroutka. Our specific issues with the NRB are as follows: 

We contend that one cannot separate Michael Peroutka from his alliance to League of the South. 

We contend that by endorsing Michael Peroutka, NRB also endorses secessionism and extreme anti-American government sentiments. 

We contend that NRB is responsible for giving Mr. Peroutka an enormous platform of influence and sway within the Body of Christ. 

We contend that NRB is also promoting the racial divide within the Body of Christ, by promoting someone who idealizes the Confederate Constitution. 

We contend that NRB has left its guiding principle and “holy obligation to boldly and creatively proclaim a Christ-centered Gospel, rather than a ‘man-centered’ message.” A company cannot promote pro-slavery documents, and still proclaim a Christ-centered Gospel. 

We contend that NRB cannot promote a man who is against multiculturalism, without promoting the division of the Body of Christ along color and ethnic lines. 

The Cincinnati Area Pastors contacted Frank Wright, CEO and president of NRB, three weeks ago with our concerns. Mr. Wright acknowledged receipt of our concerns, and has chosen to take no action against Michael Peroutka. 

Therefore, we are urging all pastors, and their congregations, to take action. 

Churches which enable the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in the 21st century

I haven't yet written up a dossier on the UDC, but this item at Black Commentator will give some back ground on the UDC. It is really just a sample of the UDC agenda on race.

The following is a list of churches that have given their prestige and the prestige of this historical churches to enable the UDC by allowing the UDC to have their national convention memorial services to be held in their churches.

1. 2001 -- First Baptist Church, Hampton Street, Columbia, South Carolina.

2. 2002 -- St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.

3. 2003 -- Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee.

4. 2004 -- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia

5. 2005 -- Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcaia, San Diego, California.

6. 2006 -- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.

7. 2007 -- Central United Methodist Church, 2535 W. New Hope Rd. for Rogers, Arkansas convention.

8. 2008 -- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia

9. 2009 -- Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Biloxi, Mississippi.

10. 2010 -- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia

11. 2011 -- St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas

12. 2012 -- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia

13. 2013 -- current plan is the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Episcopal church accounts for 7 of the 13 churches listed above. As you can see the UDC picks historical churches in Richmond, Virginia which are Episcopal.

State secession ideas ridiculed.

In earlier posts on the proposals for parts of states to secede and set up their own states, I said that there was a serious risk to the Republican Party. They would be caught between alienating secessionists which is turning out to be a part of their base, and appearing crazy to everyone else.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/09/secession-and-conservatives-or-we-cant.html

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/09/maryland-secessionists-want-western.html

Human Events had this article in which the secessionist are supposed to represent some type of oppression of rural residents.

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/09/12/will-california-rural-counties-secede-from-sacramentos-control/

The ridicule of the secessionists has been quick to appear also.

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/13/right_wing_nuts_hatch_batty_secession_schemes/

Joshua Holland in the Salon article points out that the secessionists are those who find they can't get their way on everything anymore and are somewhat shocked by this and are throwing tantrums. But it is also an interesting article showing what the roots of this movement are. It is an interesting read.

Some quotes:

The media have framed these stories as a symptom of a growing rural-urban divide, and that’s true. Gun safety laws enacted after the Sandy Hook shootings sparked the move in both Colorado and Maryland. Marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and differences over energy policy, immigration (over which state governments have little control) and taxes are often cited as “irreconcilable differences” by these secession advocates. 

But it’s also another sign of the difficulty that a group which dominated American politics just a generation ago – a group political scientist Alan Abramowitz narrowed down to married white people who identify as Christians – are having adapting to a country that’s becoming more diverse and embracing a different, more liberal set of cultural values. As Michael Rosenwald noted in The Washington Post, “with secessionists, the term ‘final straw’ comes up a lot.”

And:

It’s certainly true that with less than 20 percent of the population now living in rural America, the policy preferences of conservatives living in the countryside or in small towns are often overshadowed by large majorities who live in cities and their suburbs. But that’s true of a lot of Americans – liberal hipsters in Austin, Texas, don’t have much say in their state’s governance either, to cite just one example among many. But as Jason Bane of the blog ColoradoPols told a local Fox affiliate in Colorado, “in a democracy, there are lots of other people who have viewpoints, and they don’t all throw a tantrum just because a vote doesn’t go their way.”

Houston Chronicle blogger is laughing at secessionists. Check out this link:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/09/rick_perry_is_a_trendsetter_ot.php

The Wonkette article has some bad language.
http://wonkette.com/528104/secession-is-the-new-orange-which-is-the-new-black-maryland-edition

I think that the Democratic Party is probably very happy to see this secession movement. If it continues to spread and have a presence in the conservative movement it has the potential to seriously damage the credibility of conservatism and cause a lot of problems for the Republican Party.