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.

I asked the Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa, OK not to enable the United Daughters of the Confederacy

Shari Goodwin is the Communications Director of the Boston Avenue Methodist Church. I am going to be writing a letter to the national leadership this weekend and sometime later I will be mailing it. My next focus is going to be on churches enabling neo-Confederates whether the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) or the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). 

Dear Ms. Goodwin:

Visiting your website for the Boston Avenue Methodist Church it seems like the members are nice people. How surprising it is to find out that you aid and enable neo-Confederates. I am referring to the fact that you are lending your church for a United Daughters of the Confederacy function the afternoon of Sunday Nov. 10, 2013.

This group has a long record of racism.

Besides your members, do African American Methodists and churches in Tulsa know that you are enabling neo-Confederates?  

American churches need to stop enabling neo-Confederacy.

I would ask that you stop enabling neo-Confederacy.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

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

Maryland secessionists want a Western Maryland state

I mentioned in an earlier blog that this idea of forming new states from rural counties in existing states might spread. (Earlier blog posting.)  It seems now there is a movement to have some western counties in Maryland secede to form their own state. Here is an article form the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/western-maryland-secessionists-seek-to-sever-ties-with-the-liberal-free-state/2013/09/08/15e97aa8-1651-11e3-804b-d3a1a3a18f2c_story.html

The reason is basically, there was an election, we lost, so we can't get our way, and so we want an electoral district where are small group gets it way and gets two U.S. Senators where we can be way over represented.

I think soon we are likely to see this all over. A proponent of a new state just needs a map, a webpage, and a few supporters and the media will love the whole novelty of the thing.

How the Republican party will handle this is another thing. It should be noted that the Washington Post, a reliably Democratic newspaper, gave Scott Strzelczyk, self-declared leader of the Western Maryland state movement, coverage even though he hasn't gotten any counties to vote for his plan unlike the Northern Colorado or Northern California movement.

Churches that enabled the Sons of Confederate Veterans and their neo-Confederacy in the 21st century. UPDATE. Update 2. Update 3

As many readers of the blog know an expose' of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) was published at Black Commentator at this link:

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

It was used in a successful campaign to convince corporations not to support the SCV as reported here:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Towards the end of the article I stated that I would start writing to churches that enable the SCV. So I have started the project. One way churches enable the SCV is by allowing their facilities to be used for the SCV Memorial Services at their national conventions. When churches do this they not just allow the SCV to carry out their activities, they lend their reputations and prestige of their organization and the building to the SCV.

Churches who enable the SCV in this way make a mockery of any pretense they make of not being racist.

So this is a list of churches who have done this so far for National Conventions:

2014 Charleston, SC upcoming convention (Church is yet unknown). If anyone has a guess let me know. St. Matthews Church hosted in 2000.

2013 Vicksburg, MS  -- Christ Episcopal Church, 1115 Main St., Vicksburg, MS 39183

2012 Murfreesboro, TN -- Sam Davis service was at Sam Davis home.

2011 Montgomery, AL -- St. John's Episcopal Church

2010 Anderson, SC -- Abbeville Memorial Service, Trinity Episcopal Church

2009 Hot Springs, AR -- First Presbyterian Church (Update2, was able to track down and verify that it was First Presbyterian Church).

2008 Mt. Pleasant, NC -- didn't see memorial service listed

2007 Mobile, AL -- Cathedral of Immaculate Conception

2006 New Orleans, LA -- St. Patrick's Catholic Church

2005  Nashville, TN  -- St. Mary's of the Seven Sorrows Catholic Church

2004 Dalton, GA -- service was held in a trade center

2003 Asheville, NC -- First Christian church, which is supposed to be a couple blocks from the Renaissance Church

2002 Memphis, TN -- Memorial service was held at what was formerly known as Forrest Park

2001 Lafayette, LA -- St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Grand Coteau, Louisiana.

And the last year of the 20th century

2000 Charleston, SC -- St. Matthews Church.

So it appears that excepting at least one and likely two occasions the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church are the chief enablers of the SCV for national conventions. People might have expected that the churches who would be open to the SCV would be fringe groups, but they aren't.

UPDATE:

An academic journal article on Confederate Christian nationalism published at the Canadian Review of American Studies at the Univ. of Toronto.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf

UPDATE 3: (Update 2 is in the body of the text): If you want to see what type of Christianity the SCV promotes and they do have a specific type of Christianity go to this web page and do some reading.

http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php

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. 

Lazy League of the South gets coverage in "La Voz Latina"

I have done some commentary on the anti-immigration campaign of the League of the South (LOS) and the Southern Nationalist Network (SNN) in an earlier blog.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-league-of-south-ashamed-of.html

The blog posting provides background on this topic. They are very pleased with their anti-Hispanic immigration campaign and their media coverage which so far has been some minor rural newspapers. I would hope that CNN would cover them or even the Atlanta TV channels. However, it is just two small papers. The link on the coverage is in the following link:

http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2013/08/31/local-newspapers-cover-uvaldavidalia-demonstrations/

They think they are activists, but an activist is someone who is active. Here they are proud that American Renaissance is covering them because of what the LOS calls its "activism."

http://www.lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2013/09/southern-nationalism-is-growing-up.html

This campaign so far has had one protest in August and then they will have a protest in October which is a fairly lethargic campaign for a group to call itself activist. At this rate they won't have one protest per former Confederate state until sometime in 2015.

However, "La Voz Latina" has covered the protest in an article here:

http://www.lavozlatinaonline.net/noticias-Silbando-Dixie-en-726.aspx

y en Espanol aqui:

http://www.lavozlatinaonline.net/noticias-Whistling-Dixie-es-726.aspx

So the protest got some attention. The SNN is very happy that La Voz Latina covered their protest which they report on at this link:

http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2013/09/06/hispanic-newspaper-attacks-uvalda-demonstration-justifies-replacing-southerners/

The primary result of the LOS and SNN protests is to bring to the attention of the Hispanic community the anti-Hispanic bias of the neo-Confederate movement.

So this is a great campaign against neo-Confederacy. The only problem is that it isn't very active. I think it shows how little strength the LOS has. A regional group with some membership in each state should be able to hold multiple protests across the region each month. Even if it is just a small group as it seems to be, Michael Hill should be able to do at least one protest per month. Lazy.

At this rate it will take years, decades maybe, before there is even a slight regional awareness of the SNN and the LOS and their anti-Hispanic campaign.

It does show also what the real strategy for the LOS is. They know they are not able to do much of anything and they really aren't going to do the work a real activist group would do. They are hoping some catastrophic and revolutionary series of events will occur in America and during the chaos people will swarm to their banner because they have published the right ideological ideas. That is why they are constantly focused on what they see are signs of the impending collapse of the American government which they like to refer to as the "empire."

However, should there be some sort of revolutionary chaos, I don't they the people active in the turmoil are going to be looking to be led by the sofa sitting brigade or even know they exist.

Barry Smitherman, head of the Texas Railroad Commission, says he is preparing Texas for secession.

World Net Daily has an article on Barry Smitherman, head of the Texas Railrod Commission, who says he is preparing Texas to be an independent nation. You can read it at this link:

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/texas-official-preparing-for-independence/#c2uwVppcUPGRMbvT.01

The article quotes Smitherman saying.

“We are uniquely situated because we have energy resources, fossil and otherwise, and our own independent electrical grid. Generally speaking, we have made great progress in becoming an independent nation, an ‘island nation’ if you will, and I think we want to continue down that path so that if the rest of the country falls apart, Texas can operate as a stand-alone entity with energy, food, water and roads as if we were a closed-loop system.”

I guess secession is mainstreaming in the Texas Republican Party.

"Black Commentator" publishes cover story about the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and We Care campaign

Black Commentator published a story about the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and We Care campaign. You can read it online here:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

They designated it as the cover story. Read it quick, since it is likely that the SCV will start pulling off line some of their webpages.

As stated in the article, the next step is to start getting other institutions to not enable the SCV by working with them.

Secession and conservatives, or we can't get our own way so we want our own state

Again a rural county wants their own state. The Siskiyou County Board in northern California voted 4 to 1 to secede and form a new state. You can read it here or here.

This follows some rural counties on the great plains in Colorado wanting their own state. You can read some articles here or here or here.

The complaint is that they can't get their way in legislative affairs and that their opinions aren't privileged over the opinions of other people in their state. So they want their own state.

It is not likely that they will get their way on this. The original state has to approve and Congress has to admit a new state. These rural areas have very few people and I doubt that congress is going to want to give them two senators to represent a very small group of people whose reason is that they don't have some special legislative privilege.

It seems that this secession idea for sparsely settled rural counties of a state might be spreading. If it does it poses a real risk to conservatives and Republicans.

For the conservative movement it makes them look crazy. The rest of the people in the state have participated in the elections and accepted the results and they certainly won't look favorably on secessionists who will come across as being spoiled and having a tantrum because they can't get their own way.

For Republicans it holds real risks. When a Republican pursues a statewide office the question will arise how to respond to the secessionists. If the secessionists are rejected they may not vote for the Republican candidate or vote for a third party candidate and so might some right wing individuals sympathizing with the secessionists thus helping to elect a Democrat to state wide office. If instead the Republican politician attempts to pander to the secessionists, he or she will seem silly, and against the state, and will bring the Republican party into ridicule as well as each Republican running for any office in the state who will be likely asked for their opinion on secession.

Since it would be congress that admits states, Republicans running for federal elected office could also be questioned and not just in the states with secessionists movements.

I don't think that this idea will be necessary confined to states with Democratic legislatures and somewhat isolated rural counties with very conservative populations. Perhaps there just needs to be a divide between a state majority that isn't as conservative as some rural county in that state.

Right now the media is covering this for laughs and novelty. However, the Republicans need to ask what the impact might be on the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Article on the Sons of Confederate Veterans and We Care to be published.

The article on We Care and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is done and off to Black Commentator. I wrote it in more an internet style, no footnotes and lots of links. They are on summer break. I bring up other organizations that work with the SCV and to which I plan on mailing my SCV dossier.

Update: Article is now online at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html