Of course, I grew up where we observed Confederate Memorial
Day. We talked about “The War Between
the States” not the “Civil War.” I
visited Jefferson Davis’ home Beauvoir down the coast in Biloxi, Mississippi,
on more than one occasion. When I went
to college in Mississippi, our school’s mascot was Nathan Bedford Forrest, I was
a member of the ROTC drill team, The Southern Generals, with a Confederate flag
on our emblem.
I state all this to clarify where I have been in order to explain where I am
now. Although I was immersed in Southern
culture from the time of my birth, I understand now how offensive that heritage
is to many of my friends of all races. My
ancestors were not slaveholders or landed gentry, but I am sure that many of
them fought on the side of the Confederate States of America. They fought for their states, their families,
and their property. If I had been alive
then, I would probably have done the same thing. But I am alive now and I am not in that
situation.
We cannot change the past and we must be aware of our
history, but do we further the cause of a united nation by honoring those who
rebelled against legally constituted authority and broke their oaths to defend
the Constitution of the United States? (Most
the highest-ranking officers in the Confederacy held commissions in the United
States Army or Navy prior to the war.)
I had the opportunity to visit the childhood home of
President Woodrow Wilson in Staunton, VA, in April. Wilson’s father was pastor of the
Presbyterian church there when the future President was born in 1856. The church had an agreement with a local plantation
owner to provide three slaves to live in the manse--an older woman to cook, a
younger woman to clean, and a young man to do the heavy manual labor. On the tour, I saw the places where they
lived and slept. This was a better
situation for these individuals than on the plantation, but they were still
slaves. They did what they were told. They
had no choices in their lives; they were property.
We can argue about the economic, political, and geographic
issues that led to the division of our country in 1861, but we cannot deny that
the Confederate States of America uphold chattel slavery. People were bought
and sold. Race determined one’s status
in society and place in the economy, and this became deeply ingrained in our
national consciousness. The war
preserved the Union but it did not address our original sin of racial
subjugation.
Are we being Christ-like when we continue to honor a
heritage that offends many of our friends and fellow citizens whose ancestors
were participants in this subjugation?
The biblical teaching is that if our brother or sister is offended by an
action of ours and it is not essential to our faith, then we ought to stop doing
it.
Although I grew up in the South, I took an oath when I was
commissioned as an officer in the United States Army to protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States of America. The
only allegiance that is more important to me is my citizenship in the Kingdom
of God. Both commitments call me to
reject any practice, movement, or monument that honors rebellion or racial
bigotry.
What is God calling you to do?
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