[Magdalen] Whoops. We've got the Southern slavers' battle flag in the National Cathedral.

[Jon Egger]

Things (and this thread) remind me of the "fighting bishop" (Leonidas
Polk?) who is memorialized at our seminary at Sewanee.  Do we remove him
from the seminary?  Do we simply forget him?

I'm leaning to the side of people who say such things matter.  Who do we
have to sterilize/erase/purge from our church history to make it
theologically correct???
We can't erase our past.  Things happen.  Horrible things sometime.

Some of the knee-jerk reactions of my fellow liberals is very sad.  What's
the next thing they are hell bent to purge in order for the church to be
theologically/politically correct?  James Baldwin says it best: “For
nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the
earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not
cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are
responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea
rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to
us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the
light goes out.”

Important: "Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to
them because we are the only witnesses they have."  As witnesses, I don't
think we should change our past, nor deny it nor sugar coat it.  Yes, the
'rebel flag' is nasty.  Sadly, it reminds me that banning it won't change
anything.  Too many people are still fighting the CW.  Baldwin is as
important today as he was in the 50s and 60s...if he were around today, he
wouldn't be surprised at all how poorly the US has done regarding race and
racism.  My two cents...applying asbestos underwear.

Grace and peace,
jon




On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com> wrote:

> From: Jay Weigel
>
>  And you are reading things into my comment (and the window) that I did not
>> say. Propriety and puib rules forbid me saying what I am really thinking
>> right now.
>>
>
> And the other betrayal, err "reconciliation" was the Republican's original
> "Southern Strategy" where Black folk were thrown out of office and had Jim
> Crow installed in return for Democrats ceding the Presidency to Rutherford
> B Hayes in 1876.
>
> I repeat no matter how you slice it and dice it, there was nothing good
> about the post Civil War "reconciliation" -- particularly if you a person
> of color.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim Guthrie
>