{"id":8577,"date":"2024-06-03T23:58:58","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T03:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/?p=8577"},"modified":"2024-06-03T23:58:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T03:58:58","slug":"the-confederacy-was-racist-christian-nationalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/06\/the-confederacy-was-racist-christian-nationalists\/","title":{"rendered":"The Confederacy was Racist Christian Nationalists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

June 3 is a state holiday in Alabama to honor the birthday of traitor Jefferson Davis.<\/p>\n

Davis said: \u201cWe recognized the Negro as God and God\u2019s Book and God\u2019s laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him: Our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude \u2026 You cannot transform the Negro into anything one-tenth as useful or as good as what slavery enables them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, \u201cStonewall\u201d Jackson and all the hallowed heroes of the Confederacy were racist, white supremacist, Christian nationalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God\u201d the Confederate Constitution was established to maintain and expand the racist system of slavery.<\/p>\n

Racist Christian nationalists of 2024 are woven from the same cloth as racist Christian nationalists of 1864. They literally carry the same flag.<\/h3>\n Photo Credit: Chris Kleponis\/Sipa USA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Confederate \u201cStars and Bars\u201d carried by Donald Trump supporters was used to oppress black Americans and waved over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of United States soldiers.<\/p>\n Americans who defend the treason that was the American Civil War usually defend the treason of Jan. 6, 2021.<\/h3>\n After decades of lobbying by the Daughters of the Confederacy and a literal white-washing of American history<\/a>, the historical narrative of the Civil War shifted from slavery to \u201cstates rights.\u201d As a result, a racially segregated society built monuments and named public buildings after racist traitors \u2013 public buildings funded with the tax dollars of black Americans.<\/p>\n Today, as the U.S. works to rectify the mistake of venerating racists and traitors, supporters defend racism by calling it history and willfully ignoring the history of racism<\/a> that came before.<\/p>\n Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*** ** Like many people, I have a deep interest in the Civil War. I\u2019ve stood at the graves of Davis, Lee, and Jackson. I visited the room where Jackson died as well as his home in Lexington. I\u2019ve gazed across the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. On the anniversary of the surrender, I walked the historic paths of old Appomattox Court House.<\/p>\n ** I\u2019ve read dozens of books about the Civil War and my great-great-grandfather served under Ulysses S. Grant out of Illinois.<\/p>\n ** ***If you truly understand the Civil War, then you know that the arguments in defense of the indefensible are only possible through willful blindness.<\/p>\n The Confederacy was established by and for racist Christian nationalists to support and maintain a racist system, while invoking the will of God.<\/h3>\n***** ** The racist members of the Confederacy passed their racism from generation to generation like family recipes. As a result, their descendants rioted in Charlottesville and again on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n ** From the KKK to Nazis to Confederate defenders, racists support Trump.<\/p>\n ** As a white, southern, Christian male, I have a responsibility to confront my fellow whites who support racism.<\/p>\n ** *****Like my fellow southerner, Atticus Finch, I\u2019d like to believe my southern neighbors are good people. They may be, but they are also racists. And they need to stop. There is no denying the indefensible.<\/p>\n In Aaron Sorkin\u2019s To Kill a Mockingbird<\/a>, Atticus says of the Civil War, \u201cIt was yesterday. It\u2019s always yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n White Christians who deny racism must understand that the only way this country can move beyond yesterday is to acknowledge that racists did horrible, indefensible things.<\/p>\n In God\u2019s name, stop defending it.<\/p>\n \u03a9<\/h3>\n Jim Meisner, Jr.<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is the author of the novel <\/strong><\/em>Faith, Hope, and Baseball<\/strong>, <\/strong><\/em>available on Amazon<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, or <\/strong><\/em>follow this link to order an autographed copy<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. He created the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"**** June 3 is a state holiday in Alabama to honor the birthday of traitor Jefferson Davis. Davis said: \u201cWe recognized the Negro as God and God\u2019s Book and God\u2019s laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him: Our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude \u2026 You cannot transform the Negro into anything one-tenth as useful or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3527,"featured_media":8580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,23],"tags":[2342,1874],"class_list":["post-8577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-in-the-news","tag-christian-nationalism","tag-trump-is-a-racist"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Confederacy was Racist Christian Nationalists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The hallowed heroes of the American Confederacy were racist, white supremacist, Christian nationalists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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