Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Screw You, Ancestors

Screw You, Ancestors

Last updated on: June 27, 2015 at 7:14 pm by Tom Swiss

Screw You, Ancestors 2015-06-27T19:14:42-04:00 Tom Swiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the discussion of the Confederate flag prompted by the Charleston massacre, I’ve heard the “I’m not a racist but I honor my ancestors” argument a lot. The old “heritage, not hate” bit. While the connection between the murders and the flag seems a little tenuous to me, since the topic is on the table we might as well address part of it: specifically, the issue of problematic ancestors.

Cartoonist Tim Kreider expertly skewered the “heritage, not hate” argument more than a decade ago by applying it to the Nazi flag. No one would accept a German saying “Well, the Holocaust was bad, but I honor my Nazi ancestors.” No. You cannot honor people who did such massive evil that it defines them, and claim to not be tainted by evil yourself. The only way you can honor an ancestor who fought for the Nazis is to honor whatever they did after the war to redeem themselves; and if they did nothing, they deserve naught but contempt from their descendants.

The same goes for those who have ancestors who were part of the anti-American pro-slavery terrorist group that called itself the “Confederate States of America.” (If you disagree with that characterization of the Confederacy, you need to re-learn your history, full stop.) You cannot honor someone who unapologetically fought for slavery without it having a corrosive effect on your soul.

I actually don’t know if I had ancestors who fought for or sympathized with the Confederacy or who owned slaves. Up until a few years ago I thought all of my family got here after the Civil War, but I did some digging on Ancestry.com and found out otherwise, but not the details. If I did, if I had ancestors who fought for white supremacy or who treated human beings as property and were never regretful about it, I say to them this: screw you, ancestors. I disown you, I have no responsibility to propagate your sins.

We all have ancestors who were assholes, who did terrible things, who were murderers or rapists or thieves or bigots. It’s a statistical inevitability that somewhere in your family tree you have an umpity-great-grandparent who was a real bastard or bitch. According to family lore, one of my ancestors was a rapist, a pirate on ship that raided an Irish coastal village. I owe that ancestor nothing but contempt.

If the heritage you receive from an ancestor is one of hatred or ignorance or violence, it’s your responsibility to not accept that heritage.

The family tree

You don’t have to accept a gift, you know. If someone walks up to you with a big box of dog crap and tries to hand it to you, you can say, “No, thank you.”

But there’s also the less toxic but still problematic heritage of errors. A box of good stuff with some dog crap on it, if you will. In which case, you have to clean the crap off.

I love that my mother’s father was a gardener of no mean ability, that he taught me about composting back in the 70s, that he was known and loved in his community, that he was outdoorsy and active…but he was a racist, and I have to balance that. When I honor him, I cannot honor that part of him.

My own father is one of the best men I’ve ever known, a devoted husband, a community leader, an honest and upright citizen. I’m proud to be his son. But in his younger days, right out of high school in the early 1960s, he was naive enough to join the U.S. Air Force, which to his surprise soon decided that it needed to send him and a bunch of other young men over to some place called Vietnam. He never engaged in combat, but the fact is that he was used as a tool of America’s brutal and stupid foreign policy. When I honor him I have to do so without honoring the U.S. imperialism of which he was made an unwitting part.

Not all of our ancestors were good people; and of those who were, not everything they did was worthy of respect. Be selective in your veneration.

You can keep up with “The Zen Pagan” by subscribing via RSS or e-mail.

I’ll be presenting at Starwood, July 7-13.

If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on “Zen Paganism” I’ve set up there. And don’t forget to “like” Patheos Pagan and/or The Zen Pagan over there,
too.

Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living

History

My Blogging Life and Times

Religion & Politics

ancestors

racism

Previous Post

June 27, 2015

Beyond Marriage

Next Post

June 29, 2015 Marriage Equality: Seven Easy Answers

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2017 52 Makeup 2020 52 Makeup Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart Art Because I Could Not Stop For Death Caught On Video COVID-19 Culture Discordianism Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living History Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism My Blogging Life and Times Philosophy Podcast Poetry Random Wednesdays Religion & Politics Seasonal Musings Techno-Pagan Theology Uncategorized Warrior Path Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 June 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul tell Timothy to do with myths and old wives' tales?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Correct them Have nothing to do with them Ignore them Refute them