TCGC to Hold Slavery Repentance Service

It had to happen, sooner or later.  After all, GenCon06 did pass resolution A123 "apologizing" for the Church's role in perpetuating slavery and calling for services of repentance.  Now, PB Schori and her politically correct minions are going to defile the National Cathedral by holding a "Service of Repentance" on October 4, 2008.  Of course, the focus of this event is on slavery in the antebellum American south, not on the ongoing slave trade under which millions of humans are still in bondage, as perpetuated in many Islamic countries - God forbid we say anything about the Muslims in TCGC, right?  There is little doubt that this service of "repentance" will also be used to press forward the LGBT party line, in that VGR and others are so enamored of equating themselves with oppressed slaves. 

The current popular trend of mea culpas, apologies, and reparations for the slave trade is perhaps one of the most ridiculous notions to have been spawned by the politically-correct, liberal movement in this country.  Regardless of what I may do as a living historian, I am not, nor have I ever been, a racist or proponent of slavery as it was practiced all over America, nay all over the world, not just in the American south.  Human slavery was and is an abomination which was practiced by many generations throughout the world.  It was abolished in this country over 140 years ago, but unfortunately still exists in many other parts of the world.

But how ridiculous is the notion of "repentance" over 140 years later, by people who had absolutely nothing to do with American slave trade or practices?  I find it absurdly ironic that the same portion of our society who refuses to allow the truth of our history be taught in the schools and who wants to sweep the American Civil war under a rug as if it never happened now also wants everyone to "repent" of slavery.  We cannot teach how many northerners made their fortune in the 18th-century slave trade, nor how terribly racist all of American society was, not just the South.  Our children remain largely ignorant of all which transpired leading up to the Civil War and  how dramatically all of that affected who we are today as a country and as a people.  And yet we ask people to feel guilt about what happened many generations in the past and "repent" of it?  Nonsense.

Would it not be better to study and embrace the whole truth of our past and learn that the Civil War was not just a sectional fight over slavery, but a complex Constitutional and economic crisis which erupted into violence?  Would it not be better to study and learn how the War and its resolution changed and re-shaped American government and its principles?  Would it not be better to study and learn how a conflict 140 years ago impacted us then and still impacts us today?  Aside from American issues, would we as Episcopalians not be better served by studying the inspirational stories of John Newton and William Wilberforce and their eradication of the English slave trade?   True, honest study would yield ever so much more enlightenment than self-congratulating "repentance" for an institution of which few of us understand its origins and existence for as long as it was present on our shores.  Only when we truly understand slavery and its origins can we truly ensure that such evils never darken our shores again.

It is also singularly ironic to consider TCGC holding a service of "repentance" for slavery when it has demonstrated both racism and oppression of freedoms in very concrete fashions in its own dealings of the past several years.  One need not read far or long to find the many sneering, condescending references by TCGC leadership to our African or Global South brethren.  There is no question that such luminaries of the Global South as ++Akinola, ++Orombi, ++Anis, and many others are looked upon by TCGC leadership as "backwards" leaders who are only now in their theology and world-view where TCGC leadership think of themselves forty years in the past.  There is no coincidence that representatives of the Diocese of Virginia continually refer to CANA as the "Nigerians," a thinly-veiled bastardization of the slanderous "N-word" for Africans or African-Americans.

Or, if TCGC wants some examples of oppression of freedoms, it need only look to its campaign to crush the orthodox presence in the Church.  Clergy are inhibited and deposed if they oppose the 815 party line, often by use of false and scurrilous charges of misfeasance.  Parishioners are told that if they seek to worship in a Scriptural Church which follows the traditional Anglican faith handed down to the Saints, they are free to leave, just don't bother with the buildings or the bank accounts.  Orthodox Episcopalians are ostracized and accused of "walking apart" or trying to "steal" property when in reality it is TCGC which has departed from not only Anglican teachings but from the most basic tenets of Christianity.

I have had the good fortune to visit the National Cathedral and it grieves me sorely to think of it being defiled with this sort of politically-correct yet cynical pseudo-service, although I am also certain that this is neither the first nor the last time that magnificent building will be so defiled.  As for me, I bear no guilt over slavery, for I had nothing to do with it nor the attitude the Church of that day may have taken.  I thus have nothing of which to repent, at least not on this issue.  Count me otherwise occupied on 10/4/08.

Comments

[Fr. Al Holland]

The Service on October 4th is not about the South but about the complicity of the whole country in the sin of slavery. I am co-chair of a committee in the Diocese of Delaware that is doing original research into the relationship of the Church to slavery and its abolition. The effects of slavery are still felt in this country and making an explicit apology for slavery is part of owning our whole history, not just the pleasant bits. Incidentally the SPG which supplied clergy to the northern colonies branded its slaves with the word SOCIETY to aid in their recovery when they tried to escape the Society's sugar plantation. The "Sin of Ham" that was used to justify the enslavement of Africans was also used to justify the secregation of their descendents. May I remaind you that legal segregation only ended 40 years ago. Slavery lasted for 247 years and segregation for another century. As a traditional priest I will tell you that the first step in moral healing is always the acknowledgement of the moral wrong done. PAX

[Trimble]

Thanks for the comment, Fr. Holland, but I just can't buy into the idea of an "apology" being part of "owning our whole history, not just the pleasant bits." That's the problem, you see, we never do "own our whole history." We grossly oversimplify the whole era into a pro vs. con debate on slavery and in so doing forego any reasoned analysis of the entire historic picture of early 19th century America. Nowhere did I suggest anything about "pleasant bits." I don't ever think I said the services are "just about the South", either. what I said is that in the modern interpretation of slavery, it is blamed on the South, with little of its 247-year history properly exposed and discussed. I would suggest that perhaps you read my post again, for your comment belies what too many people do with this whole issue - present their agenda without looking at and trying to comprehend the whole thing.