Posted on 04/15/2004 6:36:08 AM PDT by Moose4
The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, made explicit his view of slavery as early as 1774, when he wrote, “I absolutely deny all slave-holding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice.”
It would have surprised Wesley to see defenders of a cause that condoned slavery honored in a Charleston-area church bearing his name, Methodist scholars say.
On Wednesday, the Hunley’s Confederate crew lay in state at John Wesley United Methodist Church on Savannah Highway.
“Though he died before the Civil War, there’s no doubt Wesley would have sided with the anti-slavery forces,” said John Wigger, a University of Missouri historian who specializes in Methodist history. “He would have been very puzzled by this church ceremony.”
The ceremony was part of a six-day funeral, including a Saturday burial, that also includes ceremonies at Charleston’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and Church of the Holy Communion.
The three churches have mostly white congregations and boast prominent Charlestonians, including Hunley Commission members state Sen. Glenn McConnell and Randy Burbage. Neither was available for comment.
Church leaders involved say the services, which include sermons and a requiem, will not be about the politics of slavery.
“Everyone deserves a burial,” said the Rev. Sara White, senior minister of John Wesley Methodist Church. “And when we made our decision to host the event, we were moved by the men’s personal courage.”
Critics say churches should not be participating in a public Confederate event.
The Rev. Joe Darby, senior pastor of Charleston’s Morris Brown AME Church, a traditionally African-American church, said the men’s remains should be buried.
“I have no problem with the burial of these men,” he said. “But I cannot embrace a celebration of their heritage without some acknowledgment of the residue of slavery that lives on.
“I’ll be giving a wide berth to the Hunley festivities.”
But church officials said the services are not an endorsement of slavery, which they condemned.
“The Episcopal Church stands for human rights and justice, and against slavery, which is a sin against God,” said the Rev. M. Dow Sanderson of the Church of the Holy Communion.
“Slavery is an evil, and it was unfortunate,” added Father James Parker of Johns Island’s Holy Spirit Catholic Church.
Parker, a chaplain for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, will preside over today’s memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
But church officials also said they were unlikely to raise the issue during the Hunley services.
“This is about the courage of these soldiers — men who (probably) didn’t own slaves and would be appalled if it was thought that’s what they were fighting for,” Parker said. “Slavery did not cause the War Between the States.”
Both participants and critics agree this week’s Hunley events are a powerful link to South Carolina history.
“This is really about history,” said Sanderson. “Our first rector was a Confederate chaplain, so there are real historic ties to these men.”
But the services pay tribute to the wrong side of history, Darby said.
“The Methodist Church, like a lot of other denominations, split over slavery before the Civil War,” he said.
During the Civil War era, the Episcopal Church was officially neutral on abolition of slavery. And despite papal pronouncements against slavery, many American Catholic churches accepted slave owners.
“These people have a right to celebrate their heritage, but the heritage they’re celebrating is one in which Southern churches supported slavery,” Darby said.
By choosing churches with mostly white memberships for the ceremonies, organizers were honoring that heritage, Darby said.
Hunley Commission members approached their own churches.
“(Commission member) Randy Burbage, who belongs to our church, approached me,” said White.
Commission chairman McConnell sought leaders of his church, the Church of Holy Communion and Catholic leaders, said Sanderson and Charleston diocesan spokeswoman Maria Aselage.
}:-)4
}:-)4
Also, to those who think different, the average southerner wasn't fighting to keep slavery... no more than the average northerner was fighting to abolish it.
“I have no problem with the burial of these men,” he said. “But I cannot embrace a celebration of their heritage without some acknowledgment of the residue of slavery that lives on.
I know how ya feel, Rev. I have trouble every year during "Black History Month" when all white people get treated as racist oppressors. Because my family was on the other side.
I'd like to see some thanks from the descendants of the people for whom the Union soldiers in my family suffered and died to set free. After you get your "reparations", it's time to talk about THAT debt.
And BTW, who cares if you "embrace the celebration" of anything. I'll pay honor to the Hunley crew for you.
I agree.
It's hard to name one Southerner who was interested in perpetuating slavery -- there were a few, but very few.
It's also hard to name one Northerner who was interested in ending slavery. That includes Lincoln.
Combat veterans understand this. Look how many times Allied and German veterans met after WW II. One of the great Luftwaffe fighter pilots, Adolf Galland, was asked to give the eulogy at the funeral of one of England's greatest fighter pilots, Sir Douglas Bader. Union and Confederate veterans marched beside each other in parades, honored each other's dead, swapped stories at reunions with no malice whatsoever. There's something of a shared bond there, even among enemies, that noncombatants like me (and one assumes, the Rev. Darby) can never truly understand.
And it's been good to see that the Union version of the SCV (sorry, I forget the organization's name), and Union WBTS re-enactors, "get it" and have come to Charleston to honor the crew of the Hunley, along with many submariners as well.
}:-)4
free the southland,sw
Bump. Kudos to the men of the Hunley. Long may they be remembered.
free the southland,sw
Moreover, Saturday afternoon's schedule shows the NBC affiliates selling their air time -- solid Guthy-Renker infomercials and other such bilge. They couldn't even come up with a halfway-decent movie to go up against Miss Congeniality (Sandra Bullock) and The Mummy Returns (Brendan Fraser, Arnold Vosloo, The Rock).
It looks like NBC has just given up on Saturdays.
Yeah, well, I'll be celebrating MLK days the same way he celebrates other people's solemnities , then.
But the services pay tribute to the wrong side of history, Darby said.
That's right. Be hard. Be tough. Remember to keep recriminating, and never forget what Dr. Benjamin Hooks said: "Never, ever, ever let the white man off the hook!"
Twit.
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