Pastor Rod Parsley at World Harvest Church in Ohio. | (Photo: Facebook/World Harvest Church)
Posted on 06/16/2020 9:14:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pastor Rod Parsley at World Harvest Church in Ohio. | (Photo: Facebook/World Harvest Church)
Televangelist Rod Parsley, who leads the Columbus, Ohio-based World Harvest Church, has come under fire for a recent message he shared on social media in which he urged people not to hate America’s slaveholding founding fathers as a national conversation rages around the removal of confederate monuments.
The message appeared to have been shared by Parsley on Facebook last week but the content is now restricted according to Facebook. Gospel recording artist and songwriter Ted Winn ll reposted the message on his Facebook page and it has since been making the rounds on social media.
In the message, titled “We have a responsibility to be silent no more, a time to speak race in America,” Parsley, who leads a multi-racial congregation, addresses his black, Asian, Arab, Hispanic and “even my white brothers and sisters" to “hear the heart of God” and to be done with bitterness and hate.
“We live in a great land. Let me shout it before you respond to me. It was founded by people just like you. Flawed people. But those framers framed the liberties that every one of us enjoy today. If you hate America, please give me your alternative. Don’t hate our founders, that’s a lie. Don’t discard their legacy,” Parsley said.
“Well, they had slaves,” he continued, highlighting running criticism of some of the founding fathers to which he responded.
“Every one one of them freed their slaves either during their life or upon their death. And we fought a Civil War. Our nation has been washed in the blood of the bloodiest war ever fought … We could stand here today and speak out against a curse. Maybe I could call it the birth defect of America,” he said.
He then asked if children born with birth defects should be thrown as having “no value.”
“Shall we throw America away? Should we throw the idea of America away because it’s still not perfect? Or should we stand up and fight to make it a more perfect union? Let’s stand up together, hand in hand, arm in arm and let’s build a nation better than the one our framers could even envision,” Parsley insisted.
He then cited Winston Churchill in arguing that “if we open a conflict between the past and the present, we’ll lose the future.”
“We have to dream bigger, we have to believe stronger. And as for me and my house this is the time to stand tall in all the beauty of who we are. Hold tightly to the wisdom of our fathers. To dream their dreams of a righteous America. And become that generation where black men say to white men, white men say to Asian men, Asian men say to Hispanic men, let’s join hands together and under God let’s be silent no more. Let’s restore America.”
In his criticism of the message, Winn argued that Parsley “sterilizes and minimizes racists.”
“He falsely claims, all the framers of the country freed their slaves. Jefferson did not! They were racists! The history of America should not be forgotten because that history informs the present. I am so exhausted listening to white evangelicals defend, support and perpetuate white supremacy. The ways in which they masquerade racism as Christianity is disgusting! This video should come as no surprise as Rod Parsley, and many other white evangelicals are avid Trump supporters. If you support a racist then you are either racist or complicit. No black person should ever support Rod Parsley or anybody else who is not clearly anti-racist and working to deconstruct systemic racism! Full stop!!” Winn said.
Professor and Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity Yolanda Pierce also argued on Twitter that Parsley’s comments were insensitive and historically inaccurate.
“Rod Parsley's latest message was historically inaccurate, insensitive, and patronizing. When you know better, as he does, you should do better,” she wrote.
Terrence Chandler-Harrison, lead pastor at The Liberty Church-Clarksville in Tennessee, argued that racism should not be characterized as a birth defect but a “most egregious sin” that it is.
“Racism was NOT this nation’s ‘birth defect’; racism IS this country’s chief, most vicious, and most egregious sin. It is the deliberate and systemic subjugation of all non-whites that extends beyond mere bias and preferential treatment,” he wrote in a thread on Twitter.
“And no, we can’t move on because the toxic tentacles of racism are still far-reaching. Racism STILL impacts: funding, housing, education, zoning, legislation, representation, distribution, and policing—just ask your black and brown members,” Harrison said.
He noted that “an alternative” to America would have been Africa, “but we were robbed of that too.”
“So do us all a favor: take less time asking the myriad of black members at your church to sow sacrificial seeds for pseudo ‘breakthroughs’ & spend more time listening & learning from their learned experiences,” he said.
In an apparent response to the controversy Monday evening, Parsley acknowledged making a "misstep" and committed to listening more.
"As a white man from the hills of eastern Kentucky, I can’t possibly identify with the plight of people of color in our country. But what I can do is speak out. And I can also admit when I make a misstep. Especially when it hurts, disappoints, or confuses those I love and am called to serve," he said.
"So let me be unequivocally clear: Slavery was and slavery is a blight on our nation and the world. It was and is an egregious, heinous, despicable sin that grieves my heart and the heart of God. I would never attempt to defend the indefensible atrocities inflicted upon people of color by our founders and generations after them."
He noted that he believes that together, the church could "make history right now" by standing "hand in hand with black people against the evils of racism in our nation."
"I pray you hear and know my heart is never, ever to hurt you. And it is always to unite in solidarity WITH you. After 46 years of Gospel ministry, I don’t always get it right. But what I can get right is to listen and to hear you and to see you. And I will continue to use my voice to stand alongside you. God being my help."
Blah blah blah... You can shove slavery up your arse.
Washington did, in his will.
Hamilton was a serious abolitionist.
So was Franklin, if late in life.
Jefferson, though, not so much....
What is it with these people (yes, I know that many are totally irrational)? Can they please at least consult reliable sources that discuss how ones like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated their slaves (and yes, had them released upon their deaths) or is that too much of a challenge for them?
Racism STILL impacts”
nope
Thomas Jefferson didn’t release his slaves because he didn’t actually own them, his creditors owned them.
The democrats just transferred them from the fields to the voting booth.
Yup. I went to Monticello 4 years ago. Jefferson died deeply in debt.
Sadly I am out and about and not able to quickly fact check, but I do believe another reason he didn’t because it was illegal at the time in Virginia for a freed slave to say residing in the state.
Monticello has a lot of information online.
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/slaves-who-gained-freedom
Sadly I am out and about and not able to quickly fact check, but I do believe another reason he didn’t because it was illegal at the time in Virginia for a freed slave to say residing in the state.
One of my ancestors was a Free Negro in the censuses before and after the civil war. So were her children.
I was not aware of this reality until I got serious in our genealogy.
Why? Last time I checked it was still there.
Washington did, in his will.
This is not inaccurate. Washington stated it was his will and desire that his slaves be freed upon the death of his wife. Martha freed these slaves after George died.
Item Upon the decease of my wife, it is my Will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties on account of their intermixture by Marriages with the Dower Negroes, as to excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, while both descriptions are in the occupancy or the same Proprietor; it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the Dower Negroes are held, to manumit them. And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this devise, there may be some, who from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves; it is my Will and desire that all who come under the first and second description shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such of the latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable, or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the Judgment of the Court, upon its own view of the subject, shall be adequate & final. The negroes thus bound, are (by their Masters or Mistresses), to be taught to read and write; & to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeably to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support of orphan & other poor Children. And I do hereby expressly forbid the sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of any Slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatsoever. And I do moreover most pointedly, and most solemnly enjoin it upon my Executors hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that this clause respecting Slaves, and every part thereof be religiously fulfilled at the Epoch at which it is directed to take place; without evasion, neglect or delay, after the Crops which may then be on the ground are harvested, particularly as it respects the aged & infirm; Seeing that a regular & permanent fund be established for their support so long as there are subjects requiring it; not trusting to the uncertain provision to be made by individuals. And to my Mulatto man, William (calling himself William Lee) I give immediate freedom; or if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment.) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so: In either case however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent of the victuals and clothes he has been accustomed to receive, if he chooses the last alternative: but in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first: & this I give him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War
RE; Jefferson, though, not so much....
So, what follows? We should pull down the statue of the author of the Declaration of Independence because of this?
you can’t judge the 1700’s by 2000’s standards
back then slavery was almost like a job. there was even the nice name “indentured servants” - like calling a janitor a “custodial engineer”
white people did not say “let’s go to Africa and capture some blacks and make them slaves” They went to Africa because that is where the slave markets were.
Slaves were kept in bad conditions on boats, but they were a PRODUCT.. they lost money if they died or were in bad health.
Go ahead and erase more history, stupid liberals... see where it’s leading?
some people like hanging onto the lies in their heads better than even entertaining the possibility of truth.
King David - Misdeeds with the wife of Uriah the Hittite, husband of Bathsheba. While Uriah is serving in David's army abroad, David himself, from the roof of his palace, looks down on his city and spies Bathsheba bathing in the privacy of her courtyard. Moved by lust at the sight of her, David calls for her to be brought to him and sleeps with her, impregnating her. In an effort to hide his misdeeds, David tries to call on Uriah to return home from war, hoping that the two will have relations and that he will be able to pass the child off as belonging to Uriah. But Uriah, being a disciplined soldier, refuses to leave his post. So, David murders him by proxy, ordering all of Uriah's comrades to abandon him in the midst of battle, so that he is killed by an opposing army. Following Uriah's death, David takes Bathsheba as his eighth wife.
Saint Peter - Denied Christ thrice to save himself.
Muhammad - Married a six (or seven) year old (Aisha), consummating the marriage when she was 9 years old. Owned slaves. Among other things.
King Henry the Eighth - Ask his six wives - (oh, wait).
And MANY, MANY others.
JFK
Ted Kennedy
Joe Biden
Jesse Jackson
Bill Cosby
Ilhan Omar
etc.
Why does it matter how they treated their slaves? It was still slavery! It was still wrong.
Although I respect and admire the founders, they had faults as do you and I. I don’t have to whitewash their faults to admire the good.
ALL the large cultures/societies had slavery. That's the way the world was.
According to Google, the British were the first to outlaw slavery. Then the USA.
I'm fairly sure that it still exists somewhere.
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