Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Congregation once led by Robert E. Lee votes to remove his name from their church

27_NEW_LEE

Leaders of R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington voted Monday evening to change the parish’s name to Grace Episcopal Church — what it was originally called when the Confederate general moved to town after the Civil War and joined the congregation.

The decision concludes a quiet, two-year debate among congregants over whether it’s appropriate for a Christian institution that aims to welcome all to carry a name that memorializes a man best known for fighting a war to preserve the institution of slavery.

“It’s been a very divisive issue for two years,” said the Rev. Tom Crittenden, the church’s rector. “But Charlottesville seems to have moved us to this point. Not that we have a different view of Lee historically in our church, but we have appreciation for our need to move on.”

The discussion was not easy, dividing congregants and prompting a vestry member and the church’s treasurer to resign their leadership posts in protest of initial inaction.

10 comments:

  1. Sad situations all over the South. And I believe in the long run, it's going to prove a costly mistake for us all.

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  2. “to carry a name that memorializes a man best known for fighting a war to preserve the institution of slavery.”

    How friggin ignorant. LEARN HISTORY! But what can we expect. This disinformation is being taught in schools. Welcome to the “new” history of the world.

    Badger

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  3. I wish it were possible to get those (and other willful idiots) to understand that Robert E Lee did NOT fight on the side of the Confederacy to preserve the institution of slavery. He fought to defend his home state of Virginia. Period. Full stop. Had Virginia voted to remain in the Union, Lee would have worn Union blue and would have likely accepted President (tyrant) Lincoln's offer to command the Union forces. What these idiots ought to do, is to read what Lee himself wrote and to take him at his word.
    After the war when Lee was the head of the university he wrote that his primary goal and desire was that the men who graduated, would be good CHRISTIAN gentlemen. I thought it was the goal of any institution that calls itself Christian that it's members leave to its credit as CHRISTIANS! Or am I missing something here?

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    Replies
    1. Agreed and yes he once said that the only rule he had was that all must be gentlemen.

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  4. They might try reading the Bible and discover their mistake

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    1. Right after the Ten Commandments there are rules about how "when you buy a slave" that deal with a Jewish slave. Later there are other rules for how to treat a gentile slave. A lot of the rules are dealt with in tractate Kidushin. In any case slavery is very much sanctioned by the Old Testament. In the New Testament also there are specific instruction for slaves not to rebel.

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