[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
What should be the "Christian response" if the flag
of your ancestors heritage is deemed racist?
The Confederate flag represents many dark chapters of our nation's past,
but it is still our nation's past. We don't honor this flag as we do our
present one, but we shouldn't disregard this flag. The Civil War was a
tumultuous time and can still even today cause a tumult. Here in the
beautiful state of Virginia, where the Confederacy had it's headquarters
located in our Capital of Richmond, we also need to be reminded that the war
also ended in Virginia, Appomattox. Or did the war really end?
Even today, as I drove through Charlottesville, Gordonsville, Dillwyn,
Unionville (of ALL places) People still fly this flag from their houses and
flagpoles. Locations in Appomattox have many different versions of the
Confederate flag, including the original "Stars & Bars" (which is not the
Confederate Battle Flag that we so commonly know) Appomattox is an exception
to the rule in regards that it is displayed as a historical momento as
representations of the different regiments of the Confederacy. Many of the
Virginians who live out in the country still hold to many of the values (but
not slavery) of the old South as they just do not like people who are not
from around there. Over the past 3 years, I have come in contact with them
while doing my job. They see me as a Yankee. That I am, my lineage is from
New England. Though I have lived in Virginia since 1980. Out in the
country, people don't like to talk about the Civil War and if you do it is
liable to start another one.
Some people equate it on the same level as the Germans would with the whole
WWII situation. They don't like talking about it. My interest in it are
purely historical in nature. I see it as a part of the past that should not
be forgotten. The flag is a historical icon. This icon though now isn't a
part of today's gov't and shouldn't be flying side by side with today's flag.
I don't pledge allegiance to Jeff Davis. We should not forget our past but
learn from it and build on it. God always intended it to be that way. The
Confederacy was an error, we learned from it and moved on. Some have done
better with this than others.
God Bless,
Iron Mike
