Christian School defends slavery booklet

Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools are reading a controversial booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures."

Leaders at Cary Christian School say they are not condoning slavery by using "Southern Slavery, As It Was," a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't treated as badly as people think.

Principal Larry Stephenson said the school is only exposing students to different ideas, such as how the South justified slavery. He said the booklet is used because it is hard to find writings that are both sympathetic to the South and explore what the Bible says about slavery.

"You can have two different sides, a Northern perspective and a Southern perspective," he said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1913619p-8258411c.html

Some school leaders, including Stephenson, founded Christ Church in Cary, which is affiliated with Wilson's Idaho church.

The booklet's other author, Steve Wilkins, is a member of the board of directors of the Alabama-based League of the South. That is classified as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group.

"Doug Wilson and Steve Wilkins have essentially constructed the ruling theology of the neo-Confederate movement," said Mark Potok, editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report.

Potok said people who argue that the South should secede again have latched onto the writings of Wilson and Wilkins, which portray the Confederacy as the last true Christian civilization.

At a time when a number of Triangle Christian schools have lost enrollment and even closed, Cary Christian has seen rapid growth since it opened in 1996.

The school has 623 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. With a relatively low tuition -- up to $5,000 -- it has attracted families from 55 churches. At least one parent must be a regular attendee of a church.

This is good stuff, I hope these guys stay strong. Lots of market out there for honest teaching, see the rapid rise of Tom Woods's politically incorrect history of the U.S.

Disney's Song of the South shows slaves being treated with respect. Of course I don't think they have released that movie on DVD. lol We downloaded it off the net. It has asian subtitles on it. I love the Brair Rabbit series. I have quite a few childern's books of these tales. I collect them up any time I see them at a thrift store or used book store, along with Little Black Sambo.

My folks both grew up in the segragated South. We were taught to respect the blacks (not mate with them) and it was considered low class to use the term "nigger". I was taught it was the folks from the North that cause trouble for us down in the South.