No Need for a “Church of Dixie”

Alexander Pope once wrote, “no one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.” Since Trump’s election, the Dissident Right has gone through several anni horribiles. I am a Christian but I am also a Stoic. And as a Stoic, I tend to believe that pitfalls, road bumps, and unfortunate circumstances give rise to change as well as growth. I try to learn from my mistakes and opinions that I once held which I deem now as pipe dreams. I think that if several talking heads on our side of the spectrum took Pope’s words to heart we would actually achieve some viable success. Unfortunately, people on the Right tend to have this notion that ideas are things that are fixed. And although I find myself more and more conservative as I age, I would be in error if I said that my ideas are like stone and static rather than something organic. 

Years ago, I published an article proposing the idea for a “Church of Dixie,” a mainly protestant church centered on Restoration Theology with the idea of Southerners as a chosen people. I still do believe that the Southern man is chosen and has some role to play in God’s drama we call history (though as a man who believes in free will, I also think that could also mean Southerners could very well reject God’s call and we could all go the way of Sodom. It pleases God to destroy wickedness). However, I now find that a religious organization based on this premise alone would be unfeasible and perhaps a recipe for divisive derision.

The South has always been a Christ-haunted place. We are a Christian people. But we are also a nation of tribes like Israel of yore. Our nation consists of Anglo-Saxons, Scots-Irish, German Texans, Cajuns, and several other “tribes” all fought under Saint Andrew’s banner in our second war for independence. And while we, the children of those men, all pray to the same God there are also different expressions of that worship. 

Coming from a family with a mixed church background, I was eventually raised in a very high church environment. I identify very much so with that side of my family and cannot bring myself to identify with the others who, if they had it their way, would just be Tennessee mountain men with a lantern and a Bible. And while I can sit down and break bread with a low-church Protestant, I probably am never going to convince him to endure a service with incense, bells, and hymns, let alone give up my prayer book and sacramentals. I know this because I have tried, not only with my own family, but my Southern friends as well. It just irritates them and causes relationships to fester.

Someone once suggested to me that in order to alleviate this problem of high vs low churchmen, one should have two services for this church. But the problem of this crops up when I am reminded of Prosper of Aquitaine’s most eloquent Latin motto: lex orandi, lex credendi – how one prays is an expression of how one believes. Prayer and belief are integral to each other and liturgy is never really distinct from theology, even if that liturgy be a popish mass or a prayer tent revival. 

I also believe that religion and culture are intricately tied. Catholicism is very much ingrained in the Cajun way of life in a rich tapestry of saints, holidays, and mindset that have influenced food, culture, and music. Catholicism gave the peoples of Louisiana the idea of Mardi Gras and even though now it is a modern tourist trap in New Orleans for women to raise their shirts for some gutter beads, it is also a reminder of the ascetic calendar of the Roman Catholic Church: there is a time for revelry and a time for penance. The Presbyterianism of the Scots-Irish bestowed the men of the Appalachian Mountains a distrust of authority and a hearty battle-hardened attitude. I believe it is because of Presbyterianism, in part, that shaped the Scots-Irish to the point that General George Washington remarked that if he were defeated everywhere else that he would make his last stand for liberty among the Scots-Irish in his native state.

In retrospect, to propose something as abstract and artificial as a Church of Dixie upon these tribes, in my opinion, would be a gross travesty. 

To offer a counterpoint, I still think there should be a Christian organization of Southerners. But that organization, fraternity, or fellowship should be dedicated to making Catholics better Catholics or Protestants better ones. To those who are Christian and Southern, I would advise you to make good use of your churches. Become a fixture of usefulness in your community, whether that is with a dust rag or your pocket book. Dig deep into your own roots and try to cultivate something resembling paradise in your local communities. For those who weren’t raised with any church background, try to find a denomination that adheres to your world view and stick to it, whether that be Orthodox Christianity or Calvinism. Remember that no matter what denomination you are in, there will be some drawbacks or unsightly truths that you will have to deal with. But take comfort that the Church is like a net. Eventually, all the good fish and the bad fish are separated out in the end (Matthew 13:47-48). 

What kind of fish do you want to be? I’d say that’s up to you.

-By SoCo