The Great Lie: The Defamation of the South and God

I’ve been worked up about this for the last ten years, so you should read this at volume 11! Imagine yourself in an old time tent revival in the middle of August, deep, deep in the Mississippi Delta. I’m hot! The issue of the legality and morality of involuntary labor burns me inside. It is the issue, the accusation against our people, and the lie told by the godless which defame us. But, what is slavery? A man held against his will for labor, not deprived of his soul, or his conscience, just his movement and labor. Now, we moderns may think that immoral, unkind, but by what authority? Obviously, not by the original laws in the U.S., the British Empire, nor the laws of many nations till this very day. Nor, by the laws of God.

The present narrative about the War (note: Yankees, there is only one “war” for the Southerner) is that the South lost because God judged the original  sin of slavery. However, slavery did not end in many Union states until after the War, and as late as December 1865 in New Jersey. Therefore, my response to this is plain. Why do you accuse our Heavenly Father of sin? Are you ignorant, insane, or so crazy as to accuse God of sin, for the institution of slavery nowhere in the Holy Scripture is prohibited. As a matter of fact, sometimes slavery was a moral good to subdue the miscreant person, tribe, or to ensure they would be sustained in times of great hardship. Even in the United States to this day, the involuntary and uncompensated labor (slavery) of the incarcerated is not prohibited by the Constitution (Amendment 13 Section 1).

Southern man and woman, let me be clear, your people were not evil, they were very good and godly in there treatment of a foreign tribe (defined this way by U.S., and many state laws) thrust upon their shores without their permission (Virginia, 1619). African slavery was forbidden in the Colony of Virginia from the start, but was brought upon them by the mercantilists of the British Empire, the same way illegal alien labor was set upon different industries in the U.S. in the 1960s and forward. Industries such as farm labor, construction, hospitality, sanitation, etc. Your imperial overlords are allowing and promoting for profit and cultural destruction.

Now, some will shout out stupid examples of abuses, as if a legitimate institution is somehow nullified by extreme outliers. Would that same person nullify the righteousness of good governance in favor of anarchy because of occasional issues, or the holiness of marriage because a 400 hundred pound woman beat the hell out of her soy boy, stay-at-home dad? I think not! Is the entirety of the Church a terrible institution worthy of your disdain because of sensationalized (and evil) abuse cases, disregarding the centuries of charities her members have been involved in, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, building hospitals, and bringing the Gospel of Christ to enslaved Africans under the stewardship of Southern plantation owners. Let us be very clear, the Black Church in the U.S. is a direct result of the kindness showed to those enslaved in the South, the providential hand of God bringing salvation to those who would have not received it otherwise.

A few examples of the enslaved in the Bible, which God ordained for good, but not an exhaustive list, includes Canaan the son of Ham, and his descendants, were to serve his brothers, Shem and Japheth, and their descendants. Joseph enslaved perpetually all of Egypt during great famine, except for his own kinsmen, whom he gave the choice lands in Egypt (the Egyptians will return the favor later on, spoilers). Moses, by the authority of divine revelation, institutes laws regarding the enslavement of Hebrews and foreigners during the exodus of a people who just came out of slavery. Think about this for a minute. If slavery were so evil, would not God forbid it at this point, but He does not, just regulated it. Jesus and the other Apostles could have forbidden slavery in the New Testament, but we find no such command. In fact, Jesus heals the slave of a Roman, with no condemnation of him. Paul gives many regulations with regard to master and slave, but no command to not own or be a slave, and he could have commanded such in the letter to slave owning Philemon. All these opportunities to obliterate slavery by divine hand, and we see nothing.

Southern man and woman, when you hear someone, especially a clergyman, rail about the evils of your ancestors and slavery make them give a defense of the authority by which they defame your people, for they are not just attacking your people, but they are accusing God of waywardness, laziness, unkindness, etc. They are accusing God of sin. It is a direct attack on His divine purpose and plan, and they should take heed for God is not mocked, and he holds us all accountable for our accusations against Him. (Note: see Job).

God save the South!

Father Dabney

Service to God and honor to the South.