Why Christianity is Central to the New South in the Modern World
History is. And yet, some in the South are as guilty of
ignoring it, or revising it, as the Yankees because of personal
prejudices or agendas. Like every other people or nation, the South
has a wide range of opinions. It did in the past, the past we revere,
and it does today. But today's South is significantly more diversified
than the South of 1860. There is still a core of Scot - Irish but
they are not close to the majority of whites. There are immigrants
from the north, from Mexico, from Cuba and many Latin American
nations. And of course there is a large black or African American
population.
Within the modern day Southern movement there is a lot of talk about the future. Many in the Southern movement, and some people in no way connected to a Southern movement, see a future where the present United States just does not make it. Whether it's in response to continued failed federal protection of the border, or a completely failed finance policy which includes intentional inflation and massive public debt the reasons for catastrophe and a collapse of the United States are discussed more openly and more continuously than ever before. Some in the Southern movement anticipate this failure and are working to create possibilities should the federal structure collapse.
The present South is barely 70% white and that would include Hispanic whites. There are large segments of the population which are African American and Latin. And those Southerners must be accounted for. In addition, some Southerners, like Texans see themselves as separate and apart from the rest of Dixie. Some refuse to fly the Confederate Battle flag, and selectively choose how they will participate in Southern heritage organizations. The South is more rift with fragmentation than ever before.
What is worrisome for me is that as I observe the various leaders and components in the Southern movement I see things which could propel the South back a thousand years. Though some critics of the present point to the liberals goal to create Utopia, a place of perfection where the liberal priorities end in perfect equality and distribution of wealth, I would submit that some conservatives look for a Utopia of conservatism where their parochial concerns and views are dominate, enforced through a system of nobility or some other fascism with no foundation in the will of the people.
For this reason I ask all Southerners to consider some basic foundational points when considering a future minus the central United States government. First among those foundation points is Christianity. Christianity sets the moral foundation for a new nation. In the CSA of 1861 the Southern Founding Fathers saw the need to ask God for His protection and guidance in the Constitution. While not all Southerners were Christian, the overwhelming majority were. While today's majority may not be as large as 1860, it is still more than 70% of the South. Christianity breaches ethnic divides and establishes a broad set of values for all. Because Christians believe God is in each person it forces one to consider that whatever one does to another, he does to God, and must therefore face His wrath should those actions be based in sin or a lack of equality in terms of politics. It was Southerners who said our Creator provided us with inalienable rights.
Christianity should be the means to fulfilling the potential of each individual, and by doing so, the potential of a free South.
So let's begin any discussion of a future South, or Heartland nation with an acknowledgement of Christianity as the faith of this new nation. And let us commit ourselves to live that faith.
Secondly, if we accept that God is in each person and that God gave each man his liberty and his political equality with all others, and then let us embrace the form of government created by the Southern patriots. Let us recognize equality for all people, and let us create a Constitution on the same basis as the first, one that protects the people from the government, a Constitution that places a harness on government. And let us reaffirm the superior sovereignty of the states; that each state is supreme within its own borders with respect to domestic issues except where those issues, like the flow of water from a river, impact another state.
Thirdly, let us agree to conduct all discussion and business in the light of day. Darkness in discussion and policy making is the end of freedom and individual liberty. All that is done by government must be done without anonymity or secret cliques. These conditions are alive in some Southern heritage organizations and may explain why evil flourishes there. A new America must be as concerned with the "consent of the governed" as it is with the "will of the majority."
Let us understand that the foundation is built long before the house is erected. What we do now, what we emphasize now, and what we tolerate now compose what is the foundation of any new nation. All must assimilate towards a common understanding, and to do that means engaging all. The South of 1861 was one in many ways more tangible than anything we see today. We must look to the heroes and patriarchs of the C.S.A., in all fields, in order to find a set of personal values which can be openly articulated today.
The United States has failed, not because is lived by the values of Washington and Jefferson, but because it allowed those values to be corrupted or erased. Let us ask God to be with us and to guide us in the establishment of any new nation, and any new course.
Some may see these words as treasonous to the United States, or premature. But I would assert that the collapse of the United States is no more foreseeable then the coming of Christ. We do not know when our Lord will return and we cannot with certainty predict the end of the present political system. It could be two centuries in the future, or it could be tomorrow. What we can know is that secession is more and more a reasonable political alternative to the despotism, oppression, incompetence and failure of a central government that has set aside the restraints created to contain it. The present government is not fulfilling stated responsibilities like guarding the border, while expanding itself into issues never intended it.
For the South, or a Heartland nation to be better than its predecessor it must embrace a degree of nationalism, and build its future on the Will of God.
God Bless the South,
Mark Vogl
johnyreb43@yahoo.com
Within the modern day Southern movement there is a lot of talk about the future. Many in the Southern movement, and some people in no way connected to a Southern movement, see a future where the present United States just does not make it. Whether it's in response to continued failed federal protection of the border, or a completely failed finance policy which includes intentional inflation and massive public debt the reasons for catastrophe and a collapse of the United States are discussed more openly and more continuously than ever before. Some in the Southern movement anticipate this failure and are working to create possibilities should the federal structure collapse.
The present South is barely 70% white and that would include Hispanic whites. There are large segments of the population which are African American and Latin. And those Southerners must be accounted for. In addition, some Southerners, like Texans see themselves as separate and apart from the rest of Dixie. Some refuse to fly the Confederate Battle flag, and selectively choose how they will participate in Southern heritage organizations. The South is more rift with fragmentation than ever before.
What is worrisome for me is that as I observe the various leaders and components in the Southern movement I see things which could propel the South back a thousand years. Though some critics of the present point to the liberals goal to create Utopia, a place of perfection where the liberal priorities end in perfect equality and distribution of wealth, I would submit that some conservatives look for a Utopia of conservatism where their parochial concerns and views are dominate, enforced through a system of nobility or some other fascism with no foundation in the will of the people.
For this reason I ask all Southerners to consider some basic foundational points when considering a future minus the central United States government. First among those foundation points is Christianity. Christianity sets the moral foundation for a new nation. In the CSA of 1861 the Southern Founding Fathers saw the need to ask God for His protection and guidance in the Constitution. While not all Southerners were Christian, the overwhelming majority were. While today's majority may not be as large as 1860, it is still more than 70% of the South. Christianity breaches ethnic divides and establishes a broad set of values for all. Because Christians believe God is in each person it forces one to consider that whatever one does to another, he does to God, and must therefore face His wrath should those actions be based in sin or a lack of equality in terms of politics. It was Southerners who said our Creator provided us with inalienable rights.
Christianity should be the means to fulfilling the potential of each individual, and by doing so, the potential of a free South.
So let's begin any discussion of a future South, or Heartland nation with an acknowledgement of Christianity as the faith of this new nation. And let us commit ourselves to live that faith.
Secondly, if we accept that God is in each person and that God gave each man his liberty and his political equality with all others, and then let us embrace the form of government created by the Southern patriots. Let us recognize equality for all people, and let us create a Constitution on the same basis as the first, one that protects the people from the government, a Constitution that places a harness on government. And let us reaffirm the superior sovereignty of the states; that each state is supreme within its own borders with respect to domestic issues except where those issues, like the flow of water from a river, impact another state.
Thirdly, let us agree to conduct all discussion and business in the light of day. Darkness in discussion and policy making is the end of freedom and individual liberty. All that is done by government must be done without anonymity or secret cliques. These conditions are alive in some Southern heritage organizations and may explain why evil flourishes there. A new America must be as concerned with the "consent of the governed" as it is with the "will of the majority."
Let us understand that the foundation is built long before the house is erected. What we do now, what we emphasize now, and what we tolerate now compose what is the foundation of any new nation. All must assimilate towards a common understanding, and to do that means engaging all. The South of 1861 was one in many ways more tangible than anything we see today. We must look to the heroes and patriarchs of the C.S.A., in all fields, in order to find a set of personal values which can be openly articulated today.
The United States has failed, not because is lived by the values of Washington and Jefferson, but because it allowed those values to be corrupted or erased. Let us ask God to be with us and to guide us in the establishment of any new nation, and any new course.
Some may see these words as treasonous to the United States, or premature. But I would assert that the collapse of the United States is no more foreseeable then the coming of Christ. We do not know when our Lord will return and we cannot with certainty predict the end of the present political system. It could be two centuries in the future, or it could be tomorrow. What we can know is that secession is more and more a reasonable political alternative to the despotism, oppression, incompetence and failure of a central government that has set aside the restraints created to contain it. The present government is not fulfilling stated responsibilities like guarding the border, while expanding itself into issues never intended it.
For the South, or a Heartland nation to be better than its predecessor it must embrace a degree of nationalism, and build its future on the Will of God.
God Bless the South,
Mark Vogl
johnyreb43@yahoo.com
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