"Christian" school defends pro-slavery booklet

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School  defends slavery booklet
Critic says text is 'window dressing'
By T.  KEUNG HUI, Staff Writer
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1913619p-8258411c.html

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.


'SOUTHERN SLAVERY, AS IT WAS'

Here are some  excerpts from the booklet:

* "To say the least, it is strange that the  thing the Bible condemns
(slave-trading) brings very little opprobrium upon  the North, yet that
which the Bible allows (slave-ownership) has brought  down all manner of
condemnation upon the South." (page 22)

* "As we  have already mentioned, the 'peculiar institution' of slavery
was not  perfect or sinless, but the reality was a far cry from the
horrific  descriptions given to us in modern histories." (page 22)

* "Slavery as it  existed in the South was not an adversarial
relationship with pervasive  racial animosity. Because of its dominantly
patriarchal character, it was a  relationship based upon mutual
affection
and confidence." (page 24)

*  "There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with
such  mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world." (page
24)

*  "Slave life was to them a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of
food,  clothes, and good medical care." (page 25)

* "But many Southern blacks  supported the South because of long
established bonds of affection and trust  that had been forged over
generations with their white masters and friends."  (page 27)

* "Nearly every slave in the South enjoyed a higher standard of  living
than the poor whites of the South -- and had a much easier  existence."
(page 30)

The booklet isn't the only connection its two  co-authors have with the
school.

One of the authors, Douglas Wilson,  a pastor in Moscow, Idaho, wrote a
book on classical education upon which  the school bases its philosophy.
Wilson's Association of Classical and  Christian Schools accredited Cary
Christian, and he is scheduled to speak at  the school's graduation in
May.

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.

*Classical education*

Stephenson said the school's growth  is based on parental desire for a
classical education founded on the basics  of phonics, grammar, logic
and rhetoric. Students read many classics, such  as the writings of Plato
and Socrates.

"As a classical Christian  school, we think it's important for our
students to be able to think and not  be slanted to a particular
position," Stephenson said. "We want them to  think for themselves."

Until two years ago, Stephenson said, middle  school students also had
read excerpts from "Southern Slavery." He said the  booklet was a
counterpoint to "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which he said portrayed  all
Southern whites as treating their slaves badly.

Once the Civil  War was no longer taught in middle school, Stephenson
said, Cary Christian  stopped using the booklet in those grades.

But the 43-page booklet is  still read in its entirety by ninth-graders
when they study the Civil War.  Stephenson said the booklet can help
students formulate arguments when  taking the pro-Southern side in
debates.

"A student may be assigned an  opinion they may not agree with, so they
will understand both sides,"  Stephenson said.

Angela Kennedy, whose daughters have attended Cary  Christian since
1996, said all the booklet does is help students learn about  both sides so
that they have a basis to form their own opinions. She pointed  out that
the students also read Abraham Lincoln's speeches.

"They  really do get both sides of the story," Kennedy said. "In public
schools,  all they get is one side of the story. That's not education.
That's  indoctrination."

Stephenson said the booklet is discussed for two days.  Even as they
read the booklet, he said, students are told slavery was  wrong.

"Slavery is wrong," Stephenson said. "That's not debatable about
slavery. The South was wrong about the slave trade."

*Parent's  support*

Marcus Ranch, who has three daughters at Cary Christian, said he  has no
problem with the school using the booklet. He said it offers an
accurate portrayal that is overlooked of how many slaves were treated 
kindly  by
their owners.

"That book is fine," Ranch said. "It does a good job  with that
particular perspective."

But Potok questioned how the  school can use a booklet that asserts that
slavery "was a relationship based  upon mutual affection and
confidence."

"What these men have written is an  apology for slavery," he said.
"They're putting window dressing on an  abhorrent institution."

Potok also blasted the booklet, which was  published in 1996, for
plagiarizing a previous work. The booklet has  received criticism from a
number of historians.

Wilson declined to  comment and referred questions to his assistant,
Mike Lawyer. Lawyer said  the booklet has been pulled from publication
because of faulty footnotes and  citation errors.

Lawyer said he thinks few schools use the booklet, which  is published
by a company owned by Wilson's Idaho church.

But Lawyer  said the authors stand by their central belief that the
Civil
War didn't  have to happen and that slavery would have ended on its own.

"The  Southern Poverty Law Center is just trying to make money out of
this,"  Lawyer said. "The Southern Poverty Law Center is totally off
base to think  in any way that the book is neo-Confederate."

But the use of the booklet  is leaving some area pastors concerned that
it could promote  intolerance.

"If there's any attempt to divide us, it's totally  un-Christian," said
Richard Dial, pastor of Cary Church of God.

Mike  Woods, administrator of Wake Christian Academy, said he couldn't
see his  school using "Southern Slavery, As it Was," especially with
younger  students.

"It's so easy for some of them to take something they read and  assume
you're in favor of it," he said.



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