8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - Confederate Heritage Conference Review: Reviewing and Renewing Our Southern Christian Herita

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Since I have been given the

opponunity to furnish a repon on

the

Fifth Annual Confederate

Heritage Conference

in

Monroe, La.

I thought it would be fittin'

to

stan

by asking the question, "Why

weren't y'all there?"

Actually, some of you were.

There were nearly three hundred

people in attendance, representing

more than twenty different states.

Yes that means some ofthe states

represented were from outside the

South.

This

is an important fact

in

pointingout the relevantnature of

h

conference - but more on that later.

Due to an illness of Dr.

Gregg

Singer's wife he

was

unable to pani

cipate in

the

conference as planned.

Although we were all disappointed

about that,

we

were treated instead

to speeches from Mr. Otto Scott,

author, lecturer, and editor of the

newsletter Compass and Dr.

Michael

Hill, professor ofhistory

at

Stillman

college, visiting professor ofhistory

at the University of Alabama, and

president of the Southern

League.

This conference was a joy for

those seriously interested in the

"Southern Cause." From the historic

flavor ofSteve Wilkins to the fresh

call to action by Idaho's Douglas

Wilson, we were refreshed in the

old ways and enlightened in the

new. Scholarship was present in the

fonn of histolY, philosophy, and

theology with all three unified

in

vision

for the

future.

Douglas Wilson set the pace for

the conference by starting out with

his lecture, "Why The War Never

Ended. He commanded our

attention

right away with the

proclamation that if we

forget

what

God does

for

us and our fathers

in

the

faith , we are

not only

acknowledging negligence,

but

according

to the Law we are

confessing our guilt. This is because

we have disregarded His clear

commands to the contrary. He cited

passages from both the Old and

New Testaments and concludedby

warning us of the dangers we

encounter when we

do

forget.

He

said that remembering God's

faithfulness in the past not only

gives hope in the present but also

provides uswith a linkcovenantally

to our fathers - one we need to pass

down to our children. They need to

be anticipating God's hand in their

lives through the study of history.

Mr. Wilson rejected the notion

that

histOlY as

recorded by men is

unbiased. This is no less true

in

the

history of the War Between the

States. We

must

accept God's

rendition of right and

wrong

regardless of what we think.

To

quote Mr. Wilson, "We should

resolve to have no problem areas' in

Scripture." Our response, he said,

should be more like, "Wow, the

Bible sure says that " With that, he

embarked on the sticky issue of

slavery - both the institution by

itself and the establishment as

it

existed in the Notth and South

before and during the War. For a

more thorough examination of this

interesting topiC I suggest you get a

copy ofthe tapes from

the

conference.

"On issues of truth," he said,

"force settlesnothing. As his lecture

title suggested, he argued that the

War,

in

its real issues (i.e. state

sovereignty vs. strong

central

government, etc.), is still being

waged.

He pointed out the "Tenth

AmendmentMovement"

in

manyof

the Westem states and said that the

federal government is weakening

under itsown weight. This does not

mean immediate collapse or rule of

disgruntled anarchists,

but

more

likely a gradual loss of strength

on

the part of centralized power

in

general.

As

you can see already, the

contemporary relevance of the

meeting became clear from the

beginning. The ideas presented as

the speeches went forward grewinto

a living vision with potential to

reshape the country into what

our

forefathers planted.

Dr.

Michael Hill's presentation

was entitled,

Egalitarian

Democracy:

The

Universal Wolf. He

had

completed writing

it

only a

few

days

earlier, and it was given with little

prior notice. He did not disappoint.

His

point

was

mainly dealing

with the

injustice of

enforced

equality

as it is presented

today. Equal

justice

under the

law and equality of humanity as

men made in the image of God do

not

essentially or inevitably mean

sameness

or standardization.

However, the cu rrent view is

antithetically

perverting

and

destroyingjusticeonbehalfofhonest

men, their bUSinesses, and our

political system. Mr. Hill urged the

need

to

rerum to a decentralized

republic.

Mr. Otto Scott spoke next on

People

and Populations. With his

theme

on

immigration and

pluralism, he advised us of the

liability nations incur when their

borders absorb all comers. Total

tolerance breeds complete

incohesiveness.

He

gave several

examples from history, including

Rome as

it

extended into Europe. f

we don't continue to stand for

our

Gont on page

4

July,

1995 ;.

TIlE

COUNSEL of Chalcedon ;. l

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - Confederate Heritage Conference Review: Reviewing and Renewing Our Southern Christian Herita

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onferenceReview

p.13

heritage as a people in America, we

may cease

to be

a people

in

America.

In

his

second speech, The

Blue

and Grey

in Black and

White,

Mr

Wilson delineated the issues of the

War and

how the War should

be

fought today.

Our

battle is now a

battle

of

ideas,

he

said.

Last

of

all,

Rev.

Steve Wilkins

spoke on

The Foundations of

Southern Culture.

He

dealt

primarily with the spiritual 'side of

the War. According to

Mr.

Wilkins,

the differences between the North

and South

on

theological issues

during this time ran

at

eastas deeply

as any of the other, more obvious

issues. Mr. Wilkins, as always,

delivered

his

message to us

in

Southern Style.

My father, mother, brother, and

I drove

out

to the conference by ear.

It was about a ten hour trip,

and

on

top

of hat, our air conditioning was

not

working at the time.

So

we

traveled through heat waves, roads

under

construction

and four

Southern states, including a part of

our

own,

just

to go to a conference.

Why

was

it

worth

it to

us?

Why

would we do

it

all again? For

my

family, this trip was like a revival.

I'm sure that many ofyou think lam

exaggerating,

but

I'm

not.

My

brother, who was reluctant to go,

came back

not

only fired

up

about

his covenant heritage

but

also ready

to

share

it

with jus t about anyone -

after all, Southern history is full

of

Christian heritage

to

remember,

enjoy, and imitate for the future.

There was a distinct spiritual base

that undergirded the conference.

The

main thread that

flowed

throughout was a sense of covenant

continuiry with our past. We leftthe

conference with anticipation and

zeal for the future.

I believe that

in

a different

environment, the meeting would

not

have

had

the impact that it did

on my family. The organic nature of

it

all

Wl S

indisputable to our senses

as we

watched

truly Southern

brethren and other people of like

mind come togetherwith expectancy

and leave with hope.

On Saturday night after the

conference, a Confederate ball was

held. There was period music, and

some even wore period costumes. It

was nice

to

relax

in

an atmosphere

of fun.

There is one other aspect

ofthe

conference that I think is imponant

to note - that is, the group of people

hosting it. There was great

hospitality from the members of the

congregation - not only

in

inviting

out-of-town guests for Sunday

dinner,

but

also

in

the outstanding

friendliness served to all who

came

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon Jnly, 1995

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

BULK RATE

Pennit No. 1553

Greenville, SC

29602

Then, there

was

the singing. What a

wonderful joy

to

be able to sing out

loudly We were blessed with the

congregation's

full and

bountiful

harmony, punctuated

and

made

distinctive by the many male voices

booming

through.

This

was a

particular blessing

to

me as a young

man. Several hymns, being favorites

of the Confederate soldiers, were

sung during the conference.

Last of

all,

I want to invite each

reader

to

consider going

to

next

year's conference in Monroe, La.

The conference will be held the last

weekend in

May.

There are other

conferences

which are held

throughout the South that you might

want to consider as well. Y'all

come n

teve PaYMe

and

h l ~ famfly

live

In

GalncfwJ/le

GA

where

he

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ChrlertJan

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