For the past several years, I have watched, sometimes with alarm, the growing vehemence of the concerted attack upon all things Southern and/or Confederate. All of Southern history, culture, and the symbols of that culture have been under unremitting assault for at least the past decade. Southern symbols and flags have been roundly attacked in all parts of the South as well as in various other locales. The Leftist Radicals of the "Politically Correct" elite have been trying to wipe the slate clean regarding the memory of anything Southern, with the exception of slavery (which was not only Southern, but Northern as well). That one thing they want to keep the memory of alive so they can find creative new ways to cash in on it politically and have an excuse to do away with all the rest.

Many sincere folks have fought back against this rising tide with their "Heritage, not Hate" campaigns in regard to their flags and symbols. While we must applaud their efforts, we must also look more in depth at what is really going on. Why the war against Southern symbols, and why is it waged with such ferocity?

An article in Frontpage Magazine a couple years ago gave us some clues to what is really going on. Author Lowell Ponte noted that: "Symbols are key battlefields where the Culture War is being fought...The Confederate flag must disappear, as the Left openly says, because it is a 'rebel' flag, a symbol of people rising up against the authority of central government." Mr. Ponte continued: "This flag must be pulled down, the Left will soon demand, not only because it symbolizes a politically incorrect history that must, in Orwellian fashion, be re-written--but also because the Confederate flag is religious." And naturally, the religon it is representative of is Christianity.

Dr. Cecil Williamson, Pastor of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Selma, Alabama, has written: "The reasons they hate our Southern culture are the very reasons we should vigorously support and defend it. And it is simply this: Southern culture--particularly antebellum Southern culture--was primarily Christian, primarily Western European, and primarily family-oriented. The South and our heritage are maligned today because the South is the only part of the country that has not wholeheartedly embraced the anti- Christian biases, the anti-western-Civilization mentality, and the anti-family philosophy which have saturated our culture." Dr. Williamson noted how the South cleaved to the orthodox Christian faith in the early 1800s, while the North went whoring after Unitari- anism and a host of other related apostasies.

And P. K. Fitzgerald, writing in the Columbia County New Times, Columbia County, Georgia, has just recently noted the comments of William Porcher Miles of South Caro- lina, who, in 1861, wrote to Samuel Barret of Georgia the following: "The flag should be a token of humble acknowledgment of God and be a public testimony to the world that our trust is in the Lord our God." That is what the attack on Southern symbols is really all about. The Radical Left and their friends in high places, in public offices, and in big business are really offended by the Confederate battle flag because it is an overtly Christian symbol and, whether "those people" will ever publicly admit it or not, they are at war with Christ and Christianity. To them, the South represents the last bastion of Christianity in the Western Hemisphere and her historical symbols are mainly Christian symbols and, therefore, they have to go. Orthodox Christianity must be removed so the "tolerance" of multiculturalism can be fully celebrated--a "tolerance," by the way, that has no room for the Christian faith. All else, no matter how perverse, will be tolerated, but, after all, we can't have, in a multicultural world, all those narrow-minded, bigoted Christians running around telling people that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," and that no man ever truly comes to God except through Him. (John 14:6) Every- thing else must be permitted except that. That fact, alone, tells you that the "Politically Correct" crowd is really at war with God and His truth, as revealed in Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures.

If the Christian folk in the South could only come to realize that the attacks on their symbols and heritage are really attacks on their Saviour, some of them, hopefully, might begin to wake up and realize they need to fight back. Southern Christian culture and symbols need to be defended, and people need to realize that they are defending symbols of the Christian faith -- the faith by which their culture has been widely influenced. In fact, if anything, in the upcoming year, we need to go on the offensive. Those folks who are putting up the old Georgia flag all over that state have got the right idea. Every time and place a flag with a St. Andrews Cross on it goes up, the presence of that flag bears silent witness to what it stands for, as well as what it stands against. And you can bet the anti-Christ "Politically Correct" crowd cringes when they see more and more Confederate flags and more and more people willing to fly them.

I expect this next year will bring a continuation of attacks and slander regarding Confederate symbols. Let us be bold in defending those symbols and our culture. Our adversaries are really at war with Jesus Christ, and that is a war that, in the long run, they cannot win. Let us be zealous in defending what God has given us and be thankful to Him for a Christian heritage worth preserving and fighting for.

Al Benson, Jr., is publisher of THE COPPERHEAD CHRONICLE. He publishes the newsletter four times a year for a subscription price of $8.00 per year. Benson deals with many historical issues concerning the War Between the States, but also deals with some contemporary issues. The mailing address is The Copperhead Chronicle, P.O. Box 1883, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60006.

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