Daryl Coleman Garland, Texas Homepage: http://www.dkco.com/ wrote: > Chad, I'm curious what you mean, exactly, by "good 'ole racist southern > Presbyterianism"? Yeah... I'd been wondering if you'd flag that line. What I meant was: "good 'ole racist southern Presbyterianism". :-) >First, I am not a Presbyterian, but I certainly have > profited from the writings of many of those southern Presbyterians > (Thornwell, Dabney). As have I. >Were they racists, in your view? Yep. >Does the fact > that Dabney was unabashedly a southern patriot make him a racist? Yep. "States rights" is code for "racism". > Also, as a modern day Confederate, I have to say that I don't see the > movement as theonomist at all. I wouldn't think you would. But it's no coincidence that southern presbyterianism and theonomy go hand in hand. Southern presbyterians fondly speak of the Christian Confederacy, thereby cloaking racism in the cross. >Rather, it is more what one might term > libertarian. Yes, I suppose I can see how a theonomist might latch on > the ideas supported by the old Southern Confederacy, but I cannot see > how they are one and the same. Likewise, I've never heard anyone call > Dabney a theonomist. Do you believe he was one? Was Thornwell? You haven't because Rushdoony, who lived generations later, is the father of theonomy. But theonomists have no trouble citing Dabney and Thornwell all day long. > I could go one, but will suffice to say that I, like many thoughtful > Confederates, believe that the Confederacy was really fighting for the > spirit of the constitution as originally intended by the founders of the > US. I firmly believe the founding fathers intended federalism and the southerners never got with the program. The civil war didn't start out as a war to end slavery, but it sure ended that way. The North wasn't circumspect. But the defense of slavery (which is inherent to and inseparable from "states rights") is inexcusable. We all have our skeletons, and our Reformed History has its own... is it any wonder there are so few black brethren who hold to the doctrines of grace? Chad Bresson Xenia, OH