IS MR. KETTLE IN? THE POT IS RETURNING HIS CALL.

I recently read a great article on spiritual profiling. It was talking about our prejudices and how we should not allow them as they hinder our witnessing. I agree with the author wholeheartedly and believe he is a good man making a good point. But I think he proved his own point accidentally. He wrote:

Prejudices are not new nor are they just conditions only of the past. We have had them since we became a nation. We had a prejudice toward blacks in the south which led to the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln, then to the Civil Rights Act.

He goes on to talk about prejudices towards Japanese Americans in WWII, and against "American Indians that led to the formation of reservations." All well and good but did you catch his prejudice? "We had a prejudice toward blacks in the south..." Excuse me? Now I am not denying prejudice in the South, I am a Southerner, I grew up in the South, I know prejudice existed here and does exist here but prejudice against blacks certainly isn't and never has been limited to the South. As my brother in Christ Evangelist Ed Carter says, "The problem isn't skin. The problem is sin!"

I don't know where the author grew up and/or was educated but I could almost guarantee it wasn't in the South (though he pastors there now). The typical propaganda is that everyone in the South was a bunch of ignorant racists (is there any other kind?) and those kind, warm-hearted Northerners wanted to free the blacks and so the "Civil War" was fought. Poppycock and balderdash!

Now please don't misunderstand what I am about to say. I am not even for a moment saying slavery was right. I am just saying it wasn't limited to the South or even accepted by all Southerners! At least four slave states were in the Union and coincidentally the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free any slaves in those states! It was only directed against those states in "rebellion." Had the issue been slavery don't you think they would have freed ALL the slaves in ALL the states? The War Between the States (which is what educated Southerners call it) was fought over states rights not slavery. Slavery was just a very volatile issue among many that ignited the conflict. 80% of Southerners had NO slaves! Most Northerners were NOT abolitionists. These and many other facts are conveniently not taught in most public schools.

False information about that period in American history has made prejudice against innocent Southerners flourish. I am glad that the Christianity of William Wilberforce gave him the impetus to end slavery in England. I am glad that slavery ended here. I am saddened that the prejudices continue be they racial or regional. We are all of "one blood" the Bible says, and the blood of Jesus Christ can wash us from ALL our sins.