Mainline churches in North and South wrestle with Confederate legacy
After Charlottesville, Christians are re-examining memorials to General Robert E. Lee and others.
The Washington National Cathedral has deconsecrated stained-glass windows honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and made plans to remove the windows.
Other prominent houses of worship have also considered what to do with their Confederate memorials since a mid-August white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. The white nationalists and neo-Nazis had gathered with the stated goal of opposing the city council’s decision to remove a statue of Lee from a city park, which a lawsuit put on hold for several months.
After the violence in Charlottesville, Duke University removed a statue of Lee from its chapel entrance. Members of R. E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington, Virginia, had previously considered whether to change its name but reaffirmed its decision against such a move at an August 21 meeting.
