“The very experiences of the dissecting room and the pathological laboratory were breeding a conviction that the stifling of all deep-set repugnances was the first essential for progress.”
–C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, Chapter Nine (Hat tip: SP)
Slavery, Ku Klux Klan, civil rights, separate but equal schools, Vietnam War and a host of other wars and near wars, red lining, add your own suggestion to the list. We folks of the South know something about this. It is amazing how we continue to refuse to take to heart the errors of the past but continue to think of ourselves as having a superior moral sensibility. A very apt and timely quotation.
Sins, including hubris, are universal among both Episcopalians and mere mortals. Why poke a stick at the South? Are you a self-loathing southerner. Shall I have a brass band stand on your lawn late this evening and play Dixie?
I believe the band could be fun, but I’d prefer a tune written by a Southerner. I’ve always lived in the South, so I’m writing about my own experience. If nothing else you would think that we, of all people, should understand that there’s a possibility that we may be wrong. Because we take the Bible seriously, we, of all people, should recognize there’s a possiblity that we are misinterpreting the Bible.
When we come up with brand-new interpretations, I believe there is an even greater onus to recognize the possibility that we have it wrong, especially since our interpretation will be so new, compared to 2,000 years, and we cannot see what may follow from it.
Interesting observation from Kathleen Norris: “What religious conversion is not: if it serves us a bit too well, if it reinforces all our prejudices and allows us to call ourselves holy at the expense of others whom we can now judge to be unholy, it is probably not the real thing.â€