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RELIGION/S|e Charlotte $o0t
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Southern Moravians apologize for slavery
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WINSTON-SALEM-The
Southern Province of the
Moravian Church has apolo
gized for the church’s historic
participation in slavey
A resolution including the
apology was approved unani
mously during a meeting last
week, when the church also
announced the creation of a
race reconciliation program
for the church’s black and
white congregations.
‘What it means to me is, it
suggests our church’s deter
mination to live up to its
creed,” said the Rev. Wayne
Burkette, newly chosen pres
ident of the province’s Provin
cial Elders’ Conference.
In the church’s early days in
the Moravian community of
Salem, blacks—free and
esnslaved—and whites often
worshipped side by side.
But at the close of the 18th
century, white slave owners
began to segregate blacks
from their community forc
ing them to the back of their
church on Easter Sunday
1789 and later into separate
churches organized imder
white ministers
Burkette said that, while
about three-fourths of Mora
vians around the world are
people of color, black mem
bership has languished in
North America.
“Nothing would please me
more than to see it (the reso
lution) as an acknowledg
ment of our need for each
other and the hope that in the
future there can be greater
understanding and partner
ship in the mission of the
church,! Burkette said.
Roma Combs, a member of
group that introduced the
resolution, said it stemmed
from discussions among
Moravians around Mdnston-
Salem. TOnston-Salem was
formed when the Salem com
munity merged with Win
ston, a nearby commerce hub.
‘T do think there’s a gulf
between tiie African-Ameri
can and Caucasian folks in
town and we’ve got to move
forward,” he said.
He said that, while some
might see the resolution as a
ploy for more black church
members, it is the result of
genuine soul-searching.
“There are people in the
Moravian church who are not
going to let this resolution
remain just a document,” he
said.
The great-granddau^ter of
a Moravian slave said she
was pleased by the apology
regardless of the motive.
iOf course, it doesn’t correct
what has been done, but an
apology is always acceptable,!
said Georgiana Paige McCoy
whose great-grandfather,
Ned Lemly was bom in 1827.
ilt doesn’t change the fact
that my great grandfather
was enslaved in Salem.!
Winston-Salem and Bethle
hem, Pa., have long been the
centers of the Moravian
Church in the United States.
Maryland church defaced with racial slurs
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOWIE, Md. — A Bowie
church and nearby sound
barrier were defaced this
week with spray painted
racist slurs, an incident
Prince George’s Coimty police
are investigating as a hate
dime.
The large graffrti included
swastikas, the letters “KKK”
and anti-black epithets. They
could be easily seen Ihesday
by motorists driving by the
Redeemed Christian Church
of God Mctory Tfemple on
Route 450.
Firefi^ters used hoses to
remove the spray paint frxm
the church’s erterior. A group
of volunteers eventually
draped a blue tarp over the
defaced sound barrier that
sits about 50 yards away
Mary Nusser, who helped
cover the wall, said she was
disgusted. ‘You could just see
people’s shoulders slump
down as they walked by and
the soiTow coming out of
their pores,” Nusser told The
Washington Post.
N\!sser helps report inci
dents to the Southern Poverty
Law Center, a civil rights,
group that tracks hate crimes.
Members characterized the
graffiti as the worst they have
seen in the Washington area
in 15 years.
Charlotte’s best source for
news from an African
American perspective
Cl^arlotte $osit
ACLU challenges protest laws
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRANKFORT, Ky.-Por
tions of a new state law
intended to prevent pro
testers from disrupting
funerals for soldiers killed
in Iraq are imconstitution-
al and should be struck
down, the American Civil
Liberties Union said in a
federal lawsuit filed Mon
day
The ACLU filed suit in
U.S. District Court in
Frankfort, challenging sec
tions of the law that the
group claims go too far in
limiting freedom of speech
and freedom of expression.
The lawsuit puts the
ACLU, which routinely
handles discrimination
cases involving gays and
lesbians, on the same side
as Westboro Baptist
Church of Topeka, Kan.,
which is known for its anti
gay protests.
The law, which also
apphes to memorial ser
vices, wakes and burials,
was aimed at members of
that church who have
toured the cormtry protest
ing at military funerals.
The church members claim
the soldiers’ deaths are a
' sign of God punishing
America for tolerating
homosexuality
Joyfest ’06
The ACLU filed the law
suit on behalf of Bart
McQueary a Mercer Comity
man who has protested
alongside the chmch mem
bers on three occasions.
McQueary had no listed
telephone number and
couldn’t be reached for com
ment.
U.S. District Judge Karen
Caldwell has been assigned
to hear the case. The ACLU
already has asked her to
grant a preliminary injunc
tion that would allow funer
al protests to continue.
“Mr. McQueary clearly
has the right to express his
message in a non-disruptive
manner, even if others dis
agree with him,” said Lili S.
Lutgens, an attorney for the
ACLU in Louisville.
Lutgens said the law is so
broad that people could
unknowingly violate it by
whistling as they walk
down a sidewalk, or by stop
ping to chat on a pubhc
sidewalk near a funeral
home. She said the law also
could prevent pro-military
groups from standing out
side memorial services to
counter the Kansas demon
strators.
“The commonwealth sim
ply cannot prohibit free
expression because it does
n’t like certain activities.
nor can it suppress the
speech of groups or individ
uals because it doesn’t like
the message,” Lutgens said.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed
the measure into law in
March in an attempt to pre
vent disruptions at military
funerals.
Protesters within 300 feet
of such services would be
guilty of first-degree disor
derly conduct, punishable
by up to a year in jail. The
bill also woiild prevent pro
testers from using bull
horns to try to disrupt the
services.
Members of the Westboro
church have protested at
funerals for members of the
Kentucky National Guard
and U.S. Army soldiers
based at Fort Campbell who
have been killed in action.
At their protests, mem
bers of the Kansas group
carry such signs as “Thank
God for lEDs,” the impro
vised explosive devices used
by insurgents in Iraq.
Fletcher spokesman Brett
Hall said Monday the gov
ernor hasn’t yet seen the
lawsuit. “We’ll take a look
at it and move from there,”
he said.
However, Hall said
mourning families deserve
privacy and dead soldiers
deserve reverence.
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CCSKMaUAcEntr.
Continued from page 5B
through Tlcketmaster by call
ing 704-522-6500, by logging
on to www.ticketmaster.com
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Vatican’s
boycott
Continued from page 5B
power-himgry sect in the
novel, has specifically
refrained finm publicly call
ing for a boycott of the film,
aware that Htter criticism of
Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of
the Christ” helped generate
publicity for the movie.
Opus Dei has, however,
asked Sony to put a dis-
daimer on the movie saying it
is a work of fantasy Sony has
not responded to that request
but has said it views “The Da
Vind Code” as a work of fic
tion that isn’t meant to harm
any organization.
Amato’s comments were the
second this week against the
film by church officials in
Rome.
Earlier this week, the Inte
rior Ministry took down an
enormous ad promoting the
film that was plastered on the
scaffolding of a Rome church
after church officials com
plained that the film was
against Christ and the
Catholic Church.
O’-. Fr.ini Seid /Ifioiik Ottt Locknt Bishap Phdlip Duvk Bklisp Ralph Cknnh Apostk Jehu Trlsula Dr.Bitl^'ir,
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