[Tip of the Hat to our good friend David Trimble over at Still On Patrol for bringing this extremely disturbing event to my attention.]

Apparently there is to be some kind of “Service of Repentance Over Slavery” scheduled to take place at the National Cathedral. This is, without question, one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever heard of. To even propose the notion that Christians living over 140 years after the institution of slavery should be attending a mass to repent for the sins of their ancestors is mind-boggling. Are they serious?

I thought that the public apologies over slavery that have been issued in recent years by former slave-state governments were a nice, but ultimately empty gesture on behalf of the ‘PC’ politicians. This however is a VERY different issue. To even propose the idea that repentance is required TODAY and that and the petition of such absolution should be attended to in a special church service is beyond ludicrous. What do WE (as in all of us) have to repent for?

PLEASE DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME. To hold a special service at the country's premiere house of worship in order to pay homage to those who suffered the sins of bondage, and/or to recognize those who fought to end the institution of slavery is absolutely justified and acceptable, but to use the term ‘repentance’ as the foundation for such a service is another reason why so many people are becoming put-off by the reiteration of the slavery issue and wish that we could all just get over it.

Think about it folks... This is like telling John Wilkes Booth's ancestors that they need to ask forgiveness and do penance for Lincoln's assassination.

David speaks much better than I do on the subject: …how ridiculous is the notion of "repentance" over 140 years later, by people who had absolutely nothing to do with American slave trade or practices?  I find it absurdly ironic that the same portion of our society who refuses to allow the truth of our history be taught in the schools and who wants to sweep the American Civil war under a rug as if it never happened now also wants everyone to "repent" of slavery.  We cannot teach how many northerners made their fortune in the 18th-century slave trade, nor how terribly racist all of American society was, not just the South.  Our children remain largely ignorant of all, which transpired leading up to the Civil War and how dramatically all of that affected who we are today as a country and as a people.  And yet we ask people to feel guilt about what happened many generations in the past and "repent" of it?  Nonsense.

If modern America (and the church) wants to repent, I can think of a million other things that we should all be ashamed of - things that are occurring in our times, and being perpetrated by us – things that truly make us guilty and in need of absolution. Slavery is NOT one of them.