Leaders of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC voted on Sept. 6 to immediately remove two stained-glass windows that honor generals of the Confederate Army in the US Civil War. The decision comes after two years of deliberation over whether the windows are “an appropriate part of the sacred fabric of a spiritual home for the nation,” according to church leaders. [...]
Previously, cathedral leaders justified these controversial Confederate windows, telling visitors on tours that their presence “underscores the building’s role as a repository of American memory, carrying the very wounds of war within its walls.” That is no longer sufficient, they believe. [...]
The reason for the delay, they explained, was that they sought alternative solutions, like perhaps contextualizing the windows somehow. However, the cathedral leaders wrote, “the recent violence in Charlottesville brought urgency to our discernment process…. The continued presence of white supremacy, anti-Semitism and other forms of hate in our nation cannot be ignored—nor will they be solved simply by removing these windows or other monuments.”
No comments:
Post a Comment