Year after church shooting, Charleston much the same

[struggle4progress]

By JEFFREY COLLINS and JONATHAN DREW Associated Press 20 hrs ago

CHARLESTON, S.C. • The names of Confederate generals still adorn street signs in Charleston’s public housing projects, and a heroic waterfront statue dedicated to the Confederate Defenders of Charleston still faces Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

Just down from the Emanuel AME church — where nine black parishioners studying their Bibles were gunned down one year ago Friday — a statue of Vice President John C. Calhoun, a staunch defender of slavery, towers above a park ...

“People see what it took, and ultimately that flag was removed because nine people were murdered,” said Powers, who co-authored a book about the massacre called “We are Charleston.” “I think people appreciate how deeply entrenched the reverence is for the Confederacy. For a lot of folks, it is a civil religion” ...

So a statue of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman still stands on the Statehouse grounds. Tillman once famously praised a lynch mob that killed seven black Republicans in 1876 to intimidate others from voting. The statue calls him a “friend and leader of the common people” ...

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/year-after-church-shooting-much-is-the-same-in-charleston/article_bb3836a2-e2a4-58cf-bcc4-8b1b2da5f813.html

[KT2000]

1. "Civil religion"

says it all..

[Igel]

2. Lots of people described Soviet-style communism as a civil religion.

Completely unacceptable, since religion required an actual deity, we were told for decades.

I've heard people talk about a variety of things as "religions." Most have a point. Most overstate their point.

I mean, "learning styles" as a religion among educators. Foolish idea taken to extremes, but it's still easy to engage in a lot of hyperbole.

And most apply it in a really biased way.