Alabama church removes pew honoring Confederate president

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Jay Reeves, Associated Press
Updated 1:49 pm CST, Sunday, February 10, 2019

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama church has removed a pew honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, saying the memorial had no place at a time when rebel symbols have been adopted by white supremacists.

The pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church, Robert C. Wisnewski Jr., posted a message on the church website last week saying the wooden pew was dedicated more than 90 years ago at a service featuring a pro-lynching segregationist.

After learning of the pew's history at a recent planning retreat, church leaders discussed it and then voted to remove the pew from the sanctuary and place it in the church archive, he wrote.

. . .

The pew actually wasn't installed until decades after the war, when whites were trying to maintain control in the South, Wisnewski wrote. Tennessee writer John Trotwood Moore, who supported segregation and opposed an anti-lynching law, spoke at the dedication service in 1925.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Alabama-church-removes-pew-honoring-Confederate-13605335.php

[klook]

1. Very good! BTW,

this church is in Montgomery, although the article is bylined from Birmingham.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks for the picture. Very stately. One wouldn't have expected such a building to have that thing

within its sanctuary. They must feel cleaner already!

[SunSeeker]

3. Thank you, Rev. Wisniewski. nt

[packman]

4. Should take it outside, pour gasoline over it and burn it

[Talitha]

6. Yep, they should destroy it.

Why hang onto it?
Good riddance to bad rubbish!

[YOHABLO]

5. "at a time when rebel symbols have been adopted by white supremacists" Really? Oh come on.

At what time have rebel symbols not been adopted by white supremacists? IMO, they've always coincided.

[Capt. America]

7. Thank you for finally joining 2019.

[Duppers]

8. The 20th century too. nt