“Unsafe”: Church Leaders Want George Washington Plaques Removed

Leaders at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia are removing a plaque that commemorates George Washington because they feel it makes people feel “unwelcome” in the congregation. The plaques, which are on the pew where Washington and his family sat when they attended the church, will be removed after some parishioners complained.

“The plaques in our sanctuary make some in our presence feel unsafe or unwelcome,” said church leaders, referencing the first president’s status as a slaveowner. “Some visitors and guests who worship with us choose not to return because they receive an unintended message from the prominent presence of the plaques. Many in our congregation feel a strong need for the church to stand clearly on the side of ‘all are welcome- no exceptions.'”

Well, all are welcome…except great men like George Washington, apparently.

Washington’s plaque isn’t the only one coming down; a plaque commemorating Robert E. Lee, whose family donated money to the church, is also due to be removed.

“We understand that both Washington and Lee lived in times much different than our own, and that each man, in addition to his public persona, was a complicated human being, and like all of us, a child of God,” church leaders wrote.

Yes, but DO you recognize that? DO you understand that? Because by removing these plaques, you are betraying the fact that you don’t. There is nothing offensive whatsoever about imbuing your church with a sense of American history, and if parishioners are so offended by these plaques that they cannot bear to attend, then they have truly missed – and missed badly – Christ’s message of forgiveness.

It’s often said that we cannot judge a man from history based on the moral values we hold today, but when it comes to a Christian church, the glaring error here is even more egregious, is it not? Because Jesus taught that we should not judge…period! More to the point, we should be much more concerned with our own faults and failures to lead a good life than we are with another’s. Especially if that “other” lived hundreds of years ago!

This would have made a fine teachable moment for church leaders, but instead they chose to bow before the political correctness of the day. That’s a damn shame, because Christianity and religion in general are particularly endangered by the rising tide of illiberal liberals who want to control speech and rewrite history. NOW is the time to develop a backbone and to fight back against these forces. If you give in today, when the subject is Washington and Lee, you won’t have the spine to stand up when the subject is the Bible.