Hoyt Cagle
Religion and Economics
Wed Jul 11 08:42:07 2001


I'm not sure which is more offensive, citing religion and religious freedom as a (Southern) causal factor of the Civil War (or War of Southern Independence, War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression, War Against the Rich, Nasty Slaveowners, War of the Rebellion, The Late Unpleasantness, etc. Please pick any/all that apply), or cynically stating that economics was the root of it all. This economic theory of war smacks mightily of Karl Marx and dialectic materialism.

As far as the "Secret Six," this brings up the old moral dilemma: Would it have been morally right to have killed Adolph Hitler in his childhood, thus saving millions of human lives later, or is murder always murder? The analogy to the case of the "Secret Six" should be evident to all but the hopelessly obtuse. I also noticed that there was no mention of the "terrorism" (beatings, hangings, shootings, mutilations with axes, manglings by dogs, and so forth ad nauseam) perpetrated daily on southern slaves. Terrorism apparently is acceptable, or at least unworthy of note, if it targets only the black race.

Mr. Lowe notes: "Had Lincoln's party not intervened in the issue, I firmly believe that there would have been a paradigm shift [at least partially brought forth by Judeo-Christian religious "values"] and a peaceful solution to the question at some future point in time." You, too, Mr. Lowe, are in select company on this thought, as none other than Mr. Horace Greeley expressed similiar sentiments. Of course, what was another one or two hundred years of bondage and atrocities? There would have been a happy ending in the sweet by and by.

As far as the "nonsensical appellation" of revisionism, perhaps you are right, sir. I should have merely said the new works of the fablemongers and personal agenda rewrite artists.

Regards to all.