澳彩开奖

Thirteen years ago, an evangelical minister in Idaho who was about to headline a 鈥渉istory鈥� conference at the University of Idaho at Moscow ran head-on into a massive political firestorm. The cause was a book pastor Douglas Wilson had co-authored that offered up an unusual take on antebellum American slavery.

鈥淪lavery as it existed in the South 鈥� was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence,鈥� according to Southern Slavery, As It Was. 鈥淭here has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.鈥� And there was this: 鈥淪lavery was to them [slaves] a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes and good medical care.鈥�

Slavery apologist Douglas Wilson, who worked for years to create a 鈥淐hristian鈥� empire, saw his schools accreditation organization summarily rejected after some of his unusual views of history came to light.

An uproar ensued, with the presidents of two local universities, numerous editorials, scores of letters to the editor, participants in several rallies and any number of other sources condemning Wilson鈥檚 sorry scholarship. Historians pilloried Wilson for a rose-colored version of slavery as it never was.

Earlier this year, Wilson, in a form, was back.

In February, the Tennessee state Senate considered a Republican bill that would have allowed church schools to be accredited by the Association of Classical and Christian Schools 鈥� started by Wilson years before to accredit such schools as his own Logos school in Moscow. The association鈥檚 site still carries Wilson essays like 鈥淣urturing Masculinity,鈥� and includes in its recommended readings an essay by R.L. Dabney, a Confederate chaplain who once described black people as a 鈥渕orally inferior race,鈥� a 鈥渟ordid, alien taint鈥� marked by 鈥渓ying, theft, drunkenness.鈥�

Wilson has also called for the execution of adulterers, said LGBT people should be exiled, argued that a rapist should be able to pay his victim鈥檚 father in order to make her his bride, and said women are made to depend on men. He no longer has an official position with the association, but Raw Story reported that he was to give the group鈥檚 annual conference plenary speech earlier this year.

In the end, Wilson鈥檚 comments came to public attention, and the bill offered by state Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) went down to defeat. Apparently, Wilson鈥檚 views were too much even for conservative lawmakers.