Pius

Please preach the gospel you were called to preach. But stop using the pulpit to rewrite history. You told your congregation that England's civilization began with the message of the cross, and that America got its buildings and infrastructure from its revivals. Here is what you left out. England had been Christian for more than a thousand years before its industrial boom. Ethiopia was Christian centuries before England. Faith alone does not explain the wealth. One can even argue that it had little to zero role in it. In 1860, cotton made up more than 60% of American exports. Four million enslaved people picked it. On paper, those people were worth more than all the North's railroads and factories combined. When Britain abolished slavery in 1833, it paid £20 million in compensation. The money went to the slave owners, not the enslaved, and it was about 40% of government spending that year. Britain only finished paying off the loan in 2015. And the revivals? In 1845, Southern Baptists broke away from northern Baptists over slavery. Their own convention apologized for it 150 years later. 12.5 million Africans were forced onto slave ships. Nearly 2 million died before they reached land. They had names. Their blood is in those buildings. People trust you. When you get history wrong from the pulpit, they go home believing it. Teaching the truth takes nothing away from the gospel. But you cannot stand on the graves of millions and give all the credit to revival. Do better.