You’d think that people in the religion business would have taken a lesson from King Solomon. But you’d be wrong:
The National Cathedral window panes in question were installed in 1953 in order “foster reconciliation between parts of the nation that had been divided by the Civil War,” [former Dean Gary] Hall said last year, according to the Post. The statement announcing the removal of the Confederate flag portion of the window said the task force called to examine the flag’s presence in the church will revisit the question of the windows themselves in two years.
This is idiocy. Either the National Cathedral should have windows dedicated to Lee and Jackson, or not. Either the church should honor the most prominent leaders of the Confederate military, or not.
I’m all for careful and deliberate decision-making, and if it takes two more years to come to a reasoned consensus on this, fine. But the windows themselves are the issue at hand, not some tiny vexillological element of them. And you can’t fix them — if indeed they should fixed at all — by pretending that Lee and Jackson weren’t actually Confederates.
Have the courage of your convictions, one way or the other, and get on with it.
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Image of Robert E. Lee window in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., via ABC.
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Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
I agree completely.
I’m confused. The window depicted here seems to have two Union soldiers in the lower pane and a Corps of Engineers flag in one upper pane and CBF in the other upper pane. Are the depictions of REL and TJJ in another window?
This is a reference Lee’s service in the Old Army, much of which was spent as an engineer — hence the Engineers guidon at left.
OK, I get that part now.
Here is a more complete view:
This further puts it into perspective. Thanks, Andy.
Jackson:
I visited the National Cathedral years ago. Now that I see all of these windows together, I remember seeing them back then (circa 1980) and I recall I thought that they were kind of inappropriate at the time. I believe that I feel more strongly about that now then I did at the time. Though, Andy, I do understand your point about cutting the baby in two. I probably should be all or nothing. All and all, these windows aren’t exactly something I’d lose sleep over one way or the other.
These windows, like statuary monuments, are artworks unto themselves. You can’t fix a bronze statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest by grinding the Confederate insignia off his uniform; you either relocate it or find a way to deal with it where it is.
This reads like one of those decisions geared to throw an insignificant bone to people complaining in the hopes that they’ll just go away.
Yep.
As an uncle of mine often says, “the world has lost its collective mind.”
Are there Yankee stained glass? And that Presbyterian Ol’ Stonewall no doubt would be unset being in an Episcopalian cathedral!
There’s a Lincoln emancipation scene, along with the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima:
Although I come from a long line of Episcopalians on one side of my family, I decided they had gone crazy some years ago. I no longer care what that bunch of loons says or does.
I have never been to the National Cathedral, but am I to understand that Lincoln gets a half of window while Stonewall and Bobby Lee get full windows.
I believe there’s also a Lincoln statue there. But I’m not certain about a full listing.
I hope so!!
They also have a Darth Vader:
I know that the Cathedral is non-denominational but having a gargoyle to a fictional alien from a galaxy far away is a bit of a stretch. May the “farce” be with you.
It’s apparently a tip o’ the chisel to the medieval stonemasons who carves similar fantastical characters into the big cathedrals of Europe.
they have lots of very cool gargoyles, traditional and non. I have a bookend of the “Crooked Politician” figure.
Well, REL was an Episcopalian! 😉
I wonder if this guy will show up to protest.
We all have our priorities.
McDonald’s clearly outranks religion. 😉
dear God. That was sad. and painful. self-awareness is not his strong suit.
The dude showed up a half-hour late to his own protest this past weekend.
By the looks of him, this guy probably should have skipped the stop at McDonalds.
I’ll have to check in and see what he’s up to. I haven’t heard of McDonald’s filing for Chapter 11, have you?