At the end of February, 2026, right before the United States attacked Iran, Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth had Reverend Doug Wilson lead a Pentagon prayer service. The invitation was sent out to Pentagon employees, active duty service members, and defense contractors. While the Defense Department has had prayer services in the past, this invitation led to a record number of complaints. Some complaints were about the tone of the invitation which seemed to make it mandatory. Others were about the minister: Rev. Doug Wilson is well known for articulating a Lost Cause analysis of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He also questions the right of women to vote, even though that right to vote is in the Constitution.
Last year I had read two books that Wilson wrote dealing with the Civil War. Let me give you a brief introduction to his thoughts. Follow the links to see a deeper dive.
Douglas Wilson wrote a small book on the Civil War and the Emancipation of African Americans called On Southern Slavery As It Was in 1995. When I read Wilson On Southern Slavery As It Was I wondered why a churchmen would even write about this subject from this point of view. Even those who adhere to the “Lost Cause” don’t say they want a return to enslaving African Americans. Yet here is what Wilson wrote:
“The South has long carried the stigma of racism and bigotry. The fact that slavery ended abruptly because the South lost the War serves to reinforce this common stereotype. For this reason, most Southerners take little pride in their nation’s role in the War Between the States.”
Wilson explains that modern white Southerners are handicapped in their understanding of the Civil War. He wants Southerners to defend the cause that their ancestors fought for:
“The only thing they can boast about is how well they fought—but they are not allowed to defend the cause itself. They have been told that they cannot talk of principle or speak of righteousness. The institution of slavery has so blackened the Southern position that nothing about the South can be viewed as good or right. Slavery is considered to be such a wicked practice that it alone is sufficient to answer the question of which side was right in that unfortunate war. The fact that the South practiced slavery is enough to cause many moderns to feel they do not even have to listen to the various biblical and constitutional arguments that swirled around that controversy. Consequently, to have a closed mind on this issue is to be cloaked in virtue.” [p. 6-7]
Wilson says that the modern ideology of judging slavery as “evil” condemns the Confederacy and Southern whites. He says that modern Southerners ask:
“How could men have supported slavery? The question is especially difficult when we consider that these were men who lived in a pervasively Christian culture. We have all heard of the heartlessness—the brutalities, immoralities, and cruelties—that were supposedly inherent in the system of slavery. We have heard how slave families were broken up, of the forcible rape of slave women, of the brutal beatings that were a commonplace, about the horrible living conditions, and of the unrelenting work schedule and back-breaking routine—all of which go together to form our impression of the crushing oppression which was slavery in the South. The truthfulness of this description has seldom been challenged.
The point of this small booklet is to establish that this impression is largely false.”
Wilson says that while some slave masters were abusive, and some state laws did not protect the slaves, the justification for keeping slaves in the South was approved by the Bible. He starts off by acknowledging these abuses:
“It is important to note, however, that the impression is not entirely false. The truth is, Southern slavery is open to criticism because it did not follow the biblical pattern at every point. Some of the state laws regulating slavery could not be defended biblically (the laws forbidding the teaching of reading and writing, for example). One cannot defend the abuse some slaves had to endure. None can excuse the immorality some masters and overseers indulged in with some slave women. The separation of families that sometimes occurred was deplorable. These were sad realities in the Southern system.”
But Wilson quickly responds that while some slave masters were abusive, most were not:
“Our purpose here is not to defend any such practices— where and when they occurred. We have no interest in defending the racism (in both the North and the South) which was often seen as the basic justification for the system, and we do in fact condemn it most heartily. But the question still needs to be asked, “How widespread were these instances of unbiblical and ungodly treatment on the part of Southern slave holders?” We have condemned such abuses, but were they commonplace or exceptional?”
Wilson says that slavery was central to the Southern worldview, but that modern Southerners have been so deceived as to the nature of slavery that they unhesitatingly condemn it:
“The South has been stigmatized and slandered, and generations have been misled over the true nature of the “peculiar institution” and, as a consequence, they have not understood the true nature of the South in general. We must know the truth about slavery. We have no concern to whitewash the sins of the South—or the North, for that matter. Where there is sin, let us freely confess and forsake it. But because we have resolved to abandon sin, this must include the sin of believing a lie.” [p. 8]
While defending slavery is controversial in the modern age, Wilson says that it is necessary for Christians to reject this view and open themselves up to the benefits of slavery:
“So Why Are We Writing About This?
In the mid-seventies, American evangelicals began to wake up to the fact that our culture was beginning to tumble down around our ears. In 1973 the Supreme Court had ruled that it was unconstitutional for the various states to outlaw the dismemberment of the unborn…
So a significant minority of the evangelical church began to mobilize and plunged into a cultural war for which we were woefully unprepared. All we knew was that they had begun to kill babies. How can they do that? This was America.
As the political battle began to take shape, the lack of historical perspective among evangelicals became more and more manifest. This lack of historical understanding was harmful in two ways—and in both ways the integrity of God’s Word was attacked.”
Wilson denigrates the Republicans claiming that the war was over slavery:
“[W]e are backing into an informed discussion of the War Between the States. You have been told many times that the war was over slavery, but in reality it was over the biblical meaning of constitutional government. The inflammatory issue is slavery, however, and so the real issue is obscured in the minds of many. But is this not curious? The reason why many Christians will be tempted to dismiss the arguments presented in this booklet is that we will say (out loud) that a godly man could have been a slave owner.”
When modern Southern Christians condemn their ancestors for holding slaves, they say that slavery is UnChristian. This is unfair says Wilcox because slavery is part of the essence of Christianity, and, he says, that is explicitly said in the Bible. Wilson writes:
In other words, more people will struggle with what we are saying at the point where the Bible speaks most clearly. There is no exegetical vagueness here. Not only is the Bible not politically correct, it was not politically correct one hundred thirty years ago.
This points to the need for Christians to learn the biblical way of avoiding “problem texts.” This is the way of a priori submission. Christians must recognize that they are under the authority of God, and they may not develop their ideas of what is “right” and “fair” apart from the Word of God. And when the Bible is our only standard of right and wrong, problem texts disappear. This entire issue of slavery is a wonderful issue upon which to practice. Our humanistic and democratic culture regards slavery in itself as a monstrous evil, and it acts as though this were self-evidently true. The Bible permits Christians to own slaves, provided they are treated well. You are a Christian. Whom do you believe?
Dough Wilson describes himself as a Paleo-Confederate and a Christian Nationalist. He has called for making homosexuality illegal.
Please read the linked to articles to understand Doug Wilson better.
Doug Wilson on the Slave Trade.
Doug Wilson says that slavery wasn’t all that bad.
Emancipation was worse than slavery.
The photo shows Pete Hegseth and Doug Wilson leading prayers.
