Some Americans fear remembrance of our past slave-holding days. We might be damaged by too much guilt if we dwell on the slaves and slave holders in our past. Even more, it might damage our country if we admit to imperfections. We certainly don’t want our children suffering guilt over our country’s racism, do we?

As a white American who had at least one ancestor who owned slaves, I don’t fear facing our sins. One of my privileges is to own my ancestor’s sins and to repent of them. I can also repent of those days in my childhood when blacks had to move to the back of the bus after entering and paying their fare like everybody else. Had to drink at separate water fountains.

How would I feel about those days if I had grown up black? The hurt surely is still there.

Somehow, the idea seems to be that the if the United States is deemed less than perfect, it’s like saying God is less than perfect. Somehow, we seem to think the United States is God.

To ascribe to God what is not God is, I believe, blasphemy.

Even more, we can never change for the better if we don’t recognize our sins and repent of them.