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<DIV>Thanks to Nick, Rose and Tom and all of you who've told the story as it
is. Your truth-telling on this is a blessing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>keely</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:ngier@uidaho.edu">Nick Gier</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A
href="mailto:dougwils@moscow.com">dougwils@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 13, 2004 11:28
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] My letter to the
News&Observer, Raleigh, NC</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times">To the
Editor:<BR><BR>Pastor Douglas Wilsons booklet Southern Slavery As It Was
was once used at the Carey Christian School, and I would like to comment on
this former student of mine at the University of Idaho.<BR><BR>When we awarded
Wilson an MA in philosophy in 1977, all that we required of him was that he
use his degree responsibly. Sadly, that does not seem to have been the
case.<BR><BR>We became aware of the booklet in October, 2003, and we were
shocked by its irresponsible scholarship. Even scholars within the
conservative Presbyterian movement have urged him to withdraw it from
circulation. <BR><BR>Professor Robert McKenzie, an expert on civil war
history at the University of Washington and a member of Wilsons mission
church in Seattle, has criticized the booklet. If a professional
historian had written this, says McKenzie, he or she would be totally
humiliated.<BR><BR>It has now been demonstrated that at least one quarter of
the booklet was plagiarized from <I>Time on the Cross</I>, a controversial
book that suggests that slaves were treated better than previously
believed. Wilsons defense of sloppy editing is undermined by the fact
that the booklets co-author, Steve Wilkins, has lifted passages from at least
two other books in his own publications.<BR><BR>Wilkins sits on the Board of
Directors of the League of the South, a neo-Confederate organization that
proposes that 15 southern states set up their own God-fearing nation.
Wilson claims that he is not a neo-Confederate, but his school here in Moscow,
Idaho celebrates Robert E. Lees birthday, and a visitor to Wilsons office
saw Lees portrait and Civil War memorabilia there. <BR><BR>Even though
McKenzie made Wilson aware of problems with the slavery booklet sometime in
2002, Wilson did not pull it from circulation until early this year.
Wilson promised that after the footnotes were fixed, he will reprint it.
We hope that he does not do that, but if he does we will once again to have
declare that its thesis is not only indefensible but detestable.<BR><BR>For
more on the Wilson saga see <A
href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse"
eudora="autourl">www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse</A>.<BR><BR>Nick Gier,
Professor Emeritus<BR>University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho<BR><BR><BR></FONT>
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mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BODY></HTML>