While it is true that many southerners after the Civil War did not mourn the demise of slavery, others, including many clergy and religious leaders, did not change their mind on the biblical permissibility of slavery: “On the racial question, indeed, the southern historical explanation as embodied in the Lost Cause provided the model for segregation that the southern churches accepted.”6 White supremacy lurked behind the Lost Cause narrative and helped cement the practice of segregation in the church as the new normal.
