#White megachurch pastor apologizes for calling slavery a ‘blessing’

A white Atlanta megachurch pastor has apologized for suggesting slavery was a “blessing” during a roundtable discussion about race, according to a report.

Passion City Church pastor Louie Giglio said that white people missed the “blessing that was slavery” during a conversation Sunday with Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy and hip-hop artist Lecrae, WSB-TV reported.

“We understand the curse that was slavery, white people do,” Giglio said. “And we say that was bad, but we miss the blessing of slavery, that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in and lived in.”

He added that he prefers the term “white blessing” instead of the term white privilege.

“I’m living in the blessing of the curse that happened generationally that allowed me to grow up in Atlanta,” the pastor said.

But Giglio now has clarified from his remarks in a video apology, saying he was trying to help others understand white privilege.

“I don’t, to be clear, believe there is any blessing in slavery,” he said in a video posted to Twitter. “To the contrary, what I’m trying to understand and help people see is that I, my white brothers and sisters, we sit in large part where we are today because of the centuries of gross injustice done to our black brothers and sisters.”

He also said the phrase “white blessing” was a “horrible choice of words.”

“I ask that you pray for me and possibly even join me as I just desire to continue to learn, to understand, to stay engaged and be a part of us moving forward to the place God wants us to be,” Giglio said.