The Institute (協会)

Wow!

"Ant"(thats my nickname for you now if you havent' noticed) you really took a step. I am with you 100% but I think you will get some serious resistance from this one. It would be great if I am wrong though.

"Don't grow weary in doing good..." Keep fighting for racial righteousness bro!

BRAVO! I may have to send this to my pastor has asked me what can be done to get more Blacks in the church. I think the point Dr. D made about not being the "right kind" of Black was particularly on point!

Aaron, "Ant" is fine that what the bros back come, in the A-T-L, call me. Resistance, from what? It's the dude's story. I still can't believe it. But then again, I can.

Tam, I've rarely seen any interests among evangelicals toward middle-class blacks. There seems to be in some circles this idea that black and "urban under-class" are synonyms. Poor blacks actually represent a minority within the black community. I don't get the continual glaring error.

Anthony,

This makes me so sad. Sometimes I feel so immensely helpless, the job just too large to even begin. As soon as evangelicals seem to be doing something right, then we get news about that guy hunting a couple years ago and shooting a cardboard MLK or something. 3 steps back.

Anthony, I want you to hear this. I got maybe one of the nicest compliments the other day. I work as a banker. And I was opening a new savings account for a friendly couple in their 50s, the wife was very professional-looking, the husband clearly intelligent and bookish-absent minded professor like. They sat at my desk, and I inquired into their life, to get to know them and to get information on how to meet their needs, and I was very intrigued by their teaching careers, asked them if they missed their jobs at all now into retirement. When we were almost done, they asked me what I was doing in St Louis. When I told them I was in seminary to be a pastor, the wife nearly shouted, "I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT!" I didn't know what she was going to say, but I was smiling simply because she was getting so excited. "I KNEW IT, GERALD," she said to her husband and looked at me, "I KNEW YOU WERE A CHRISTIAN!" I nearly dropped my jaw like I got the compliment of a lifetime.

I felt I was in their debt for how nice they were to me. They were both black, and when she said what she did, all I could think of was how, with all I've learned from you and other brothers-friends of mine, just how much she maybe had every right to hate or despise me and my race. Yet she and her husband gave me more respect than 80% of all my customers there. I will take that compliment to my grave.

I also was shocked because I don't really feel that I am as truly "Christian" as I really should be, and I am still far from correcting my ingrown backwards thought processes! I feel stupid, scared, embarrassed, ashamed.

Well, keep it up. The shock, the deep cuts that actual facts like this encounter you had provide. Thanks and keep bringing them. Your courage to be where you are, Anthony, and what you do gives me courage to be a stronger man.

And congrats on the Obama site-ing.

I think evangelicalism is suffering from a worldview problem. Evangelicalism is good at focusing on doctrine and maybe a few pet cultural issues, but it woefully neglects the harder work of developing a thoroughly Evangelical worldview. I see nothing in the Evangelical worldview that allows for such racism. If anything, its anthropology militates against it. I think what is needed is not just someone pointing out that evangelicals are racists and they need to change. Much of the conversation seems so ephemeral. "Whites are still very racist." What does that mean? Most Evangelicals would vehemently deny it. What's needed is for evangelicals to be shown how their beliefs are inconsistent and contrary with their worldview and then be asked to reckon with it. I see the problem more as Evangelicals avoiding the issue. This is what makes me upset.

Another thought... It seems to me that the reason someone is an evangelical is because they believe that the tenants of evangelicalism are true. It is ones beliefs that makes him an evangelical. Therefore, I can't see why someone would leave evangelicalism because of racism. Racism does not change the beliefs of evangelicalism nor the one who experiences the racism. I cannot become a Roman Catholic because I experienced racism from multiple Protestants if I disagree with the beliefs of Roman Catholicism. What follows is not leaving Protestantism but showing how the racism of Protestants is inconsistent with the stated view of Protestants.

Ant,
Resistance in the since that anytime race is so blatantly brought up there seems to be those who "dig in there heels" and fight against some truths that are very obvious to those of us of color. You feel me?

"Why would anyone black want to be around the children and grandchildren of the kind of people who cheered when Dr. King was murdered (in the name of Jesus)?"
"(I'm amazed that he can even stand to be in the same room as whites, especially those his own age from the South)"

Perhaps because they know that not everyone is the same. Just because parents did not see racism as a sin doesn't mean their children/grandchildren won't. Perhaps he knows that just because some people are sin-filled and hateful, others strive to battle sin in their lives. I can't imagine being there, suffering such racism. Nevertheless, if we treat/view all of one kind of people a certain way because of the behavior of one or some, aren't we becoming what we hate?

I agree that racism will always be with us. Just look at history...it always has been, sometimes based merely on tribal/national affiliation rather than skin tone. We are sinful humans, prone to hatred and division. That is why we ought to fight this in the love of Christ. I suppose that's why it's so much more angering when those who claim Christ act this way. Just more sin. For those who act this way in the name of Christ, we can do no more than denounce them when possible, and prove them wrong with small, daily actions that imitate Christ.

Aaron, I totally feel you bro. Makes sense. Also, it's helpful for people to wear different lenses to see the world from a different perspective.

Anthony,
That's an interesting, and unfortunately, believable story. I am very sorry this man had to see that. I will point out, however, that there were evangelical groups like the NEA, and even the Southern Baptist Convention who supported the civil rights movement in general, applauded the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and even embraced MLK. Of course, that doesn't mean it happened across the board, but many white-oriented evangelical groups and organizations did offer support and assistance during the CRM.
Believe it or not, MLK received an award from the SBC and was a key speaker in 1963 (or 1964). Now, if you want to know who a very slippery evangelical was during the CRM, look no further than Billy Graham. Oh man, oh man.

And, I will send you a copy of that paper you asked for on fundamentalists and the Civil Rights Movement. I mostly focused on Carl McIntire, but you may find some interesting stuff.

How does one broach the topic of race with white evangelicals knowing that they will "dig in their heals"? Like I said, many do not see their racism nor see their attitudes as inconsistent from their worldviews.

I was raised Christian. I now go back and forth on whether I still believe in the existence of God. And stories like this are a major contributing factor to my conflict.

Those racists cheered when they were told that Dr. King had been killed because from early childhood they were taught that the Bible says that Blacks are inferior. Most Christians today (except for the kinist lunatic fringe and other fellow travelers) are taught from early childhood that the Bible teaches that the races are equal. And the reason for the disconnect is purely cultural: in an openly racist, segregated South, the Bible is interpreted in a racist fashion; in a more egalitarian culture, the Bible is interpreted more liberally. Historically, Biblical hermeneutics has always been cultural. Each culture interprets the Bible in a way that conforms to the norms of that culture. Mark my words, if the culture ever becomes pro-gay (or, for that matter, pro-cannibalism), so will Biblical hermeneutics.

Do we really have the right to look down on them because we were lucky enough to have gotten better teaching? Are we whites sure we wouldn't have been racist ourselves if we'd grown up in that culture? For that matter, can Blacks be so sure that in a Black-majority culture, they wouldn't have treated whites as badly as whites treated them, all the while quoting Scripture to back themselves up?

And here's where my skepticism kicks in: Is it asking too much of the Almighty, who, being omniscient, would have known that these issues would come up, to write the Bible in such a way that people looking for justification for their own prejudices wouldn't find it? I'm deeply troubled that those racists are able to make a case from Scripture, even though most other Christians no longer find it a persuasive case. Obviously a case for racism CAN be made from Scripture, or racists wouldn't have done so for so long.

When I was a child I heard someone say that it is possible to prove anything from Scripture. At the time, since I believed in inerrancy with the faith of a child, I thought that was nonsense. Now, as an old man who has been watching Christians for a long time, I'm beginning to wonder.

The whole notion of racism with regard to color is very new to Western society and Biblical interpretation in general (eg: early America and colonialism). I think Winthrop Jordan's White Over Black makes some good points in that regard.

I don't buy the argument that hermeneutics is cultural. There are cultural issues which shift, but there are historically certain areas that have remained fairly constant over time. That doesn't mean people haven't misused Scripture due to their cultural sin, though.

Mark Noll does an incredible job of showing how religion in America is drastically shaped by our socio-political experiment (see America's God). Not understanding these elements of church history make us blind to where evangelicalism comes from as much as whites ignoring where the black church came from causes ignorance and racism and xenophobia.

I believe that the primary doctrines of Reformed theology MUST be (in the words of Wolterstoff) world-formative and inherently interested in Justice. So the racist history of southern reformed churches in general to me are radically inconsistent both with scripture and their own primary principles. Tragically culture bound as is most of evangelicalism.

Randal Balmer has also shown that fear of race (essentially racism) was the centrally formative factor for the religious right.

All that said if the Kingdom is about a world upside down in God's grace, then in spite of all of the above some black and some white must remain at the table and not run when that feels best. Nor should we be shocked when some have had enough. We've all had enough some days.

"Why would anyone black want to be around the children and grandchildren of the kind of people who cheered when Dr. King was murdered..."

Why would anyone white want to be around the kind of people who cheered when OJ was found innocent?

Despite everyone's caterwauling, none of us are really going anywhere, are we?

Sycophants who fail to recognize reciprocity are several steps (too many?) from contributing to a civil reconciliation of race-based problems in America. Truth (the basis of all things lasting and meaningful) is used as a decorative, rather than a foundation.

I surprised that you get off on it. Oh well, keep it real Brother.

Peace Out.

PS I have several good friends who happen to be Negroes.

I think these are key words --"KIND of people"

I am the color of the people who cheered for Dr. King's death but I am not the KIND of people. However, I think of it in sort of a possesion is 9/10's of the law way. I believe privelage is 9/10's of the obligation. Meaning, that I undertand that because of history (with or without my participation) the burden of proof lies with me. I need to be willing to prove (through actions, words, and relationships) that I am not that KIND of people.

Hmm, your post was very interesting. While trying not to commend those Christians who cheered when MLK died, it seems as though there are a lot of people who are very angry and judge Christianity because of a few ignorant and stupid white people who claimed to be Chritians anc cheered when MLK died. That is so sad that they should rejoice in the death of such a great man. Please help me understand how the african american race believe that their anger is not judgemental and racist? I cannot help but ask the important question: Isn't the point of Christianity that Jesus is our savior? What about the millions of Christians around the world who claim Christ as their savior and are not white but of all colors and races? It seems as though this bitterness against 'white evangelicalism' is part of the ongoing problem with segregation and racism in our country today. There are many, like myself, who long for the day when all people can come together and work for the good of all people.

how can you substantiate the claim that these people cheered?