Do you ever find it odd that Christian churches are some of the most segregated spaces in our country? With civil rights movements that have attempted to desegregate institutions such as schools, workplaces, public utilities and housing (failing miserably in desegregating housing) how is it that the Christian church has hardly changed?
You kind of have to admit our hypocrisy. We preach messages of love, of unity, of asking ourselves "What Would Jesus Do?" yet we can't seem to address our own sense of need for "separation." I wonder how much of this comfort in separatism undermines the larger social (and religious) goals of "loving our sister and brother". How can I love you and show my love and respect for you when I have no desire to sit next to you in church? I understand that many people separate their private and public lives, often advocating for social progressiveness in the former but embracing the status quo in latter. But how can we sit in a church every Sunday of our lives, "diligently" read from Bibles, preach messages glorifying God's "uncolored" love but then give ungodly attitude when somebody of a different race enters into our church?
There have been a few times that I've visited a different city and wondered into a nearby church on a Sunday only to find myself at the receiving end of a few hundred hateful stares, simply because my skin was darker. But the same goes for Black churches. I always felt guilty when a white local neighborhood family would enter into the church seeking spiritual nourishment (or maybe just nourishment) and all pews around me would begin to murmur about "there goes whitey". Sometimes people would even hesitate to go a greet the family. There was always that uncomfortable and awkward moment where the family either realized they walked into the "wrong" church. You could always count on one of the older mothers to break the awkward silence but those 2 seconds were always the window into the state of race in our society. Even the idea of God can't bring us together.
1 comment:
This is such a struggle for me. I hate the way that Christian churches are so unable to really love like they say they want to. I usually think of this in terms of women in service, but your race segregation is apt. thanks for addressing it.
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