Bigotry is never good

It was about 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning recently when I stopped at a local convenience store to purchase a bottle of water. I approached the counter to pay for the item when the clerk, a young black man, seeing my clerical collar, asked me if I was a minister. When I responded that I was, he asked several questions about our church. Most of the queries were routine but the last one stopped me cold.

“So, who can attend your church?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” I replied.

He said, “Can anyone come to your church or is it just for ... you know ... white people? Or can people like me attend?”

I was stunned at the question. I assured him that anyone and everyone was welcome to attend and invited him to give us a visit. As I drove away, I felt terrible.

In 1982, I interviewed for a church in rural Alabama. The church liked me and even voted to call me as their pastor. They also made it clear that, while black people were welcome to worship in the building at a time other than Sunday morning, there would be no expectation or desire to make blacks welcome at the principal service.

I protested that the county was 85 percent black and that we should make all men and women welcome. After all, how could we grow if we limited ourselves to inviting only the 15 percent white population in the county? They held firm and I declined their offer to serve as their pastor.

I was grieved that the young man at the convenience store felt the necessity to ask the question. In fact, the more I thought about it, the worse I felt.

I drove to the church, gathered some information about our church, and returned to the convenience store to talk with the young clerk. I gave him some literature, again invited him to visit, and assured him that he and his family would be welcome.

The old racism that plagued America is long dead. There are no more separate water fountains, no separate seating at theaters, no whites sitting in the front of the bus while blacks are confined to the back, all of which I remember as a child.

Black people may live anywhere they can afford to buy a house, may send their children to the same schools, may go to any public college that their grades and bank accounts will allow, and may rise to any position in the land as Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and Condoleezza Rice have so aptly demonstrated. Yet, as the Alabama church and the clerk in the convenience store have shown, there are still problems to overcome.

Frankly, not all of the problems are on the white side of the equation. True, there are bigots and racists that infest some churches, but a number of black families have shared with me that they come under intense pressure from family and friends if they attend “one of those white churches.”

Bigotry, whatever its source and form, is inherently evil. Both whites and blacks, especially and particularly Christians, must confess their own sins of prejudice and work to see beyond the color of skin if the dreams of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr., are to ever become reality in America.

When I served in the United States Marine Corps, I was stationed at Quantico, Va., during 1972-73. For the entire time of my duty there, I was the only white Marine in the shop where I worked. All the other Marines were black. Although they were slow to welcome me since I was a Southerner, in time we became fast friends. I was richer for the experience and I would like to think that I made some positive contributions to their lives as well.

So, in answer to the questions at the convenience store, yes, at the moment, we are mostly a white congregation. I’d like to see that change and I’d like the change to come now. We need the richness and depth that other cultures and people of diverse backgrounds would bring.

Would “people of color” be welcome at our services? A few years ago, a black family began visiting the church. After three or four Sundays, the wife said to her husband on the drive home, “Honey, I don’t think they’ve noticed we’re black.” It was one of the nicest compliments we’ve ever received.

I’d like to think that all of the churches in the area have been stripped of their bigotry and racism. But maybe the young man in the convenience store asked his questions from some painful experience that made him wary about entering a “white church.” If so, it’s sad and it’s lamentable.

So, if you are white and sensing the need to come to church, we welcome you. But, please, come prepared to deal with your prejudice, bigotry, and latent racism.

And if you are someone of color, we welcome you, too. But, please, come prepared to share your gifts and talents, be prepared to lay aside your own prejudices, and be prepared to be patient with us.

We recognize that we still may not be all that God calls us to be. However, we are willing to learn and we are willing to try.

Rev, don't be so stunned by the question

Submitted by FayetteFlyer on Thu, 06/01/2006 - 5:03pm.

While I'm sure you have a very nice church and membership, it's not totally unbelievable that there may be certain members who would rather worship with "their own kind". Bigotry is not good, but it also doesn't bury its head on Sundays either. By the way, just where IS your church?

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bigotry

Submitted by ctkcec on Sat, 06/03/2006 - 12:10pm.

Fayetteflyer, the church is on Highway 34 between PTC and Thomas Crossroads. Once you get on Hwy 34 toward Newnan, it's 8/10 of a mile on the left. "Christ the King"

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