The SBC and Racism

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."
-Malcolm X

"Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year."
-Malcolm X

If the rhetoric of this presidential election and the results have taught me anything, it is this:  We, as Americans, are much more racist than we thought or admitted.  We are fallen, sinful creatures so we all have elements of sin that will never be truly abolished and destroyed until we are made new.  But we, as a nation, as a people, as a community of "Christians" are much more racist than we ever thought.

Mull over what we've approved and over what we've voted for in the name of our conscience.  We've voted against some things and voted for the "lesser of two evils" in some people's opinion.  What we have ended up doing is voting "yes" to racism and "yes" to bigotry and "yes" to a whole assortment of things that are in no way indicative of our stated beliefs or worldview.

And I'm primarily talking to Baptists, Southern Baptists to be specific, which is where I hang my hat with some reservations. Other groups, denominations, and sects are part of this constituent, to be sure, but I'm not focused on them today.

We, as Evangelicals mainly and as Baptists of the SBC specifically have ignored the plank in our eye for too long.  We speak of abortion and alcohol and pre-marital sex as if they are the unholy trinity that God demands be exposed and damned to hell.  But we are rife with racism in our own churches.  Don't believe me?  Go to church this morning or this evening and look around, look at the racial makeup of your church.  How much color is there in your church?  Is there a lot of white there?  Are there any other colors needed, at all?  How many fancy cars are there?  How many designer clothes?  Is there any variety amongst the social strata or the races?  Or are we primarily made up of  upper middle class and upper -class white people?

What does that say about us?  Are there Mexican, African American and other races in our community?  Where are they?  God's kingdom is not Republican, it's not white, it's not rich and it's not Baptist.  When there is a lack of variety in our churches it speaks to our doing things the way they have always been done.  We are still stuck in the 1950's we just won't admit it.

No wonder we don't have "revival" like many people keep talking about.  We're like the prophet Jonah, we don't want God to save anyone but us.