Morality and The Church

I have no idea where we Black people would be today without the Black Church. But even as a child, it seemed counter intuitive for the slave to embrace the religion of his master. Be that as it may, the Black Church is the foundation on which most Black advancement has been achieved.

It seems to me that Black Christians are expanding by leaps and bounds. There are new churches being built at a rapid rate. Just up the road from where I live, two new churches have been built -on the same road and directly across from one another. It's almost like some kind of theocratic competition; who can be more Jesus-like than the other. Oh yes, Jesus. You can't talk about the Black Church and not talk about Jesus, a lot! "Thank you Jesus." That phrase has rung in my ears all of my life. (I kid you not: as I was typing the last sentence, a cover from a ceiling light in the other room fell and sounded as though someone was trying to break in my front door.) My Mom, Dad and Grandmother's images flashed through my mind. I could almost hear them say: "Watch what you say about Jesus boy."

I must say that I love the historical Jesus. I've tried to live by the wisdom found in the Sermon on the Mount, among other truly moving passages from the Bible. It's just what Christians, throughout history, have done in his name that sour me.

It is hard to believe what is happening today, after the recent election. Some of the things being said by Christian leaders are startling to say the least. The name of Jesus has even been invoked to justify this godless war in Iraq, as well as the issues of gay marriage and abortion. Many Black preachders railed against this assumed immorality. They even favored George Bush because he was a man of God and implored their flocks to vote for him.

Black kids, as others, are dying in Iraq. But those numbers pale in comparison to the Black kids who die by the hands of their brothers in the streets of our inner cities every single day. Black Church where are you? If it's moral to vigorously oppose abortion, why is it not immoral to empower a President to continue the slaughter of innocent mothers who carry their unborn in their bellies? Why are the lives of our military youth of less value than an embryo?

Jesus now sits, symbolically, at the right hand of the President in the oval office. If this sacrilege does not offend every God-fearing Christian, then they make a mockery of their loving Jesus and their misplaced faith will turn the rock on which their institution stands into sand.