Going to Church and Godly Democrats
Yes, believe it or not, I do go to church. Usually religiously. So several weeks ago, when I was working down in VA with a high school history camp, I decided to take a group of students to church. One of them was a SC boy, a southern Baptist. Another girl, from OK, also was a Baptist. They wanted a Baptist church, so off to a Baptist church we went. Not being familiar with the Baptist churches in the area, I picked one that was within walking distance. It was the First Baptist church in the city. Assured of its solid standing, off we trotted.
We got there early. As we entered, it was apparent this was going to be a different experience for me. For all of us. As it happened, all five of the students and myself are white. All of the churchgoers already in the church for Sunday School were black. Yes, we had stumbled into an all black church. Well, being the liberally--and biblically--educated person I am, I wasn't about to let that stop me. The others seemed game, or at least too polite to back out at this point, so after looking at some of the pictures and things in the lobby for a bit, we walked in and sat down in a pew all together.
The service started at 11. It ended about 12:45. It was a cultural experience, to say the least. I didn't know but that some white people might show up eventually. They never did. At least I think everyone there was black. (As you know, sometimes it's hard to tell with some people, as they are of mixed racial background.) The service started off with a worship-type time. A black sister led the worship part, asking people for testimonies, etc. She was very energetic, very passionate about God, which was great. An all men's choir sang several selections. One of them was quite lively, complete with a saxophone solo.
Then came an uncomfortable spot. All of the visitors were asked to stand. Then out came a microphone. All of us were expected to introduce ourselves! Talk about testimony by fire! So the microphone went around to about fifteen different people, who each gave their name, why they were there, etc. I kept it simple, mumbling my name and how glad I was to be able to be there, or some such thing. Later there was a real meet and greet, press the flesh part of the service. We were greeted by probably a dozen or more different churchgoers, all very friendly and glad for us to be there.
The pastor, probably about 55, had lungs like you wouldn't believe. He preached in the fiery manner so stereotypical of black southern preachers. It was like hearing Dr. Martin Luther King or someone (he's about the only other black preacher I've heard.) Part of the message was also uncomfortable. It started out fine, talking about how everyone in their life has issues, drawing upon the passage where the woman with an issue of blood touched Jesus. Then it turned political. He talked about economic problems blacks face, and how Bush is spending all this money in Iraq while there are greater needs at home. Typical rant of someone anti-Bush. This was new for me, an overtly political stance coming straight from the pulpit. Good thing the IRS wasn't in attendance, they might have had reason to revoke the tax-free status of the church. Then it moved away from politics. The message was about the need to bring issues, whatever they are, to Jesus. He is the only one who will solve them.
After the sermon I was greeted by one eager woman who insisted on asking me if I enjoyed the service. I dodged the question at first by saying something about being glad to come. She returned to her original question, asking me again "but did you enjoy the service?" I told her I hated the message the pastor gave, and that I thought the entire church was on a slippery slope to hell. Just kidding. I sure didn't like the political rant, buy I did enjoy elements of it, so I said I did.
So there you have it folks. Did you know that some good, God fearing Christians are Democrats? Gulp. Yup, I guess so. You might charge me with blasphemy for making such a statement. But as far as I could tell, these people are passionate about God, are looking to Christ as the source of all that is needed for their lives, yet don't like the current president. An enigma, huh? Truth is stranger than fiction.
We got there early. As we entered, it was apparent this was going to be a different experience for me. For all of us. As it happened, all five of the students and myself are white. All of the churchgoers already in the church for Sunday School were black. Yes, we had stumbled into an all black church. Well, being the liberally--and biblically--educated person I am, I wasn't about to let that stop me. The others seemed game, or at least too polite to back out at this point, so after looking at some of the pictures and things in the lobby for a bit, we walked in and sat down in a pew all together.
The service started at 11. It ended about 12:45. It was a cultural experience, to say the least. I didn't know but that some white people might show up eventually. They never did. At least I think everyone there was black. (As you know, sometimes it's hard to tell with some people, as they are of mixed racial background.) The service started off with a worship-type time. A black sister led the worship part, asking people for testimonies, etc. She was very energetic, very passionate about God, which was great. An all men's choir sang several selections. One of them was quite lively, complete with a saxophone solo.
Then came an uncomfortable spot. All of the visitors were asked to stand. Then out came a microphone. All of us were expected to introduce ourselves! Talk about testimony by fire! So the microphone went around to about fifteen different people, who each gave their name, why they were there, etc. I kept it simple, mumbling my name and how glad I was to be able to be there, or some such thing. Later there was a real meet and greet, press the flesh part of the service. We were greeted by probably a dozen or more different churchgoers, all very friendly and glad for us to be there.
The pastor, probably about 55, had lungs like you wouldn't believe. He preached in the fiery manner so stereotypical of black southern preachers. It was like hearing Dr. Martin Luther King or someone (he's about the only other black preacher I've heard.) Part of the message was also uncomfortable. It started out fine, talking about how everyone in their life has issues, drawing upon the passage where the woman with an issue of blood touched Jesus. Then it turned political. He talked about economic problems blacks face, and how Bush is spending all this money in Iraq while there are greater needs at home. Typical rant of someone anti-Bush. This was new for me, an overtly political stance coming straight from the pulpit. Good thing the IRS wasn't in attendance, they might have had reason to revoke the tax-free status of the church. Then it moved away from politics. The message was about the need to bring issues, whatever they are, to Jesus. He is the only one who will solve them.
After the sermon I was greeted by one eager woman who insisted on asking me if I enjoyed the service. I dodged the question at first by saying something about being glad to come. She returned to her original question, asking me again "but did you enjoy the service?" I told her I hated the message the pastor gave, and that I thought the entire church was on a slippery slope to hell. Just kidding. I sure didn't like the political rant, buy I did enjoy elements of it, so I said I did.
So there you have it folks. Did you know that some good, God fearing Christians are Democrats? Gulp. Yup, I guess so. You might charge me with blasphemy for making such a statement. But as far as I could tell, these people are passionate about God, are looking to Christ as the source of all that is needed for their lives, yet don't like the current president. An enigma, huh? Truth is stranger than fiction.
posted by redsoxwinthisyear at 3:19 AM
12 Comments:
I think that blacks in general tend to be more on the Democratic side of the spectrum. Not sure why. I would expect more Baptists to be Republican, though. I bet they were surprised to see a Yankee like you in their church! So did you pick up some ideas for "rockin' the house" at the upcoming Feast? :-D
A chruch full of people who know Bush is on the wrong track,they must be part of the blessed part of the country.
wow. That must have been an experience indeed! I think my NE staidness would have forced me to go into catatonic shock or something :)
Way to tell that sister right where things stood! Hahahaha. I laughed :)
Anon-I just wrote a long sentance and in it were very many descriptions. But you know, if you aren't strong enough to publicly declare your convictions, then I guess you aren't really worth bothering with after all...
Nope Kristi, my rock the house thoughts came previous to this experience, though we could probably learn something from these people.
Anon, this was in VA, which is solid Bush country. I suppose you would call that unblessed territory.
Keith and I have been trying out new churches since we moved here. It's always interesting... I hate those places that make you stand up or somehow introduce yourself. In one church they had the meet and great and then asked church members to introduce any new people. This lady stood up to introduce us and said she had met Keith and Leah! Yeah, you know me so well lady.
So if we need to bring issues to God, but Bush is already with God, where does that leave us?
Good question, triplenine. And good point in asking it.
kristi: There are very good historical reasons why the African-American wing of the Church moved from largely Republican politics to the Democratic party.
Most of them involve the great betrayal of the civil rights movement, where conservative politics and white churches prostituted the gospel for a comfortable spirituality of defending sin and the status quo.
Actually, Isaac, I think it might have more to do with FDR's policies in the 1930s of instituting social programs and capturing votes of the poor in so doing.
As far as Republican error, I know they don't have a perfect record when it comes to civil rights, but can you be more specific as to their errors? Because I think their record in general on the issue has been better than some people today like to give them credit for.
FDR's role is a good point, and probably true.
I agree that Republicans generally have a good civil rights record, and I generally agree with Republican policy on civil rights.
The problem I see is not so much with Republican policy as with Republican public relations, campaigning, and attitude on civil rights issues.
If I can speak in broad strokes, it seems that from Lincoln until the World Wars Republicans were the civil rights activists and held the political initiative so to speak. They were the ones pushing for necessary reforms and the Democrats were the ones complaining about them.
In more recent decades, however, it has been Democrats who have been proposing solutions to civil rights problems, and all Republicans can do is complain about how poor those solutions are. This problem gets worse with campaigns like Reagan's which actively courted the old Southern racists and tried to convince them that we were the lesser of two evils on civil rights.
So basically I can't complain about the way Republican politicians have voted -- that has been generally good, but that good has been ignored chiefly because we are not proactive but reactive, and thus we give the perspective that we don't care.
Also although Republicans didn't really oppose Dr. King, conservatives generally have acted detached from the whole issue, and were more concerned with preserving a peaceful status quo than doing something about the institutional sin that characterized the segregated south.
That's just my humble opinion, and your knowledge of American history is far better than mine.
Point well taken about Republicans being reactive rather than proactive about the issue in recent years. But I wonder how this might be rectified, since it seems to me that racism is more a problem of the heart than one that can be legislated against? The other problem with looking like they are active is how to rectify that with Republican general philosophy about smaller government. Any ideas how Republicans can be more proactive yet true to their philosophy?
And my civil rights knowledge from the 1960s on is currently rather limited. I'm afraid my depth of knowledge on the issue revolves around Reconstruction.
Good questions, and I can't say I have any good answers for them either (hey if I did I might have to consider politics or something).
I really think that a large part of politics (and cultural movements in general) is about what you are known for -- in this case the difference between being known as the party that defeated slavery or the party that is opposed to affirmative action.
As far as that goes, I see affirmative action as a classic example of very bad legislation addressing a real problem. Only problem is I can't think of better legislation at this point beyond the obvious ones like better city planning and school choice, but those really aren't enough to solve our country's race problems.
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