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I often have college students do an essay on race relations and the Christian heritage in light of reading Martin Luther King, Jr. Most students express an appreciation of King’s life and work but many add, “we are glad that the issue of race relations is over. We are glad that we don’t have to work on that problem anymore.”
Ouch. Of course we have more work to do. Of course we have more to learn (and unlearn). The use of the “n” word by the chair of the board of regents at Roger Williams University is only one recent reminder that the task of racial reconciliation must be ongoing (and please forgive me if I raise my eyebrows in disbelief about his claim that this was the first time in his 80 years of life that he had uttered the word).
When reading King I want students to learn how his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement was influenced by his understanding of the Scriptures and the Christian heritage. I have them read a piece in which King speaks of learning about the social gospel, Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold Neibuhr. Their main assignment in this introductory course on the “Christian Heritage” is King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Some have read it in a high school literature class, but no matter, I want them to read it through the lenses of what they have learned that semester. King quotes Augustine and Aquinas in his theology of civil disobedience. Both Augustine and Aquinas had been covered earlier (as well as the 1823 classic defense of slavery by Southerner Richard Furman). King also references several biblical passages and the students have already had an introductory course on the Bible.
But I also want them to realize that learning about race relations comes when we get to know each other. There are elements of King’s story that we don’t understand because we have no clue about the manifold ways that discrimination took (and takes) place. I highlight the following passage about why King pressed for equality and was willing to commit civil disobedience:
Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will …. when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."…. then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.
And then I tell them a personal story (something profs don’t do often): I was entering the 9th grade when “bussing” was implemented in
Getting to know someone opens doors to reconciliation when the various parties are willing to learn and to fellowship. The highlight of the recent annual meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship was seeing the leaders of American Baptists, Fellowship Baptists and Progressive National Baptists on the same stage. Why have we waited?
The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant next January gives us a chance to learn and fellowship in ways that we haven’t. If you need a primer on why reconciliation is not a past event, but must be an ongoing process, read King’s letter. You won’t even need a basketball game to open your eyes.
In a recent blog, Al Mohler of the new Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote about the recent calling of Julie Pennington-Russell as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Decatur, Georgia. He correctly noted that there is usually a “glass ceiling” when it comes to the calling of women to pastorates. Moderate and liberal (he cited Baptists and Presbyterians) Christians who often affirm the calling of women to pastoral ministry are very hesitant to actually call women to their churches as pastors. Of course, Mohler was pleased with the phenomenon of the “glass ceiling” because he doesn’t think there should be women pastors - period. Mohler told his Southern Baptist supporters that the calling of women as pastors was not a “triumph” but a “tragedy.”
Labels: Al Mohler, Julie Pennington-Russell, New Baptist Covenant