Comments on: PowerPoint Is At Waynesboro

By: Terry Laudett

Terry Laudett — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:04:34 +0000

Mitchell and Joe,
Thanks for considering my thoughts. I appreciate it.

By: Joe Baggett

Joe Baggett — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:38:19 +0000

Most people in the church are not outright racists. They are apathists. They don’t go to Klan rallies but the truth is that they will never have a significant relationship that is not like them by race, age, socioeconomic level etcetera.
My brother married an Afro-American woman. Then my mother was forced to have a friendship with someone who was black and she realized she was racist. She has been a professing Christian and member of the churches of Christ for her whole 57 years. Yet she lived in this sin. To me choosing to live as a racist is no different than choosing to live as a homosexual or alcoholic. If we were to treat the sin of racism the same as the really bad sins I wonder how we would react. I believe that there are thousands of professing Christians who are racial apathists just like my mother was. They don’t see it themselves but the ever watching unbelieving world sees it and it is something they simply find unbelievable.

By: Mitchell Skelton

Mitchell Skelton — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Terry,

What a thought provoking question. When I say prayers for my children, I pray that they will one day marry someone who is not only a Christian but someone who helps them be a stronger Christian. I would never pray that God makes sure that person is white although I have never contemplated the fact that God is color blind. My prayer will stay stay the same, if I need to grow then God is able to help me grow.

By: Terry Laudett

Terry Laudett — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:39:38 +0000

I appreciate your willingness to tackle racism within the church. If you don’t mind, I would like to suggest a couple of discussion questions for the congregation (while admitting that I do not know the makeup of the congregation).

1. What can be done to reach out to people from different racial backgrounds in the community?

2. Would you be supportive if your son or daughter were to marry a Christian of a different race? Would you like to be a grandparent of a black or Latino child?

Such questions place the problem of racism in the present rather than the past. They can help guage how much progress has been made (or needs to be made). As you probably know, I have a deep personal interest in this topic.