We Christians have to own up to forms of racism in churches. It is not overt and many Christians would deny it happens. When we have new members there is a sense of welcoming but in some Christians there is an undercurrent of nervousness about people who are different. One of the problems might be the compartmentation of churches. Different denominations are reluctant to mix with other denominations. There is often a reluctance to admit that different ways of conducting services is right. They stick ridgidly to their way of doing things.
In my novel An Ordinary Life this question arises. Tom Houseman as a delegate from his church attends the Council of Churches committee. He meets the pastor of a mainly black church and they become friends. The black church is vandalised and Tom tries to get his church members to help clean his friends church. It is a Sunday and most of his church members refuse to help claiming it is a time of worship and anyway the black church is not their business. He wonders what would have been the reaction if the church had been predominantly white.
An Ordinary Life by Edmund Gubbins published through Amazon and available as a paperback from Amazon and as a download ebook from Kindle.
No comments:
Post a Comment