The Church And The Race Problem

The Church And The Race Problem

The human predicament involves all the races in insecurity. Trouble and turmoil, hostility and hate, are wide as the human race, and not a matter merely of dramatic sectional clashes between the white man and the American Negro, or between Israeli and Arab. The real human predicament, of course, is mankind’s condition in sin, and the universal need of redemption. A Christian view of the race problem must begin with this confession of wholesale racial rebellion and guilt. No man loves God and no man loves his neighbor as he ought. The fall has cheapened human worth; redemption restores man’s dignity. Jesus’ stress on the universal need of regeneration speaks to our own turbulent times: “Ye must be born again.” The possibilities of fallen human nature are fancifully romanticized by those who expect a full solution of the race problem while they neglect this dimension of life.

Every man is somebody’s neighbor, and God expects neighbor-love from every human being. Let no man think, because he has overcome some prevalent antipathy for Jew or Negro or some other victim of sectional feelings that merely on that account he has fulfilled the moral law. A white man may crusade for civil rights; he may sell his property to a buyer of another race; he may encourage social intermingling of all races—but he does not simply on this account fulfill the law of love. What passes for desegregation and even for integration, is often quite hollow alongside the biblical injunction of love for neighbor. The race problem dare not be detached, therefore, from the abiding requirement of Christian love.

It is a sad fact, however, that some circles recite these themes of the new birth and love of neighbor, yet do not actively promote the elimination of racial evils. They often fall below the lesser level of concern reflected by secular agencies that recognize race prejudice to be one of the ugly scars in American life.

Some observers today would add to Christian confession a pledge to desist from race prejudice as evidence of the genuineness of conversion. Why not a pledge against intoxicating liquors also? The liquor traffic is a serious social blight, blemishing every village in the land. And why not a pledge against driving in excess of the speed limit? Too many church folk, ministers included, leave their guardian angels ten or fifteen miles an hour behind them on the road.

The risk in all such proposals is in their tendency to shrivel the law of neighbor-love when Christian ethics is called on to sensitize in its fullness. Yet, while we do well to overlook such proposals, the Christian conscience had best face squarely the sins they aim to correct. For in each age and in every land the violation of Christian love falls into certain conspicuous patterns. And race discrimination is especially subtle. It is not externally measurable in the same way that sins of the flesh are: it cannot be gauged by jiggers or by speedometers. Race feeling is essentially a matter of false pride, an internal disposition to deny a fellow human’s equal worth and one’s own unworthiness also, before God. Nonetheless, it differs in degree, and not in kind, from other violations of the law of love for neighbor, which involves every area of life.

Evangelical and liberal churches alike are uncomfortable in the presence of the fact that segregation was not sharpened as an issue of social conscience in America through the preaching of the churches as firmly as through the secular ruling of the Supreme Court. The churches were not, of course, called on as churches to ajudicate all the delicate problems touching education and other spheres not directly answerable to church authority. But, as citizens, church members held a voice in civic affairs; if the Christian conscience was to find a mouthpiece, it was through them.

Christians are obliged to uphold the law of the land, unless they can show that law to be in conflict with Scripture. The Christian is called upon, therefore, not only to implement the spiritual rights of men, as equals in God’s sight, but their legal rights as well.

There is little comfort for the churches in the added fact that secular agencies like the military program, telecasting and sporting events have contributed as dramatically to desegregation as have many churches. Developments in the military and in the worlds of television and sports are more widely publicized, of course, than the hushed and reverent atmosphere of the churches. In entertainment and recreation, moreover, special competitive considerations of talent are operative, involving only a small and strategic segment of the population. Integration, even on the sports level, is not achieved merely by the assignment of team positions without regard to color, gainful though it be to end racial bias in such assignments. Nor is “integrated entertainment” achieved—at least on the level of genuine love for neighbor—because Negro and white voices are blended in the latest musical jive, and some white crooner slips his undisciplined arm tightly around a Negro female guest on television. Such demonstrations can involve as much a perversion of propriety when the races are mixed as when they are not. Even when due credit is given the military, the theatre and the arena for a measure of contribution, they have much to learn about a biblical concept of Christian love.

Nonetheless, churches in America surrendered something of their moral initiative in the life of the nation when they allowed other forces, in a partial and secular way, to implement the correction of one of the striking social wrongs. Granted we must not attach utopian expectations to the society of the redeemed in history; the Church, at best, travels the road of sanctification in this life, not glorification. This present age has much to learn about the subtleties of original sin, even from theologians whose expositions do not always go to the depths of biblical theology. But, in our day, the Church has more reason to fear a lack of moral insight and courage than an excessive moral achievement.

There are wrongs in the land, and the church had best be the Church, and cry against them; there is no biblical mandate to preserve the shaggy status quo. Community tolerance of violence; forced segregation in public transportation; tactics of fear and intimidation; snobbishness that looks down upon Negro Christians virtually as inferior believers; the indifference to discrimination against the Negro in America even by some churches calling for missionaries to lift the life and culture of the dark-skinned natives of Africa—these factors suggest the deep need for soul-searching and repentance in the churches.

The Church needs to recover the biblical point of view. The Church itself was born in the glory of a multi-tongued and multi-colored Pentecost. It moved swiftly to make Christian brotherhood a reality in the experience of the inhabitants of Africa and Europe, no less than of Asia and the Near East. It did not preoccupy itself with the adoption of strategically worded resolutions at the top level of councils and conventions; it put Christian love to work at the local level. The early Church unleashed a flood of kindness in a world of racial strife; the modern Church has too often unleashed a flood of resolutions.

This same biblical point of view, moreover, will keep the churches from falling into unrealistic and faulty programs of action. For instance, one misguided Christian spokesman recently told young people that the biggest contribution a white girl can make to the advancement of Christianity in our generation is to marry a Negro. But if interracial wedlock best preserves the biblical concern for equal yoking, the essence of Christian marriage in the mid-twentieth century has deteriorated sadly. Nobody will prevent the clergy from giving their own children in marriage across racial lines, if such is their ideal, but many Christian leaders will remain unconvinced that a universally valid rule has been enunciated. The early Church hardly made racial intermarriage the test of Christian love, nor dare we.

In its enthusiasm to do something vital, the Church falls easy prey to secular and socializing programs. It has no mandate to legislate upon the world a program of legal requirements in the name of the Church. Nor dare it disregard the existence of social rights in which the natural preferences of individuals may be expressed without compromising the legal or spiritual rights of others. Forced integration is as contrary to Christian principles as is forced segregation. The reliance on pressure rather than on persuasion has resulted in a marked increase of racial tensions in some areas. Christianity ideally moves upon the life of the community by spiritual means; the secular agencies, on the other hand, tend to resort to force, with the result that their achievements are continually endangered. Paul did not outlaw slavery legally, but he outlawed it spiritually; he sent Onesimus back to Philemon as a brother in Christ. He knew that the Church’s weapons are spiritual, not carnal; that Christian progress is not revolutionary but regenerative. And a recovery of the imperative affectionate neighbor relations, and of the Holy Spirit as the dynamic of Christian living, is still the best—and the only durable—hope for a firm solution of the race problem.

While some churches seem determined to continue with a program excluding other races, and others are thrown into internal tensions between member and member, and member and minister, still others, without fanfare and headlines, have long welcomed all converts to Christ with equal dignity and rights as members of the body of Christ. Any church should be open to believers of any race. Forced segregation, however, involves the abrogation of a citizen’s legal rights as well as his spiritual rights.

The Church by a true example of the equality of all believers may rebuke the conscience of the world. The fellowship of believers still holds a power to vitalize the fellowship of the community at large. What has compromised this power is the secularization of the churches. Let the church be the Church, and the sense of human brotherhood will be revived; the redeemed will find that their differences from each other pale alongside the fact of their unity in Christ, and that their differences from the unredeemed are less important than their common dignity and shame in Adam. The Christian is not without principles on which to base his personal relationships, and they are comprehended in the obligation of love for neighbor. A friendly smile, a kindly word, a courteous act, speak more eloquently than a press release.

A voluntary segregation, even of believers, can well be a Christian procedure. A church may be impoverished by the racial limitations of its membership and also impoverished through indifference to cultural ties. Churches in which integration is not practiced may be just as Christian as those where it is found. The determining factor is exclusion or inclusion because of race. Are the Chinese congregations of New Orleans or Chicago or San Francisco unchristian because they prefer such an alignment? Are all-Negro or all-White churches necessarily monuments to racial prejudice? And may not the publicity of the integrated church reflect an emphasis on spiritual pride as much as the unintegrated church?

The churches in America are on the advance. The searching of soul is a good sign. Little can be gained by organizational pressures; more will be gained from mutual respect and forbearance. The long sweep of history not only shows the church and individual Christians on the side of justice; it shows the content of justice itself lifted and purified by the conscience of the church. In the long run, it will be so in America also even in matters of race. Let us hope this is a decade of decision and deed.

Patriotic Memorial Observance Distresses Formosa Christians

Long before the Chiang regime left the mainland and established itself on Taiwan there existed a smoldering resentment against government demands for participation in the Sun Yat-sen memorial service each Monday morning in schools and public offices.

This resentment came from two sources: patriotic nationals who felt that genuine patriotism could not be fostered by a regimented form of hero worship, and from Christians who felt that China’s background of ancestor worship conferred a religious significance upon the required minute of silence and bowing before a picture.

Despite the government’s insistence that this was only a patriotic gesture, an act of devotion to the father of the Chinese Republic such as saluting the flag in America, nevertheless the conflict with Christian conscience and the imposed form of patriotism has continued.

There are disquieting reports of a stepped up tempo of demands within the Chiang government, making the observance of this memorial service mandatory in all recognized schools and government offices. This is causing acute distress to patriotic Christians who feel at the same time that loyalty to country should not involve any violation of Christian conscience.

It will take more than committee reports to the Legislative Yuan to allay the anxieties of these Christians. A wilful disregard of the spiritual sensitivities of loyal citizens can eventually destroy the very loyalities the government is trying to demand.

Christian Radiance A Question Of Priority

Many Christians, were they to search their hearts, would be forced to admit that God is incidental, or, at best, secondary in their lives—not first.

From this one tragic fact stems a multiplicity of problems—personal, family and national. From this great deficiency there emerges also a great weakness in the church.

Both the Old and New Testaments make it abundantly clear that God expects of his own that they shall love him with their whole beings. From this love for God come the inspiration and power to love our fellow men. God is a jealous God, unwilling to share his rightful place with any person or thing.

If he does not hold first place just what are the consequences? Instead of having him as the pilot of our lives, instead of access to his supernatural and infinite resources, we continue in our failures and frustrations and share the powerlessness of those who neither know Christ nor the power of his resurrection. When God is relegated to second place in our homes, our ambitions for our children center in secular and material success. Many of the tragedies in Christian homes today have their origin in seeking worldly advantage, rather than coveting that Christ may have the preeminence.

The weakness of the church today is not in the number of those admitted to her membership. Church membership in America is both numerically and proportionately at an all-time high. But the witness of the Church is woefully weak because so few Christians give Christ top priority in their lives.

In the concluding days of World War II there was much talk of “total surrender.” What of total surrender to the living Christ? Inconvenient? To some it would be fearfully inconvenient because it would necessitate a separation from secret sin. To others it would be embarrassing because it would demand clear-cut honesty in business practices. Others again would find themselves faced with a decision to let Christian love take priority over selfish or prejudicial interest.

But there is a wonderfully bright side. If and when we do give Christ first place in our lives, seeking honestly by his grace to be his slaves, we are released into a glorious freedom that the world can never understand.

The lovely story is told of a man confronted by a series of complicated problems. He conferred with his minister who suggested: “Sit down, put a chair in front of you and imagine Christ is sitting there across from you. Just tell him about your problems.” In later years this man died in his sleep. His daughter went back into the room to find him lying peacefully there. To a friend she remarked: “Father was lying there just as I had left him, only his hand was laid on the empty chair.”

There is a pressing need that the church shall use every effort to win others to become Christians. There is also a pressing need that those of us who have named the name of Christ shall give him top priority. When this is done the glory of God will shine radiantly through the transformed veil of our own human imperfections. He demands and he deserves first place. How can we give him less?

Federal Aid To Education A Program Full Of Risks

In five years there has been a gain of five million students in the public elementary and preparatory schools in the United States. Educators are concerned, quite properly, over the need for room to accommodate this enlarging number of school children, and for teachers to instruct them.

Pressures are mounting for federal alleviation of these shortages. Despite misgivings about federal aid, since education is now primarily a state and local responsibility, President Eisenhower nonetheless continues to urge a $2,000,000,000 four-year federal aid program to meet these school needs.

How the national government can become involved to such an extent without encouraging a continuing clamor for such aid and without reflecting some measure of interference and control in education is a moot question. Subsidizing the thought life of the intellectuals of the next generation has taken the necessary preliminary step to shaping that thought life.

Moreover, the United States already has a federal debt of nearly $300,000,000,000. Year after year slips by with virtually no progress in the payment of that debt. The need for paying debts, rather than continuing them, is a lesson a government had best inculcate in its citizens, by example no less than precept.

Something must be done to provide for the educational needs of the youth, especially in a democracy which prizes an informed public opinion. There is a growing feeling that public opinion has been somewhat misinformed about the connection between palatial palaces (as some colossal school buildings today are dubbed) and effective education. The problem of education runs far deeper today than that of enough class rooms and enough teachers; it involves the question of methods and abiding values. And the indoctrination of youth in a view of life which does not grapple realistically with moral and spiritual priorities may well contribute, by a curious turn of events, to the weakening of the nation. The more profound danger is not that the American youngster will be deprived a place to learn, but rather, that he may be told what he must learn and encouraged to ignore some things that matter.

We Quote:

CONRAD N. HILTON

President, Hilton Hotels

A man is standing at Fiftieth and Park Avenue in New York City; he is waiting for the light to turn. Who is he? To the statistician standing at the window high above he is one unit in a crowd. To the biologist he is a specimen; to the physicist a formula of mass and energy; to the chemist a compound of substances. He is of interest to the historian as one of the billions of beings who have inhabited this planet of ours; to the politician as a vote; to the merchandiser as a customer, to the mailman as an address. The behaviorist sees him from his office across the street and tags him as an animal modified by conditioned reflexes; and the psychiatrist in the next suite as a particular mental type deviating in one way or another from the alleged normal. Each science pinpoints the poor fellow from some particular angle and makes him look foolish, like the candid camera shot that catches you in the middle of a yawn. Let any one of these specialists pigeonhole you and get you to look at yourself through his single eye and what you see will not be a man, but a fragment of a man.… But what is man like?… What gives him a unique dignity? Beware of asking—that way lies religion. And religion, according to our communist friends, is the enemy of man.… The minimum reading of history will convince you that religion is the background of our modern democratic ideal and the two forces had better get together if democracy is to work.—Remarks at the fifth annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast of International Christian Leadership, Feb. 7, 1957.

SAMUEL G. CRAIG

Presbyterian Editor and Author

Let us not forget that bad as are existing social conditions throughout Christendom, they would be infinitely worse were it not for that leaven that Jesus cast into the meal of humanity. If Jesus should cease His activities, it is certain not only that we would fail to make further progress along these lines but that we would lose what we have already gained, as evidenced by that retrogression that has taken place in once Christian lands.… Jesus’ effectiveness as a social reformer lies in His ability to deal with sin. Other reformers have much to say about imperfect legislation, unfavorable environment and such like, but they have little to say about sin … notwithstanding the fact that sin … is the great root-cause of social misery.—in Jesus of Yesterday and Today, p. 153.

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