Ministry News

A Church Divided ... Beyond the Polls





Although last week’s historic election of Barack Obama as the United States’ next president obviously shattered racial barriers, many Christian leaders say it also highlighted a still-prevalent racial divide among churches and believers.

Associated Press exit polls showed that 74 percent of white evangelical Christians voted for Republican candidate John McCain, while 94 percent of African-American believers voted for Obama. Yet according to many leaders, the underlying differences—and problems—emerged long before a single vote was cast.

“I think in the eagerness to protect the right to life issues, there were some things said … that were not always fair and that were insensitive that need to be rethought,” said T.D. Jakes, founding pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas. “I would love to see black and white Christians find common ground, and a deeper understanding of each other’s needs.”

Other black leaders voiced a stronger objection to the pre-election rhetoric, particularly from the white-dominated Christian right: “What they did is insult our biblical understanding,” said Derrick W. Hutchins, a leader in the predominantly black Church of God in Christ. “The white religious right-wing determined that if you didn’t vote for McCain, you were not meeting a standard of the Bible.”

Taking a more historical viewpoint, Shirley Caesar-Williams, pastor of Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Raleigh, N.C., told her congregation that “God has vindicated the black folk. Too long we’ve been at the bottom of the totem pole, but He has vindicated us—hallelujah! I don’t know about you, but I don’t have nothing to put my head down for, praise God. Because when I look toward Washington, D.C., we got a new family coming in. … And you know what? They look like us.” [AP, 11/7/08, 11/10/08]

Comments   

 
0 #5 Will Chaba 2008-11-27 21:21
I am a young Nigerian Christian. i do not agree with all of Obama's leanings, but just like Cyrus in the Bible he could acheive a lot of good with our support and prayers. Besides, are lying, racial ignorance,cronyism and imprisonment without trial (all during the Bush administration) somehow more forgivable than being liberal? When the election results were announced,there was public rejoicing in the streets of cities around my country. Brethren you may not like Obama, but he is YOUR president and very prone to God's power. Cheers!
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0 #4 Louis Barreto 2008-11-20 08:10
There is one race--the human race; there are many ethnicities that make up the Face of God. What we are dealing with in this country is humanism and how it has been called many things, e.g. universalism. What we are dealing with in church is unitarianism. What we are called to be as Christians is apolitical; about the Sublime. This is best exemplified by Jesus speaking that we need to give onto Caesar what is Caesar's and onto God what is God's. We are called to be in the world, but not of it. How many times are we of it?

We are called to be under the authority as all authority comes from Him, all the while being asked to call a spade a spade and do this when it is timely and in love. The woman at the well is what comes to mind.

What we have in this country is the vote. What we must vote in as Christians is not the perfect candidate, but rather the better candidate. Point for point who did you vote for? Did your objectivity rest in Him?

Did you vote from the Spirit or your own thinking? Did you lean on your own understanding? Was it out of pride? Was it of God? Was it of man?
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0 #3 Richard lee 2008-11-20 06:45
The BOTTOM LINE is that you CANNOT call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus and be a liberal....it just doesn't make sense. I firmly believe that the ones who voted for Obama, or any other Liberal Democrat just isn't grounded enough in the Word and Lord....It isn't about the color...its about wisdom...I KNOW the Lord chooses our leaders so I am not worried about Obama even though he wasn't my choice.
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0 #2 Chuck 2008-11-11 11:01
I have never believed that you could be a racist and be a Christian at the same time, but maybe I was wrong. I have always fought against prejudice, even to the point of terminating friendships with people who used racist remarks. And, when this election process started, I was 100% sold out for Alan Keys because he was the candidate that best represented my Christian values as a candidate. I even used to attend a predominately black church, about 90% of the membership and all of the leadership was black. Out of about 5000, I was one of about 20 to 30 whites there. I really believed in the pastor and his messages were always right in line with what I believe a Christian's principles should be. He used to always stand up for the unborn's right to life, and the sanctity of a Godly, heterosexual marriage.

But on the night that Hillary Clinton announced that she was conceding the democratic nomination to Barack Obama, He call for the church to stand up for the first African-American candidate and and proclaimed that we should work to elect the first black American president. As I say and looked around, I saw very few others who, like I, refuse to stand in celebration. Frankly, I was shocked to see so many who I had believed that Christianity outweighed race in who I could call my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I learned something that night. I learned that the words of Martin Luther King Jr., less than 24 hours before his death were in vain. I'm talking about when he said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " Well that obviously doesn't apply when African-Americans have the opportunity to have a president that they think "Looks like us" as I keep hearing them say.

Oh, it's not that I was excited to see John McCain as the other choice. He used to be "pro-choice" on the abortion issue. But at least, he had always been against partial birth abortion and Obama has fought to prevent any any care for children who survived an abortion attempt, preferring to allow them to die a slow painful death. It was only after McCains choice of Sara Palin as his VP running mate. Of course, I had prayed for a miracle like him choosing Alan Keys, but Palin was more experienced in public office.

So now any of my former friends who hears that I didn't support this man who denies the words of Christ, who mocks His Holy Word, who has just promised to put people from the gay-lesbian-bisexual&transgend ered community in key Whitehouse positions, and a confirmed socialist and pro-abortion advocate, well, that means that I must be a racist.

And to the minister who commented before me, please remember how God gave in to his people and gave them Saul, even though it "grieved God" to do so. God has always given in and let His people learn the hard way.
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0 #1 Gbolahan Faluade 2008-11-10 08:20
I am a minister(by His grace) in Houston Texas. You could say I am African American (came from Nigeria 18 years ago) but I am first and foremost a child of God, a part of that new race that is neither black nor white nor hispanic. They are called "The Body of Christ".

I have been burdened by the rhetoric I have heard on both sides of the fence in the past few weeks. In our congregation I firmly emphasized that we would not pray for a candidate of our choice but ask God to put in the white house "that man of His choosing"

We had people in our congregation who travelled from Houston to Ohio to be part of the Obama campaign and we had others who were deeply involved with the McCain campaign on a local level, getting votes out and helping as the face of the Republican party at the polls.

And we are still VERY united as a chuch because I emphasized that if we pray as I mentioned above, come Nov 5, we will have in the white House someone of God's choosing.

That approach served us very well
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