If you grew up in a segregated white neighborhood in Bible-belt America in the 1950’s and 60’s and went to a conservative church with similar situated folks, chances are good that you did not think of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement as being good for America. In fact, you likely were taught that it was a sinister, communist plot to destroy America. Thank God history has shown how utterly wrong that mindset is.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, women’s suffrage was represented in sermons and editorials as a menacing threat to democracy. Horrible outcomes were predicted if women were given the right to vote. Only a social Neanderthal would think that today. Also, it was in that same time frame when the great split between Bible-belt fundamentalists and the practitioners of the so-called “liberal” social gospel occurred. The fundamentalists retreated into revivalism and rapture hype, and have only recently awakened to the fact that, if they don’t get involved addressing the pressing issues of social injustice and the ills of poverty, they’ll become totally irrelevant in today’s world.
It was once thought that the “Christian” thing to do was to militarily conquer Native Americans, force them to live on reservations, and take their children away from their families (at gunpoint if necessary) to live in boarding schools run by missionaries. If you were a mainstream, God-fearing, white American in the mid to late 1800’s, that’s what you most likely would have supported. We continue to reap the horrible consequences of this evil policy— even as we are with the lingering impact of the slave trade that was promoted often times by religiously devout people.
These, and many other examples I could cite, illustrate the reality that religious folks often find themselves on the wrong side of issues. It seems to be a knee jerk reaction on the part of conservative religionists to do whatever it takes to protect the status quo. Declaring a resounding “no!” to change is the default position of many. I understand that there can be wisdom in putting the brakes on accelerating cultural upheaval in order to allow progress to be implemented in a more mature and considered fashion. But, too many automatically stand in defiance of societal evolution digging in their heels and label anything new as satanic and threatening to their sacred comfort zone. It is the mindset that caused some to plot the execution of Jesus 2000 years ago when he was proposing a new social/spiritual order of God’s governance characterized by compassion, love for neighbors and enemies, and the elimination of excluding beliefs and practices.
Will we ever learn? Join me in accepting the challenge to say yes to something new today.
