The Baptist approach to racism is best described as “resolutionary,” at least within the dominant white community, according to a white Baptist leader who grew up in Nigeria.
“Every time we face a racial problem, we resolve to do better,” expressed Dr. Robert M. Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, earlier this week.
“At annual meetings, we pass resolutions condemning racism and promise to combat it. Resolutions make us feel good without doing good,” he continued.
But are they just words, he asked.
Parham’s comments on Monday followed last week’s “deeply disturbing” incident at Baylor University, the largest Baptist school in the world and Parham’s alma mater.
On Nov. 4, Election Day, a noose was hung from a tree at the Waco, Texas-based university and yard signs for Barack Obama and Joe Biden were burned.
The following day, David Garland, the university’s interim president, issued a statement condemning the actions, calling the events “deeply disturbing to us and are antithetical to the mission of Baylor University.”
“We categorically denounce and will not tolerate racist acts of any kind on our campus,” he stated.
While Parham approved of Garland’s statement, the Baptist leader noted Monday that fellow Baptists need to offer more than just words – as most Baptist denominations have already done in the past, including the Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist World Alliance and the North American Baptist Conference.
“Baylor’s interim president no doubt honestly denounced signs of hate at his school. But given Baptist history, more public words will be neither enough for Baylor, nor for Baptists,” Parham wrote in a commentary Monday.
According to Parham, the first step requires honesty, as highlighted in a new educational DVD produced by the Baptist Center for Ethics and released last month.
“Let’s be honest about where we are,” he stated.
Advanced statistical analysis of a study released last month by the Gallup Organization for Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion showed that whites in racially homogeneous white churches are two times less likely to vote for a racial minority presidential candidate.
The more homogeneously white a congregation is, the less likely the white respondent was to support a racial minority candidate, the Baylor Religion Survey found.
“For many church-going whites, attending religious services does not bring them into contact with persons of other racial backgrounds,” said Dr. Kevin D. Dougherty, an assistant professor of sociology at Baylor who specializes in religion, organizations, race and ethnicity, explained. “It is easy to be distrustful of another group of people when someone is not personally acquainted with anyone from that group.”
Parham similarly pointed to the importance of establishing cross-racial relationships.
“We, white Baptists, need to listen to other Baptists of color. And we can’t listen if we are never in relationship, in ongoing conversation, with them,” he stated.
In BCE’s new DVD, "Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism," experts from across the Baptist spectrum were interviewed, including Alan Stanford, general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship in Falls Church, Va.; Marilyn Turner, associate executive director of ABC/USA National Ministries in Valley Forge, Pa.; Joseph Phelps, pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.; and Wayne Ward, retired theology professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Continue >>
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TW, I totally agree with your view which I also believe is a biblical truth about race, but unfortunately thanks to so many people to include many Christians buying into evolution this is a huge hurdle for many to overcome to see only one race as God created us from the beginning. Plus, you're one of the few people like myself who see evolution as a promoter of the race myth as well as racial inequality.
sj, many years ago prejudice was a huge problem on many campuses in the South, fortunately that has changed. As for burning computer boxes did you not have bonfires in your college days, these were a group of college kids having fun by building a swing and having a bonfire.
Many Christians here are missing the point. We are failing to realize that there are no "races" for men, we are all one race, the human race, and all come from one man and one woman!
It is ignorant and an affront to God to see another person as a "race". We were all created by Him and all have fallen short and all need Him for our salvation.
If you are a Christian and believe there are different "races" of men, some superior - others inferior, you have bought an evolutionary lie (the original title of Darwin's book was: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life).
Stop this blasphemy that God made some men superior to others and inferior to others. We are all created the same way. We need to stand firm against this ignorance!
as I asked on the other article blog, why were students burning computer boxes? It doesn't make sense. Has this happened before? I attended Baylor many years ago, and the racism was rampant. Almost all persons of color were athletes needed to promote the school.
Thanks for sharing there is an article, believer. I do hope it gets a wider circulation, though.
Disciple,
Blacks across this country did not vote for Obama based on his issues, it was race alone. This has been proven by exit polling and other professional polling. The vast majority of blacks voted for him based on color and had no clue what he stood for. Maybe having a black President does give them Hope. But what about the Hope for the unborn? The Unborn have no Hope since Obama is the most extreme abortion supporter in the Senate. What he doesn't realize is that abortion is killing blacks in a type of eugenics we have not seen since the Nazis murdered the Jews. These blacks who voted for Obama have not looked critically at his values. His stance on abortion alone is enough not to vote for him.
Clarence Thomas said,"When 95% of black people vote for Obama it exposes only two reasons for the high percentage; all 95% overwhelmingly support his views or all 95% voted based on color and did not care about his views. I believe it is the latter and this is by far the greatest disservice to black Americans when the majority can't see beyond color to select a President. Very sad."
There's a new article that says the rope was a make shift swing and not a noose and as Heather shared no obama poster were burned, but rather empty computer boxes.
disciple, you present a totally hypocritical viewpoint, it's okay for minorities to vote along minority lines but it is wrong for the majority to vote along majority lines, what is the difference? And yes I do know some people in our area who voted along racial lines, but to accuse every white voter of that is totally ridiculous.
schuck, thanks for your response and let me encourage you if you haven't already, get a couple of as Stu Weber calls them, "Ranger Buddies", men who love you enough to ask you the tough questions, I wish I had those type of friends when I was a young Christian man. Be blessed as you continue to serve Him, believer
How sad the two innocent events will remain in history as a horrible racist activity.
believer, yeah I did get a chance to read it. I thank you for your words but what I meant was not giving her responsibility to make me stop...just that I want to stop on my own accord to not ruin something God has given me. And I know I should've stopped for God regardless but this is just that extra encouragement I needed.
Now disciple, you have completely contradicted yourself. You say we should vote for the best candidate but then you turn around and say that of course black people are going to vote for someone of their own skin color. To me, that's racism. They apparently care more about skin color than principles and that's sad.
If you look at the white vote it was close to 50-50% (don't remember the exact numbers). Seems to me as if whites weren't voting based on skin color. You see why I say the tides have turned? I'm not even going to get into Affirmative Action or things like the United Negro College Fund but I will say this; whites aren't allowed to be upset by those kinds because it's a hate crime, however, if you ever saw a United Caucasion College Fund you know it'd be attacked to no end!
schuck,
Uh, it is racist because of the way it was used against blacks in our history. That should be obvious considering the way it has been used by the KKK.
All this talk about reverse racism is ridiculous. You cannot compare Black people voting for black people to how white people voting for white people. To do so, would deny the fact that Blacks have been denied full citizenship for the great part of this country. Of course the majority of a minority race are going to vote for somebody of their own skin (especially when it has never happened before). I have no problem with that in itself. No doubt you want to vote for the best candidate, but I think this situation is different. For the majority of black people, seeing a black person in office would give them more hope for their own lives. I dont think that is reverse racism, I rather see it as an example of black people wanting to have the same opportunities as white people. Indeed, black people are not voting for a black person because they hate white people, they just want the same opportunities.
The whole point of the Baylor study was to know if for some white people voting for a black person was a reality. The statistics on black people voting for a black person are different in nature, they merely show how black people as a whole voted, not whether they would not vote for a white person ever.
I am not a reverse racist, when I got saved that is something that doesn't matter. When you look at me or talk to me ,when you walk away you should say, That woman has been with Jesus. Not that black woman anything......Obama will do as we pray for him to. We must cover him in prayer and pray that his heart is changed.
I am black and I didn't vote for obama so what does that make me. I'll tell you what it makes me , an ambassador for Christ who believes HIS Word and stands on it. This economy wouldn't be where it is now if our society was living by the morals it was established on. George Washington said you can't rule a nation without GOD and the Bible. We are very far from that now , and the spiritual doors opened has reprocussions. We have to change them and pray GOD's forgiveness and mercy as Daniel did. JESUS we plead your blood on our sins and the sins of this nation, GOD end abortion and send revival to America"
schuck, I thought it was about that high to, but I didn't want to exaggerate, plus did you get a chance to look at my post to you on the site about porn, believer
"However, putting a noose on a tree is unequivocally a racist act."
Disciple, while I don't condone this kind of behavior I do have one question. Why is a noose suddenly considered racist? Back in the day, especially the old west, when someone was convicted they were hung. It didn't matter if they were black or white.
Believer, actually I thought it was more like 99%. Regardless, about 90% of blacks vote democrat every year. I think it's the 9% difference that shows the likelyhood of reverse racism here.
Heather, thank you for the clarification on this.
disciple, it's been reported that over 90% of black voters who voted did so for Obama, why is it reported that they voted for a black candidate as opposed to they didn't vote for a white candidate as it is was for white voters who didn't vote for Obama? And let me ask this question again that no one answered on another site. If a white person did not vote for Obama they're a bigot or racist, so what does that make a black person who did not vote for McCain?
People jumped the gun way too fast on this incident at Baylor. I am a Baylor student and I saw the so called "noose" on campus. It was a small rope with a loop in it. The loop was about 2 or 3 feet off the ground. From the moment someone suggested it was a noose it was assumed to be a racial statement and it gained national attention. A student came forward yesterday and admitting to being responsible for the rope. The student and some friends found it in the grass area next to the tree and hung it in the tree as a swing. They left it there with no intention to convey a message of any sort.
As soon as people saw cardboard in the fire pit they assumed it was Obama campaign signs. Early on they were found to be empty computer boxes. Students came forward last week explaining that they were computer boxes they found next to the parking garage. I have seen how empty computer boxes are put by the parking garage and I know that students make fires for smores in that fire pit.
I don't deny that racism exists and I believe these events have sparked good conversation on campus. However, I am saddened that people have gotten such a negative view of our university and we are now considered another example of "racist, hypocritical Christians" all because normal events were rashly interpreted as racial statements.
Attention was drawn to the misinformation but I doubt much attention will be given to truth of the matter. Also no one, including Mr. Young in this article, has acknowledged that Baylor is putting forth all kinds of effort to discuss and resolve racial issues brought up by this incident. There have been campus wide discussion groups, student government/NAACP/Association of Black Students meetings and many groups on campus are planning events and ways to create communication and resolution of racial issues.
I am saddened by this whole incident but I hope that there will be lasting benefits through the discussions and actions students are participating in.
Believer,
I think that burning campaign signs would be considered a political act. However, putting a noose on a tree is unequivocally a racist act. I concur, what they did was horribly wrong.
I also think that the Baylor study that congregations of homogeneous white people are "twice as unlikely to vote for a racial minority candidate" is also disturbing. Especially if we keep in mind that no specific candidate is mentioned in the study as to who they would vote for. For example, Obama was not mentioned, it was rather mere race. But the fact that these congregations are twice as unlikely to vote for a minority candidate is shockingly disturbing. This shows that we still have a long way to go.
I also get tired of the hypocritical nature of effigies, whether they are burned or hanged. I think any incident should be condemned, regardless of the person.
What these students did was horribly wrong and they should be severely disciplined, but considering the same thing was done in other places towards McCain and Palin and the fact that Biden was included in this incident, I don't understand why this incident is seen as a racist act as opposed to a political act and there is a huge difference. And this is unfortunately nothing new, this political practice is as old as our nation and was done prior to us becoming a nation.