Should Black Christians trust White conservative Christians

by James Strong
"My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find our if the spirit they have comes from God; because many false prophets have gone out [into the world]." (I John 4:1)

The war between Israel and Hezbollah has caused passions among Christians, Jews and Muslims to boil hotter and bubble fiercer than usual. A protest in Washington, D.C. over the August 13 weekend attracted thousands of Muslim, Arab and Lebanese anti-war activists, as well as many pro-peace Jews and Christians.

The protestors demanded that Bush stop supplying rockets and other ammunition Israel has used to splatter the bones and veins of innocent Lebanese women and children and to cease supporting Israeli terror. The protestors labeled Israel a neo-Nazi terrorist state, Bush a war criminal and fascist and Hezbollah the angel of freedom fighters, ready to confront the Infidel and its disgusting Middle Eastern tapeworm.

Also present were a few conservative Christian counter-demonstrators, who backed Israel and invoked divine blessings for the Israeli terror. In public, they prayed God would give Israel victory, even as Hezbollah crushed the aim and momentum of the Israeli monster. The tears and sniffles of God were not with Israel in this war, as many Israelis now admit.

What’s interesting about the conservative Christian counter-demonstration is that it reflected the bigotry, hate and racism for which White conservative Christianity has been awarded many medals of honor. About two weeks before the anti-war rally, Christian fundamentalist John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, spoke at a pro-Israeli rally in D.C.

Hagee is a well-known pro-Israeli Christian with a history of support for right-wing terrorist interests and pro-hate movements, such as those led by Israeli Russian Jews, whose hatred for Muslims and Arabs is handwritten in the heavens.

The pro-Israeli rally was gutted with hate-mongering Russian Jews with whom Hagee gladly shook hands and drank bottle upon bottle of venom.

This unholy alliance between Christian fundamentalism and Jewish hate provokes thoughts about how Black Christians should relate to White Christian conservatism in a divinely ordained age of multiculturalism and quest for true peace.

For Blacks, this is a signature moment, because White conservatives have always marched at the front of the infantry of discrimination. And for Black Christians it is a significant moment, because they remember how White conservative Christians through many satanic influences misinterpreted scripture to support racism and segregation.

The issue flashes a neon light illuminating divine intervention: As Blacks tend to trust those who oppose racism, they tend to mistrust those who uphold racism.

That insight still stands as a monument to the shaky relationship between Black Christianity and White conservative Christianity, even though some Black Christians are more willing now to collaborate with White conservative Christians on religious matters than they were 10 or 20 years ago. They act under the assumption that White Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have renounced bigotry to the point they can now trust the honesty of White conservative Christian intentions.

But is this assumption defensible?

If Black Christians have not flooded the Republican Party because they perceive it as the bicycle of racism and have not flocked to President Bush because they perceive him as the handlebar of racism, why should they trust White conservative Christianity, which continues to support the anti-Black and anti-true-Christian Bush and his Republican Party?

The history of such support is as long as a line of motorcycles stretching from Omaha to Miami. It raises to the surface a point too long submerged in the race to integrate.

Black Christians and conservative Christians hear the Gospel through two different headsets. Black Christians sing the hymns of tolerance; conservative Christians thunder the anger of intolerance. Indeed, intolerance is the soul of all conservatism. Thus, by analogy, conservative Christianity may carry the aroma of freshly roasted nuts, but there’s poison in them their nuts.

Though White conservative Christianity appears to be free of prejudice, will it shift gears and return to a gospel of bigotry, as it did after the Civil War, during Reconstruction? Or has it only shifted its venom from Blacks to others, such as Arabs, pro-choice Christians and gays and lesbians? Are the demons of hate hiding in the caves of time, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce once again on the pure Gospel?

When one thinks about the profound message of Christ, Black Christians should consider his tone toward anyone who would resuscitate heresy. Relative to history and racism, though White conservative Christianity declares support for the Gospel, the Gospel denounces White conservative Christianity.

Is not genuine love the meat of the Gospel? Yet, White conservative Christianity pushes false impressions. Would we not prefer a handkerchief made of wool than one made of wood? Then, if we prefer the real over the fake, there doesn’t appear to be any real reason to trust those whose world view still stinks of discrimination.

Copyright © 2006 by James Strong. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this column or any part of this column, without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. To express comments about an AfriChristian Commentary, send an email to africhristian@yahoo.com. Unless otherwise stated, scriptural passages are quoted from the "Good News Bible."