Barack Obama: Religious Bigotry?
by Janice Swinton
Prejudice/racism/intolerance/bias/narrow-mindedness/chauvinism (an excessive or prejudiced loyalty to a particular gender, group, or cause)/ unreasoning, overenthusiastic, or aggressive patriotism (a proud supporter or defender of his or her country and its way of life)
This past presidential election allowed me to experience firsthand the sharp racial and gender divisions that continue to find homes in the hearts of people in our country and in the Christian church. For the first time, in our history, there was a white man, a black man and a female contending for the highest office in the land. The two most denigrated groups of people in the world and in this country. Females are still oppressed and subjugated to second class citizenship while Jesus has elevated them to equal partnership in his Body. Racial hatred is bred in this country among whites and blacks with the shared history of white superiority in the peculiar institution of slavery.
I realized that this would bring to the forefront the religious bigotry, hatred, racism and sexism that live in this land. It brought to the forefront three issues that concern me: racism in Christianity – that Sunday morning at eleven o’clock hour is still the most segregated hour of the week; secondly, that racism still divides Christians and this country. Third, the disparity of gender and race both inside the church and outside. I found myself in the unique position of being a born-again evangelical Christian who is both black and female, experiencing the election in the predominately white state of Maine, while experiencing the inauguration in the predominately black state of Mississippi. Religious bigotry I experienced in both places.
Now, racism is not just among whites it is all across the racial spectrum of our nation. I attended a black church in Mississippi in January. It was Sunday morning and it was all black; the Sunday school teacher was teaching about the two Hebrew midwives, Puah and Shiprah. Instead of it being a discussion of how these women feared God more than the Pharaoh, and were heroic in that they refused to kill the Hebrew babies even at peril of death: instead it became a message about “Mr. Charlie”. For those of you who don’t know who Mr. Charlie is, in the black world it’s the infamous name for racist oppressive “white man” or “white slave master”. I sat in shock as I listened to what I would classify as the first openly racist message in any Christian congregation, black or white, that I’ve heard in the twenty five years that I have been a believer. The Jews were spoken of in similitude as the blacks who were enslaved in this country; and the Pharaoh was the white master who had used the children of Israel to build their cities, while keeping them under the oppressive whip of slavery. But because the Israelites continued to grow strong and multiply, Pharaoh or “the white man” tried to control them by killing all of their first born males. In the African-American experience they lynched the black man and kept blacks enslaved under the oppressive system of slavery.
In Maine the voices of white evangelicals around me were clearly anti Obama and Hillary. It was a mixture of religious bigotry and ignorance. There were comments about Obama being the Anti-Christ and subtle racial slurs about a black man running the country; or they wouldn’t take orders from a black man; and he was suspicious because he was raised by a Muslim father, and all this in the name of religion. Regardless, I was outspoken in my support for Obama and/or Hillary, I received looks of disdain and “oh’ you must not be a Christian; or was warned that I would get what I voted for as if I was damning myself by voting for a black man or a female. Likewise, up north some evangelical white pastors were carefully keeping politics out of the pulpit while encouraging parishioners to vote their values. It was clear from those that I encountered that their values included the candidate’s position on abortion, gay rights and the right to “bear” arms. Now all of these values are moral issues that cannot be legislated by the office of the President. It became an argument about looking to the president to do their evangelical commission, to legislate abortion, gay marriage and the other moral issues on their plates. Now, my argument was simply, the President’s job is not to legislate morality and laws that fit into their religious view; his job is to represent the country which is a melting pot of every religion, race and culture. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT a Christian country.
Christians are waiting for the President to evangelize the world, while they vote and sit in pews on Sunday mornings that are segregated and racist looking to laws and government to change the world. This ignorance was made glaringly clear to me when an evangelical white Christian, told me and my Jewish friend that God allowed the capture and enslavement of Africans as well as the holocaust, otherwise we wouldn’t have met. In other words, six million Jews were exterminated in gas chambers and over four million blacks enslaved and murdered in this land so that we could meet in Central Maine. I later made clear to my Jewish friend that not only was that ignorance but that is not truth – its only truth to the Christian right – who tend to believe in their own superiority. My Messiah was and still is a Jew; and the church of Jesus Christ encompasses the entire universe not just white evangelicals in America.
If we would get out of the pews, and get delivered from racist, sexist thinking, and began truly sharing freely the love of Jesus, speaking biblical truths and behaving Christlike then people would make better choices in their lifestyles and lives and we wouldn’t be voting for a President to do it. It is not a work of the flesh – but of the Spirit of God.
I disagreed with the racism in Mississippi and the racism and sexism in Maine. As a follower of Christ I believe in a body of believers that does not make decisions based on gender, race, or slave nor free. I believe in full and equal participation in the Body of Christ for women, every nation and tribe, without regard to race, gender, or social status. I know Jesus is not Democrat, Republic nor Independent; and Father God is able to put whomever He desires in the white house; and as true believers we should still pray for our leaders regardless of race. I believe we have put too much emphasis on the government during our job; there was a time when leaders were not elected but won via much bloodshed and war; in this country we freely and peaceably elected our president into office. Many men and women, black and white, have died for this freedom we enjoy in this country; but it saddens me that so much of Christianity still espouses sexist and racist doctrines and dogmas that keep us from reconciling the world to Christ.
A lot of evangelicals felt that Obama and Hillary were not from God; and they would rather die than vote for a black person or a female. So you can imagine the response that I received when I openly declared that I would not vote for McCain but Obama and/or Hillary were my choices. Politics should have no place in religion – God is in control – not men. I am, without apology, a believer in Jesus Christ but I truly don’t hold to, nor adhere to, the racism and sexism that is so commonly accepted in Christendom today – I think outside of the box, not outside the Bible.
As a 53 year old African American female, ordained minister, journalist, and business owner living in Central Maine. I have lived in Maine for over 12 years. I was born in Washington D.C., raised in Mississippi, and lived in Kansas most of my adult life. I have lived in both predominately white and black states. The voting results in Maine showed Obama winning 58% of the vote over McCain’s 41%. In Mississippi where I was raised, McCain won 56% and Obama 42%; and the same results from Kansas where I lived most of my adult life, McCain won 56% and Obama 41%. My husband James, who is 63, and I, cast our votes for the first time during this presidential election and we voted for Obama, along with 56% of the rest of the country who voted for him because he is capable of running this country intelligently and purposefully; just as capable as any of the 43 white presidents that preceded him. The people said “change” and Obama responded and connected with the voice of the people and the people connected with him. The nation and the church showed its true colors on election night with Obama winning some of the younger white evangelical voters, but the majority, over 74%, of older white evangelicals voted for McCain with McCain winning the majority of the southern states and right down the middle of America.
During this election year many believers questioned my faith and my Christianity; suggesting that my salvation and choice of president was anti-Christ. But let me say, “Oh, contraire”, I am saved to the roots, Bible believing, spirit-filled, unapologetic believer in Jesus Christ; but I do not look to the President to legislate my morality or to do what Jesus has called me to do and that is reconcile the world back to the Father. I look to Jesus Christ for my direction and moral gauge. I believe that Jesus is the only way, truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except by Him, which makes me “narrow minded” among some non-believers and I can live with that because that is what I believe. But what I cannot live with is the proliferation of racism and sexism in the Name of Jesus Christ for the sake of religion. I will not promote racism and sexism; or social status because that is NOT what Jesus died for. The Bible spells out clearly that God is no respecter of persons.
In Galatians 3:26-27,28, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ. There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Amplified Bible).That clearly covers it all.
I tell people if they are looking at my gender, female, and my race, black, or my social status, they should get up and leave any place where I am preaching or teaching – because what they should see is my immaterial, invisible, God-breathed soul and spirit – not my fleshly exterior. The Jesus that I serve is not racist nor sexist. He is not republic, democrat or independent. In this presidential election I have seen sexism, racism and religious bigotry in both places. It has proven again, that not only is the eleven o’clock hour on Sundays, still the most segregated of the week but so is the rest of the week.
I believe the winds of change are blowing across this country and the world, I pray they blow on religious bigotry and racism. Another black man, Martin Luther King, a preacher and a man destined to change the world, who died for what he believed, justice and equality for all men, delivered this speech on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.:
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Jesus declared that in Him we have freedom and liberty, equality and justice.
I realized that this would bring to the forefront the religious bigotry, hatred, racism and sexism that live in this land. It brought to the forefront three issues that concern me: racism in Christianity – that Sunday morning at eleven o’clock hour is still the most segregated hour of the week; secondly, that racism still divides Christians and this country. Third, the disparity of gender and race both inside the church and outside. I found myself in the unique position of being a born-again evangelical Christian who is both black and female, experiencing the election in the predominately white state of Maine, while experiencing the inauguration in the predominately black state of Mississippi. Religious bigotry I experienced in both places.
Now, racism is not just among whites it is all across the racial spectrum of our nation. I attended a black church in Mississippi in January. It was Sunday morning and it was all black; the Sunday school teacher was teaching about the two Hebrew midwives, Puah and Shiprah. Instead of it being a discussion of how these women feared God more than the Pharaoh, and were heroic in that they refused to kill the Hebrew babies even at peril of death: instead it became a message about “Mr. Charlie”. For those of you who don’t know who Mr. Charlie is, in the black world it’s the infamous name for racist oppressive “white man” or “white slave master”. I sat in shock as I listened to what I would classify as the first openly racist message in any Christian congregation, black or white, that I’ve heard in the twenty five years that I have been a believer. The Jews were spoken of in similitude as the blacks who were enslaved in this country; and the Pharaoh was the white master who had used the children of Israel to build their cities, while keeping them under the oppressive whip of slavery. But because the Israelites continued to grow strong and multiply, Pharaoh or “the white man” tried to control them by killing all of their first born males. In the African-American experience they lynched the black man and kept blacks enslaved under the oppressive system of slavery.
In Maine the voices of white evangelicals around me were clearly anti Obama and Hillary. It was a mixture of religious bigotry and ignorance. There were comments about Obama being the Anti-Christ and subtle racial slurs about a black man running the country; or they wouldn’t take orders from a black man; and he was suspicious because he was raised by a Muslim father, and all this in the name of religion. Regardless, I was outspoken in my support for Obama and/or Hillary, I received looks of disdain and “oh’ you must not be a Christian; or was warned that I would get what I voted for as if I was damning myself by voting for a black man or a female. Likewise, up north some evangelical white pastors were carefully keeping politics out of the pulpit while encouraging parishioners to vote their values. It was clear from those that I encountered that their values included the candidate’s position on abortion, gay rights and the right to “bear” arms. Now all of these values are moral issues that cannot be legislated by the office of the President. It became an argument about looking to the president to do their evangelical commission, to legislate abortion, gay marriage and the other moral issues on their plates. Now, my argument was simply, the President’s job is not to legislate morality and laws that fit into their religious view; his job is to represent the country which is a melting pot of every religion, race and culture. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT a Christian country.
Christians are waiting for the President to evangelize the world, while they vote and sit in pews on Sunday mornings that are segregated and racist looking to laws and government to change the world. This ignorance was made glaringly clear to me when an evangelical white Christian, told me and my Jewish friend that God allowed the capture and enslavement of Africans as well as the holocaust, otherwise we wouldn’t have met. In other words, six million Jews were exterminated in gas chambers and over four million blacks enslaved and murdered in this land so that we could meet in Central Maine. I later made clear to my Jewish friend that not only was that ignorance but that is not truth – its only truth to the Christian right – who tend to believe in their own superiority. My Messiah was and still is a Jew; and the church of Jesus Christ encompasses the entire universe not just white evangelicals in America.
If we would get out of the pews, and get delivered from racist, sexist thinking, and began truly sharing freely the love of Jesus, speaking biblical truths and behaving Christlike then people would make better choices in their lifestyles and lives and we wouldn’t be voting for a President to do it. It is not a work of the flesh – but of the Spirit of God.
I disagreed with the racism in Mississippi and the racism and sexism in Maine. As a follower of Christ I believe in a body of believers that does not make decisions based on gender, race, or slave nor free. I believe in full and equal participation in the Body of Christ for women, every nation and tribe, without regard to race, gender, or social status. I know Jesus is not Democrat, Republic nor Independent; and Father God is able to put whomever He desires in the white house; and as true believers we should still pray for our leaders regardless of race. I believe we have put too much emphasis on the government during our job; there was a time when leaders were not elected but won via much bloodshed and war; in this country we freely and peaceably elected our president into office. Many men and women, black and white, have died for this freedom we enjoy in this country; but it saddens me that so much of Christianity still espouses sexist and racist doctrines and dogmas that keep us from reconciling the world to Christ.
A lot of evangelicals felt that Obama and Hillary were not from God; and they would rather die than vote for a black person or a female. So you can imagine the response that I received when I openly declared that I would not vote for McCain but Obama and/or Hillary were my choices. Politics should have no place in religion – God is in control – not men. I am, without apology, a believer in Jesus Christ but I truly don’t hold to, nor adhere to, the racism and sexism that is so commonly accepted in Christendom today – I think outside of the box, not outside the Bible.
As a 53 year old African American female, ordained minister, journalist, and business owner living in Central Maine. I have lived in Maine for over 12 years. I was born in Washington D.C., raised in Mississippi, and lived in Kansas most of my adult life. I have lived in both predominately white and black states. The voting results in Maine showed Obama winning 58% of the vote over McCain’s 41%. In Mississippi where I was raised, McCain won 56% and Obama 42%; and the same results from Kansas where I lived most of my adult life, McCain won 56% and Obama 41%. My husband James, who is 63, and I, cast our votes for the first time during this presidential election and we voted for Obama, along with 56% of the rest of the country who voted for him because he is capable of running this country intelligently and purposefully; just as capable as any of the 43 white presidents that preceded him. The people said “change” and Obama responded and connected with the voice of the people and the people connected with him. The nation and the church showed its true colors on election night with Obama winning some of the younger white evangelical voters, but the majority, over 74%, of older white evangelicals voted for McCain with McCain winning the majority of the southern states and right down the middle of America.
During this election year many believers questioned my faith and my Christianity; suggesting that my salvation and choice of president was anti-Christ. But let me say, “Oh, contraire”, I am saved to the roots, Bible believing, spirit-filled, unapologetic believer in Jesus Christ; but I do not look to the President to legislate my morality or to do what Jesus has called me to do and that is reconcile the world back to the Father. I look to Jesus Christ for my direction and moral gauge. I believe that Jesus is the only way, truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except by Him, which makes me “narrow minded” among some non-believers and I can live with that because that is what I believe. But what I cannot live with is the proliferation of racism and sexism in the Name of Jesus Christ for the sake of religion. I will not promote racism and sexism; or social status because that is NOT what Jesus died for. The Bible spells out clearly that God is no respecter of persons.
In Galatians 3:26-27,28, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ. There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Amplified Bible).That clearly covers it all.
I tell people if they are looking at my gender, female, and my race, black, or my social status, they should get up and leave any place where I am preaching or teaching – because what they should see is my immaterial, invisible, God-breathed soul and spirit – not my fleshly exterior. The Jesus that I serve is not racist nor sexist. He is not republic, democrat or independent. In this presidential election I have seen sexism, racism and religious bigotry in both places. It has proven again, that not only is the eleven o’clock hour on Sundays, still the most segregated of the week but so is the rest of the week.
I believe the winds of change are blowing across this country and the world, I pray they blow on religious bigotry and racism. Another black man, Martin Luther King, a preacher and a man destined to change the world, who died for what he believed, justice and equality for all men, delivered this speech on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.:
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Jesus declared that in Him we have freedom and liberty, equality and justice.
