Friday, July 6, 2012

Since when is God a white dude


I’m doing my best to keep this faith thing going.  You know, faith in world peace.  Faith in a world oozing with love and little children holding hands like Dr. King talked about when he told us about his dream.
Some people make it hard for me to keep holding on to my faith.  It’s like DMX whined in that song, “I’m about to lose my mind, up in here, up in here.” Put another way, what’s up with white folks these days.
Not all of them, but just enough to remind you not to smoke the peace pipe yet.  The pipe might be laced with something meant to take you to a place where dirt gets tossed on top of your body.  It makes me wonder if those smiling in my face are holding a knife waiting for me to turn so they can stab me in the back. 
I’m trying to trust, but what’s up with white folks these days.
A few months back I wrote about a KKK rally in North Carolina.  Now the newest deposit in the bank of white folks being fed up with colored folks comes from the state of Alabama.  Kari Hueswa with MSNBC reports that a pastor in Lamar County, Alabama has conducted a three-day whites only religious conference which will conclude with a cross burning on Saturday.
Mel Lewis is the founder of Christian Identity Ministries, a group dedicated to promoting white people as God’s chosen people.  "Yes, we believe that the Europeans and their descendants are the chosen people of God," states the group’s website. "We believe this, not because we think that the white race is superior, but because there is overwhelming proof in support of this belief. We do not back down from this belief, because we are certain."
They may feel certain.  The only thing I’m certain about is that it’s deplorable for them to use the word ministries to define their work.  What Bible are they reading?  What Spirit are they following? As much as I’m offended that they tout teachings that reject the worth of people who look like me, I’m even more perplexed that they teach that God is a white folk loving deity.  Somebody has been drinking the Kool-Aid of white supremacy and has been tricked into believing they bring more to the dance than the rest of God’s creation.
It disturbs me when people use racial difference as a way to elevate their own position in this big world of diverse people.  What person in their right mind can be drawn to an ideology that creates a God in their own image? Isn’t that a form of idolatry?  The last time I checked that’s one of the no-no’s listed in the first list of bad things handed down to a dude named Moses after a trip up a mountain.
I must be fair in pronouncing disdain for this form of mockery.  White folks aren’t alone in making God their partner in racial pride.  Black folks have also played this game.  It’s the reason for the unholy union between the Nation of Islam and the Klu Klux Klan.  The groups have met over the years to discuss ways to forge a separation between the races - blacks over here, whites over there.  Both believe they are created with special favor.  White people are “blue eyed devils, according to the Nation of Islam.  Blacks are cursed by the mark of Cain, according to the teachings of the KKK.  Different races, same conclusion.
As one who promotes the rights of people to hold to their own faith claims, I’m unwilling to touch upon the racism of the Nation of Islam.  Personally, I loathe their thoughts regarding Jews and their assumptions related to all white people.  I consider it racism, but they’re not Christians.  That’s a matter for the Islamic community to address.
My fight is with how you talk about Christianity and how those discussions dilute the truths of the claims the rest of us make.  Don’t talk to me about a color coded system.  Don’t go preaching about how God loves you more because you are white, and that God is calling you to preach the message of white supremacy. 
Not on my watch! 
It’s not just white people.  It’s straight people.  It’s rich people.  It’s anyone who uses faith to minimize others walking in the skin that God has given them.  Sometimes its men informing women they need to bow down and abide in God’s will of their subjugation.  Don’t create a God in your own image and use the words between Genesis and Revelation to support your narrow claim.
Nope. Not having it.
It makes me sick when I think about what we make God out to be.  So, as a minister of the Church that Christ left behind, I have a message for anyone spewing that mess.  Stop calling yourself Christians.  Don’t use that label.  It makes the work the rest of us do seem irrational.  It gives us a bad name.  We’re not like you, so stop pretending to be a Christian. Use another name to describe who you are.
I suggest Neo-Nazi.  It fits better than Christian.

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