I've been going to church since I was in the womb. Yesterday I experienced something I had never experienced before in all my years of going to church. I was yelled at in the foyer, in public, by a racist bigot angry at my support for having a Spanish congregation of Nazarenes meet in our sanctuary when not in use by our congregation.First I was shocked at being yelled at period. Secondly I was amazed that anyone would so publicly expose themselves as racist in such a Mel Gibsonesque fashion. Some of his choicest words as he pointed toward the sanctuary as the Hispanic congregation was worshiping, "Those people didn't build our country, those people didn't make this country great."
Yes, I'm proud of my white forefathers who committed genocide by wiping out millions of Native Americans who had lived on this contintent for thousands of years while never keeping a single treaty they signed with the Indians.
I'm proud of how they built the southern agrarian economy on the backs of African slaves.
I'm proud of how humanely they treated the Chinese laborers who built the trans-contintental railroad.
I'm proud of how they refused to allow women to vote until 1922.
I'm proud of how they rounded up law-abiding Japanese-American citizens (including war-veterans from WWI) in 1942 and forced them to live in horse stalls at internment camps for the duration of World War II despite never being charged with any crime.
There is much to be proud of our nation and our nation's history. But like all races my ancestors have made grievous mistakes. Therefore, how can I judge any race when I remember how Christ died for me despite my sins?
There is no room in God's church for bigots like the one I encountered Sunday. I remember reading some of this guy's ideas in a little book called Mein Kampf in a history class. Mein Kampf...a warped (and poorly written) little book written by Adolf Hitler.
Racism is as much a heresy as the circumcision heresy, Arian Christianity or Gnosticism. I, for one, will shine the light of truth on such individuals so they can scurry like cockroaches for the dark places of this world. I will not allow God's church to become a safe haven for such satanic beliefs just because they can no longer espouse their racism publicly in the secular world.
I will attempt to follow Christ's model of compassion even toward those who disagree with me. But I will never kowtow and be intimidated by the insanity of those who hate God's fellow creations.
