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 Delman Coates at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church is among a minority of black ministers in Maryland who have endorsed gay rights.
May 12th, 2012
08:00 AM ET
Is the black church guilty of spiritual hypocrisy in same-sex marriage debate?By John Blake, CNN (CNN) - Some people wonder if the black church will punish President Barack Obama for announcing support for same-sex marriage. Here’s another question: Why would the black church cite scripture to exclude gays when a similar approach to the Bible was used to enslave their ancestors? “It’s so unfortunate,” says James Cone, one the nation’s most influential black theologians and author of “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.” “The literal approach to scripture was used to enslave black people,” he says. “I’ve said many times in black churches that the black church is on the wrong side of history on this. It’s so sad because they were on the right side of history in their own struggle.” Call it historical irony: Black church leaders arguing against same-sex marriage are making some of the same arguments that supporters of slavery made in the 18th and 19th centuries, some historians say. Both groups adopted a literal reading of the Bible to justify withholding basic rights from a particular group. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Opposition to gay rights is not the standard position of all black churches. Still, while several predominately white mainline denominations have officially accepted gays and lesbians in various forms, the vast majority of black churches still consider homosexuality a sin. Black church leaders recently helped lead a successful drive to amend North Carolina’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The Rev. Fred Robinson, a black pastor in Charlotte, says most black churchgoers aren’t hypocrites. They take scripture, and sin, seriously. “Black people are not confused,” Robinson says. “If you look at the scriptures that oppose homosexuality, Old and New Testament, they are clearer cut than the ones people used to justify slavery.” Yet there are other factors beyond the Bible that shape the black church’s resistance to same-sex marriage. “It’s more than scripture – it’s history, culture, how we were raised,” says the Rev. Tim McDonald, founder of the African American Ministers Leadership Council. Some black church leaders are still fighting hard just to persuade straight black couples to marry. Accepting same-sex marriage when so many black households lack a husband and wife makes McDonald uneasy. “I am not comfortable performing a wedding ceremony of the same sex,” says McDonald, an Obama supporter. “That’s just where I am.” Some black pastors, however, embrace a literal approach to the Bible not just to exclude gays but to get rid of competition, says Edward Blum, a San Diego State University historian. Some black pastors cite New Testament passages such as Paul’s demand that women keep silent in churches to argue against black women in the pulpit. That argument is harder to make when black women’s energy and donations form the backbone of the black church, Blum says, but some still get away with it. “The biblical literalist reading has kept male leadership in power in a church that is hugely female,” Blum says. “It keeps power in men’s hands.” The one book that mattered Black churches also embrace a literal reading of the scripture because of its unique history, says Blum, author of “W.E.B. DuBois, American Prophet.” During slavery and segregation, many blacks saw the Bible as the one document they could trust. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, state and local laws – all found some way to ignore their humanity, Blum says. The Bible, though, was one book that told them that they weren’t slaves or three-fifths of a person, Blum says. It said they were children of God. “Throughout the 18th and 19th century, what document could they trust?” Blum says. “When the Bible says it’s so, it’s something that black people believed they could trust.” Their enemies, though, used that same veneration of the Bible against them. Slaveholders had a simple but powerful argument when critics challenged them: Trust the Bible. They cited scriptures such as Ephesians 6:5. (“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling. ...”) And they said Jesus preached against many sins, but never against slavery. Since the Bible is infallible, and scripture sanctions slavery, it must be part of God’s order, slaveholders concluded. “Slavery is everywhere in the Bible,” Blum says. “When Americans who were in favor of slavery defended it with the Bible, they had a treasure trove of clear biblical passages that accepted enslavement.” Blum says abolitionists found it difficult to mount an effective counterargument. They couldn’t just say trust the Bible. They preached another approach to scriptures. They said you couldn’t enslave people based on the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. (Obama cited the Golden Rule and his Christian faith in supporting same-sex marriage). “The abolitionist turned to the ethics and spirit of the Bible,” Blum says. “They were theological modernists before modernism.” And what are black clergy and churchgoers today when they cite the Bible to oppose same-sex marriage? Robinson, the North Carolina pastor, says they’re not homophobes. “It says in the Bible that homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God,” he says. “How do you explain that one away? A lot of honest Christians are not trying to hate homosexuals. They’re saying that if I take the Bible seriously, I’m not sure I can say it’s right.” Robinson says that some opposition to homosexuality is actually based in compassion: “If I’m concerned about your soul, I have to tell you the truth in love.” Cone, who teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, says black churchgoers opposed to same-sex marriage are instead mimicking their ancestors’ oppressors. “I tell some people, ‘These people were against you.’ They would have lynched you. How are you going to now join them and help them lynch somebody else?’” |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Im alright with a judge marrying a gay couple but not my priest
Priests don't marry gays. They have a tendency to keep their s3xual exploits with gays hush hush.
Why?
So now they will try to shame Black ministers.Will they make ministers marry gay couples?You might be able to change man law but not God law.God law is the same as it has always been.Call me a hating bigot I don't care.
No one will force a church to marry a gay couple. Many churches will do it out of love though
Aren't you aware that marriage came before Christianity?
Marriage is nothing to do with god or religion.
I think given that marriage predates Christianity, a gay couple who is Christian should be allowed a Christian wedding and to be denied that is a civil rights matter.
God's law has changed through an evolutionary process over the ages to conform to social norms.
In 50 years the majority of Christians will no longer believe homosexuality is a sin. Guaranteed.
How do you know what is "God's law," assuming that God even exists? Did he come down from heaven and tell you? No. You were told what is "God's law" by religious authorities attaching their preferred meaning to passages in a book translated multiple times from dead languages, written down by those who did not even witness the events about which they wrote, but were recording stories passed orally to them from others. That's not evidence, it's hearsay. We accept hearsay as evidence in our courts, so why should we accept it as evidence of some ultimate truth?
How do you know what is "God's law," assuming that God even exists? Did he come down from heaven and tell you? No. You were told what is "God's law" by religious authorities attaching their preferred meaning to passages in a book translated multiple times from dead languages, written down by those who did not even witness the events about which they wrote, but were recording stories passed orally to them from others. That's not evidence, it's hearsay. We don't accept hearsay as evidence in our courts, so why should we accept it as evidence of some ultimate truth?
Maya who told you being gay is right?Its what you believe.Everyone doesn't see the world as you do.Deal with it.
The main point is that marriage between two consenting/committed adults is not a religious privilege in this country. It is a civil privilege. One doesn't need to be Christian, Mormon, Jewish, athiest, Buddhist, Muslim or anything else. People get married in churches (IF permitted by the doctrine of the denomination), government buildings, on beaches and mountain tops. and in even stranger places considering the options couples have in Las Vegas.
The only real requirements we should have are that couples be of a consenting age, be in love, and not be too closely related by blood such as sharing the same biological parents.
I personally feel there should be an intelligence test to weed out the breeding of morons (even though it's perhaps too late), but that wouldn't be right because it would deny the rights of some individuals to wed. Oh, but wait... most of the posters here feel it's OK to single out certain groups and deprive them of certain rights, so maybe it's OK.
2024 advertising headline: Coming soon to a cinema near you, Land of the Idiots
Doesn't everyone think that the democrats are throwing around the bigot and hypocrite thing around a lot lately. I think they need to stop looking in the mirror when they post because everything i have heard this past 4 days.....makes me wonder how tolerant is the left really? Tolerant only if you agree with them I suppose.
I feel no obligation to tolerate intolerance
Wait didn't you just post thios? "funny this article just went from one bigot writing crap to other bigots following suit." Flip flop much?
And then you post another comment using the word bigot numerous times. How many personalities are in there?
Yes it is because the ones pointing out that everyone else is bigots are in themselves the biggest bigots of them all....hence the hypocrisy of this whole article that is written about hypocrisy you don't get it do you. My goodness you are so dense....like using a ball ping hammer against foot steel door. Must hurt when you have to think further then your mind can comprehend.
everytime i hear you guys post it is like ping ping....and I start to wonder...will they ever get it? Funny how you attack me and not the one posting hateful videos of other religions and people posting articles that obviously ignores logic.
For goodness sakes....please stop feeding the troll (saoirse72)
tallulah13 and makesnosense, the bible cant be scientifically correct because it was not writen based on scientific theories but by God sovereigness that cannot be challenged.
They have been challenged and defeated. Ask Copernicus.
Joe, that doesn't remove the troublesome question of authorship. It's still a book and some human had to write it down, which begs the questions: who, and to what end?
"Sovreigness" is not a word.
To the Black Church, please don't worry about my soul, I would not entrust it to you anyhow. If you exclude any of God's children in your church and don't treat them with dignity, respect and equality I, for one want no part of your church or your religion and I am positive God still loves me and I will see him/her on the other side.
Using religion as an excuse to deny others civil rights is wrong. It was used by whites to oppress blacks and now a majority of blacks are using it to oppress gays. This is wrong.
It is amazing Christians still post comments to blogs like this asking why non-believers hang out and try to show them the truth. We are not trying to deny you of some god's riches (as someone posted earlier) any more than we want to deny you of Santa's Christmas presents. We are trying to wake you up and in so doing make the world a better place.
Thank you! ...I feel so much better now! (Geeeshhhhhh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCEJISKWHc
So it's basically superman
wow anti mormon articles on an article about blacks and gays....funny this article just went from one bigot writing crap to other bigots following suit.
Like a racist Superman, if you watch the entire video.
So pointing out bigotry makes one a bigot. Definitely Christian "logic" at work here.
No this was an anti Mormon video run by bigots who hated Mormons 50 years ago being posted now by bigots who still listen to their rubbish from 50 years ago....which leads me to believe some of you have long deep seated history of bigotry. I am not a mornmon but i find it funny when you run out of fact to throw at people because they have all been disproved you go straight into bigoted ad hom attacks.
What inaccuracies are in this video then?
It is a fact that blacks were not allowed in the Mormon church until recently.
this video is called anti-mormon.....have you even read the anyone elses beliefs besides your own? No you probably just leaned what your pastor said an nodded your head or listened to your teacher and nodded your head. This was a movie made by intolerant people of the growth of the mormon church...those who repost this are supporting that intolerance.
Does a non-christian have to school you on how silly you all sound. 🙂
@saoirse72....answer the question...list the inaccuracies in this video
The only thing we know for sure about the universe is that it's always changing; god is change. All of you Christians should accept that this isn't 1950 anymore, give gays the right to get married and raise families, and then move on with your own lives
That is funny you say it is not 1950 but the person above you posted something from the 1960's and you thought it was funny even though it was a blatant anti Mormon ad? I think we all need to grow up...both camps left and right have shown their true colors this week....if there was a moderate party you both would loose. I am tired of hearing bs from both sides...but lately there has been a huge amount of BS coming from the left. Can't stand it anymore.
Did I say I thought it was funny? Also, no matter how much bs you perceive as coming from the left, the left is on the right side of history regarding this issue
@saoirse72....please feel free to vote for Romney or write-in the name Ron Paul you troll. Either way, the joke is on you.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/pix/pennies.jpg Here is the Change Obama really promised us all!
please dont feed the troll
which one the one who wrote this article or the one who responded to my post.
saoirse72 is a Romney troll
Nicole, know one wrote the bible because Jesus is the bible(God's Word). And all that he said to us is writen in the heart of men also and not just in a book.
A book that no one wrote?
In other words, there is no real reason to believe that the bible is anything other than middle eastern mythology. Joe just really, really wants it to be more.
@Joe....that is both spiritually and scientifically incorrect
Jesus was died hundreds of years before the bible was written. I doubt he played any roll in writing a book. He probably couldn't even read or write.
It's also unlikely that any of the disciples actually wrote the books that are attributed to them. Pseudepigrahy was a common practice in the ancient world, whereby an author writes from the perspective of a famous personage, such as luke or paul or mark.
When Obama said he would bring Change.....i did not know that what he meant was our salary would go from being able to live comfortably.....to surviving on pocket change.
waka waka wakaaa!
saoirse72...finally you have been exposed, you're just a Romney troll
where in this post does it say I support Romney? Where in all of my posts in the past 3 days does it say I outright support him. Secondly go to portland oregon and search my voting record I voted for Obama in 2008 but I won't in 2012.
.
@saoirse72...are you that shallow? There are only two people running for the Office of the President, Obama or Romney. If you are against Obama...which clearly you are, as a process of elimination, that would leave Romney Mr. Genius. Unless you are hoping Ron Paul runs as an Independent... which would answer a lot of questions about your delusional postings thus far
Trying to get this on the current page.
It is not black versus gay. It's not physical at all. It's clearly a "spiritual" issue. If we insist on dealing with it on physical plane... try this.
Imagine a “rubber finger”... the little rubber thingy you slip on your finger for additional friction when you have a lot of papers to sort through. You can turn it inside out fairly easy creating two different “expressions” of the same object or state. One where one side of the object is facing the reality of “outside”... and then when you reverse it... that side would magically be experiencing the reality that is “inside”. Two states of being... one manipulation... of one object... physicists of one ilk are choosing to call a “membrane”.
Now envisage your “universe” as being either one the outside of the rubber finger... or within the smaller space inside... the space where you would normally put your finger to sort your papers. We can now refer to two very distinct spaces or “realities” depending on which side of this membrane we were “being”.... no fair imagining you can travel between the two.
Perception can therefore be spatially defined as the reality you and your universe are currently experiencing. However with even this simple example... we can easily envisage the apparent existence of at least 3 other universes than the one we are in (four if you become the distant observer you are now as you manipulate the rubber finger to shape these other four spaces... two big and two small).... all “created” by you (you god you) by simply reversing (exploiting the physicality and visual polarity of) one flexible membrane.
I'll leave it there... but we can create 11 such “realities” or dimensions by manipulating the four we currently seem to be experiencing... and somewhat fathom (height, width, depth and time).
It is becoming increasingly difficult for an educated person to rationally question the logic and even probability of alternative “realities”. Using today's super computers to calculate the number of permutations possible when we combine the known dimensions with these additional 7 dimensions... the numbers get truly unimaginable. Something called the law of large numbers takes effect... that's sort of like having God tell you but but with additional comfort of absolute probability. Much too “real” for an educated person to seriously doubt. Reason to admit that others may in fact have had their perspective altered by something “real” and that they might in fact have actually “seen” or “experienced” something with which the rest of us (the sane ones) cannot resonate.
The mathematical probability of extra dimensional incursion far exceeds the possibility that it cannot happen... and by some really large number requiring the use of exponents which this text editor does not provide... 10 to the minus 243 so far and the computers will not finish the calculation for another 44 years.
then I will come back after 40 years.
The Bible says this and the Bible says that...yet no one knows who wrote the Bible.
The bible is a compilation of texts read and written by early christians. It was compiled centuries after Christ by the early church fathers. They decided which texts would be included and which wouldn't
Nicole, know one wrote the bible because Jesus is the bible(God's Word). And all that he said to us is write in the heart of men also and not just in a book.
It's probably safe to say that the Bible was written completely by men. You can say that they were "inspired" by God when they did this writing, but that is no more than any artist creates works while being "inspired" by something, or other. They were just men, and it's their opinions, prejudices and preferences being reflected in the various books.
Nicole, Joe is incorrect actually
Joe is trying to as/sign supernatural authority to the bible based on his own desires and prejudices. The truth remains: No one knows who wrote the bible, only that it was written by humans.
Voice of Reason, i dont have the time to exchange words with you but the fact remains that if you like it or not, God cant change because of you or anyone and he does not need you to agree with him to get popular or fan. The sovereign God has spoken and he cant be judge by anyone.
Which god? The Christian god? The Muslim god? The Hindu gods? If you had been born in Afghanistan you would be a Muslim
Im pretty sure you know which god he's talking about. The one true God. Thor be praised!
God has changed throughout history. He has evolved from the typical anthropomorphic deity who "walked" in the Garden and who could not find Adam and Eve to the omni-everything, as powerful as can be imagined, being that many see him as today. He has also changed fro the jealous, vindictive god of the Hebrews to Jesus' loving Father and then to simply "Love." He has changed from just one god amongst many in the Middle East, to the single god of the second monotheistic faith to ever arise, to the only real god contrasted to idols that others worship, to one god split three ways for the Christians, back to just one god for the Muslims, then to a human who became a god for the Mormons, and so on... "God" has never been just one thing for very long.
So what Obama and his team has made it come down to is IF YOU DON"T VOTE OBAMA YOUR A BIGOT AND A HYPOCRITE. Wow....Obama are you serious?
He didn't say that, you did.
Then vote for Romney and stop your crying.
no he did not have to say it all the other democrats are saying it for him in his name to help him get re-elected. So who is running the country then.
Which Democrat specifically said it? Also note that Obama didn't take a stand on this until he was forced to
@saoirse72...so whats your point...vote for Romney and stop your crying.
so you are agreeing that the dems are outright calling anyone who does not support Obama "bigots and hypocrites" good to know I will let the rest of the moderate nation know this is who the dems feel about anyone who does not side with them. Guess what you are going to loose the moderate vote this year because you are rude and people don't like being called names. I guess the dems like to bully just as much as Romney did in High school.
Poor YOU, someone MUST be telling you YOU MUST vote for Obama, or you would JUST VOTE FOR WHOMEVER you want, and wouldn't go on and on.
Oh nooooo, IS THAT WHAT THEY ARE SAYING????
Damn! I must have missed it! (that is so stupid!)
@saoirse72....please educate us all on the politics of the US oh wise one who supports Romney.
It is immoral to impose your religious superstition on others.
You do not believe in religion because you honestly think it is true, you believe in it because you fear mortality or are seeking meaning in your life. It does not take a genius to figure out all religion is man made, so for humanity's sake, please stop lying to yourself.
Deluding yourself in religion does not change reality. Lying to yourself is probably the worst possible way to try to find meaning.
Ask your wife tonite if shell take it like a gay man and see what answer you get. I guess liberal women are easy backdoor access. She will most likely tell you it is disgusting. If somone wants ot eat vomit go ahead but dont claim minority status because most people wont.
Ignorant redneck.
Actually I once dated a priests daughter. She was right wing neo-con, german Irish. She sucked me off while I drove home then she took it in the poop shoot numertous times!
Ask yourself why you came up with this scenario.
mat
Is your marriage just about $ex? You wouldn't want to remain married if your wife couldn't have $ex any more? You have a pretty backwards view of gay relationships. Why would you assume that they aren't exactly the same as hetero relationships, where $ex is just a part of it?
@mat–
Is that the sort of comment that passes as witty in your stupid little brain?
YOU are disgusting!
as i have said, if you are a christian, that is, you read the bible and have accepted the word as truth, then the gay issue is wrong.. only because you are a christian. slavery was applied to all races in the bible. If you fought on the other side of the war fence and was captured, you became a slave and your skin color could have been white......so get off the african amercian slave kick.. that was just doing a time when white people thought blacks would believe anything they told them and slavery in America was justified via christianity by once saved always saved. we can do anything we want in Jesus name.
God, the creator, or whatever you call Him, is not interested in forcing you to believe, or behave.
Why did Christians choose to end all slavery then? Why didn't we make slaves of the people we conquered in war? That would be playing by the Bible's rules, right?
Cq,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
Today's slaves are free-slaves and we do not wnat to believe it because of what is thought about Freedoms! Freedom to choose one's job, freedom to choose one's mate, freedom to choose what home to pay for as being slaves to the systems of Freedom!
Next they will try to say Jesus was black
Who cares what color he is....he was a good man. Or at least was better then most any of us will ever be.
He definitely wasn't caucasian
@saoirse72...then what color was he since you know so much? Take your time, you might have to think about your response this time.
Well, if Jesus truly existed, he was a middle eastern jew. He certainly didn't look like the golden-haired, lily-white Caucasian that is presented in christian (and mormon) propaganda.
Jesus was Chinese!
@tallulah13...true words
People view Jesus as one of their own kind. So, if you're white, Jesus looks white to you and, if you're judgmental, then Jesus looks judgmental to you as well. Simple!
@makesnosense which part of what I wrote did you not comprehend. seriously were you dropped on your head as a child. I said and I repeat it does not matter what color he was.....he was a good man. You don't make any sense. GEESH!
@saoirse72....let me guess, Jesus is whatever color Joseph Smith was correct! Nice try Romney troll.