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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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Fortunately, our consti-tution opposes you.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4297XZdQsM&w=640&h=360]
Someone is upset because their side has taken a beating tonight.
Somebody needs to read the Golden Rule.
I say put gays and atheists in concentration camps and let's be done with them. Sick and tired of listening to their HS whining and they try to impose their beliefs upon all of us. Not acceptable!
Jennifer, how very Christian of you, trying to impose your sick beliefs on others.
So how did your animal sacrifice go today, that your ass-hole in the sky demands of you?
Hey Jenn. Come and get some baby!
Jennifer,
Spoken like a typical Christian HYPOCRITE.
Well done. Ever heard of the Golden Rule? Ever read a Bible?
Nobody asked you to the prom, huh?
The last twenty or so comments prove my point. Atheists know their truth, and they are in a sense correct, they have no GOD, and they dont, but some of us do. we are both right. and sadly both wrong. the arguement is useless
So which god, of the thousands of gods that man has invented, is the one that you follow? Is it the nasty Christian one, because you know where this is going to go...
The only point you have is the one on your microcephalic skull.
Now the good news for atheists, true atheists, those without a soul, not those who are back sliders. There is no hell for you! You will simply die and return to dust, as you already believe. see nothing different for you.
The nice thing about creation, is everyone is satisfied. and only those souls who deny who they are will suffer, a soul less human like an animal will just die. My God? who is my God? it doesnt matter to you only me and I am aware
You have a God, but the central question remains: Is God real, or just something you think is real?
Guess they've changed the admission requirements for hell. Exemptions for atheists.
Please spread the word to fellow Christians who aren't so smart.
Cq, thats the problem. I am different than you. I have a different consiousness. that is what is hard to describe in words to one who doesnt. for me a higher consiousness can NOT possibly not exist. like the ole saying goes, you have to be there.
Are there truly atheists? or just soulless humans
So, you believe that God has to exist because you just "feel" that he must? That's not very compelling, you know?
ATHEISM = NAZISM = COMMUNISM
So in your ignorant little mind. Atheism, Fascism and Communism are the same thing? I rest my case.
No, but the differences are apparently beyond your feeble mind.
That was for !!
The Nazis were an extreme Right Wing political organization, and they believed in God, or don't you remember those cute little belt buckles of theirs that read "GOTT MIT UNS" (God With Us)? I hear that they're still a favorite with the white supremacists groups. Ask those folks how they feel about atheists... or Jews, or African-Americans, or Asians, or gays, or liberated women, ... They sure do hate a lot of the same people that some Christians do. Interesting, wouldn't you say?
check photo at this link http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/1069962/
Anyone more than me who were a former Atheist and converted to Islam? I'm so happy now!
Apparently you also converted to dyslexia as well. No one is buying your bs.
"Ignorance is bliss" in your case, it would seem.
That was for CJ
Ignorance is bliss.
you atheists have to wake up, all the horrendous acts committed by God against mankind, were against the elements that did not contain a soul, the likeness of the creator. they were in a sense animals. what is your point. he would never murder a human possessed of a soul, remember he loves his "creation".
We are animals, dingbat. You are dumber than my cat, and that's really saying something.
I know many of you secret society members are outraged at this release, but the time for "secrets" is over, change is coming, and the world needs to know. so find me if you can.
Oh that "loving" god, who presents dictates like these in the Christian book of nasty AKA the bible:
Numbers 31:17-18
17 Now kiII all the boys. And kiII every woman who has slept with a man,
18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
Deuteronomy 13:6 – “If your brother, your mother’s son or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul entice you secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods … you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death”
Note that the bible is also very clear that you should sacrifice and burn an animal today because the smell makes sicko Christian sky fairy happy. No, you don't get to use the parts for food. You burn them, a complete waste of the poor animal.
Yes, the bible really says that, everyone. Yes, it's in Leviticus, look it up. Yes, Jesus purportedly said that the OT commands still apply. No exceptions. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
And then, if you disagree with my interpretation, ask yourself how it is that your "god" couldn't come up with a better way to communicate than a book that is so readily subject to so many interpretations and to being taken "out of context", and has so many mistakes in it. Pretty pathetic god that you've made for yourself.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Join the movement. Be free of Christianity and other superstitions.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
What "release"? Did you fart AGAIN? Get some Beano, doofus.
the church for two thousand years has tried to keep the animals in check, by use of the ten commandments. Afraid of what the peasants would do if they knew there were those "better' then they. but its time to face your fears.
Now his priests love little boys in their back side. What's your point?
That is a truly delusional rationalization to explain away the evil hiding in plain sight in the bible.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wk21I9nCro&w=640&h=360]
††† The New Testament Abolishes Slavery †††
without naively assuming men would change the global slavery culture overnight without, say, a CIVIL WAR. Realizing many men would hang onto slavery (free labor) until forced at gunpoint to cease and desist, Scripture gives necessary encouragement for those unable to gain their freedom, while making clear slaves must escape if they can.
1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you– although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Galatians 5:1-4 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Remember, God was no stranger to massive abolition movements, vis-a-vis Moses freeing 3 million slaves from cruel Egyptian bondage. It was always Christians driving abolition movements in Britain, the Indies, India and America through Christians such as Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce and Martin Luther King Jr. Suggested Reading: "Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery"
For Scriptures banning slavery visit: TheGuy . com
For Scriptures abolishing the entire Old Law, visit: BlamingJesus . com
Love, TheAngel . com
So why was that stuff ever in there, to begin with?
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Join the movement. Be free of Christianity and other superstitions.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
Nice cherry picking, hugh. You forgot the part where God teaches how to properly punish a disobedient slave or the fact that Christians condoned slavery via the bible for thousands of years before they finally had a change of heart. I wonder if the Nazi's would have changed their minds about things given two thousand years or so.
– I Peter 2:18 “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.”
NEW TESTAMENT.
For scripture supporting gay marriage: http://www.gaychristian101.com/Marriage-in-the-Bible.html
Hugh
Moses supposedly freed his own people from slavery only to turn around and write instructions for how they were to treat their own slaves which doesn't exactly make him Abe Lincoln. If we followed Old Testament Law nowadays we could make slaves out of all the Iraqis and Afghans we captured.
None of your NT passages actually abolish slavery.
I have a $100 bill that doesn't say 'In God We Trust'
For sale for $500 🙂
A little magic marker works wonders.
Does the US motto refer to the Christian God?
Voice of Truth
Not at all. It could refer to the Jewish God as they understand him, or even to Allah. If they wanted it to be exclusively the Christian God they should have said "In Jesus Christ we trust." That would have made it clear.
I´m an Atheist and oppose gay marriage. I believe marriage is between husband + wife.
Common who would want to be raised by two gay dads? lmao disgusting. Sorry!
There are lots of kids in orphanages that would be thrilled to have TWO parents gay or not. Try again.
Yeah, you are sorry.
If the two gay dads provided me with a loving, nurturing and life-giving home and family life.....yeah, why not?
I would prefer to rename Atheists the soulless, which of course they would agree they have no soul. being atheists and all.
Are you sure you haven't just hijacked someone's screen name and persona to troll this forum?
I've known children who were raised by gay parents and were every bit as happy and well adjusted as kids raised by a mother and a father.
And I'll bet most of them were smarter and better educated than the dink who can't spell his own screen name,too.
@ Mr. Reason
Sodomy is the Acts of the gay crowds and even of the Bi-crowds and even in some hetero-crowds! Yes, many people of today are being drawn into the gay crwods especially the young ones who have no good relationshps with their hetero-parents! It is a sad thing sodomy is! I hate sodomy and the sodomizers who look for young people to become their indoctrinated newbies! The sodomites of today have many fields from which t claim their next victims for the sodomy trades!
Just like pretty much every other person on your side of the debate, you've put no thought into the matter other than what you personally prefer, and what a book of fairytales tells you to do.
I have a great idea, let's also ban types of food that you don't like and genres of music that don't do it for you!
A Serpent's Thoughts,
You seem to know little about sodomy. Watch any late night adult movie on Showtime, HBO, Movie Channel etc. You'll see HETERO sodomy and these movies are for HETEROS.
You need to learn more before discussing topics you don't know about.
Maybe you should ask his son. Im sure he's taken a pounding from this power bottom.
@ Observer
Adulteress Acts of sodomy on one's Tv is not my cup's blood! Do yourself a favor and refrain from watching such sodomite propoganda! You'll feel much better if you don't watch what other people do on your dime!
Alright, Mr. Reason "the atheist", what is your reason-based argument against gay marriage?
Are there truly atheists? or just soulless humans
"Eternal" soul, no, but we do have a personality like everyone else. We just believe there is no valid reason to believe that our personalities live on after the brain has died. Drugs and trauma to the brain can change people's personalities, after all. Maybe it was early man's initial experimentation with hallucinogenic mushrooms, ones that can give the sense of an "out of body" experience, that led to speculation about a self-contained soul, or maybe it was the long fasting rituals like the one that Jesus did in the desert? Doing things like that can make a person "see" just about anything, right?
God created man in his image, he invested him with a soul. Not every human recieved one. It takes a soul to recognize God, a human lacking one would be an athiest for obvious reasons. Athiests arent wrong in in of itself, so this fight will always go on. unless the spark of creation (a soul) exists in you, you are unable to feel the creator, its why those who believe fight so firmly against those who dont and vice versa.
It's "athEIST", you friggin' dolt. If you can't even manage to spell it, why would anyone care about your obviously uninformed opinion about the issue?
Many believers out there ask yourself everyday, how can someone commits such heinous acts? it is reprehensible to most of us. the answer lies in the fact that without a soul or conscients (sp) we act as animals, ie. serving our base desires.
No one is perfect tom, tom, but everyone has an anil (sp) streak eh?
God also torturously murdered virtually every man, woman, child, and fetus on the face of the earth at one time according to the Bible.
What is your point?
But even worse is somebody who calls themselves a Christian and is still blinded by bigotry and prejudice. They claim to have a soul, but it is dark and empty.
He can't even spell his own screen name. Case closed!
Did you sleep through 3rd grade?
you are correct God killed thousands of humans (without souls, atheists) to help his chosen ppl to survive, those with souls. come on think a little
What's an athiest?
On what basis are you claiming that some people are "souless?" What about people who have great spiritual doubt? Wouldn't a loving God still care for them in any event? You are suggesting some are simply chosen and others are doomed. Hardly seems like proof of a loving Creator or a forgiving one.
Interesting theology.....If a Christian believes that an atheist has no soul, then since christianity and belief in God is something that is taught to children after birth, it would mean that a fetus and indeed a baby would have no soul. Since according to Christian belief, the reason it is wrong to have an abortion is because you our killing a being with a soul, it would mean that you just debunked the christian argument against abortion.
If God didn't give us the ability to believe in him then sending us to hell for this is either stupid or cruel, right?
I wish USA has Christian sharia law banning non-Christian religion and killing those who leave Christianity.
Perhaps nonbelievers would have been forced 🙂
Which "Christian religion" would be in charge? The Catholics, mainstream protestants, evangelicals, Mormons, Amish... who? By any chance, have you read any Irish history? Messy business, sectarian violence, and that's exactly what you're calling for because these groups would never share power.
LOL atheists are fooling themselves.... all of them will convert and try to save themselves just minutes before death.
I saw an article about it
So they interviewed them after they died, huh?
Yeah, and I saw a video of an otter playing the oboe. It was on YouTube.
Actually that is a lie and you know it. Ask Christopher Hitchens.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwhT1qVq5ME&w=640&h=360]
"saw an article about it"! Priceless! 🙂
See there, Observer is all over that! Sick! At least you could go to gay bars and leave the kids alone!
b4bigbang,
Not me. I'm hetero.
So do you favor replacing altar boys with altar girls?
I'm for all decent straight Catholics walking out on the g a y org (Rom Cath) and leaving it to the h o m o s, and the vile straight pro-pedos like yourself.
You are sick man!
Oh and btw, i was thinking about changing my mind about my vote and maybe helping the g a y s get their rights, but thanks to Observer opening my eyes re their real agenda I will now vote NO for g a y rights.
Thanks Observer, I'm outta here, you are sick!
Ooooh, goodness me! However WILL we manage if bfarted doesn't like gays? Boohoohooo.
b4bigbang,
Sorry you had to run away when things got tough.
Hey, Tom, Tom:
Have a good evening. Really appreciate your posts and your patience.
Tomorrow at church I will pray for nonbelievers to become Christians one day and be saved.
You do that. Then look for any proof it worked.
Max,
Please also pray for all the Christian ADULTERERS who have divorced and remarried. There are FAR FAR MORE of the Christian adulterers than there are total gays.
It wouldn't change anything.....because even many of us believers think that those who are prejudice against gays are not real christians........so the fighting would just continue.
Maybe you should wait until your Birthday cake gets here. You blow out the candles and make that wish.
Pray all you want...it'll happen anyway. The universe is indifferent.
Observer
Actually, Jesus said "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for $exual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Matt. 19:9
But, you're right, not every Christian divorces over cheating, so there really is a whole lot of adultery going on.
Oh, the irony...
If everyone was Christians there wouldn´t be any conflicts, fight or issues!!
Yeah, and if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, oh, what a party we'd have.
Got any more drivel you need to burp forth?
Janine,
Ask Fred Phelps and Warren Jeffs.
Tom Tom you should convert to christianity
And you should get an education and figure out that no one has to live by your beliefs, bonehead.
Oh ya suuuure. Just ask the Irish.
May Allah kill all gays and non-religious insallah
Allah is dead now and doesn't care what your biases are.
Few 100% true Reasons why Atheism is TERRIBLE and unhealthy for our children and living things:..
† Atheism is a religion that makes you angry, stupid, brainwashed, ignorant & blind.
† Atheism is a disease that needs to be treated.
† Atheism makes you post stupid things (90% of silly comments here on CNN blogs are posted by closet Atheists)
† Atheist are satanic and have gothic lifestyle.
† Atheists are misguided and causes problem in our religious & public society.
† Atheists are mentally ill, that's why they have no faith.
† Atheism won't take you to kingdom of heaven and paradise.
† Atheism making you agree with Stalin, Hitler (Denied his faith later), Mao, Pol Pot & other terrible mass murder leaders.
† No traditional family lifestyle, no holidays, no culture, boring and feeling 'outsider'
† Atheists are angry, drug additcted and committ the most crime.
† Atheist try to convert people over internet because they feel "safer" behind closet.
† Atheists do not really exist, they just pretend that they don't believe in God and argue with religious people.
† Atheists have had terrible life experience, bad childhood and not being loved.
† Most Atheists are uneducated... No Atheists could run for presidency.
† Atheism brought upon the French Revolution, one of the most evil events of all of history.
† Atheism cannot explain the origins of the universe, therefore God exists.
† All atheists believe in evolution, which means they don't believe in morality and think we should all act like animals.
† The Bible says atheism is wrong, and the Bible is always right (see: Genesis 1:1, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 19:1, Romans 1:19-20)
† Countries where Atheism is prevalent has the highest Suicide rate & Communist countries = Atheism!
**Only 2-3% of the U.S. are Atheists/Agnostics VS. over 90% who believe in God (80% Christians) in the U.S.**
† † Our Prayers goes to Atheists to be mentally healthy and seek their creator † †
PS! the USA is a Christian nation and will always be.
http://rightremedy.org/tracts/7
Nice to see you compiled a long list of totally unproven ideas. You forgot this one though. Masturbation causes you to go blind.
Mindless spammed nonsense. Afraid to hang around to have to back it up?
That would be like trying to back up loony tunes.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBLKTnaHN9c&w=640&h=360]
Godoflunaticscreation,
That's why they run away after spamming. No confidence that there's any truth in what they spammed.
Sorry about the video post, just thought that this was the right place to post it. With the other trash.
Uh, nice point, wrong on only one, Athiests did NOT start the french revolution, the freemasons did. And in the whole it was a good thing. With the french revolution went the last vestage of "slavery" in Europe.
So, I'm curious: If atheists need to seek the Creator, you just negated your argument stating: "† Atheists do not really exist, they just pretend that they don't believe in God and argue with religious people." Which is it?
I think the reason the religious right is so upset is because the gays are actually showing them up. Here the gays are fighting in the courts for marriage, family, and the right to serve their country. The religious right are fighting in the courts over their pedophilia, their right to suppress women's reproductive rights , their mismanagement of funds. It would seem that the gays are the new moral minority, and the religious right are the immoral majority.
Sure are a lot of g a y priests raping little boys......
You mean pedophile priests, or are all gays pedophiles in your eyes?
You stupid fvck, the priests are pedophiles. They're not gay.
God, you're stupid.
b4bigbang,
The obvious way to prevent gay priests from molesting boys is to replace altar boys with altar girls.
So do you support that?
Ummmm...most pedophiles are straight.