Black History Month and the Church

[jschwartz]

The one thing we should remember is that the Civil Rights movement was led by clergy, and its greatest heroes were people acting out of the conviction that they were working to bring about the Kingdom of God.

Jonathan Myrick Daniels was an Anglo-Catholic seminarian who was killed by police. The Church played an incredible role in this movement for freedom and justice, and I believe that it was Jesus Christ who inspired this movement, above all. Jesus continues to inspire those of us who wish to make our world a more just and equitable place. Likewise, we need to see the role that Christianity played in Abolition, and in today’s civil rights movements.

The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Evil is embodied not only in individuals, but in suprapersonal entities, as Rauschenbusch phrases it. Social institutions embody evil, as well.

"Religious bigotry, the combination of graft and political power, the corruption of justice, the mob spirit (being “the social group gone mad”) and mob action, militarism, and class contempt-- “every student of history will recognize that these sum up constitutional forces in the Kingdom of Evil. Jesus bore these sins in no legal or artificial sense, but in their impact on his own body and soul. He had not contributed to them, as we have, and yet they were laid on him. They were not only the sins of Caiaphas, Pilate, or Judas, but the social sin of all mankind, to which all who ever lived have contributed, and under which all who ever lived have suffered.” Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel

 

[Exiled_Child]

I’ve always believed that it was a bad idea to have a “black history month,” because it seems to just segregate history in people’s minds. It’s well-meaning PC thought, no doubt, but if it acomplishes anything at all, it’s probably the exact opposite of what they want it to. Because actually, every day would be black history day if history were simple taught in a chronological fashion, or in some other logical way. It just depends on the knowledge and skill of the teacher. Integrate history lessons if your goal is to further integrate society.

 

[Theo520]

We’re all Africans really.

 

[ringil]

I fully appreciate and support African History month and am happy that every Catholic School I know of celebrates it as well.

 

[Inisfallen]

I’ve always believed that it was a bad idea to have a “black history month,” because it seems to just segregate history in people’s minds. It’s well-meaning PC thought, no doubt, but if it acomplishes anything at all, it’s probably the exact opposite of what they want it to. Because actually, every day would be black history day if history were simple taught in a chronological fashion, or in some other logical way. It just depends on the knowledge and skill of the teacher. Integrate history lessons if your goal is to further integrate society.

I don’t think the point of Black History Month is so much to separate black history from the history of America in general, but to draw attention to a history that’s gone untold for most of our history. Which isn’t a bad thing, really.