Chicago Tribune - March 31, 2008
Dawn Turner Trice, dtrice@tribune.com

This is an edited excerpt from an e-mail Al S. of Lemont sent to me last week. Many other readers sent similar notes saying they had no idea that the black church or black pastors espoused anti-white or anti-American sentiments every Sunday morning.

The truth is, this just isn't true. What is being preached in the pulpits of black churches around Chicago, and around the country, is as varied as the needs of the community the churches sit in and the needs of the people occupying the pews. It's also as varied as the backgrounds of the ministers leading their flock.

You can no more paint the black church with one brush as you can the white Evangelical church, the Catholic Church or any other denomination.

Black liberation theology developed out of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and uses biblical texts to promote freedom and justice for blacks as well as personal responsibility. It wasn't designed to be anti-white or un-American.

I grew up in the black church, attending the same church until I went to college. My childhood minister didn't preach from the black liberation theology per se. But he did preach about the church's mission to serve the community surrounding the 6600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue.

In recent years, after a yearslong hiatus from organized religion, I've visited many different types of churches in search of a new church home. I've listened to many different types of ministers. I'll focus here on black ministers.

Sermons have run the spectrum from the raucous fire-and-brimstone messages, parts of which made me cringe, to the extremely staid and apolitical ones that evoked little feeling at all.

While searching, I decided that what I wanted most was a minister who could inspire parishioners to community service.

Beyond that, I wasn't interested in fire-and-brimstone without substance, or fire-and-brimstone that was divisive.

What's unique about the black church is that so many sit in communities that are hemorrhaging. A minister whose church sits in a place where children are getting gunned down or don't have enough food to eat or aren't being properly educated doesn't have the luxury of being silent about it. And that's true regardless of the theology from which he or she preaches.

Neither does a pastor have the luxury of being silent when the country fails to live up to its promise. (Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., well-known for his "I Have a Dream" speech, harshly criticized America for its involvement in the Vietnam War in his speech "A Time to Break Silence.")

In the past, I've written about the HIV/AIDS and mental health ministries at Trinity United Church of Christ. Under Wright's leadership, the church tackled these issues when a lot of black ministers in Chicago pretended neither was devastating their communities or their congregations.

While I do think it's sad Wright is being defined in the context of excerpts from a few sermons, I understand this type of talk is counterproductive. That's true whether it comes from a minister painting whites with a broad brush or someone looking at the church from the outside doing the same.

If the 11 o'clock hour is the most segregated hour in America, it's also an hour that's far more complicated than black ministers teaching one theology.

It reaffirms how little we know about one another. Last week, we started a dialogue on race at www.chicagotribune.com/race. I hope you'll continue with me.

080331
CT080305

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2008. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2008. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .