Well, for one thing, about church and the great divide. My take is that the institution which is most highly segregated in the US is the church. Also I have another observation that sermons are nothing but an 11th hour attempt for people to get along with each other.
The second sentence has to do with how I feel about preachments in general and more specifically in church. In this regard I guess we have to wonder whose God is the best God. Or if we get sensible, are we really all God's children? It's sad that we need to take time out to explore this issue on any blog, but obviously we do.
I lived in Chicago from 1955 until 1977. Well, not really in Chicago, but the second suburb west of it. The suburb in between is Cicero, which has a notorious history of race riots and hostility.
By 1970 when the worst of the riots were subsiding, there came a period of reduced opportunities for all, because the rust belt was beginning to settle in. When new communities built up along the Interstate system, more African-Americans were disadvantaged than before because of segregated housing. The only way to reach the new jobs was by automobile, and that made low-waged jobs unobtainable for those who lived in Chicago. In 1966 I worked near Mayor Daley's home at Spiegel, Inc. (mail order) where 95% of the employees were African-American. Spiegel moved to the suburbs some years later. By then I was teaching computer programming in downtown Chicago and many of my students, largely African-American, were recent high school graduates. Tension was high in some neighborhoods still, and occasionally a student would tell me he wouldn't be in class the next day because it was his turn to sit with their house. One never knows how much someone is sacrificing to gain a better livelihood unless it's described.
Returning to the theme of racial division over religion, I don't really think color is the question as much as it is culture. Achieving black people and their white counterparts don't use coffee breaks to discuss whose church is better or to parse what politicians do to get votes. It is clear, however, that the economy is involved in how people look toward their churches to solidify their cultures.
So I say to Francis that if he wants to complain about white churches--doesn't want to attend one--because their litany is too dry, I can see his point. And if a white person thinks that black people sing and stomp too much, well that's just an observation. My pet peeve is to have a preacher yell at me as though God and I are both deaf. Yet, right here in this senior building, I dare say that I don't share more than a 15% agreement with my neighbors, all but two of whom are white.
All of this makes me ask a serious question. Considering that it takes a modicum of enlightenment to blog, are we stereotyping too much? If so, what new way could we use to talk to each other?
April 4, 1968 is a definitive day in American history. Dr. King withstood all kinds of dangers as long as he remained a preacher, discussing moral issues. When he ventured into better pay for garbage workers, he became a bigger threat. Personally, it's against my religion to believe some persons deserve good living conditions and others don't. It's against my politics also. When the press (white owned mostly and yellow journalism mainly)rants over a "populist" politician, it is pretty much the same story as when it riles religious waters with "human value."