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[reddogs]

Racial Prejudice (the hidden sin)

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Everyone 'knows' there is no 'racial prejudice' in their church, but let me tell you a little story......

When I was a little boy we went to the General Conference session in Atlantic City, NJ. While we were there we needed to get some shoes resoled so we went to the shoe repair shop. Well we waited at the counter and when our turn came up the shop repair man said something that didnt mean anything to me but my mother knew it well.

He said he was too busy to do the resole today, so she asked if she could bring the shoes the next day, and he said he was busy then too. So she asked if at the end of the week could he do it, but he said he was busy then too (mind you all the other clients he had taken their shoes for repair).

So my mother turned to leave and as she got to the door she said something strong in her spanish-accented english, the exact words escape me, but it was clear to me that there would be snowballs in 'el infernio' before she patronized such a place again. I wondered what the man had done wrong and it took me years to understand it, but it was "racial prejudice".

I can pass off as 'white' 9 times out of nine and on Sunday too, but some of my friends and family can not. So I when I moved to 'Paradise on earth' and built my new house I thought I had left that all behind. Yet, little tale tail signs of it began to show itself even in 'paradise'...

I would be in civic meetings or county meetings and people would say 'undesirables' and I would look around and try to see who they were talking about. Everyone seemed to know who they were, and that they didnt want them in their neighborhoods, their schools, or having access to their beaches.....

So I thought in my slow processing mind, could it be that the 'undesirables' they were talking about meant any person of a certain race or ethnic group. So I checked and sure enough the racial makeup of my section of the county is more than 50% of minority ethnic groups, while the beach section of the city is made up of a majority mainly of one race. So when I saw the paper one morning that they didnt want to have the same beach sticker as those in the county (thats me), it dawned on me that I was one of the 'undesirables'....




John 2:9
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

[Habanero]

I believe that racism is simply one of many manifestations of a larger issue that is fundamental to human nature, and that is sometimes referred to as "clanishness" or pride in group. Individual identity is tied to a particular group and that association provides a self confidence that comes from being a part of something larger. Pride in self ends up being tied to pride in the group into which one has invested their identity. Religion, country, race, family, career... and the manifestations of feeling of superiority are displayed in all of those and so many more.

[Habanero]

Could it also be a sin to have prejudice against someone because of their religion, the way they dress, their race, the music they listen to, their political leanings, their diet, smoking, disease, mental capacity, emotional disorders...? Is prejudice equally wrong regardless what it targets in a person?

[princessdi]

Prejudice is wrong, no matter what the target.  Racial prejudice just seems to be the most cruel, for it is often exercised by those in power over others.  That such has happened here in the US.  Religious prejudice is also especially cruel.

Could it also be a sin to have prejudice against someone because of their religion, the way they dress, their race, the music they listen to, their political leanings, their diet, smoking, disease, mental capacity, emotional disorders...? Is prejudice equally wrong regardless what it targets in a person?

[princessdi]

Reddogs, I have a more recent story.  My family went up to our timeshare in Windsor. My parents dutifully and faithfully went  out on Friday to find the nearest SDA church they found it, even drove to it, and then went on time(as is their custom) for Sabbath School. 

When they arrived, nobody greeted them, however, many members, including the pastor peeked around the corner at them with worried looks.  During church nobody gave a welcome, the pastor did not even acknowledge them although it was clear there were visitors.  Visitors they were not accustomed to receiving.  Soon they found the source of their anguish........that Sabbath was Communion.  They did things traditional where the men and women separated, and they were very much wondering who was going to wash their feel.  I guess their prejudice occupied the space where imagination should be, because they didn't even think to separate by mens, women, and married couples/families.....even if they never did it again.  So my parents went on a left, and then only two people who spoke to them was a owman and her husband.  Who's guilt was getting them so bas they had to let my parents know that "they had some black friends"(see what I mean), by mentioning a pastor....who was dead......yes it had been that long!  LOL!!!  Also, they wanted to inquire as to why the black Adventist, or as they put it "you people"(something that should never, ever, be said) don't have a place to hold "our" convocation.  Now, there is so much wrong that on so many levels, I don't know where to start.  However, they thought it was only natural to ask these questions.........

My parents were back at the timeshare.....before noon.

Racial prejudice is not a hidden sin, while we still have regional conferences.  It is not hidden when in the midst of liberal California, we have churches as I just described above, and it is alright with......well, everyone, especially the powers that be.  t is not hidden when I am willing to bet that the lionshare of thie AT members live in bedroom/rural communitites that just happen to have few if any ethnic groups, and htey are not likely to be black.  It is not hidden when I hear the types of comments I read here, by SDA christians on Nov. 5 about the nomination of a black President, a country made up of immigrants.  Problem is it is now like Animal Farm here........"ALL immigrants are equal, but some are more equal than others".

[Emma]

What a sad description, Di.

I hope that would not happen here - I do not think it is a problem in my city where the racial diversity is marked and  most churches have members from many countries. But I do not know that.   Why do we have to fear mixing on that most intimate of Christian congregational experiences, foot washing?  Where all should be level at the foot of the cross.

[Habanero]

Dear Di,

I am so sorry to hear about that experience, yet not surprised. That is a very sad but realistic place in which many subsets of this church reside. I know the cold feeling that runs through the veins and the knot that happens in the stomach when that happens. I've been there. It is chilling. A big hug goes out to your parents, and shame on anyone who treated them as less than who they are. Shame!

[Johann]

Dear Di,

I am so sorry to hear about that experience, yet not surprised. That is a very sad but realistic place in which many subsets of this church reside. I know the cold feeling that runs through the veins and the knot that happens in the stomach when that happens. I've been there. It is chilling. A big hug goes out to your parents, and shame on anyone who treated them as less than who they are. Shame!

You are so right!

[Johann]

Your car is Japanese. Your vodka is Russian. Your pizza is Italian. Your kebab is Turkish. Your democracy is Greek. Your coffee is Brazilian. Your movies are American. Your tea is Tamil. Your shirt is Indian. Your oil is Saudi Arabian. Your electronics are Chinese. Your number's Arabic, your letters Latin. And you complain that your neighbor is an IMMIGRANT?

Tore Draget on FaceBook

[Gailon Arthur Joy]

The problem, Reddogs, is that you have confused "eliteism" for "racism".

Eliteists do not distinguish based on race, creed or other legally illegal discrimination, they merely want to live in their own elitist world full of Madoff's and other scammers.

"Those People" is a reference to anyone outside their immediate circle that would represent a threat to their eliteist communities "everywhere" and is supported by eliteist educators, eliteist bankers, eliteist politicians and eliteist bureaucracies. And these communities seem to have a variety of races, creeds and colors and in fact seem to relish in the "inclusiveness" as long as the balance of the bank-book is sufficient to support "their charities", "polotical functions", "social functions" and the resume' has the right schools in the background.

I have seen similar battles in oceanfront communities throughout New England, including Maine, where where classic "racism" was clearly not an issue. "Eliteism" was!!!

The point is, stop playing the "race card" and start recognizing the "eliteists" when you see them.
And stop supporting the "eliteists" and work every day to build a fairer and better world; and don't forget to share your FAITH of a Perfect World built upon biblical principals after the third coming.
That discussion will most certainly go somewhere...

Gailon Arthur Joy
AUReporter