ATLANTA (AP) - A generation ago, the Rev. Timothy McDonald founded First Iconium Baptist Church in east Atlanta to fight for the destitute and the victims of discrimination.
-
(Photo: AP Images / Ric Feld, File)Pastor Raphael G. Warnock, of the Ebenezer Baptist Church sits in front of a portrait of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., during an interview in his office at the historic church in downtown Atlanta, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006. Four decades after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., black pastors who follow King's example and defy war, racism and poverty are still considered a minority within a minority.
Often with little help from other churches, First Iconium leaders have fought to ensure Atlanta's only public hospital stays open, agitated for decent housing and worked to improve the juvenile justice system.
"We are concerned about public policy and how that impacts people's lives," McDonald said. "Why was Jesus crucified? Because he identified with the poor. Because he had the courage to speak out against the government of his day."
But four decades after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., black pastors who try to follow King's example by fighting against war, racism and poverty consider themselves a minority within a minority.
"You can almost count them on one hand," McDonald said.
After a pause, McDonald counted about four or five such pastors in Atlanta, compared to at least a dozen when he founded First Iconium. Many have since died or retired, and he said they have not been replaced.
The iconic images of marches and protests led by black preachers during the 1950s and 1960s have left some to wonder where King's would-be successors and followers are today.
But Kamasi Hill, a doctoral candidate in 20th century American religion at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., said activist black churches have long been the exception.
"I don't want to minimize the work some folks have made towards the struggle, but it still was the minority," Hill said. "That's not a critique of the black church; that's how any social movement is. The vast majority of folks don't fight for their own liberation."
Further obscuring churches that embrace a social justice gospel are those espousing prosperity, reinforcing the rise of the black middle class.
In Atlanta, two such churches have grown to mega-status: New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, and World Changers Church International in College Park, which both boast auditorium-style sanctuaries and claim memberships in the tens of thousands.
Though the churches are involved in their respective communities, such activities are less publicized than reports of their pastors' personal wealth and their message of economic empowerment and enrichment through faith.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church — where King preached from 1960 until his death — said prosperity preachers sometimes lay false claim to the idea that they are the heirs to the civil rights movement.
"Dr. King fought so that we would have access to a better life, but the sharp line of departure is that they don't focus on the kinds of systemic and social justice issues that impact people's ability to have a better life," Warnock said. "Their focus is on personal prosperity rather than collective struggle."
The philosophy of translating faith into action has lately burst onto the presidential campaign. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's former minister, has been criticized for inflammatory remarks about everything from race relations to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Continue >>
RSS
Comments
Why was Jesus crucified? To save a sinful world. It was the will of God and His assignment. It had little to do with his earthly associations. People that continue to play the race card from the pulpit are negating God's will for unity in the Body of Christ. I agree with Schemeroo. There is no Black church, White church. Pls. check out http://findingsoulbrothers.com
"We are concerned about public policy and how that impacts people's lives," McDonald said. "Why was Jesus crucified? Because he identified with the poor. Because he had the courage to speak out against the government of his day."...I don't think he has read his bible much in depth....
For so many years the "church" has been divided into denominations. Now we are dividing it into color. What next, Gender? Age? Financial Status?
Gender has already happened in some places....financial status unfortunately comes "natural for most churchgoers......the biggest one will be.....da dada da.....sexual orientation which is already cropping up.
""It is a misstatement of black history to create this grand narrative that says everybody in the black church has been engaged in the work of social transformation," he said."
I didn't know there was a "black" church versus a "church". Maybe the best next step in terms of activism is make it realized that we're all one under Christ. Its really a shame the modern media has completely marginalized the role the "church" (regardless of color) played in civil rights throughout time, but especially in Dr. King's time. Instead, the its tries its best to portray division within the real church, and paint white Christians as part of the ugliness of racism (by using Jerry Falwell or Bob Jones U's ban on inter-racial dating as the "norm") - completely missing the the church, white or black, or asian for that matter, has always, in harmony, been the lead on civil rights. Not the "black church", not he "white suburban" church, and not the "northeastern Catholic" church - the "CHRISTian" church.