Ironically, the use of the Bible to justify the mistreatment of minorities has come back to haunt us in the gay marriage debate with their argument, “you were wrong in the civil rights movement, what makes you think you are on the right side now.”
The Church, in order to begin the process of becoming culturally relevant and influential, must first clean our own household, because if you aren’t a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. As the Church, we need to continue to repent to the world when occasions arise that show that racism is still alive in some congregations. When those situations arise, we need adamantly and openly to rebuke churches for holding to racism.
Churches locally can be proactive and begin to educate their congregations to the struggles of other people. We can be proactive and set the precedence by finding people outside of our cultural norms and put those people into leadership so that we can learn from them.
Most of all we must remember that people, regardless of race and color, were created in the image of God. Let me be clear: I mean your God, my God, and the God of this world. As His children they deserve love, respect, access to all the opportunities that you have, fair treatment, and equal privileges.
