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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Interracial Relationships in the Church

Check out this article from Racialicious  and Yes We're Together
about interracial dating/marriage and the church's attitude toward it.

Some moments of particular interest:
"I asked ... if she knew of any books that churches or pastors used in pre-marital counseling with interracial couples. Her response: 'No, because there aren’t any. And I think that silence speaks volumes about how most churches really feel about interracial marriage.'"
Elsewhere:
"Jesus does not simply become a panacea for the racist thoughts and behavior to which we are all susceptible. It’s not enough to simply be comfortable with having lots of different people in the room (but it can be a great start). In fact, if I hear a church harping on “racial reconciliation” for more than five minutes, I start to get a little nervous."
And similarly from the comments section:
"My antennae go up when people start talking about race in church because I've never seen a church get it right."
Church family, this is what our years of racial short comings have yielded: distrust, frustration, disenchantment, and dismally low expectations. We have pushed it to the point that POC and white folk alike cringe and throw up their hands, rather than engage in real conversations about race and racism. What a far cry from the safe, engaging, encouraging place that God's house aught to be! 

Therefore, the Church becomes lumped in with the myriad of secular institutions that fail to make meaningful headway in the realm of reconciliation. But shouldn't we be different? That is our claim, at least, but we rarely deliver when it comes to issues of race. 

See Also:

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link!

    As a seminarian, I *have* been recommended this book about cross-racial relationships for pre-marital counseling (or just in general): "Just Don't Marry One: Interracial Dating, Marriage, and Parenting"
    amazon link: http://amzn.com/081701439X
    It's edited by George & Sherelyn Yancey. George Yancy has written several influential books on multicultural congregations, including "One Body, One Spirit" and "United by Faith."

    Not many people or churches put into practice what George Yancey preaches, but it is good to know that there are SOME (even if limited!!) resources out there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the recommendation! Will pass along!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the recommendation! Will pass along!

    ReplyDelete
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