Why organize an African American Clergy Coalition? In spite
of the current state of affairs in Missouri and America as a whole, many people
think we live in a post-racial society where race and racism really do not
exist. They claim that to mention racial terms-African American, Black, etc.--is
race-baiting and further fuels the fire of racism, causing well-meaning people
to believe in the reality of a phenomenon that does not exist. Some have stated
that we must move beyond racial designations and think more about integration, inclusion;
not activities that create separatism? And still others assert that being
African American has nothing to do with Christianity. The goal of all
Christians—black or white-- should be trying to get to heaven. Anything that
moves our focus toward something else-- like racism, sexism, and social
justice-- is wrong and perhaps even demonic.
For instance, Eddie Glaude, Jr, Professor of Religion at
Princeton University, has already informed us that the Black Church is dead.
Why organize with a name that so unabashedly asserts the existence of an
African American Christianity, Church, theology, and the like given the
nonexistence of the Black Church? Syracuse
University Professor of Philosophy, Linda Alcoff, asserts in Visible Identities that we will never
engage in meaningful dialogue about race until we move beyond the Black/White
binary that shackles racial conversations in this country. And of course, too
many of our clergy and churches are only concerned about prosperity gospel,
entertaining worship, and filling the money coffers rather than the needs of
the people of God who attend their worships and hear their preaching.
We disagree with those who insist that forming the African
American Clergy Coalition is an exercise in folly, or promotes racism, and/or is
non-Christian. The fact is that the Black Church, that Church born of struggle,
does exist. It started with Phillip and Mark before the Jerusalem Council, was
active before we came here in 1619, and continues in the present. Has it gone
through transitions? Yes, but it still exists. Across denominational lines it
continues to be a cultural vehicle, an institution of moral education, and a
reservoir of survival history and soul force. We have organized because the
fundamental issues that affect the Black community can still be best addressed
by the male and female clergy of the Black Church. We, the clergy, are the ones
that hear our peoples’ prayers, christen/baptize their young, visit the
hospitals and jails, and bury our community’s dead. We affirm our Christian
heritage that has denied and/or dismissed by too many white, Western European,
Anglo-American theologians and preachers; and, by too many black materialistic
pulpiteers who keep our people in bondage by blinding them with visions of
‘glory, glory after while.’ We are not the curse of Ham, we are the blessing of
Abraham. We insist that the call of
Christ on the Church is to be instrumental in making human relationships of all
kind ‘on earth as it is in heaven.
Every goal has a purpose. Next time we will discuss the
mission and intentional purpose of the African American Clergy Coalition of
Mid-Missouri.
The Rev. Clanton C.W. Dawson, Jr., PhD
President, the African American Clergy Coalition of
Mid-Missouri
I Love it!
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