A Snapshot Into The Psyche Of Blacks Who Are Christians Vs. Christians Who Are Black

Discussions about President Obama can become volatile in mere seconds when African-Americans discover a black person who voted against the president. Rationality [and civility] goes completely out of the window. I saw this same phenomenon with regard to the O J Simpson verdict. It was all about race and the clapping and whooping and hollering in jubilance over the [not guilty] verdict stunned me as I watched it in the emergency room waiting area of my hospital. I’m a hospital chaplain. One of my brothers was equally stunned when I told him that I believed O J Simpson was guilty all along. “Hey Mike”, he said. “Tony thinks O J was guilty.” Michael didn’t respond. Oh, yes. The phenomenon I’m referring to is black group-think. When it’s all about race blacks tend to close ranks in a collective defensive mode.

With regard to Obama the attitude adopted by the vast majority of blacks is hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
Sadly, this includes evangelical [born again] black folk. One factor is that most were ignorant of Obama’s voting record, his political philosophy, and controversial remarks he made in the past. When brought to their attention, for example, that the president was a staunch abortion advocate the response was, “Well, abortion isn’t the only issue.” True, but it is a very important issue to all Christians. Why? Because if you are committed to Christian values you would argue that any lawmaker who supports the murdering of the unborn would also support additional anti-Christian views that could impact the church and America.

I argued that Obama would appoint pro-abortion judges who would likely rule against the church in other case like gay marriage, “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”, prayer in colleges, etc. I was ignored but proven right again with the confirmation of judge David Hamilton [to the federal appeals court] who is notorious for a controversial ruling prohibiting college students from uttering the name of Jesus at organized events. Yet, he opined that it was quite alright to utter “Allah” by Muslims. Then Sonya Sotomayor, another pro-abortion advocate and judge was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The puzzle is coming together. Mr. Obama recently asked [Congress] to repeal the military’s “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” legislation. I rest my case.

The loyalty of blacks toward Obama reminds me of cult members. I envision them foaming at the mouth with glazed eyes and chanting blindly, “Obama. Obama.” A quite disturbing and scary picture as well as depressing, too.

Item: A long time African-American friend from the Marines became apoplectic when I had the temerity to tell him why I would not vote for Obama. I cited the afore-mentioned arguments about Obama’s hostility to Judeo-Christian beliefs and its possible repercussions [for the church]. And when I said that I was a Christian first and black second he responded with pure unadulterated rage, “Weren’t you born black!?” He couldn’t grasp that once I became a born again Christian I realized that God never saw me in terms of race anyway – that there were only two sets of people in the Bible. Believers and unbelievers. He wasn’t finished, “What did you gain by voting for white presidents anyway?”

My response: “I can now safely protest against abortion without fear of being arrested for violating the RICO law”. (A law originally aimed at organized crime syndicates) Unknown to him was that during the Clinton years ultra-liberals like Senator Charles Schumer et al were bent upon using RICO against the pro-life group Operation Rescue. But after George W. Bush was elected he appointed two conservative judges, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, who casted decisive votes against utilizing RICO against non-criminal pro-life groups.

Then I went on to add that with the addition of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court our [individual] right to keep and bear arms was protected/upheld because they casted decisive votes in favor of the 2nd Amendment in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, June 26, 2008. Guns and freedom lovers won on a 5-4 decision. Because he couldn’t convince me to vote for Obama and didn’t like my arguments what he said next was a proverbial teachable moment. “You need to move to a red state. And make sure you take the right train. It’s a good thing you’re not casting the deciding vote.” Ouch! And this was from a “friend.” Lesson learned: Race trumps Christianity in the eyes of black Christians. How sad.

Item: A African-American female social worker and friend at the job tried to convince me that the health care bill was a good thing and repeated all the arguments that liberals tend to do. I pointed out that it would lead to rationed care as in all nations that practice socialized medicine. Her response was that you need to ration care and when I mentioned that the elderly would suffer in the name of cutting costs she said “They’re going to die anyway.” “But what about your mother?” I asked. Her response: “She’s going to die, too.” Gulp! I left her presence shaken up by that remark. The next day I downloaded an article about the flaws in the health care bill and gave it to her. As I was walking out of her office I said, “So, you want the bill to pass even though you don’t really know what’s in it?” “That’s right” she said defiantly and proudly. She called me later on to say that I misunderstood her comment about her mother and that I have to learn to agree to disagree with people. That I find hard to do when someone insists that two plus two equals five. She also said, “I know you have a problem with Obama.” Indeed. I didn’t bother to ask her why she thought I had a problem with the president. I would have said that because he is a religious and politcal liberal and I’m not!

The next day she commented on the February 25th TV health care debate between the president and the Republicans and opined that he was disrespected by the white lawmakers who still can’t accept the fact that a black man is the Commander-In-Chief. My quiet visceral sentiment was did she watch the same debate that I did? I thought the Republicans went out of their way to be respectful. The excellent points they made were ignored by this social worker. Why? Because in her mind it was a black vs. white issue. She was rooting for the black man regardless. So this is what Evangelical and [politically] conservative blacks are up against. I reiterate that I am a Christian first and black second.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.