Re: [asa] Sin, animals, and salvation

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008, John Burgeson (ASA member) wrote:

> On 11/19/08, gordon brown <Gordon.Brown@colorado.edu> wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Nov 2008, John Burgeson (ASA member) wrote:
>>>
>> I am not sure what you mean by being part of Christianity. Because some
>> Christians tried to justify the mistreatment of nonwhites that was common
>> in their culture by twisting Scripture, does that make it part of
>> Christianity?
>
> Sadly, yes.
>
> I have read some of the sermons and essays by the clergy written in
> the 1850s which justified slavery. At least one I remember disliked
> slavery a lot but had to choose between opposing it, thereby opposin
> God, and favoring it, thereby following God.
>
> It was part of us.
>
> I also lived in the South during Jim Crow days. The only orthodox
> "Christian" stance was "segregation now, segregation forever." Mixed
> marriages were clearly a grievious sin. It is to my discredit that I
> did nothing about it until I was an adult over 30.
>
> The plain fact is thatthe historical evidence shows that, over and
> over, some (many) conscientious, committed, Bible-believing, praying,
> devout Christians have been wrong. Dead wrong. Tragically wrong.
> Stupidly wrong. Sinfully wrong.
>
> That's part of our heiritage. We must live with it. We must examine --
> and re-examine - ourselves constantly to see where WE might be
> following in their footsteps.
>

John,

By the same sort of reasoning the opposite position (abolition of slavery)
was part of Christianity. Many preachers preached against slavery, and
William Wilberforce was motivated by his Christian conscience to fight for
abolition of slavery in the British Empire.

What church creeds have you seen that assign secondary status to
nonwhites?

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Thu Nov 20 11:12:58 2008