Thursday, February 02, 2006

Incendiary Comments

No ... not the ones you are thinking of.

My morning post brought more discussion than I expected. But now word has arrived that NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has compared the GOP to Nazis. I am no Bush slappy, but I think this is a bit over the top. (That was rhetorical understatement. I actually think this is way over the top.) In an adminstration with more minorities than any administration in history, Bond calls Secretaries of State Powell and Rice "tokens." Am I concerned about it? No, of course not. But I do have a question.

Will the NAACP be held accountable for these remarks? Will the political left face the firestorm for their support of this kind of racism and race baiting? Will Julian Bond be held accountable for the despicable things he has said?

The NAACP in recent years was already the subject of IRS investigations for political activity by a non-profit organization. I am not sure what the investigation was for. The worst kept political secret in the last forty years is that the NAACP is a not politically neutral. They are Democratic supporters to their very core. They are political activists.

I think the IRS should have saved the investigation money and given me a tax refund so I could have a nice dinner. At least there would have been some suspense at the outcome. You never know what I might order. You always know that the NAACP is a political organization with a political goal that is Democratic and liberal. (Is that redundant??)

Personally, I can't see what the NAACP is doing to help conquer the evils of racism. Perhaps in past decades they served a good purpose, but I can't help but wonder if the biggest part of the racial problem today is that we talk about it. Everything gets painted as a racial issue. Perhaps if we started talking about character, and conversion to Jesus Christ, and calling people to step up and live like men and live like women, all of whom are made in the image of God, the problems would be lessened.

Don't get me wrong. There are racists out there, and they are completely and unquestionably wrong. They are not living the mission of Jesus Christ in this world. It grieves my soul that the most segregated hour in America is Sunday morning at 11:00am. It is shameful that some have the mentality of "their churches" and "our churches." I was once told by someone that the black people of our community should go to "their churches over there." I was completely and utterly appalled, embarrassed, and angry. I hate that fundamental churches have largely abandoned the urban areas of America. I think we need to start taking them back.

But let's quit talking about race. Let's talk about the human race that Jesus bled and died for, to redeem from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession (Titus 2:14). Let's love the way that Christ loved. Let's talk about grace that forgives all sins. And when someone like Julian Bond stands up and says these kind of things, whether he's white or black, let's remind him that he is part of the problem, not the solution.

Race problems won't be solved by the courts, or the legislature. Nor by the bully pulpit of the presidency. They will be solved by the pulpits of our churches when the return to preaching the grace of God in Christ in which "there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3:11).

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