The black man's burden

There was a Polynesian dance class going on in the park by Lake Crystal today as I took my constitutional. Sorry. Erase the picture that sentence generated in your mind. It wasn’t like my (and probably your) stereotyped fantasy of Polynesian dance. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it was Polynesian dance. I drew that conclusion because the teachers looked Polynesian to me, and the motions the students made looked more like something from the South Seas than anything else I could think of.

No, there were no nubile girls in grass skirts there, wiggling their firm, fetching brown hips. This was two lines of mostly middle-aged white people, doing a step-step-while-making-a-sort-of-rowing-motion-with-the-hands. I immediately judged them all former hippies, striving for some kind of multicultural salvation.

I felt particularly bad for the guys in the group, who were no doubt married to (or living with) women in the group who’d dragged them along. I’d be willing to wager that, if you got enough beers in them to get them to tell the truth (like Mel Gibson), they’d admit that if they had to make fools of themselves in public, they’d rather do live steel with the Vikings and me. Only their Significant Others wouldn’t let them, and the folks down at the Whole Foods store would never understand.

There. You know what one of my prejudices is.

Which brings me to this article, by way of Mirabilis:

With church-going on the wane in Europe, Africa’s vibrant Protestant churches are sending scores of men like Mukholi to the West to win souls and revitalize shrinking congregations — an ironic twist on the 19th century drive by Western missionaries to convert Africans.

I’ve been waiting for this for years. I have doubts whether Europe is salvageable anymore at this point, but it seems to me that if it is to be saved, this will be an important element.

It all depends on racism. Racism isn’t dead. Not here in America, and not in Europe. It’s just turned itself inside out. Instead of the nasty white people of the last century, who thought themselves Nature’s Pinnacle, looking down on the vile dark races, today’s white racist despises his own race and idealizes those blessed richly with melatonin. It’s been noted by other writers before me that whenever an author or scriptwriter wants a character to deliver a Message from God nowadays, he generally puts that message in the mouth of someone black. Preferably someone old and black.

This makes a lot of sense. It’s a rare old black person who hasn’t seen a lot of hate and injustice, and just surviving a long time under those conditions implies that they must have learned something.

But our respect for black people in the West goes far beyond this. It amounts to pure veneration. Idealization. That’s why the U.N. will never do anything about genocide in Africa, as long as it’s blacks killing blacks. To take action would be to admit that black people aren’t morally superior, and that would be a death-blow to their faith.

It is a little cynical, I suppose, to exploit this white racism for evangelistic purposes, but I’m basically a pragmatist. Whatever works, I’ll pretty much support.

The second reason I like this strategy is for its genuine educational value. African Christians know a whole lot about Islam and paganism, and they know it first-hand, not from New Age books and television documentaries.

I met an African man who went to our seminary a while back. I didn’t know him well, but he had an interesting story. He’d been an Olympic athlete for his country of origin. After converting to Christianity, he’d attended a mainline Lutheran seminary in the U.S. He left it angrily when a Comparative Religions professor assigned his class to attend a mosque.

“I do not need to attend a mosque to learn about Islam,” the man said. “I know about Islam.” He finished his seminary training with us.

The same sort of thing goes for paganism. People who’ve actually been pagans know it’s not about pretty naked women dancing under the stars. It’s about superstition and the constant fear of breaking taboos. It’s about sticky blood and sacrifice and ugliness.

So God bless the African missionaries. May He speed their feet and open the listener’s ears to their message.

0 thoughts on “The black man's burden”

  1. I believe that some orthodox Episcopalian pastors and bishops have detached from their heterodox leadership and are under the authority now of orthodox bishops or archbishops from African or Asian countries.

    I remember there was a delightful story in The Atlantic a few years ago, went something like this; that there was a gathering of Anglican Communion nobs in British Columbia, and some of the Americans were scandalized when a bishop from an Asian or African country, rather than smirking multiculturally, proceeded to exorcise a totem pole that was on hand!

  2. The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church of America 815 Second Avenue, New York NY l00l7, USA.

    Ref: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MOST REV. FRANK GRISWOLD.

    Your Grace,

    Greetings to you in Jesus name. This letter comes with deep regret and pain over the great loss that your actions have caused. It expresses the strong feelings and concerns of the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Provincial Assembly Standing Committee which met yesterday and the Enthronement Organising Committee.

    For many years, the Church of Uganda has enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA). Sadly, that relationship ended when the General Convention chose to ignore cries from the rest of the Anglican Communion. You officially recognized same-sex unions the Bible forbids, and installed as candidate for bishop someone the Bible clearly shows to be in an unsuitable lifestyle. As a result of those decisions, the Church of Uganda has recognized your departure from the faith and declared:

    “a) The Church of the Province of Uganda (Anglican) cuts her relationship and Communion with the Episcopal Church of the United States or America (ECUSA) on their resolution and consequent action or consecrating and enthroning an openly confessed homosexual Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire Diocese in the Anglican Communion; and with any other Province that shall follow suit.”

    Considering those things, we were shocked to receive a letter from you informing us of your decision to send a delegation to the enthronement of our new Archbishop in January, and your intention for the delegation to bring aid and assistance for the people who live in desperate conditions in the camps in Gulu that you have ignored for years.

    Recent comments by your staff suggesting that your proposed visit demonstrates that normal relations with the Church of Uganda continue, have made your message clear: If we fall silent about what you have done promoting unbiblical sexual immorality and we overturn or ignore the decision to declare a severing of relationship with ECUSA, poor displaced persons will receive Aid. Here is our response: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not for sale, even among the poorest of us who have no money. Eternal life, obedience to Jesus Christ, and conforming to His Word are more important.

    The House of Bishops also declared:

    “(b) Mindful of the fact mat there are a number of Dioceses, Parishes and Congregations in the ECUSA, which are opposed to the resolution and action taken by their Convention and are determined to remain faithful to the teaching of Scripture on human sexuality, to those dear brothers and sisters, we extend our solidarity with them and assure them of our continued prayers.”

    As a result, we would be pleased to receive an official delegation from The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses, and Parishes who remain Committed to Biblical faith and with whom our relationship steadfastly continues.

    The Word of God is clear that you have chosen a course of separation that leads to spiritual destruction. Because we love you, we cannot let that go unanswered. If your hearts remain hardened to what the Bible clearly teaches, and your ears remain deaf to the cries of other Christians, genuine love demands that we do not pretend that everything is normal. As a result any delegation you send cannot be welcomed, received, or seated. Neither can we share fellowship or even receive desperately needed resources. If, however, you repent and return to the Lord, it would be an occasion of great joy.

    Sincerely,

    Rev. Canon Stanley Ntagali

    PROVINCIAL SECRETARY, CHURCH OF UGANDA.

    Cc: The Most Rev. Dr. Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo

    ARCHBISHOP, CHURCH OF UGANDA

  3. It certainly deserves to. Glad you’re still checking comments threads on these entries — I knew it would be appropriate for this one.

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