Pictured above is the "Reverend Anthony Evans," president of the "National Black Church Initiative," an organization that claims to represent 34,000 African American churches and 16 million congregants. He and his organization argue that Presbyterians should “no longer call themselves a Christian entity in the body of Christ.” following that church's leadership deciding last month to change its official definition of marriage to include same-sex unions.
In a statement released on Monday, NBCI president Reverend Anthony Evans wrote:
“[The Presbyterian church] has forsaken it’s right by this single wrong act. This manipulation represents a universal sin against the entire church and its members. With this action, [Presbyterians] can no longer base its teachings on 2,000 years of Christian scripture and tradition.”
Now the irony in this pronouncement during "Holy Week" is that when you look carefully at the photo above, you'll note the painting of a revered white church leader whose portrait hangs proudly behind the good reverend. The surprising truth is that this elder church leader of old would have likely preached the same venomous bile regarding the churches of his day who preached against the evil of slavery.
As I note the great ironies of situations like this, I have to ask myself... How can black people (especially supposedly educated ones) like Reverend Evans forget that the same scriptures that they use to condemn GLBT people were used in just the same way to justify and legitimize the practice of kidnaping, torturing and enslaving their forebears just a short few generations ago?
Black homophobia is of course a persisting side effect of slavery and the conservative black church is it's resilient home.
"Fear Eats the Soul"
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