AN OBJECT LESSON IN PREJUDICE
DAVID SHERWOOD

Prejudice is an ugly thing. His father is Fear and his spawn are Ignorance and Hate. And his home is your heart—and mine.

We hear a lot about “prejudice” and “bigotry” these days. Sometimes I get the distinct impression that much of it boils down to this: if you agree with me you are liberal and open-minded; if you disagree with me you are prejudiced, a narrow-minded bigot. The words are thrown around somewhat casually as pejoratives. This we deplore and is, of course, another form of prejudice.

However, we should not delude ourselves into thinking our hands are clean. Recently I received a sad letter from a friend of mine who is a minister in a small congregation in Virginia. I shall quote his own words since they speak so eloquently:

“Yesterday, I received the heaviest blow of my preaching experience. It was dealt by Satan himself, and it sent me staggering. Sunday was our regular business meeting for the men of the congregation. I was not prepared for one of the items which came under the heading, ‘New Business’. I should tell you first that I have been seeing at least one Negro family here in ……………, trying to interest them in the gospel. Three Negro families have been receiving our weekly bulletin. All of these families have been contacted through correspondence courses. Back to the meeting—It was moved by one of the men that all mail to these Negro families be stopped, including the correspondence courses! I started burning at this point. A deathly silence swept over the entire group. It was then seconded, conditioned by an amendment to sweeten the poison. It came to a vote. The motion was defeated. Another motion was then proposed: it was moved that the weekly bulletin be discontinued, but not the correspondence course. This motion passed. It was also passed that we ‘inform’ the Negro, but do not make it a point to personally ‘invite’ him to worship I made ‘out of order’ speeches between these motions and votings, but my vote was not strong enough. I have never come so close to actually threatening the brethren with the words, ‘After today you can find your self another preacher’. To be fair in this report, I should add that it was also moved that I be given time and assistance in converting the Negro community. The battle then was not completely lost, but I feel the cause of Christ suffered serious losses. The reason given for the above proceedings was that if we allowed Negros to join us, that it would keep White people from even being interested in the church. It was felt by the majority that integration would hinder the cause of Christ.”

Sad? It breaks my heart. But in hearing of such things you and I must be very careful that we do not climb on our High-Horses and proclaim in self-righteousness, “Lord, I thank thee that I am not like other men …”

Prejudice knows no geographical, racial, cultural, financial, or educational boundaries. Since I do not currently live in the South it is hardly for me to pontificate about what I would do if I were there, similar to the way we tell ourselves that we certainly would not have crucified Jesus had we been there. Prejudice always finds a rationale—notice that the brethren in Virginia convinced themselves that they were acting to further the cause of Christ! Someone acutely observed recently that many of the ministers from the North who took a long trip to Alabama returned home to churches which had just taken a short trip — from the slums of the Inner City to the “nice” suburbs! Didn’t Jesus say something about beams and motes?

Brethren, prejudice of all kinds is born in fear, ignorance and hate. An intrinsic part of the salvation we find in Jesus Christ is deliverance from all of these. Let us not waste time judging one another. Let us rather let the light of the gospel of Christ and the divine love of God enter our own hearts. And then I am sure we will do the loving thing.

“We love, because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar . . . “ (l Jn. 4:19-20)—Box 261, Keene, N. H. 03431

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David Sherwood is minister of Church of Christ in Keene, N. H.