Obama and Race

When I moved to the USA in 1985 and started attending Madison Avenue CRC I felt that that racial issues, to a certain degree, had been resolved. Having come myself from a country that did not have any black people this was a feeling, a sentiment that I had never been exposed to. When we traveled with the family to Atlanta one thing that surprised me, when we took the bus in downtown to visit the historic sites that had been part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, was the fact that the only non African Americans on the mass transport were the four of bus. It did not bother me just surprised me. As we were driving back from Atlanta I saw a car in the Carolinas that in the rear seat had a confederate flag. When during the campaign of 2008 Rev. Jeremiah Wright made some questionable comments the press was all over them. Obama then had to detach, disassociate himself from Rev. Wright.
But when Pastor Anderson from Arizona prayed for Obama’s death most of press not only did not question this but, with the exception of a few honest venues that reported it, did not even show it on their news networks.
As a foreigner, as an observer, I was hopeful last November that America had moved forward, that it was starting to come to terms with a dreadful period of its history, and just like Martin Luther King Jr. had said that we should judge a man by his character and not by the color of his skin.
But it seems that this country not only did not accept a man with a different skin color, but that it will find anything to discredit him and in the case of Pastor Anderson inciting to commit murder in his congregation, followed also by the nonsense of the proof of his citizenship. Since when are we so concerned with proof of citizenship of a president, requiring birth certificate (that already has been provided)? How come we never questioned anything regarding McCain and the fact that he was born in Panama?
And, as a Christian myself, I must say that the worst in this case are Southern Christians. They remind me of the times of South African apartheid when whites use to say that the bible was written for the white man. I have not found anything that would validate that in the bible. I guess that they have never been to Israel/Palestine and have seen what a pure Sabra looks like. They would be in shock to understand that they savior was not a white blonde man with blue eyes. But more than that, after 24 years of living in this wonderful, fascinating and ever changing country, my biggest disappointment are a vast portion of evangelicals, who use the bible not as the word of God for the good, for the Glory of our creator, to share the good news, but for their own advantage. I have been trying to disciple a gentleman with whom I share age, and probably other things as well. And he tells me that most of the, and I quote, so-called Christians do not behave in a Christian way. I also have my daughter who feels disillusioned with Christianity, an opinion I don’t agree with, but I respect and understand. She says that “most” Christians are hypocrites, a view that I don’t share, because that would be too drastic of a position. But here is a list of things I don’t agree with some evangelicals: their view of the invasion of Iraq, their view on the role of America in terms of imperialism, in the total disregard of other countries sovereignty, in the total lack of compassion for the needy, the fact that we are caretakers of God’s precious land and resources.
Those are not the reason our Lord gave his life on the cross.
I am not saying that ALL Christians behave in this way, it is probably that the ones who are most noticeable are those who enjoy positions of privilege. To whom much is given much is expected.