Prejudical ponderings- newsletter article July 08

I had a friend visit over the 4th. His daughter is doing an internship here in Alaska and thus a prime time and reason to do the “before you die” state. It was a pleasant day and a pleasant visit with him and his wife, whom I had not seen since our days together in seminary. Their two daughters and one son-in-law were with us also. Lovely young ladies they had become, last seen playing with dolls in the front yard, now on college internships and working on doctoral research grants. We sat on the back deck, eating the visitors’ fare of steak and king crab and a few glasses of homebrew. We shared many stories of what we had done over the years but always seemed to end up back in seminary.

It is good to reconnect, remember, and catch up with old friends and families. The experience also took me back to other seminary experiences. Like many who are going to school, I found it a time of great ideals and profound thoughts, many of which were discussed at length over coffee with this friend who was sitting on my back deck. The world would have been a better place had it only listened to our pontification. Out of these many discussions, one was on how the scriptures can be used to support ideas that are seemingly contrary to general teachings in scripture. I decided to challenge myself to write a paper that would scripturally prove a point that I found to be the antithesis of what I thought were basic truths in scripture.

I choose the subject of racism, and using the story of Noah and his three sons set about to prove, using a critical analysis of the story in Hebrew, that racism against blacks is sanctioned by God. This of course was not by any means a new idea or original thought. The antebellum argument that Noah’s youngest son was given the mark by God for his viewing of Noah’s nakedness, and cursed to be, along with all his descendants, the servants of his other brothers, was long used by many to justify slavery. The mark was interpreted as being black. This argument had a strong foothold in the southern slave states, but also found resonance in the Mormon faith and many a northern pulpit. The most devastating and lingering affects being outside the church in the arena of American Civil Religion where such notions can take up root, unaffected by such things as Bible study or ethical discussion.

I was surprised at how easy it was. I did state my intentions in the beginning of the paper, and my professor of course pointed out the subtle flaws in my Hebrew translation. By and large however, it was a paper that even in today’s more enlightened view of the subject, would raise a few eyebrows and initiate more than a few Monday morning discussions around the coffee pot were it presented from the pulpits.

I can’t help but wonder how the Bible is being used today to justify societal prejudice as it was during the heyday of the antebellum argument? Racism still rears its ugly head, you can see that in the subtleties of today’s political commentary where the art of making raciest comments without sounding raciest is honed daily, but what are the current “marks of Ham” being touted by fine respectable pulpits throughout the nation. Who are the current subjects of today’s “if only they” comments?

Out on the deck, the discussion turned to one of our beloved classmates in seminary. A fine person and a fine and caring pastor, she had now left the ministry. She had felt compelled by her own ethics to follow the rules of the church regarding ordained pastors now that she had come out of the closet. It’s a shame that the actions of good personal ethics often compel one to perpetuate the questionable ethics of many a societal system. Jesus had lots to say about loving one another, caring for the least lost and lonely and only a very little on the subject of marriage. On that subject, one of norms of today took a hit, divorce.

So there we were, two old seminary friends now pastors, their spouses and some now adult children, enjoying the sunshine, food, brew and conversation, remembering old friends who for “ethical” reasons are not allowed to be pastors or be spouses. My relative silence over the years brings up feelings of guilt. I wonder, will my children look back on this time in history in amazement and disgust, and wonder how we could, and how so many pulpits could, justify such prejudice with scripture, and how we, who endeavored to teach them right and wrong, could keep so silent? I wonder.