Posted by Dave on 04/23/08 at 12:25:29 pm
Categories: Race Ravings, Barack Obama

What the hell is with racist churches?

A church in South Carolina recently had a sign up that said: Obama, Osama: Are they brothers? The pastor apparently thought it was a good idea:

Pastor Byrd said the sign was not meant to be racial or political but rather to make people think. "His name is so close to Osama I feeling might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ," Pastor Byrd said.

What is even more sad is that the church actually voted to keep the sign up. And of course, the pastor did not mean for the sign to be "racial or political." Right.

They have since removed the sign. But even with the removal, this church should be utterly embarrassed and ashamed.

I am embarrassed and ashamed for them.

It really has been sad to watch the both explicit and implicit racism and sexism in this Presidential campaign. I do not even know how many people find my blog for searching for things like "Obama muslim" and other related things. There are the infamous e-mails that have spread absurd rumors about Obama's faith. There is the contingent in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania who say that race matters, which is why they are voting for Clinton. There are the people that my co-workers have visited who have made racial and racist comments, both explicitly and implicitly.

And of course there is the sexism that Clinton has experienced. The attacks on her tears. The attacks on her being "icy." The attacks on her hair. Or her outfits.

Bigotry and prejudice is alive and well.

But it, in my mind, is even worse when if comes from a church. Hatred, racism, and ignorance is surely not good theology.

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