Racism Thrives In Church

I began this blog in my mind a very long time ago. For me it’s been a real thing. Its lived with me every Sunday. Some Sundays it looks different. It looks decent, it behaves and smiles back at me. But most times I return home and for days I get gripped by how and when it got to me and how did I allow it to get here? Well the best place for Racism to thrive had to be the church. It is in the church where systematic thinking thrived because it became ok through the bible verses to validate Racism and Pastors where not willing to talk about it because money in the church is very important. We would like to think that was left in the 80's but I'm afraid not.

I’m about to drag the church and I’m about to drag Pastors and I’m going to use my experiences and I am going to take the brunt for my truth. If you read to the end then congratulations from firstly me and/or secondly the church because I don’t write this with your emotions in mind. Now that I have placed the disclaimer lets dive straight in.

My mother tried by all means to make sure my sister and I were not racist but she was very passive about her own racist experiences. She was terrorised by the apartheid system in rural Greytown from a young age. So they were taught to fear and worship White People. When she got to Westville she was introduced to Christianity and with it came White People. So again she lived in the consciousness of having to say “Yes Baas” and “No Baas”, even though her own pastors were fighting against racism on her behalf. When given the chance to fight back and release herself she didn’t. It meant we had to live in this space where we revered White People. This meant that I had to go around knowing my place in friends’ houses. Come to think of it, I was never ever told I’m equal to and as great as my friends, in my own home. Be it Indian or White. Bottom line is I blame all the older black folks who had 20 years to go and rectify this but instead were passive.

While we sit and think that Indians were not oppressed they have been and they still are by white people and black people. They can do or say no right. They haven’t been able to break the glass ceiling but they worked the system. They just made sure they monetized the systematic racism. They grew their businesses and clients. They upgraded their bank accounts and become more eloquent in the English tongue. Grasping a new twang and a need to be an Indian and Christian all in one go. Most Indian Christians are not poor. They have improved themselves and to that “Praise Jesus”. I’m not Indian so I can’t tear into them as much. All I can say is “Hallelujah”.

White people have been slowly stewing in their churches whenever the Pastor said racism is wrong. However today I’m not talking about those exemplary bold men of God. I’m here to speak to the white pastors who have had members of 4 or 5 Indians in their congregations and feel like they have arrived at the pinnacle of diversity. Or have had a few ashy black kids, you know the kids I’m talking about, kids like me who thought “Sonsurf” or “Youth” was a great place to be, so that during break at school she would fit in with the white kids.  So she attended all these ministries. Not that the ministry was not effective, it was. It distracted me from my family problems but it was not that inclusive.

The white church beats its chest because, “Mabali (Mbali) has been in our congregation for years”.  Those kind of statements should make non-whites sit up and ask questions. We have diverse suburbs and environments in South Africa but not diverse churches. That is when we should be questioning where is the God in these churches or bring it back home. Where is God in my own church. My latest chuckle came from a young church, who on Instagram, had put up a post and in the image was a few black women. But if I were to ask their head pastor about black issues in the church, life, work and spirituality I can bet my car that they would have a few blank stares back at me. So elitists and trashy white churches, I SEE YOU. ALL OF YOU. And you should be ashamed. You should truly dig deep and dissect how your relevance and teachings are reaching God’s people and stop being comfortable behind your 45 minute services that make Christianity look easy. It’s not. We are in a war. The world is rotten because the church that God wants to use is so Racist that the devil is sitting in hell thinking this is too easy.

I hold a very high expectation on the younger pastors. I hold it with the greatest audacity and vigour one could possess because you have gone to mixed diverse schools and you have played sports with people of colour and do not ask yourself deep questions about what God thinks about race, his people and mostly how you are called to love all man and a be pastoral figures.

If you haven’t read by now how angry I am then you need Jesus. However if you are a non-Christian and you have taken the time to read this far for interest sake then thank you. I really hope that you can welcome God into your home and worship him from where you are. Do not be tainted by any of the bad manners you have experienced in our churches.

To my pastors, thank you for the boldness and the audacity to preach the truth. I have lived a full and interesting Christian life because of you. I’m not perfect however I wish to highlight society’s ills because I am extremely tired of this and I’m embarking on clearing the space for my sisters, nieces and nephews, and my beautiful family to come.

*You can leave your comments in the section below. Please note that I have narrated on my own experiences. Please do not attach anyone in my life or my pastors, they did not write this*