McCracken Sermon, 1963-07-14, Civil Rights And Christian Duties

it's both the taste is taken from the book of manic i kept her to stay in have we not low one father has not one god created us i we face less to one another profane a covenant of our fathers we're hearing these days about civil rights the subject is headline news in the press is prominently

featured on television and radio and this without a doubt the national issue facing congress while a political issue it does dry out a moral and the spirits soared issue a preacher would be guilty of direction of duty well you not to speak about it americans have repeatedly affirmed their belief in human equality her belief has been a poorly on the american great it is written into the declaration of independence and the bill of rights and that is reflected in the plane's made for the united states

a land of liberty land of opportunity the cradle of liberty the whole of democracy but if i went it grow and had to go through an experience like etta james meredith i am shocked i should find it hard not to be cynical about those slogans in the matter of civil rights that churches are inescapably involved there is no social issue on which there is the belief in human equality has biblical margins and the biblical principle is an ambiguous and emphatic underlying race class that is the

fundamental fact which is universal and everywhere the same the creator of all mankind in his sight we are equal he cares for us equally and it this as well that we should live in community with one another and love our neighbors as ourselves the explicit teaching of the bible is that there are no inferior race is no second class citizens barb has no favorites christ died for all and in the end there is neither june or bury me they're on nor free neither male last email so that racism is an affront to the native dignity of man and an insult to borrow the church

will fall set its leadership unless it stands on a clinical made by its god given gospel that we all may in the image and likeness of borrow and they're in consequence every human being is the end though with an alien all right there was a day when jesus rose in the senate are all one describes as andrei the spirit is upon me because he hasn't it to reach us at to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind descent at liberty press

appropriate and be acceptable year of the law which juts came out of that and that sets must keep going back to that as to a mandate and directed walk on salmon writes musk says he was affected the well being of man woman and children and we must be enormous concern where my brother a man has all right i have a jilted every civil rights carries with it a sumo obligation activists an obligation for rights are not really religious there aren't attempts against him themselves the opportunities just for months for us the value of any human rights lies in the us to which had just pulled freedom does

not consist of simply in having rights but in fulfilling do misty may when people were insisting on the rights of men came forward with a list of the charities of man to write about this and this is where we have been at full we have made more of rights than of duties a distaste for the very idea of responsibility is why sprague it is part and parcel of the weakness of democracy and of our moral confusion and futility we complain loudly enough that things are not what they should be but we are not morally it's sensitive about them to the extent that we feel an obligation to do something

personally concretely about bolting the right that our negro leaders who are saying to the church's especially the churches in the north you have stopped just defying racial wrongs know you're going to begin to rectify them it must be acknowledged that we have been talking in rectifying we have been tightly even in recognizing them and i don't cross in objects go was studying the booklet jesus christ the light of the world in anticipation of the third assembly of the world council of churches one of the discussion questions are asked a lot in your own life and in your local community of the farms of opposition to christ when the

rest of the members of the passe we're actually in their brains trying to think of one genuine fall to the gospel in america finally someone said i read in a recent issue of the saturday evening post about bishop pine he thinks the story off the virgin birth is a myth that was as big an enemy as anyone in the class would come up with the extension all school and equal rights to all citizens goes on under the pressure of the courts the determined problem off minority votes with churchmen olson in their leadership that the religious parties

in america happy lamb and to be small and getting into concept it actually so small that marks a look at so please write a letter to a clergyman who protested that the bombing and the cia was ill timed and i must confess you know that over the past two years i have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate i have almost reached the regrettable build a credible conclusion that the need those great stumbling block in his top freedom it's not that white citizens council or all of the cool traps planted but the white moderate was more devoted to do and justice

will profess a negative piece which is the absence of tension to a positive piece which is the presence of justice oh constantly says i agree with you in the body you see but i cannot agree with your methods were but that no mr dooley believes he can set a pine table for another man's freedom and will constantly advises the need to wait for a more convenient season cheryl understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute less understanding from people know we'll walmart symptoms is much more bewildering larry wright projection isn't at stake

one sentence in it something that on a problematic for it with the ball you see but i cannot agree with your messages the math odds the cicadas the nonviolent protests america more consideration as to their nature and that the polls and some of us are giving them lead as of the negro churches see that question should take into got to civil rights in the light of the teaching of the sermon on the mount they have forsworn violence as as for fanning the sanctity of the human spirit as a raging the innate dignity of man and they have reiterated as a cardinal principle

of the non violent moment any bloodshed must be negro blood and classes for the reigning all volunteers for the discipline of quality as they suppress rules such as these wall and pull in the manner of love for god is love refrain from violence of the fist the tighten the law if you're arrested go to prison quietly if assad's a big chance to make it stopped die peacefully recall the injunction of jesus read that you're hearing this morning your fare but it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say geo love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you saw that you'd maybe the

sons of your father who is in heaven this is the spirit in which martin luther king makes his stand fought civil rights the governor of the state of mississippi on friday denounced and resorted to the ultimate cost a tactic the communist smear it is extra on how much that is essentially christian is gonna date as communists but then your mind the injunction of jesus this you know to the words all doctor came to our mosque that several poems we say we saw inmates your capacity to insulate suffering i our capacity to enjoy suffering we shall meet your

physical force with so for us we cannot in all good conscience will be a euro unjust laws because non cooperation with the veil is as much a moral obligation as his cooperation with both brought into jail and we shall love you our homes and churches and threaten our children and still we show the view that be a show that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer so this we shall soul pew dr hochman conference that we show when you in the process and then it would be a double victory does that strike you as a communist agent

the man don't exist and like there was no stain ministers teachers students teenagers have been rallying in support many of them have been arrested and largest in jail william sloane coffin chaplain of yale university robert mcafee brown professor of theology at stanford university using cost some gray executive officer of the united break presbyterian church and to preach here god willing in september the current census is growing and the churches that they need you must not be left to bear was the brunt of this struggle the secretary of state has said that if he let it grow he would demonstrate in effect he has built his own weight and the weight of his office behind the demonstrations if i went a

negro i would want to say to the white vote leave us to demonstrate along take your stand alongside of us pledged to nonviolence the needle is attempting to fight for the cause of human rights recently it would be any delegate for this country if instead they should be another option overall force and there are ominous signs but patience is away anything and that leadership of boston and belligerent happens one wonders whether white people who criticize the strategy of non violence realize what the alternatives are the american negro is determined to obtain his rights by some less than either the struggle for justice will proceed

recently bought it will break out in violence and bloodshed those are the alternatives and there are no others and these turbulent days these days of cattle these days of opportunity what she would then be there all of the churches have got to get out from behind closed doors they have social institutions they have to move right up from there yet into the fall front of the state of this generation fog of civil rights legislation and then its segregated schools segregated housing discrimination in employment searches must take us strong stand against the indignities and

injustices imposed on monarchy they must follow the lead taken last month by the general board of the national council of churches and support negotiations and demonstrations and direct action in areas off particular crisis the promise to members of local congregations not just to the nomination of executives and ministers about the remedy and have some social events you may feel well and i helpless to sell vast then promptly shoe just don't know what to take along that seems solid all that one individual can do in college in fact in regard to civil rights is that it has an issue with which one about which every christian and do something he can begin where he lives where he once where he once it's

committing themselves to belief in an un segregated set and i'm on segregated society you can follow his boss no family church business social life to his beliefs he can cultivate contacts and friendships with members of monarch equals inviting them to his home and visiting there as we reject the myth of racial supremacy we believe any integration our reporting our beliefs into practice in everyday relationships this senate race relations beginning with lisa in egypt person to person face to face contacts that however is only to make us stop these are days that demand so much moral and fraternize these members of objects like

this situated in a city like this also to identify themselves with school problems community problems recreation the enactment and enforcement of fair employment practices the right of every citizen to acquire housing on the basis of personal preference and financial capacity without regard to race religion national origin isn't enough any longer for the minister on sunday to preach about these matters and it isn't enough for the plants that congregation to set up a social study group and pass screens matters in review the whole set must face the city gun sounds have to be checked and satins not abstractly but specifically situations you know not first then people involved in the situations known by

name the vital consideration for this jet set this juncture is not throwing progress it is the last no identification and as well be an existing interracial program last sunday i preached on personal religion and social concern on monday i have received a letter from a member of the congregation is white line in the father of one child he expressed regret that in what i had to say i had not start kosovo to riverside church members and in his letter it shared with his conviction about the challenges confront church members and here they are as he sees want to

welcome negroes and puerto ricans into our social and civic clubs to the fire adam rants minority grows in business is three the welcome negroes and puerto ricans into our residential areas and stay than our sales so that the iranians may not be re segregate actually our own show in public schools with my naughty few friends these are some all the specific challenges confronting us as church members wear my brother man has outright i have absolutely but that needs to be shocking that needs to be made explicit than they emphatic landy broke a puerto rican has

or right we haven't and every civil rights ties with it still obligation a christian obligation we take great in our rights the question is what are we doing about how to choose claude is known in many ways but is known in facilities an option is especially where across the ground and ways of life where sound the rise of race and religion has been well defined as autumn it might happen again with all this emphasis on private prayer on the necessity for spiritual

retreats stated in his autobiography god was never saw religion as when he was actively identify with the struggles of the bluff almost in the loss of india social research it's not only the inevitable outcome of the snow religion social concern sadness that's great oh god let sports now turning to fresh air and since impressions are fleeting and our wills we are uncertain in us every high aspiration

that as dead in also on hand