In Black America; Dr. Roosevelt Morris

Thank you You From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America.

There is an increase in church participation. People are coming back to the church because we understand now that the answer is not in politics. It's not in humanism, but some of the problems and issues that we face need the moral force of the church. And we have to bring a spiritual basis to that if we want to be able to deal effectively in the end. Dr. Roosevelt Morris, author of the new book entitled The Pool Pit and The Pew Facing the Issues. Whether by preaching a sermon or urging policy makers to take notice of a social cause, Morris has made a tremendous impact upon the lives of many. His career spans more than 20 years. He is a minister, educator, author, and lecturer. He has created a form that has allowed him to speak to several Black curgey throughout America on their role on social issues, including homosexuality, abortion, affirmative action, and the economy.

Morris hopes to create a change that will aid in reshaping the organization of the Black Church and public policy. I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, Dr. Roosevelt Morris, author of the book The Pool Pit and The Pew Facing the Issues in Black America. First of all, I tried to show them through pre-7 example that the church has a very real and mundane goal to try to help persons live as citizens in every area of life. So we discussed the issues at the table. Of course, they almost were two of them are grown now. But when they were growing up and when they were at home, we would sit around the table and discuss current issues. And I made it a practice and really a habit to instill in them that as Christians, you have a role, you have a part to play in making the society a better place.

And everything you do in every area of your life, the church plays a significant part, morals, and Christian ethics play a significant part. And so when I wrote the book, my oldest son, he read the chapter on homosexuality several times and he was a great elder. According to Morris, there is a lack of theological input with regards to social issues on abortion, homosexuality, and affirmative action. The church needs to address these issues. An intentional, sustained effort is needed today to articulate the position of the church on these issues. Churches played a significant role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s to affect social change. Morris has been an active force in community affairs. He was elected vice president of the NAACP in Clark County, Georgia. He graduated cum laude with a BS degree in mathematics for Morris Brown College and earned his doctorate in theology from Emory University.

Recently in Black America spoke with Roosevelt Morris. And poor family, the oldest of six children. My father worked in the steel mill. My mother had a fourth grade education. We were poor but happy. Poverty didn't scar me necessarily. I attended the public schools in Chicago. Subsequently came to Atlanta and earned a bachelor's in mathematics for Morris Brown College. Mathes of divinity, alternative logical seminary at the inter-denomination of the logical center in Atlanta. And adopted from Kendall School of theology in Emory University. How did you select mathematics as your academic choice?

Well, I was always good in mathematics as a child. I wanted to be an electrical engineer and the math of course would have provided a good background for a math class in that area. But after being called to the ministry, I had changed a plan. You also involved in community service in Atlanta. Tell us about that. I have been involved in the NAACP, the urban league. Also I founded a couple of board of registration and education coalition. I worked in different areas in this state as a pastor to help blacks become involved in business and political arena. Give us an idea of what is like to live in a city that has a majority African-American population and the city government is majority run by African-Americans. If it's a progressive of a city and on the surface you would think that blacks are doing very well given the political involvement of the black community.

But as of yet we have not leveraged our political cloud to gain some resources economically. Is that all? Well, there are signs of improvement. There is a middle class black community in Atlanta that when a certain degree of solidarity is taken place, we will certainly be able to reach back into the pockets of poverty and bring those persons economically. There is quite a gap between the haves and the haves not in this community in Atlanta. Having the SCLC there is there a sense of civil rights activities and the movement to certain extent?

Yes, the movement is still strong. It's not as strong as it was during the height of the civil rights movement in the 60s and the 50s. The focus has somewhat changed now from having to fight against de facto segregation and racism. To try and develop the black community economically. That is proven to be a struggle. But we will certainly continue to fight using our different institutions such as SCLC and the NAACP and others. How did you come to the point to write the book, the pulpit and the pew facing the issues? Well, there is certainly a need for the black church to be involved in the dialogue of public policy making.

And the church generally speaking, the Protestant church and the black church in particular is a little bit quiet now in terms of speaking out on the issue. So the purpose of this book is to encourage the black church denominations to articulate the positions on issues such as homosexuality and abortion and affirmative action and economic reform in black community. Can you put your finger on the point why African-American churches have been reluctant or slow to react to the changing social issues facing us today? Well, I think one is of course the focus has been in domestic. We put too much emphasis on ecclesiastical institutional building. And so that of course that will defeat our resources from really reaching out into the community as we once did in the 50s and the 60s. So it's been a concern about just what's going on internally in the church.

And another reason is that the lack of awareness of the role of the black church in the social political issues of the day. I think we somehow we need to come back to an awareness that the minority denominations today can be just as effective in the social issues that we face today as they were in the 50s and 60s when we had to fight against racism in discrimination in Jim Crow. The first chapter of your book deal was with abortion. Why did you select to begin the book with abortion? Well, abortion is certainly one alarm and social issue. This is a part of the sexual revolution. And we certainly in the black church, there has to be a greater focus on this problem as it affects the black community. We live in a bad, you know, an abortion culture now. And certainly the local church must break its violence on abortion and open it up and begin to share in dialogue with persons who experience the abortion dilemma.

Recently, there has been some attack on abortion clinics particularly in your city. What has been the clergy reaction to those incidents? Well, truthfully, it's been a little slow and churches in this period, as we approach the new millennium, are a little bit reticent about speaking out on some of the bad behavior that's taken place against abortion industry. Does it cross denominational lines as far as your perception of the inactivity? Yes, it certainly does in a faith and denominational line.

Within the abortion chapter, which is in chapter one, the politics of abortion. Could you expound on that a little bit further? Sure, the politics of abortion, of course, is the way that abortion became legal in this country. And it's unfortunate that the courts set the policy, or drew the parameters, defined the morality for abortion and really and truly, when we look back at what happened in the Roe v. Wade situation, that the church really dropped the ball because the silence of the religious community gave the courts the feeling that this issue has to be a political issue and really when it really should have been a moral spiritual concern. How did you go about articulating the moral analysis of abortion?

Well, abortion is a moral problem. It has to be approached from a spiritual biblical context. The real issue with abortion is what should a woman have the power over procreation? And of course, the way the Christian community proceeds abortion is that it's antithetical to the God intends for the procreation of the human rights. Is it a lack of biblical understanding when one considered an abortion? That's part of it because the Bible does speak to the issue and so the Christian ethic on abortion has to come from a theological and biblical base.

The abortion ministry, what do you mean by that? It means that the church has a role to play in terms of offering the kind of care and nurturing context in which women can deal with the problem of abortion. The church instead of approaching the issue from a moral judgment and a social stigma opens up its arms and begins to provide the kind of ministry that will help persons through the trauma that they experience in the abortion dilemma. As pastor of the New Grant AME church in East Point, Georgia, how do you go about articulating your abortion ministry?

Well, we hold classes. In fact, we try to work with persons who are counsel persons who are deciding on abortion and also counseling and work with persons who have women who have had abortion. So we do both the pre and abortion help. We have classes. In fact, we have a class going right, running currently on how to face a decision, how to come to a decision about having an abortion. What are your comments on those who are anti-abortionists who have taken their stand to another level to include violence and intimidation? I think some of that, the biblical interpretation of the Bible has contributed to some of the conservatives, the ethos and movement in the country has generated this kind of feeling of toward abortion.

And then many people react violently. But I think the main problem is that the church has to, instead of attacking abortion from a moral judgment, has to provide the kind of caring and nurturing context that help people understand. And you don't solve a problem of the issue of abortion with violence. Your next chapter deals with homosexuality, which is a very unspoken or well-kept secret within the African American community.

Why did you feel that you needed to express your views on homosexuality? Well, your statement there is certainly true. And homosexuality is not, of course, confined to the black community. But we need to understand the issue, the moral and social issue that homosexuality brings to us. And there's too much misunderstanding concerning this social issue. My thinking was that we need to dialogue and begin to discuss our position from a biblical based perspective so that we can deal more effectively with the problem. One there to deal with the biological aspects of homosexuality.

But one has to begin to really ask the question, is sexual orientation determined by birthed or charged or environment, or is it a combination of those? And research begins to show that there may be a biological link to homosexuality. The question for gay rights. Well, the gay rights agenda, political agenda, should be of concern for the religious community. And I think there, for the most part, the average lay person is not really aware of the gay rights agenda. And so my feeling is that we need to share this information with the general public so that we can begin to discuss our response to their agenda intelligently. You have some pretty profound ideas on affirmative action. And that deals with chapter three of your book. What is affirmative action? Obviously there's a lot of misinformation or different interpretation of what affirmative action really is and what it was actually intended to do.

The conservatives and the pundits have really done a pretty good job. They've been rather successful and attaching a stigma for affirmative action to weaken this debate. So what has to happen is that the public has to be educated as to the real purpose of affirmative action. And of course the purpose of affirmative action is to counter the force of the distributory practice and policies. The sentiment from the conservative and pundits that it's a handout and a handicap have really weakened the affirmative action movement. And we have to counter that.

You bring your book full circles your fourth chapter deals with the economy, God and the economy, excuse me, economic obstacles to overcome. Why that is your last chapter. Well, I think the real issue for the black community as we approach the 21st century, the new millennium, is entrepreneurship. And our strongest institution in the black community is the church. And the church has to come to an awareness that there is a theology that undergirds a sense of economy. We have to move to a level of awareness that the church can play a big role in some of the problems that we have in the black community in terms of entrepreneurship. Blacks are more underrepresented in business than in any other occupational category.

So that's a real problem as we approach the 21st century. We have to bring to the black church has to bring to the forefront. It's in vomit in the business formation in the black community. How important was your wife and family to this project? Very much so. A lot of help from my wife. In fact, I wrote my first book several years ago. And she had been encouraging me to write a book for several years. My family has been very supportive. In fact, without the help of my wife and my three children, this book, the pulpit and the pew wouldn't have to come to fruition. How long did it take you to write the book and conduct a research?

It took me 18 months to conduct a research and nine months to write the book. Are there similar books out there focusing on this area, particularly for African Americans? No, there are books out, of course, on the different subjects that I read. But as far as I know right now, there's not a single book out that focus on these areas from a black perspective for the black church. Was it difficult in finding a publisher? Yes, it was. Do you have an idea of some of the obstacles you had to overcome and trying to get published to consider this manuscript from publication? Well, one of the obstacles, of course, is that you have to find a publisher who lists this kind of content. And you don't have a whole lot of specialists at large publishing companies who want to deal with these kinds of issues from a black perspective, African Americans respected.

So they have some smaller, smaller press, and you've got to do your homework and find it. I was able to do that. And who's the publisher? It's a publishing house in Chicago named Reform. And do you know how many of the first printing? There should be 2,000 first printing. I'm curious to, if these particular issues are concerned to you and I'm quite sure it's probably concerned to other individuals, do the subject come to the table when you all have your annual conferences, denominational conferences, are you in the AME church? That was another reason for this book is that it is the depth of the information, the focus, I should say, on issues, on these issues in our convocations and conferences. We have over the years, I'm with the African Methodist, the Piscal Church, where he is, we have addressed some issues, but usually our voice is weak and equivocal and tenuous.

And I felt that if we're going to do our work as a minority, the nomination, then these are some issues that we must face and we must face them at all. Are the subjects coming up in Divinity schools? Is it something that young, expiring ministers should have as part of their repertoire in ministering their particular congregation? Yes, thankfully, there's more work now done in the seminaries in terms of training clergy, deal with social issues in the backdrop of the biblical hermeneutic. Of course, there's been years in the seminary, but nowadays there is more work being done with the young clergy to have this kind of social political orientation in their ministry. Having and wanting this to be a part of a broader society, how do you go about articulating this particular point of view to your own children?

Well, first of all, I try to show them through pre-7 example that the church has a very real and mundane goal to try to help persons live as citizens in every area of life. So we discuss issues at the table. Of course, there are almost two of them are grown now and one is at Morehouse, the other one is at Embry working. When they were growing up and when they were at home, we would sit around the table and discuss current issues and I made it a practice and really a habit to instill in them that as Christians, you have a role, you have a part to play in making this society a better place. And everything you do in every area of your life, the church plays a significant part.

Dr. Roosevelt Moores, author of the book, The Pool Pit and The Pew, facing the issues. If you have questions, comments or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs, write us. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for IBA technical producer Walter Morgan, I'm John Johansson Jr. Thank you for joining us today and please joining us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America Cassettes, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. You

I'm John L. Hanson Jr. Join us this week on in Black America. Let's begin to think for ourselves, dialogue and take part in public policy issues so that we can make an impact in a different in this country. Dr. Roosevelt Morris this week on in Black America.