PNW - In November 1957, towards the beginning of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s leadership of the civil rights movement, he delivered a sermon at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. In describing the biblical importance of loving one's enemies, he said this:
When you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God's image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never slough off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.
This profound message of reconciliation, rooted in the gospel, was at the heart of King's monumental "I Have a Dream" speech in the summer of 1963 that laid down the foundations of what race relations in America should strive for.
Ever since the end of segregation and Jim Crow laws and the signing of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, the road to racial reconciliation and progress for black people in America has steadily improved. In the 50 years since then, black people have seen a 60 percent increase in high school graduation, a 20 percent increase in college graduation, a poverty rate that has been cut in half, a record low unemployment rate, a 1,325 percent increase in members of Congress, a twice elected president and a sitting vice president of the United States, and almost universal agreement among all races on the positive impact of the Civil Rights Act, to name just a few indicators of progress.
To borrow a phrase from an old tag line, "You've come a long way, America."
However, over the last year, views on race in America seem to have gone haywire. The idea of "wokeness" -- believing that America is, as we speak, a "systemically racist" country -- has steadily pervaded almost every corner of American public life, from academia to corporations to the mainstream media.
Even professional sports have succumbed, much to.....READ MORE
Keeping You Informed of World Events From A Biblical Perspective