In 2004 I received a frantic call from an ex-girlfriend who had become a converted christian in mid-life. She called to urge me to vote for George Bush to help insure that John Kerry didn't become president. She specifically wanted to warn me that if Kerry became president the USA would in effect go-to-hell because a Kerry Presidency would let gays get married and make us a God-forsaken country.
That message reverberated loudly in the black church in 2004. It was especially prominent in those congregations where Black ministers were on the Republican payroll to spread the fear of the "evil onslaught of John Kerry and gay marriage". In doing so, many Black ministers in black churches encouraged their congregations to vote against their best interest. They chose to ignore the fact that voting against their best interest was a much bigger problem for all members of the black church and for non-church going Black Americans than it was for their white counterparts who did the same thing for the same reasons.
Eight years later, in 2012, some Black Christians and Black churches were still struggling with the same issue of equality for LBGT citizens of these United States of America. They have become vexed and frustrated over President Barack Obama's open support of marriage for same sex couples. And it raises the question: when your religion gets in the way of common sense, can your religion be good for you?
Black Christians, more than any other Americans, with the possible exception of our Native American Brothers and Sisters, should know better than to discriminate against any group of people-even when it's done in the name of God and Religion.
The concept of "hate the sin, love the sinner" has too many emotional and intellectual holes in it to justify any Christian behavior. If you hate the sin, then don't do the sin; and treat everyone equal under the law. That is real Christianity, because that is what Jesus would do.
In the name of Jesus and Christianity, Black Christians need to get it right. You simply can't use religion and the Bible to justify denying any group, including LBGT of their civil rights. If you can, and if you do, then slavery was O.K., too. "It's in the Bible." And during slavery and the days of Jim Crow, many white "Christians "raised the bible and shouted hallelujahs in the name of God and Jesus Christ even as they lynched black men and raped black women for no better reason than it seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.
Be careful Black Christians, don't stay away from the polls or be willing to discriminate against those desiring gay marriage, simply because you believe your president refuse to discriminate against a group you believe sin against God and because you believe gay marriage is a sin against God. Discrimination against any group is a sin against God. And it is not Christian. If you are not sure about that, then stop quoting Paul and go back and read the four Gospels--and remember the words of The Christ whose name you raise and shout on Sundays. Jesus Christ did not discriminate and hate in the name of God because to do so is simply ungodly and not Christian.