I don’t know why it’s surprising to some people that Blacks overwhelmingly vote democratic, regardless of their religious convictions.  An October 31, 2011 gallup poll found that more than 6 in 10 “very religious” Whites identify with the GOP.  The pollster concluded that “a white American’s degree of religiousness....is a strong predictor of that person’s political orientation.”  

The poll showed the situation with blacks to be very different, concluding that the “historical ties” between blacks and the Democratic Party are so strong that they “overwhelm” the impact of religiousness that is evident among other racial groups, in spite of the fact that highly religious blacks have more in common with traditional Republicans on “social and values issues.” I think the pollster is referring to personal morals here.

I’m not sure what the pollster meant by “historical ties,” but I think there is more to the connection between blacks and democrats than whatever that might mean.  Are blacks so tied to the Democrats by history that we wouldn’t change even if it were better for us?  I don’t think so. If history were the tie that binds, we’d still be voting Republican. And it really is all about black faith. 

It’s not the Democrats that the black vote is loyal to, it’s their politics. The democratic party platform lines up more neatly with black theology--an understanding of God that lifts up the importance of the freedom that God wants for all people:  freedom from oppression, freedom from racism and the freedom that comes from a fair and just system of government. That’s the understanding that African slaves saw in Christianity even when the slave holders tried to teach them differently. That’s why the Black Church  can be comfortable being conservative in its personal morals while progressive in it’s social teachings.

Black people are not stupid.  We place our bets on the party that at least professes the kind of social justice that will benefit us. We know we are better off in a country that is not geared to conserve the wealth for those who already have it.  We know that trickle down economics has never worked for our benefit. We hear the coded messages of  “Willie Horton,” “Real Americans” and “Take Back America,” etc. and we understand. That is, at least most of us do. 

The Democrats have not always followed through, but at least they play the right political cards to keep us believing that they want what’s best for us.  And that lines up with a basic tenet of black theology: we know know that God wants what’s best for us, too. Religion has to do with more than one’s personal morals.  It also has to do with what’s moral for the nation, and that is shown by how well we care for each other. 

My first book, Angels All Around, won a bronze medal award for Christian Literature from Reader’s Favorite.  Check it out on their website at www.readersfavorite.com.

I watched people visiting the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and reading his words of wisdom, peace and justice. I watched them recognize the truth of his words with nodding heads and cameras. We all have the dream.

Howard Thurman said: “When he asks, then, what life was like before there was pain, hate, bitterness, and violence, the word comes back that life was beautiful and whole, tranquil and full of peace. Man has lost this dimension in his journey; he has sinned and missed the way….; but the echo, the sound of harmony, has not died in his dream. It lives in his myths, and what he hears in the echo is at times more real than the distortions through which he passes in his day-by-day endeavor.” (From The Search for Common Ground.)

I wonder what life could be like now if we all strove to live the dream of harmony that lives within?

I’m interested in the connection between faith and action.  I’m especially interested in how Christians react to the world around them.  I mean, when we pay close attention to the things that Jesus did and the things that he said, how do we deal with the poverty, violence and racism that we see around us?

As an African American, it seems natural to me that faithfully following Christ involves scrutinizing the inequities that I see around me and taking action to change them.  Is this endemic to my social location?  And the more I grow spiritually, the more bold I become in proclaiming the goodness and righteousness of God as the roadmap for the world–a roadmap that the world has been unwilling to follow.

I admit that there are a lot of good people, good Christian people, who minister to those who are needy.  That’s a part of the gospel.  But is feeding and providing shelter for the poor all that we are to do?  Aren’t we also to examine the system that feeds people into poverty?  Aren’t we also obliged, out of our love for others, to do all that we can to help them get out of poverty?

I have a lot to say about how and where our faith leads us, and I’d like to hear other viewpoints.  Welcome to my blog site!