By Tony Lamont
Yesterday I read this article that caught my attention, not because it was filled with the latest gossip, or the hottest celebrity news, or even political scandal. No, it caught my attention because of two words ‘religion and racism’. There is a church in Pike county Kentucky, the Guinare Freewill Baptist Church, that after their Sunday service voted for the resolution that states the church ‘does not condone interracial marriage’.
Yeap, a church in the year 2011, (about to be 2012) brought a vote to it’s membership to ban interracial marriage! The member that brought the vote to the table a Mr. Melvin Thompson, says that he is not a racist, and that the matter was an ‘internal affair’. Really, I think it may be an ‘internal affair’, one that involves the fact that his daughter is engaged to an African. Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr. Thompson is the former pastor of the church, he stepped down from his post earlier in the year.
What ever happened to ‘we are all children of God? Or, even the notion that what should matter most is that his daughter (who has been a member of the church since she was a baby) is in love, and has found someone with which she wants to spend the rest of her life. Oh, another thing I forgot to mention is that the young man is a well respected loved member of the community, and is a student advisor at Georgetown College in Kentucky.
The one thing that bothers me most about this story, is that in a place were the only thing that should matters is God, his love for us and his teachings, a congragation actually voted to deny two of his children the right to marry in his house because they are not of the same race. How dare they sit there and claim to be children of God! For the record, many members of the church walked out on the vote. but not enough, the resolution passed 9-6. Maybe before their vote, they should have taken into consideration that on judgement day, the only vote that is gonna count is God’s.
