We all know the Black Church has been a stable force of spiritual sanctity and guidance for African Americans since slavery. Although many of us have so called, "left the church," the fact still remains a majority of African Americans hold steadfast their conviction to God and Biblical teachings.
My family was evangelized by its English slave owners. Centuries later, I was baptized Episcopal (Church of England) and later participated in Catholic, AME, and Church of God and Christ denominations. The reason I became a practitioner of Buddhism had little to do with goings on in the church. The allure of Buddhism for me was its promise of liberation from dogma, doctrines, and dilemmas that had nothing to do my personal spiritual path. Still, I and many others outside the Christian fold have a little church in us. The Five Blind Boys', "Amazing Grace," Shirley Ceasar's, "No Charge," James Cleveland, "No Cross, No Crown," and so on are as great an inspiration for human patience, tolerance, resilience, and redemption as any Buddhist sutra or tantra. Even in my remote spiritual outpost of Lamaism the status of the Black Church retains a deeply personal significance at the core of my being. My heart goes out to all those who devotedly remain in the pews and now suffer as a result of yet another emerging pulpit controversy.
Most of us know there's something familiar about concerns raised over New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's pastor, Bishop Eddie Long. Infidelities, presence of the gay community in church leadership, inappropriate trysts, and so on have always fueled gossip as part of church culture and legacy. Perhaps recently what used to get by with a wink and nod has become spectacle in print and TV news media.
The problems in the church regarding conflict of sexual practice versus doctrinal dictate are more pervasive than most imagine; occurring notably in the pulpit as well as the pews by the church's own admission.
As loving members of the Black community we, Buddhist men and meditators, can express a sincerity of compassionate concern for atonement among our Christian brethren despite their view of us as outside those heaven bound. We can and perhaps must honor voices of the innocent, unjustly harmed, and spiritually maligned. Their voices are our voices. they are our neighbors, family, friends, colleagues, and sometimes our cultural representatives.
