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i am just making a general observation and asking why are most churches in our area segregated? what role does color play in spirituality? i'm not condemning anyone, just want to know why this is the way it is in 2011.
No, the <gasp!> was more than justified. Shall I elaborate?
Let's work through this.
Firstly, your use of the word Segregated is innaccurate as evidenced by the fact that none of those churches tossed you out on your keister. If you truly desired it, you could join any of them and become a member.
Secondly, many religions, Christian and otherwise, have a historical link to particular cultural or ethnic groups. There are Syrian Jews, Coptic (Egyptian) Christians, Tibbetan Buddhists, Armenian churches, etc. Again, you could join any of them if you so desired. Its not like Richard Gere was stopped from becoming a Tibetan Buddhist.
Finally, implying that this worldwide and very common aspect of religion is unique to the DC area is both myopic and ignorant.
By all means, join the Korean church. I am sure you will learn Korean in no time.
it's not a "southern" thing or a "d.c." thing...MOST churches in the U.S. are segregated...
welcome to religion in the U.S.
btw I have a problem with the word "segregated"...it's not like these churches have a "whites sit here" sign propped up. These churches were founded by certain people and naturally certain people flock to these places. They go to these places for not ONLY spirtual guidance but to be around people they can relate to, people they don't have to put on a front with every day out of the week....just to have a break and simply commune with people....not hiding one's culture to fit in and be accepted........I don't understand the Asian/Latino Experience just like they wouldn't understand the African American Experience but I do know it's good to be around people you can just "talk" with about your struggles and they immediately understand..... That goes for any race, whether black, white, Asian, Latino, etc in a social environment.....and yes Church is a social environment, it's not school, it's not work...it's a place people choose to commune at just like a picnic.
It's not segregation...it's not racist...it's not evil...I mean Jesus, can groups of Minorities ACTUALLY hang out together without non-minorities/people of other races thinking that we're "segregating" them......
Just go to a church and learn from the experience...and if it doesn't fit MOVE ON....
shouldn't you be there to serve god though? doesn't god hear black, white, asian, latino, etc struggles all the same? maybe that's the problem. people using a place of worship for everything BUT worship.
No, the <gasp!> was more than justified. Shall I elaborate?
Let's work through this.
Firstly, your use of the word Segregated is innaccurate as evidenced by the fact that none of those churches tossed you out on your keister. If you truly desired it, you could join any of them and become a member.
Secondly, many religions, Christian and otherwise, have a historical link to particular cultural or ethnic groups. There are Syrian Jews, Coptic (Egyptian) Christians, Tibbetan Buddhists, Armenian churches, etc. Again, you could join any of them if you so desired. Its not like Richard Gere was stopped from becoming a Tibetan Buddhist.
Finally, implying that this worldwide and very common aspect of religion is unique to the DC area is both myopic and ignorant.
By all means, join the Korean church. I am sure you will learn Korean in no time.
clearly you are book smart, perhaps street smarts escaped you.
let's work through this shall we
segregated used in this context is acceptable. you chose to focus on one definition of the word to make your point and at the same time neglected the fact that it can be used in the context of setting apart or separating from others of the same kind or group, i.e. "black church" or "white church" or "asian church" or "hispanic church".
secondly, implying that this is a worldwide and very common aspect of religion is about as myopic and ignorant as me saying it is localized to this area. i've been around this world quite a few times. i'm not shooting from the hip. there are no black muslim mosque in japan. there are no white churches in saudi.
maybe you should try reading the post first and answering with common sense before sticking your finger in a hornets nest. you pseudo message board intellects kill me. try not to take yourself so seriously next time chief.
clearly you are book smart, perhaps street smarts escaped you.
let's work through this shall we
segregated used in this context is acceptable. you chose to focus on one definition of the word to make your point and at the same time neglected the fact that it can be used in the context of setting apart or separating from others of the same kind or group, i.e. "black church" or "white church" or "asian church" or "hispanic church".
secondly, implying that this is a worldwide and very common aspect of religion is about as myopic and ignorant as me saying it is localized to this area. i've been around this world quite a few times. i'm not shooting from the hip. there are no black muslim mosque in japan. there are no white churches in saudi.
maybe you should try reading the post first and answering with common sense before sticking your finger in a hornets nest. you pseudo message board intellects kill me. try not to take yourself so seriously next time chief.
Excuse me! Your question was gracioously answered by myself and someone else. Trying to bring Saudi Arabia into the discussion is a variant of "changing the subject" which tells me you are just here to make noise and argue for the sake of arguing. Now please, grow up or walk the plank. Bye.
Excuse me! Your question was gracioously answered by myself and someone else. Trying to bring Saudi Arabia into the discussion is a variant of "changing the subject" which tells me you are just here to make noise and argue for the sake of arguing. Now please, grow up or walk the plank. Bye.
so childish. u brought the world into this argument to make a silly point, not me. u wanted to make this into a debate, not me. clearly your intent wasn't to bring something enlightening to this convo, you just wanted to wax poetic and try to look as if you were more cultured/intelligent than others. so yeah, in the words of the great doug e. fresh SEE YA & I WOULDN'T WANNA BE YA
I thought the spanish and korean churches were there in large part due to language? In VA, there are churches with different congregations by language sharing the same building, and I was under the impression even RC churches sometimes had spanish language masses, etc.
plus there is the natural tendency of immigrants to flock together for community. While most Synagogues around here have a wide variety of origins, in the early 20th c in NYC there were synagogues for folks from a particular town, like the famouse Bialystoker Shul (hasidim still do something like that, but for different reasons).
The black-white divide in American Protestantism is somewhat different in its origins, though not entirely.
I will say the last time I was in a church was a Presby one in Alexandria (we do ecumenical things with them) and while mainly white, they had some black members.
While I agree that most churches in the US are very segregated. You should try a non-demoninational church. I go to Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg. Its got everybody up in there.
it's not a "southern" thing or a "d.c." thing...MOST churches in the U.S. are segregated...
welcome to religion in the U.S.
btw I have a problem with the word "segregated"...it's not like these churches have a "whites sit here" sign propped up. These churches were founded by certain people and naturally certain people flock to these places. They go to these places for not ONLY spirtual guidance but to be around people they can relate to, people they don't have to put on a front with every day out of the week....just to have a break and simply commune with people....not hiding one's culture to fit in and be accepted........I don't understand the Asian/Latino Experience just like they wouldn't understand the African American Experience but I do know it's good to be around people you can just "talk" with about your struggles and they immediately understand..... That goes for any race, whether black, white, Asian, Latino, etc in a social environment.....and yes Church is a social environment, it's not school, it's not work...it's a place people choose to commune at just like a picnic.
It's not segregation...it's not racist...it's not evil...I mean Jesus, can groups of Minorities ACTUALLY hang out together without non-minorities/people of other races thinking that we're "segregating" them......
Just go to a church and learn from the experience...and if it doesn't fit MOVE ON....
You hit the nail right on the head! Segregation is the wrong word for this in most cases. Sure, there may be some guilty of that, but not most.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,701 posts, read 41,816,786 times
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I attended an Assembly of God church in Alexandria for my years in the DC area and it had the most mixed congregation I've ever seen. Actually Assembly of God churches seem to be more likely to have racially diverse congregations.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,701 posts, read 41,816,786 times
Reputation: 41403
Quote:
Originally Posted by meatkins
Because the church has mixed their beliefs with the world culture. There is nothing Biblical about the separation of church by denomination or race or whatever. The church has become divided because our culture is divided, especially in this area. A lot churches will look at people funny if someone of a different race pops up but that's not what it's about.
I definitely agree with this.
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