Window on Our Ongoing Segregation

I was at first surprised, and had to rewind. It came during a podcast I enjoy—which will remain unnamed—targeted at young leaders in the evangelical church. The moderator asked the audience to email in responses to this question:

“How many of your evangelical friends are truly considering, or have already stated, ‘I'm going to vote for [Obama]’ --versus McCain? How many of your evangelical, Christ-follower friends are saying, ‘I’m not going to vote at all’?”

The fact that this question is asked makes one thing obvious: The black church is not on the radar screen here.

Nine out of ten African Americans are planning on voting for Obama. Since far more than 10% of African Americans would consider themselves “Christ-followers”, it's safe to say that a runaway majority of the black church is voting for him.

But the question tells us that we still live in different worlds. And since a large chunk of my life straddles this divide, it makes me sad—and makes me feel a little homeless.

Please note: I’m not calling these people racist. I’m merely noting that if we—as a church—were in real communion with each other, we wouldn’t wonder if “Christ followers” were voting for Obama. We’d just understand that the church has not made up its mind about the presidential vote.

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