Matthew Dyer@DyerMatthewD
Should Churches Be Segregated?
When the subject of biblical kinism arises, one may wonder if it is proper if Churches should be racially mixed. With the rising number of immigrants from all nationalities flooding America, as well as every other western nation, it’s a valid question.
With the scriptural evidence already provided in this book that reveals God intended for the different races to be separate, it should be clear that this would include membership of a local congregation. As one example, if there was ever a time in biblical history for God to communicate to Israel that they should have a mixed congregation would have been during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (see chapter 2). All these Israelite men would have had to do is divorce their foreign wives in order to repent from their sin and then teach each group of people they were forbidden to marry one another within the congregation. But this is not what happened. The Israelites separated from these people and sent them away.
Nehemiah 13:3 states:
“Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.”
The Israelites were convicted on separating from these foreigners when they heard the Law of God. Among the scriptures being read, I imagine one of the laws might have been Leviticus 20:26 that says God “severed [separated] you from other people, that ye should be mine.” I believe the reason segregation is necessary, besides the command to be separate, is because if you have a mixed congregation, it is highly probable in time some of the children will marry someone outside of their race. Certainly, this is one of the reasons the Israelites sent their foreign wives and children away, in order that those of their own posterity would not be tempted to commit the same sin they did. This position on keeping the races separate from each other from a biblical point of view has been held by both white and black Christians not long ago in America. The following quote is from a black minister named Rev. Tebo Wilson, who pastored the Sweet Rest Baptist Church in Franklinton, LA, stating his position on segregated Churches:
“In the south United States, where there is a heavy negro population, I favor segregation, a hundred percent. I am against integration, and I want my people to know it, and I am telling them at every opportunity that the Southern white man is our best friend because he has been helping us in every way possible for many years. We need the Southern white man’s leadership, and they are not misleading us like those outsiders are doing. We had better stick to our home friends and follow their guidance. I believe if integration does come that it will cause plenty of trouble. We will not have any trouble brought upon us if we do not follow the bad advice of outsiders. I am a peace loving, law abiding American citizen, born in Louisiana. I have been a minister of the Gospel fourteen years. I preach to my congregation that which I believe is right and that integration is wrong since segregation as God has done is and as the old prophets ordered it, the keeping of God’s different races to themselves is the best for the negro and the white races. It is wrong to send our people to strange churches and our little children into strange schools… I give this statement of my own free will, in fact, I insisted to a white friend that I would like to add my voice and my efforts in helping to maintain peaceful relations among our people. I think Mr. Lanier is doing a wonderful thing by resisting integration and I never met a finer fair man.”
Charles Hodge, a well-known reformed Presbyterian theologian who was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878, wrote the following in his book Emancipation concerning the mixing of the races:
“Another feature of that plan was the expatriation of the liberated blacks. This also when feasible is wise. There are natural laws which forbid the union of distinct races in the same commonwealth. Where the difference is slight, as between Saxons and Celts, or the Teutonic and Romaic families, the different elements are soon fused. But even here we find that they often refuse to combine and remain apart for ages, the weaker constantly sinking, and the stronger constantly advancing. We have examples of this in the French paysans of Canada, and Louisiana. The effect of the amalgamation of distinct races is seen in the physically, intellectually and socially degraded mongrel inhabitants of Mexico and South America. In these cases the chief elements were the Spanish and Indians, elements less widely separated than the Anglo Saxon and the Negro. The amalgamation of these races must inevitably lead to the deterioration of both. It would fill the country with a feeble and degraded population, which must ultimately perish. For it is a well ascertained fact that the mulatto is far more frail than either the white man or the negro. "We read in the disastrous physical effects of the amalgamation of the blacks and whites, a clear intimation that such amalgamation is contrary to the will of God, and therefore is not an end which statesmen ought in any way to facilitate.”
Pastor Henry W. Fancher wrote the following in his book Segregation: God’s Plan and Purpose:
“The MASTER in HIS intercessory prayer made this plea: “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” John 17:11. Recently some writer quoted the words “may be one” as an argument for doing away with our requirements of separation, and as a reason why white people should attend the services of negro churches, and vice versa, if not join them. But what kind of oneness does JESUS have in mind in this phrase? Do not the following words, “even as we are” tell what HE meant? Since GOD and HIS son exist only as Spirits, their unity could be nothing but spiritual. JESUS must, therefore, be making a petition for the spiritual unity of all believers. It is very clear that those who oppose separate schools, colleges, churches, and public gathering for white peoples and negroes want to destroy both races and people our country with mulattoes. Those who want to put the MASTER’S stamp of approval upon the inter marriage of whites and blacks do not find authority to do so in this verse of scripture.”
Dr. Guy T. Gillespie, who was a pastor in the PCUS (Presbyterian Church in the United States) and president of the denomination’s school of Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, wrote the following in his book A Christian View of Segregation:
“The problem has also been complicated by the worldwide spread of Karl Marx's doctrine of Internationalism and classless society, combined with the vigorous propaganda of Soviet Communism to bring about a world revolution and break down of all national and racial distinctions and to effect the complete amalgamation of all races… At present the rank and file of the negro race are not particularly interested in intermarriage with the white race, and if left to themselves would probably never seek it; however, the self-appointed leaders of the anti-segregation movement are not only fully aware of the inherent and logical implications of their demand for the repudiation of the principle of segregation, but make bold to declare that the goal which they seek in America is "a social democracy which either begins with marriage, or necessarily includes marriage in its ideals and principles”
Pastor Carey Daniel D.D., who pastored The First Baptist Church of West Dallas, said the following in his book God the Original Segregationist:
"But the oneness here, like the oneness Jesus prayed for in John 17:11, is purely spiritual and not physical. Neither this nor any other Scripture contradicts God's fixed laws of racial segregation. This verse does not, as some well-meaning people keep insisting nowadays, require the social mingling of Negroes and white people in our schools and churches or anywhere else. It does not require, for example, that I allow my daughter to marry a negro, and I would be a fool to think that impossible if desegregation in our public schools is thrust upon us. Does anyone really doubt that intermarriage and mongrelization are inevitable if this happens? Does anyone actually think it possible to mix millions of black and white school children in the close and constant association of classrooms, the playground and the dining hall without having to invite both together to all the parties, swims, dances and other social activities? The negro would scream "discrimination" to the skies if they were left out. And can any sensible person imagine such a situation as that without the interracial dating, courtship and marriage (not to mention worse evils) that would naturally follow?”
Pastor John W. Duggar, who pastored the Parkview Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi, wrote the following in his book God’s Answer to Segregation: A Scriptural Treatment of the Racial Issue:
“God does not accept a mixture of heresy and truth. The does not justify the means, for the lawful cannot be attained in God's sight by unlawful means. Christ warned his disciples to beware of the leaven (doctrine) of the Pharisees. The same God who will not condone these mixtures in religion or worship would hardly approve the mixing of the races which, in Genesis chapter nine and many other Scriptures by precept and example, he decreed to be separate."
NOTE: This is a section out of my book A Case for Biblical Kinism. Read for free at ChristianAmericaMinistries.org or order a copy on Amazon.
