Civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. loved to remind his white ministerial colleagues, along with any white policymakers willing to listen, that "eleven o'clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour" of the week. Eleven o'clock is when most Protestant churches open worship services.
King was showing whites - who considered themselves to be Christians - the sharp conflict between racism and Christian ideals.
Explaining King's pronouncement, African-American theologian James Cone wrote: "In the old slavery days, the church preached that slavery was a divine decree, and it used the Bible as the basis of its authority. ... Not only did Christianity fail to offer the (black) hope of freedom in the world, but the manner in which Christianity was communicated to him tended to degrade him. The (black) was taught that his enslavement was due to the fact that he had been cursed by God. ... Parts of the Bible were carefully selected to prove that God had intended that the (black) should be the servant of the white man..."
Master and servant, therefore, could not inhabit the same place of worship together.
Forty years after King's words, 11 a.m. Sunday remains a time when two Americas - one white, one black - go separate ways. But Bishop Fred Caldwell, pastor of Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., decided that King's words did not have to be destiny, at least not for his traditionally black congregation.
USA Today reports that Caldwell has devised a scheme for diversifying his church: He will pay white people to attend. That is right. Caldwell says he will pay whites $5 per hour to sit in the pews on Sunday and $10 per hour for Thursday service.
Pay whites to attend?
"Our churches are too segregated, and the Lord never intended for that to happen," Caldwell told USA Today. "It's time for something radical. ... I just want the kingdom of God to look like it's supposed to."
Based on history, the good bishop will need a miracle to succeed. With only a few exceptions, attempts to bring substantial, permanent race-mixing into U.S. churches has been a miserable failure. Lord knows, hundreds of earnest preachers, black and white, have tried. I know because I have written about many efforts in several states.
I have seen churches do "choir visitations" - the black choir sings at the white church one Sunday, and the white choir goes to the black church at another time. I have seen dinner swaps, prayer meetings and other efforts.
Unitarians used to ask me how to get more blacks to attend their services. I always had the same answer: Blacks will not attend Unitarian churches because Unitarians are the worst singers in the world. Obviously, my quip was a joke, but it held a modicum of truth. My point was that blacks and whites have different styles of worship, and they would always experience awkwardness when they tried to mix.
Sure, this or that black attends this or that Catholic church, and this or that white attends this or that black Baptist church. These are exceptions. I am talking about the general rule.
Although I still believe that styles of worship make blacks and whites go their separate ways at 11, I also believe that plain old American racism keeps them apart.
Here is what professor Peter Huff, chairman of the religion department at Centenary College in Shreveport, told USA Today: "(Caldwell has) hit on the problem. All of the best motives have not been able to overcome the racial divide. Just showing people that racism conflicts with the Gospel seems not to be enough."
Then, show them the money.
Which is what Caldwell will do. When I first read the story, I dismissed the man as a kook. I changed my mind. We use money to get everything else done, so why not use it to diversify the pews? Money, not love and understanding, brings whites and blacks to the same shopping malls. Money permits whites and blacks to live together in upscale neighborhoods and attend the same exclusive schools. And so on.
Well, why not use money to entice whites and blacks to attend the same church? I telephoned Caldwell but did not speak with him. Two church members, however, told me that they accept using the almighty dollar to this end. All whites have to do to collect is come to Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Baptist Church, sign in and enjoy the service.
For now, Caldwell will pay them out of his pocket. If he gets too many takers, he will ask his flock to pass the plate.
Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning at Greenwood Acres may become less segregated.
