White churches tolerated black presence in outreach roles but panicked at black worship participation

Evidence

But among the older members of the church, our friend Michael’s Sunday-morning visit generated a buzz of anxious conversation. It was one thing to allow black kids to participate in extracurricular church activities, but it was another to allow them to attend worship or Sunday school. His presence among us raised a frenzy of anxious questions. What if he wanted to join the church as a member? What if, in an era in which African American and white children sharing community pools was still uncomfortable to most whites in the South, he wanted to be baptized by full immersion in the sanctuary’s baptismal pool installed so visibly above the choir loft? What if his entire family wanted to join the church? And, God forbid, what if Michael became an active member of the youth group and wanted to date one of our white teenage girls? … The anxious need to be prepared for, and possibly intervene in, these potential eventualities resulted in an emergency deacons’ meeting the following week. I don’t know what happened at that meeting, and the issue quickly dissipated, as our friend had simply wanted to visit and had no interest in joining the church. But the events stayed with me and pushed an uncomfortable fact into my consciousness: that a black kid sitting in the pews among us was perceived as a much greater threat than a black prison inmate performing on our church stage. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 157

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: White churches actively produced white supremacy rather than merely tolerating it — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 102; White churches historically functioned as agents upholding racist social structures — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 1055; White American churches historically worshipped a Jesus who demanded racial hierarchy. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 31 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• White churches actively produced white supremacy rather than merely tolerating it #expands (0.82) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 102
• National pro-civil-rights white church bodies concealed congregational white supremacy #expands (0.82) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 185
• White churches historically functioned as agents upholding racist social structures #expands (0.78) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1055
• White Christian theology adapted to changing times only by shifting to subtler racism #expands (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 234
• White American churches historically worshipped a Jesus who demanded racial hierarchy. #qualifies (0.72) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 31
• White mission aid treated blacks as both mission field and threat to national order #exemplifies (0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 528