Versión de HTML Básico
Race Relations
361
he nevertheless must acknowledge his own involvement in the social
system which permits such injustices and encourages and even re
quires other forms of discrimination.
The Christian is called by the Redeemer, in the second place,
to manifest the love which he has received in his relationships with
the neighbor. This means that he is summoned to meet the neighbor
in his needs with the kind of action which will minister to his needs
for acceptance on a level of dignity and equality, for the establishment
of a relationship of mutual fellowship and service, for justice in the
social life, and for freedom from fear of humiliation as well as from
fear of economic and legal disadvantage or even of physical violence.
Action that is directed toward these ends represents the concrete
reality of love in the realm of race relations; and the Christian who
is aware of the depth of God’s forgiving love is free to devote himself
henceforth to the service of the neighbor without fear of the guilt
which he may incur by throwing himself into the concrete struggles
of good with evil in the political, economic, ecclesiastical, and social
life of the day. He is able to accept the fact that many of the choices
which he will need to make if he is to be an effective w7orker for
the amelioration of social evils will be choices between alternatives
all of which involve some evil consequences. If he is not willing to
participate in the struggle for racial justice on this basis, his only re
maining option is the futile one of seeking to wash his hands of any
responsibility for the evils he deplores. This problem confronts the
Negro and the white in the South today in a particularly poignant
way, but it also confronts many who live in other sections of the
country and who are faced with segregated churches, restricted neigh
borhoods, and discriminatory employment policies. Shall those who
feel the tension between the patterns of discrimination and their
own ideals move to areas or situations where their actions will not
be restricted by the prejudiced attitudes and practices of segregated
communities? Shall the person with political ability and interest and
with a desire to make the political structures of a city or state the
instruments of greater justice be willing to “compromise” and engage
in a process of gradual change? Or, should the morally sensitive per
son refuse to get involved in the compromises that are demanded
if the effort to promote greater social justice through political action
is to be successful? Should the minister who believes that all local
churches should receive persons into their membership without regard
to race refuse to become the pastor of a congregation which will not