I Happen to be a Christian

Lessons in Black History
“I Happen to be a Christian”


The greatest strength of the Civil Rights movement was its insistence on non-violence. Using the Gospels as his guide, Dr. King and his organization spent hours teaching African Americans how to resist violent altercations with opponents of civil rights, relying on the “turn the other cheek” directive given by Jesus.
Some people thought, however, that Dr. King’s tactics were anti-Christian, and thought that non-violence incited people to attack each other. A conversation that Dr. King had on a flight with a white person went this way:
“A well dressed young passenger across the aisle recognized Dr. King. ‘I happen to be a Christian,’ he repeated several times, asking with a polite edge whether King thought he advocated ‘the same love Jesus taught’ even though King’s methods ‘incited one man against another.’ King replied that nonviolence aimed at a ‘love that is strong so that you love your fellow men enough to lead them to justice.’ He asked whether his questioner thought segregation was Christian. ‘I was anticipating that,’ the passenger warily replied, adding that he was less resolved on the large issue than on his hunch that King’s methods were ‘causing more harm than good.’ King asked what methods the passenger suggested, which eventually elicited an opinion that the new civil rights law was harmful, too, and would ‘just carry on the trend toward federal dictatorship.’ When he expressed his inclination to vote for Goldwater, they lightened the stakes by sparring over presidential election odds until the passenger moved to another seat.” (Taylor Branch, “Pillar of Fire,” p. 410)
White people upset by the thought of black people having civil and voting rights believed that such efforts would turn the United States into a socialist country. Members of the Republican Party, the “party of Lincoln,” began to leave their party and become Democrats, joining the ranks of well established Southern Democrats. To be for the rights of all people was to be “liberal,” and out of line with the principles established by the United States Constitution. Up until the civil rights movement, Republicans had been more aligned behind and in support of “Negro rights,” but it seems that their definition of “rights” was limited and the civil rights act definitely expanded the sphere beyond what most could accept. The federal government became the enemy as it pushed through the civil rights act, and the political ideology of Republicans shifted, representing white people who opposed civil and voting rights, while black people aligned themselves with Democrats, whose leader, President Lyndon Johnson, had pushed the civil rights bill through Congress.
Clearly, the idea of being a “Christian” was seen differently by whites and blacks. Many whites, opposed to rights for black people, said that Jesus himself believed in a stratified, separated, segregated society. The late Sen. Robert Byrd, arguing against passage of the Civil Rights bill, said, “If all men are created equal, how could five of the virgins have been wise and five foolish?” He further said that he had listened to the giants of theology and evangelism and wondered why they had never mentioned race, and, finally, he said that he had searched the scriptures and had found no scriptural basis upon which the Congress was obligated to pass the civil rights legislation.
People happened to be Christian, but clearly, the understanding and interpretation of the Gospels left wiggle room for those who sought Biblical justification.