Religious racism?

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Looks like I'm on a roll with the newspaper thing. Didn't intend it that way.

Today it's the Tribune's turn. I wish I could direct you to the articles itself on their web site, but as far as I know, they still don't have an active one. www.tribunemedia.net is empty.

Anyway ... today's Religion Section sports an article by Petura Burrows which in essence is about racism in religion here. And it's obvious that the background premise came out of one corner only: that there are - somewhere in the Bahamas - white churches who exclude ... or simply don't have ... black members. Never mind the wealth of unintegrated black churches.

Why would someone start out with such a misconception in the first place? Is this the Bahamas - with an 85/15 black/white split? Or the US? Can't we tell the difference between media coverage of "reality" Stateside vs. life here in the Bahamas?

Where I worship, my experience is that black and white have always shared values, the same communion loaf and the same communion cup. Since forever. At least as long as I can remember. Black and white all minister, participate, sing and pray together.

The point is not that it's perfect. It's not. I'm not saying it always was or is as it should be. The culture at large - and it's shifting emphases and acceptabilities - has always played a part in how people get along. Once upon a time in Bahamian churches, ladies sat on one side, and men on the other.

It's been a looooong time since there were any exclusively white churches in the Bahamas. Maybe never in living memory. And yet we still waste ink and paper writing about phantom concepts borrowed from someplace else - some other time. And "yuck up people wexation" over nothing.

On the other hand, it would never occur to anyone - would it? - that any of the vast majority of Bahamian churches which have no whites in attendance are "racist".

How balanced - how thoughtful - is that?