Moral Issues And The Black Church: An Interview With Bishop Harry Jackson
Jackson: I think it is important because the application gives us a way of changing society. In Matthew 5, Jesus says we are the salt of the earth, and if salt has lost its flavor, it is fit for nothing but to be trodden under foot. My concern is that unless we bring things back to the culture and sift it through personal reality, corporate reality, and cultural context, then we stop short of helping people really find out how to change our world, reform our society. The first great awakening and the second great awakening both had social justice items to them. I think that is so critical. We should be able to take the Bible and the newspaper and preach the Bible in such a way that we bring biblical answers to the problems we face in the newspaper. That is my goal on the justice issue.
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Preaching: What are some of the specific justice issues that you think the evangelical church needs to address?
Jackson: We’ve come up with a something called the Black Contract with American Moral Values. The first major item is family reconstruction or the whole marriage protection amendment. We have got to protect marriage. If not we will wind up with total disaster -- more crime, more everything. So I think the first and probably most important issue is marriage.
Second is poverty if you take seriously the poverty exhortations Jesus gives. Matthew 25 says we are to visit the sick, we are to visit the prisoner, and we are to care for the poor. I think the poverty issues are very, very critical, meaning that there are some things we should legislate politically to help alleviate the poverty. The Great Society programs didn’t do what they were designed to do. We need some creativity there. I tie into poverty issues like education reform. There is no reason why we can’t have school choice or charter schools that really empower minority youth and others to get an opportunity to change their lives. I think education in America is a great cultural “class pass,” if you will. Because of my Ivy League education, I got to go places that my grandfather -- who went to second grade -- never was able to get to.
Another major moral issue is health care. Jesus said you visited me when I was sick. The fact that there are so many Americans -- 20% of all Americans, black, white or whatever -- that don’t have health care. Suffice it to say if I hadn’t had health care with my own personal problems I wouldn’t be here today. I believe the Lord has called us to make a difference. So those are the top ones on my list.
Preaching: If someone wanted information on that Black Contract for America where would they find it?
Jackson: You’d find it at www.hilc.net -- that stands for High Impact Leadership Coalition. That’s the easiest way to find it.