Hallelujah! RNC & COGIC Leaders To Meet
Bishops Explain Why
Bishops Explain Why
Note from the Editor
May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014
Leaders of the Republican National Committee and leaders of the Church of God In Christ will meet in Memphis. We are grateful that the leaders of both organizations saw the need for this historic meeting.
However, we hope the Chairman of the RNC will remind COGIC Leadership that virtually every problem now facing low-income black Americans can be traced back to a failed Democrat Party policy which later became law.
Regardless of how well-intentioned, these laws have had a very negative impact on the traditional black family and indeed all families in America. For example, the Community Reinvestment Act was signed into law by President Carter. It relaxed lending guidelines for banks in order to spur loan activity from a community bank to customers in their communities from which they took deposits. Good intention, yes. Unintended back consequences, emphatically yes!
The “Act’s” objective became the objective of larger mortgage bankers pushed by Democrat members of Congress. They demanded that large mortgage bankers reduce their underwriting standards and set Fannie Mae up as the guarantor of those loans. The result was a flood of sub-prime mortgage loans to borrowers who did not earn the income to pay them back. The final result was widespread foreclosures and millions of black families lost hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth (in the form of equity in paid off homes which they sold to get into new homes). It took a century to build up that much wealth, but only a decade to wipe it all out.
The misguided policy of Separation of Church and State pushed by Democrats resulted in prayer being removed from our public schools and chaos being ushered in. In fact, in some urban school districts, the high school dropout rate is as high as 80{24e2faabf6c4e4c68c7d1e5171a75367baed607248a00a7b284da03699b04829}, which means the graduation rate is as low as 20{24e2faabf6c4e4c68c7d1e5171a75367baed607248a00a7b284da03699b04829} and many of those graduates cannot read at grade level.
The U.S. Dept of Education reports that a black male student who drops out of high school has nearly a 100{24e2faabf6c4e4c68c7d1e5171a75367baed607248a00a7b284da03699b04829} chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. And the fact is, public schools in America are run by Democrats.
Another misguided policy of the Democrats was the stripping away of parental rights making it easy for young girls to gain access to an abortion through their school counselor. Planned Parenthood is more than happy to perform the abortion. This partnership between School and Clinic is nothing more than slow genocide. Yet Democrat leaders provide nearly half a billion dollars a year in your tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. And, Democrat leaders dutifully attend Plan Parenthood’s annual convention where they are given dubious awards while reflecting no sense of shame or concern for the long-term consequences.
Oh, and on the subject of families, remember President Obama was fortraditional marriage before he was for same-sex marriage.
I could list a dozen other bad policies, but in summary, Democrat Party policies have been bad for black voters. Period!
But now, there is a “ray of hope” that things may be beginning to change and I want you to read about one such ray of hope below.
Keep The Faith,
Church of God In Christ (COGIC) Leadership
Welcomes RNC To Memphis
Encourages Dialogue and Engagement with The Republican Party
Shared Values …. Shared Goals
By: Bishops E. Charles Connor and David Allen Hall, Sr
By: Bishops E. Charles Connor and David Allen Hall, Sr
Memphis, Tennessee—May 6, 2014. As the Republican National Committee (RNC)descends upon Memphis, Tennessee, the International Headquarters of the Church Of God In Christ, Inc., (COGIC), we’re happy to welcome Committee members to Memphis. We look forward to a dialogue and to building relationships.
Some may question why the Church Of God In Christ is willing to sit down and engage the RNC. The answer is simple: Over 100 years ago, our denomination was founded at a time when Black Americans voted predominately Republican. The Republican Party and the Church of God in Christ has a shared history, has shared values and have set shared goals.
Today the COGIC is the largest Black Pentecostal faith organization with more than 5 million members.
The local pastors and leaders of our denomination are concerned about the direction in which the Black Community is headed. In fact, we as leaders are concerned about the direction in which our nation is headed.
We do not deny or shy away from the fact that while denominational doctrines are conservative, in the 21st century we do not have much of a relationship with the Republican Party which is the conservative party.
A little over a year ago RNC Chairman Rience Preibus, released the Growth and Opportunity Project, which set out an aggressive agenda to engage the Black community. I immediately after its release the RNC reached out to Church leadership, to begin a dialogue based on mutual respect and understanding of our Shared Values and Shared Goals.
The RNC has made it clear that strengthening families is it priority and doing so is good for America’s future and we could not agree more.
Under the leadership of COGIC Presiding Bishop, Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr, the Church Of God In Christ unveiled its Urban Initiative which focuses on 5 key issues:
1. Education Reform
2. Creating job and economic development
2. Creating job and economic development
3. Reducing crime
4. Family formation focusing on traditional marriage
5. Preserving the American Dream through charity & prosperity
4. Family formation focusing on traditional marriage
5. Preserving the American Dream through charity & prosperity
It is with these key issues that we will begin our dialogue. As leaders in the Church Of God In Christ, we both understood that we cannot advance our agenda with a relationship with only the Democratic Party alone.
We hope this meeting will encourage other Black organizations to open a dialogue with the RNC because our community must work with both parties in order to advance our agenda.
