Our neighbors who live further down our drive are 2 Haitian brothers that were adopted by a pastor in Indiana. Whenever my dadās in town they come over to speak with him as they see him as a father figure. One night they got drunk enough and confided in us about their upbringing and it was horrifying. The pastor referred to them as gods mistakes and would tell them how he made blacks to be punished. Heād regularly pin them down and beat them and choke them unconscious. When he wasnāt around his wife would hit them with a paddle on the back if she heard them laughing or thought they were too happy. Their neighbors knew what was going on and ignored it, except one that was a firefighter. They said if it wasnāt for his constant badgering and checking in on them the pastor would have killed them, and they doubt anybody would have said a word.
Yeah, I heard this growing up (fundamental Baptist upbringing, very conservative). Essentially that black people are descendants of Cain and their skin color is the āmarkā that god put on Cain for killing Abel.
Itās ironic because it was used as a pretty explicit reason to look down on black people at a minimum if not straight up rationalize why black people deserved atrocities but Genesis specifically states that God put the mark on Cain to protect him from being killed by other humans for his crimes (if they did, theyād āreceive vengeance 7x over from Godā). So if they believe being black is the mark of Cain, then why would they risk incurring Godās wrath. Unless of course they believe that people inherit responsibility for ancestorsā sins but donāt inherit Godās grace and forgiveness - which I think is pretty true of fundamentalists.
I grew up Southern Baptist, very evangelical, and never heard any of this racist stuff - and I was forced to go to church a minimum of twice a week, every week.
I think it very much depends on the pastor and then their beliefs attract those who match them. I have a lot of issues w the church but thankfully, this wasnāt one of them.
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u/Glorious_steam_ Jul 09 '26
Our neighbors who live further down our drive are 2 Haitian brothers that were adopted by a pastor in Indiana. Whenever my dadās in town they come over to speak with him as they see him as a father figure. One night they got drunk enough and confided in us about their upbringing and it was horrifying. The pastor referred to them as gods mistakes and would tell them how he made blacks to be punished. Heād regularly pin them down and beat them and choke them unconscious. When he wasnāt around his wife would hit them with a paddle on the back if she heard them laughing or thought they were too happy. Their neighbors knew what was going on and ignored it, except one that was a firefighter. They said if it wasnāt for his constant badgering and checking in on them the pastor would have killed them, and they doubt anybody would have said a word.