Finally some good news in race relations for South Carolina!  For a state that is accustomed to ranking last in many areas which normal citizens wish to be first, South Carolina is finally on the cutting edge of a race issue.  The S.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church has become the first statewide religious organization to apologize for its past racism.  This is an extraordinary step, and one that should make all South Carolinians proud.

            We have all heard that segregation is alive and well in the South, especially on Sundays at 11:00 a.m.  Despite professing to worship the same God, and often times sharing the same religious denominations, most Sunday services remain steadfastly black or white.  This is a division that is rooted in our history. 

I am a member of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.  The name gives away its origin.  Scores of black worshippers in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church over church-sanctioned discrimination, and under the leadership of Richard Allen founded the AME church in the early 1800s.  They reported being pulled off their knees while in prayer and ordered to the balcony.  Such un-Christian conduct drove black Methodists to form their own parish in which to worship in dignity.

Despite the division, racism remained within the Methodist structure.  As the Methodist church evolved in the 20^th century, it instituted policies that separated whites and its remaining black members.  In South Carolina, whites were divided up among five regional jurisdictions of the church, and all black Methodists made up the Central Jurisdiction.  In 1968, shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1994 became the law of the land, the Methodist Church changed its policy and became the United Methodists they are known as today.

Last week, black and white leaders and members of the United Methodist church joined hands with leaders and members of AME church in a ceremony of forgiveness and repentance.  Words of apology were offered and accepted.  Faith in mankind and a higher power was renewed.

Still all those in attendance agreed, the ceremony was largely symbolic.  The real test of this reconciliation will be in the days to come.  Most people in word denounce racism, but their deeds clearly demonstrate the opposite.    

In the last ten years, South Carolina has endured a rash of black church burnings so severe its cessation became a national cause.   The President of the United States came to South Carolina to participate in the rededication of one of the sanctuaries.  Our state has struggled over the prominence of the Confederate battle flag on our state capitol grounds.   And now legislative attempts are being made to take away voting rights of thousands in South Carolina even after they have completed their court ordered sentences.  

There is still much work to be done on the issue of race in our state and nation.  But the gesture made by the South Carolina Conference of United Methodist Churches is a significant step in the right direction.  The church is the moral compass of our society, and as such, it should lead the way on issues of moral consequence like racism.

I applaud the efforts of this forward thinking denomination, and hope that their gesture will resonate in the religious community throughout our State and nation.  Perhaps we will see an evolution in the 21^st century in which the Golden Rule, is no longer taught to segregated congregations with the implications that the operative word "others" is limited to ones immediate peer group or ethnicity.  It is my sincere hope that before long ceremonies celebrating our diversity and shared destiny will replace services of repentance and forgiveness for past discrimination.

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