Church panel tackles race, diversity
BUTLER TWP — Calling it the first in a series of “ongoing conversations,” the Rev. Brady Randall of Orchard Hill Church's Butler campus invited a four-person panel to the church Saturday to discuss “race and the church” in the midst of a nation grappling with diversity issues.
The panel — comprised of David Bowens, a Black worship leader at the church's Wexford campus; Heather Warheit, a white woman with a biracial sister; and Emily and Justin Barnes, an interracial deaf couple — talked for roughly 90 minutes on their experiences with race and disability in the United States.
Bowens and Warheit agreed they didn't experience, or at least didn't notice, racism in their younger years, but Bowens, who grew up in Philadelphia, said he'll forever remember his first overtly racist experience.
He said he was visiting his uncle in a Philadelphia suburb when a passing motorist shouted a racial slur and spit out the window while Bowens and a friend were riding bikes.
“It's funny, because it wasn't fear that I felt, it was just weird because I'd never had that experience until that moment,” he said. “I didn't understand it. And then, as I grew up, I began to understand it more and more as life and time began to reveal itself.”Bowens also said one of the most effective ways to understand the ongoing national dialogue about race and diversity is to form relationships with people with different backgrounds.“It's hard for us to see beyond our own experiences, but if you actually have a relationship with someone who's different from you and with different perspectives, ... you find that you could possibly learn something and gain a greater perspective of the world,” he said.Warheit agreed, saying her relationship with her sister has changed her perspective on some issues, but also noted it may be difficult to form such relationships in Butler County, which is less than 2 percent Black.“I think, in our community, it's hard because I can't go to Walmart and walk up to somebody who's Black and say, 'Hey, will you be my friend because I'd really like to have some meaningful conversations with someone,'” she said.Warheit did, however, encourage attendees to “extend” themselves to form such relationships. In her case, she said, these relationships have allowed her to ask questions and empathize more with the plight of some Americans.The group also discussed the difference between the statement “Black Lives Matter” in juxtaposition with the eponymous social movement.Bowens said that while he believes in and agrees with the statement, there are parts of the movement for which he cannot stand as a Christian. He quoted an unnamed friend's online posting to further explain his stance.“The statement remains true and must be addressed in our nation; the movement has its roots based on ideology that is impossible for all Blacks, especially those who claim to be Christians, to embrace because it is rooted in unbiblical principles,” he quoted.All of the panelists concurred that God made man in His image, and, as Bowens said, “did not make a mistake with any person.”Before organizing another event, Randall said, he'd like to take a chance and listen to whatever conversation was sparked by Saturday morning's event.“To follow up for issues like this, especially those ones that are really pressing, it's going to mean continuing to listen to what's already happening in the community (and) how we can speak into that, but, more importantly, how can we listen first before we speak,” he said.
