ALBANY, GA -- The military, workplace and schools have a common thread; they are all integrated. But each Sunday, many Southwest Georgians still segregate themselves at church.
“11 o'clock on Sunday mornings is the most segregated hour of the week,” said Albany Civil Rights Institute Director Lee Formwalt, echoing the words Martin Luther King, Jr.
It all comes down to segregation in American churches. Even though those words were said in the 1960's, churches still seem to be segregated today, especially in the South.
“When you go into a church in Albany it's usually either a majority white or a majority black, it's not highly integrated,” said Formwalt.
Albany’s Civil Rights Institute is conjoined with the Old Mount Zion Baptist Church, where King once spoke.
Today that church has moved on and moved up and has one of the largest congregations in Southwest Georgia. But despite having more than 3,000 members, if you were to walk into service on a Sunday morning, it's hard to find at least one white face. But it's a trend that is not isolated to Mount Zion.
“For the most part we go to churches with people that look like us. Especially when it comes to race in Albany, Georgia and in most places,” said Mount Zion Pastor Dr. Daniel Simmons.
Simmons says he would love to see his church more integrated, but fights an uphill battle.
“It's a sin for us to sit up in here on Sunday mornings, separated by race, because there is hatred, because there is racism, because there is a lack of respect for people of a different color,” said Dr. Simmons.
In order to understand why churches are one race fits all, you've got to understand the history.
“Most churches during slavery were, integrated, but they were integrated because whites insisted on control over the black service and eventually after the civil war and the African-Americans broke away they wanted more control over how they worshiped, worship style was different, certainly what was being preached was different and they wanted to have control over that so they broke away and wanted to have their own churches,” said Formwalt.
While other areas have integrated, that hasn't been the case in the pews.
“Where people work and where people attend schools, those are places where you see the greatest amount of integration. Where people play and where people pray, which are more intimate things, you see less integration,” said Formwalt.
That's not to say that all churches are segregated. Because here at Victory Tabernacle, their congregation is split about 70-30 from blacks to whites, and it's a number they're very proud of, because that's about the same racial breakdown for the city of Albany. Even though it's still a majority black congregation, their pastor is white.
“For a church to be truly multi-cultural or diverse, then the church should reflect the community that it ministers to,” said Pastor Eddie Adams.
Pastor Adams came to Victory Tabernacle 21 years ago.
“When I first came we were an all white church with about 80 members. We did not do anything to reach out to the community to say we want to be multi culturally diverse. As we began to love people, people of color began to come in,” said Adams.
He says as his congregation began to change he got some blow back.
“The first couple of years we were here and people of color began to come in and people were different then the folks that were here, then we began to lose some people and it upset some people,” said Adams.
21-years later Adams says he still sees racism in religion.
“There are folks that look at us as a black church because we are predominantly African-American, and there are folks that look at us as a white church because I am a white pastor. And there those that feel like I am white pastor, I cannot spiritually minister to the needs of people who are different then the color of my skin, well that is racial stereotyping right there,” said Adams.
We want to know what you think. Are churches segeregated? And is it a problem? Respond in our comments section below.
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