Posted 7/7/2009

ALL GOD'S CHILDREN

Reverend Bernard Wilson preached a sermon titled "We Are All God's Children" last Sunday on Compo Beach in Westport, Connecticut.

More than 200 white worshipers from four Connecticut Protestant churches listened raptly to a sermon on race relations preached by an African-American minister.

Dr. Wilson is well qualified to speak on the subject. Back in the days when the U.S. Navy was one of the most racially bigoted organization on earth, Bernard Wilson entered the service and rose up through the ranks, retiring as a Captain. Very few navy men advance that far. For the Reverend Wilson to have done that, despite all the bigotry and hatred of naval officers, indicates a remarkable achievement.

Yet for his message, Reverend Wilson took us to Broadway. He took us all the way back to 1958, when the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific burst onto the Broadway stage. He cited the song sung by Marine Lieutenant Joe Cable as the key to the elimination of racial, religious and ethnic prejudice.

In the play, Cable sang:

You've got to be taught
to hate and to fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

But apparently the world did not hear Cable's lyrics.

A half century later the world is filled with racial, ethnic and religious strife.

Islam vs. Christianity and Jews in the Middle East.

Israel vs. the Palestinians over Jerusalem.

China's Communist Party vs. all religions and many minorities.

Russia vs. all minority peoples in Eurasia.

And much of America is filled with prejudice as the melting pot melts ever so slowly.

How can we eliminate prejudice and bigotry?

It's in the words of Joe Cable's song.

We have got to stop teaching our children to be like us.

(click here for a printable version of this article)