In the early days, we were taught in seminaries about the three races of peoples flowing from Noah's three sons, Ham, Shem and Japeth. Each son covered a different part of the earth and obviously points to the different races. Ham led into slavery, and just happened to be the Black race...you can take it from there, The South African Church espoused this teaching long into the 60's and 70's. Eventually they dropped the notion, but it took worldwide pressure to do it.
Thank God we are no longer taught these things in seminary and thank God we share equal rights.
I was so convinced of this "doctrine" that I worked with the Civil Rights Movement in 1960. Our job was to get the Southern Blacks to register for the vote. They had the vote, but would not register because of White pressure. If anyone denies that these things happened in the South, they are blind beyond measure. I tell you, however, segregation was just as real in the North. Now, let it be known that I love the South and I have a daughter living in Georgia, but I cannot deny the facts of life. There are still pockets of the old school there. We just don't have the protest marches and lynching that once was common, thank God. For the most part I truly believe the majority of people have changed, but this change came at a very high cost.
I could relate a lot more, but I will leave it at that and let peace prevail. Churches no longer have the Ham, Shem and Japeth doctrines in their teaching and teh Southern Baptists were among the first to drop it and even correct it.
Cheers, and God bless America and all those countries of change, including Canada, where we had segregation under cover. You might be interested to know that the first Baptist Church in York (now Toronto) was a Black Baptist Church!
Cheers,
Jim