Attracted to the religion of the left

I ended the last post by asking a question: How could a young man who was baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ have such misplaced priorities? I have mentioned my disillusionment with white churches as they missed out on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. When Lil and I moved to Kansas in 1964, we immediately looked for a church home. We found what we thought was a dynamic pastor who led the First Baptist Church in Topeka. One evening we were invited to his house for a barbecue. He was aware that I was a social worker working with people of all races. He called me aside and said, "Bob, have you ever seen a black woman you thought was attractive?" He then proceeded to tell me he had never seen such a creature. I was so angry and appalled at his stupid bigotry, I grabbed Lil and said, "Let's go," and never again attended another white church service until I began dating Colleen thirty-four years later.

On the other hand, I found the efforts of the Alinsky-type radicals to bring about justice and hope for America's forgotten people to be worthy of my energies. It became my religion. I would lend myself to people less fortunate than I, determined to change the status quo. I believed that God would give me the courage to plow forward and conquer any obstacles standing in the way of improving the lives of those I was trying to assist.

At the same time there was a "peace movement" gaining momentum. I did not respect the organizers of the "peace" movement, whom I saw as cowards. When at Hardin-Simmons I enrolled in the Army ROTC program in 1958. After completing the two year program, I told my parents I was considering enrolling in the final two years of ROTC. Unbeknownst to me, my mother contacted our pediatrician, who wrote the draft board a letter about my childhood suffering from allergies. The next thing I knew, I was declared "4F," meaning that I was ineligible to serve. That is when I decided to consider going to graduate school in social work.