by Bruno Somerset

Created on: August 07, 2008   Last Updated: August 22, 2009

Religious groups have always attempted to separate themselves from what they see as the corrupting influences of secular society. This is their right, especially in America, although it ignores the Biblical command to "be in the world but not of the world." Far more interesting to me is the self-segregation that occurs every Sunday morning in Christian churches across America.

For as long as I can remember, Sunday morning church services have been called the most segregated hour in America. In my own personal experience this has been at least partially true, and a recent report on CNN.com seems to indicate that on the whole we prefer it that way. I'm not sure I agree with that, however, and I certainly don't believe we choose our place of worship based on its racial makeup.

The story on CNN appears at first to be a fairly in-depth (for them) look at the issue, complete with graphs and statistics and interviews with ministers and so-called experts. The report states that only 5 percent of the nation's churches are racially integrated, and attributes racism, both black and white, for the reason we "can't just all get along" in the sanctuary. In typical CNN fashion, they even got in a plug for Presidential Barack Obama, saying that while we may be ready for an African-American President, we're simply not, because of our inherent racism, ready to worship together.

The vast majority of the story's conclusions are, however, a load of bull. Of course racism still exists, and it can originate from any race or ethnicity. But not only is the situation not as dire as everyone likes to think, racism is not the main reason we are divided on Sundays.

First, let's point out one thing that is never mentioned in the CNN article, which focuses solely on Protestant churches: Catholic churches are very integrated. Partly because they are set up on a parish system that pulls in all Catholics from a particular geographic area, in any given Catholic church you will see a broad cross-section of people from all income, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. As a child I attended a Catholic church, and even back in the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a mix of whites, Hispanics, and Asians. I think CNN left off the Catholic Church precisely because they wanted to primarily focus on the black/white divide, and historically there have been few African-Americans in the Catholic Church.

Now let's ask the most obvious question. If the main issue is race, then why are there thousands (yes,

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