U.S. Senate chaplain: 'Never stoop so low as to hate'

PROVIDENCE — When you hear U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black speak, you might be struck by how many Bible verses and citations he knows by heart, but he has a simple explanation for his ample mental reserve of sacred text.

"Five cents a verse," he said, eliciting a laugh from the roughly 200 people gathered at the Central Congregational Church Saturday night to hear him speak. "That is all it took."

That pocket change came from his mother, who handed over the money for every Bible verse he and his siblings committed to memory, Black said during his talk on integrating citizenship and faith for the 2019 Darrell West Lecture Series on Religion and Politics.  

"I cannot imagine what his job is like," West, a former Brown University professor of political science and current senior vice president at the Brookings Institution, said of Black. "I know that he manages to be meaningful and neutral at the same time, which is quite important in his position."

Black framed his conversation in terms of a concept that has become an ideological battleground in the United States — citizenship.

"We are dual citizens," the Christian minister said, laying the groundwork for an Abrahamic worldview. "We are dual citizens of this Earth but also citizens of heaven. ... There is a dual obligation, and our legislators know that."

The 70-year-old Black assumed the office of chaplain of the U.S. Senate in 2003 and is the first ever African-American to hold the position, which was established in 1789. His prayers and blessings are not specific to any one denomination, which is important when your constituents include Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons and the unaffiliated.

While in private he is often asked by senators for his opinions on matters both secular and spiritual, in public Black must be neutral, even when that is hard.

"800,000 were left without pay during the partial government shutdown," he said. "It was a total government shutdown for those individuals. ... What kind of prayer should you pray for that?

"You have to pray until you're spoofed by Kenan Thompson on 'SNL.'"

After his talk, he took questions from the audience. One woman, who quoted from a book by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., came out with a question and statement that ran alongside the chaplain's message.

"I have had to learn to love the president unconditionally, and that has been difficult for me," she said.

"I do not have to like these people, but have an unconditional benevolence to all," Black said. "Never stoop so low as to hate."

"Remember, when you are pointing a finger, there are a few pointing back at you," he said. "You must find justice with mercy and humility."

— kandrade@providencejournal.com

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