
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990                   TAG: 9004250550
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INTOLERANCE TOWARD CHRISTIAN SINGER

AN ITEM in The People Column of this paper told about Debbye Turner, the current Miss America, agreeing not to sing Christian rap songs to public school children because of a complaint by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in New York.

People pay money to see artists of other nations and cultures perform, and applaud vigorously. Why this intolerance toward a beautiful young lady who wishes to sing about the most important person in her life - Jesus Christ? One reason is that Christ brings dynamic change to human lives, and most people want to live their lives the same old way.

Most Christians in this day and time don't speak up on public issues that affect their faith, and there probably won't be very many who speak up in favor of Miss Turner's constitutional right to free expression. Some religious figures say the church is asleep. But I believe the invisible church, the body of Christ, has always been alive, awake and healthy. And I believe God is keeping the church in America in the wings, so to speak, and ready to go on stage when he sets up his kingdom on Earth and rules through his Son the Christ. ROBERT S. McCORMICK JR. LEXINGTON

by CNB