Sponsored by the Department of Religion and the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State University, this year the conference also received support from the Ohio Humanities Council. National speakers included Dr. Henry Foster, Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President of Health Services at Meharry Medical College, Dr. Peter Paris, the Elmer Homrighausen Professor of Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary and President of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Arkansas and former U.S. Surgeon General. At Wright State, Dr. Foster set the stage for the conference by relating a story about the founding of Meharry Medical College. In 1836 a gentleman named Sam Meharry was traveling with a wagon full of salt when the wagon broke down. A blacksmith family assisted him in repairing the wagon and getting him back on the road, and although he had no money to pay for their assistance, he made a pledge to someday return the kindness.
Individual contributions can and do make a difference.
Speaking to conference participants from the pulpit at Mt. Enon Baptist Church, Dr. Peter Paris explained that the political role of the African American Church was established from the beginning, that the African American Church has been the only institution consistently serving Blacks in this country, and that the African American church has historically laid the foundation of and continues to reflect the changes in social structure in African American communities. Identifying multiple concerns, Dr. Paris pointed out that African American churches in the central city have become commuter churches with uncertain futures, that although representative of at least two thirds of African American Church membership, women remain separate and unequal, and that issues such as AIDS and homosexuality remain unaddressed. Citing poverty as the most pressing issue of the 21st century for African Americans in this country, Dr. Paris warned against following the mainline white churches down a path of worshiping materialism and retreating to individual forms of worship. Religious practice everywhere has always been a performance art. Separation of church and state has to do with one not controlling the other.