The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 08, 1993, Page 3, Image 3
'Methodist
By J- MICHELLE SCHOHN g<
Staff Writer I
It wasn't religious intolerance ^
that made a young man leap out of
the bushes and stab Methodist ^
Bishop Joseph Bethea.
He just wanted the bishop's car. ^
Bethea said that when he was &
attacked in November, the assailant
I grabbed his keys and jumped into "
his 1991 Cadillac. When the still ?
unknown attacker was unable to
start the car, he ran from the scene a
cursing. ^
"He didn't bother my wallet or
anything else," Bethea said. "If I J
had been driving the other car (a
1986 Buick), it might not have
happened."
It has been almost nine months j
since the attack. According to ^
Columbia spokeswoman Gwen
Fouchee, there are no new develop- (
I ments in the police investigation of j
the incident and no suspects in the c
case. r
The attack has not stopped the
bishop, who is the first African- \
American bishop to preside over ]
the S.C. Conference of the United <t
Methodist Church. He said he {
believes he will soon be back at (
100 percent. i
i esumate mat i am somewucic
between two-thirds and three- i
fourths back to full activity," j
Bethea said, adding that he was ]
| well enough to preside over the 1
church's annual conference held '
the last week in May.
"I had asked the Council of 1
Bishops to ask one of the retired
bishops to come assist me," he
said. "As the time drew near, I was
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bishop st
stting stronger and stronger, and
presided over the conference
hth very little assistance."
It is not surprising that Bethea
'as able to come back from the
early fatal wound. A veteran of
le Civil Rights Movement, he has
rown accustomed to struggling.
Bethea's father was a Methodist
linister in a time when the
ifrican-American and white
Methodist churches were still seprated.
Bethea said he knew from
small age that he would follow
n his father's footsteps. He
reached his first sermon when he
/as only five.
"I was called the little boy
reacher," Bethea said.
When Bethea was 12 or 13, he
lecided he would become a teacher
ather than a minister. It was not
intil his senior year at Clafton
College, where he was studying
English and social studies, that he
>nce again felt drawn toward the
ninistry.
Bethea said his father, who died
ate in the summer of 1953, did not
ive to see his son accept his first
ippointment to a church but did
;ee Bethea begin studies at
jammon Theological Seminary in
\tlanta.
Bethea graduated from Gammon
n 1956 and decided to seek an
tssignment in North Carolina.
Bethea said he did not want to
Degin his work in South Carolina,
where his father was still relatively
well-known. North Carolina, which
had received only two seminary
graduates in the previous ten years,
was in desperate need of Methodist
ministers.
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AflON-SAYS-AGE-AND-WOPKOUTH
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ruggles to
"We need to redouble
our efforts to increase
inclusiveness in the
church...We have seen the
re-emergence of hate
groups, and I think that's
dangerous.
Joseph Bethea
Methodist Bishop
So desperate, in fact, that the t(
young Bethea was initially t
assigned to four churches in Elkin y
and Jonesville and had to preach
twice each Sunday. u
Within nine years, he was superintendent
of the Richmond district, ^
and after three more years, he was j
assigned to St. Matthew's in e
Greensboro, N.C. q
"I consider that to be my finest
pastorate," Bethea said. t
During his four years at St. j
Matthew's, he assisted the church /
in relocating and building a new t
facility. i
"I took that appointment the ^
same week Martin Luther King Jr. r
was assassinated," Bethea said. "It
was explosive and exciting times in \
Greensboro." I
During this time, the Methodist 3
Church was beginning to take steps I
toward uniting the black and white <
churches, a prospect that did not
please many who were accustomed 1
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keep civi
), and comfortable with, segregaion.
The process of merging,
/hich he said began in 1968, did
ot culminate in South Carolina
ntil 1972.
"The Methodist church looked at
tie black church as an appendage,"
lethea said. "The mainline churchs
were the keepers of the status
|UO."
*1* < ? I* #K
DCUlCd UCUllS Uiis diuiuut vriuj
be increase of the Muslim religion
n this country, which many
African-Americans viewed as a
nore African religion. Bethea said
nany blacks believed Christianity
vas the religion of the white slavenasters.
Bethea said that integration,
vhile trying to serve as a response
o the call for black power and the
growth of Islam, denied the validity
of anything not white, middle:lass
American.
"There were many black institutions
that went out of business,"
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Bethea did not know whether he
was more disturbed that the
African-American man had
assumed that if there was a white
man in the room that he must be
the bishop or that the superinten-!
dent did not correct the old man. ' |
Bethea said he believes the civil;
rights movement has stood still 'or
even lost ground.
"We need to redouble our efforts
to increase inclusiveness in the
church," he said, "inclusiveness hi
the community, inclusiveness in the
workplace and inclusiveness "in
society as a whole. We have sebn
the re-emergence of hate groups,
and I think that's dangerous.
"I still have high hopes for this
administration," he said. "It's
higher than I had for the last two to
move us to a more humane society."
The Dillon, S.C., native said'he
no longer experiences much discrimination.
"I don't experience discrimination
as much as I might if they
(South Carolinians) didn't know
who I was," Bethea said, adding
that media attention to his attack
has increased the level of recognition
he receives.
1 rights in
Bethea said, "thinking they were
no longer needed."
It was during this time that
Bethea was invited to establish the
Black Church Studies program at
Duke Divinity School in an effort
to attract more African-American
seminary students and develop
courses.
After five years with Duke,
Bethea spent nine of the next 12
years as a district superintendent in
Rockingham and then Raleigh.
In July 1988, he was elected
bishop. There are only ten AfricanAmerican
bishops of the 113 bishops
in the conference.
"I was the first AfricanAmerican
to serve this merged conference,"
Bethea said.
Acceptance of Bethea as bishop
was not always easy, even among
African-Americans. Bethea related
a story of a visit to a primarily
black Methodist church a few years
- ago.
Bethea was scheduled to visit the
church, and, as is customary, he
was accompanied by his white district
superintendent. There was an
elderly, nearly-blind man who seldom
attended church, but had come
that day because he had never met
a bishop.
During a dinner following the
church service, the man came to
the table where the bishop and the
superintendent were seated,
exclaiming that he must shake the
hand of the bishop.
"He walked right past me and
shook the white superintendent's
hand," he said, "and went oui
thanking God he had seen a bish
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Bethea said he is overwhelmed
by the expressions of prayer and
i concern he has received from
around the world. He said he feels
the attack has given him a greater
appreciation for life and has pro-'
vided a sense of commonality with'
1 in his church. ;
; Ironically, it has united bis
t church in much the way he had
- attempted to unite it throughout die
civil rights movement.
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