In a show of solidarity, black and white churches in Alabama are coming together to watch the movie Selma.
The film which centres on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches that ushered in the passage of the Voting Rights Act in America.
An article posted on Al.com revealed that Rev Alton Hardy, the pastor of Urban Hope Community Church in Fairfield has joined forces with Rev Bob Flayhart, pastor of Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church, a 2,600 strong predominantly white church in an effort to heal the divide among the races by creating an awareness about both people's common history and encouraging understanding and openness between people of different races.
The churches have rented a theatre at the Carmike Summit 16 for a screening of the movie on January 21.
"With 'Selma' coming out, we decided, 'Let's pull together, watch it together, pray together, pray for the city together.' It's so relevant now with what happened in Ferguson, in New York and in Florida a few years ago," Flayart explained in the interview.
He added that the event will be joined by another black church, the South Baptist Church.
Hardy, who was a former resident of Selma, said that the movie can serve as a catalyst for a more open dialogue about race in the state of Alabama.
"I found the movie to be providentially very timely, for Birmingham and all of America. Where do we go from here? I want the church to speak up for the hopeless, the oppressed, those who have been locked outside. The infrastructure that was laid down has a generational impact. We are trying to undo generations of systemic injustice, starting with the impact on the African-American male. My dad became hopeless. When I cry the most is when my white Christian friends say, 'Pastor, I understand now.' I get a sense of being healed. The fact you say 'I now understand' is enough for me. That's where healing starts," he said in the Al.com interview.
Racial conflicts have resurfaced in various parts of America in response to the deaths of African Americans Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of white police officers.
Renowned pastor and author TD Jakes rallied faith leaders in a recent summit entitled "Healing the Racial Divide" and called on President Obama himself to address the issue.
In a post on The Star Telegram, Jakes underlined the importance of the commitment of government officials to finding a solution to the problem.
"It is important that we challenge all elected officials to line up on these issues. We want Congress, federal, state government and local government to work together," he said.
"We are asking the president to lead the discussion, but we don't want the discussion to stop at the White House. We want it to flow through until it reaches the houses of Ferguson, the houses of Watts, the houses of Harlem and around the world."
According to The Christian Post, Jakes said he almost lost his faith in there being an end to the growing racial conflict between blacks and whites in America with all the social unrest, violence and civil disobedience breaking out in areas like Ferguson, where Brown was killed.
"I stood on the edge of struggling with losing my faith. Not my faith in God, but my faith in people. I wondered to myself, how long will we cry out and be told we're whining? How long will we offer simple Christian clichés to complicated, complex sociological situations? How long will we major on the minor and be pitted against each other to the demise of a society that desperately needs somebody to speak for them?" he said.
"We must begin the conversation in the church where every significant movement impacting the lives of African-Americans has begun. But this is not our fight alone. This is America's burden as well as her opportunity to rightfully tilt the scales toward justice for all. This is also a tremendous opportunity for the church to be the light in what have been very dark days for our country," he added.
