Since I had a whole day in Zurich, Switzerland, before my flight to the US, I decided to sample some of the famous coffee houses there, especially that one associated with Cadbury.

Being an observer of life and manners of my time, I saw, seated next to me, about a foot away, two humans, one purporting to be a man and another presenting herself as one of the most exquisitely dressed woman I have ever seen. It was her coiffured hair, with a special overlap tastefully overlapping her forehead that caught my special attention.

It was tinted silver grey. When I intentionally passed by, the more to observe this beautiful woman, I noticed that she was wearing a revealing pink blouse, so her breasts were attractively half-exposed.

I returned to my seat. She was too beautiful to be true. I was further jerked from my slumber, having returned to reading my US Wall Street Journal. Her dove-love like crooning voice was obviously a feigned feminine voice.

The two were obviously in love. “My God, she is a man.” I said to myself.

My realisation shook me to my boots. Europeans are far ahead of Americans in this arena and there seems to be something nonchalant about it. It seems so natural for them to behave this way.

I landed in the US in the middle of church conference week. Being more barbaric, vigorous, loud and immature, than their European siblings, the Southern Baptist Conference in Nashville, Tennessee is always the place to watch during conference season.

Southern Baptists are our marines, first in the fight, last to leave, always good for a fight. What I had observed in Zurich, which Europeans seem to have accepted with equanimity, is that man can make himself, or change his gender if he so wishes. If man can temper with “birth gender,” then one has a problem of biblical proportions, the old story of man in the Garden wanting to be wise.

Baptists are not blind nor do they ignore the facts of life. Nature has many aberrations, but exceptions do not break the rules. If they accept the idea that man can make his own gender, then it follows as the Joe Biden government has already stipulated that boys can run in women’s races.

A boy who was nobody in a boy’s track team decided to be a girl and beat the girls hands down with ease. What are parents supposed to say when their girls report boys running in their track teams?

But there is more. These boys, according to official guidelines, can also use washroom facilities of their choice.

Baptists are opting for school choice and school vouchers. Such arrangements will allow a parent to take say a US$5 000 voucher to any school of their choice, preferably a religious school.

This issue divides Democrats and Republicans. Therefore, Southern Baptists see themselves as natural allies of the Republican Party.

Democrats have successfully painted Republicans as racists, and this bothers the saints.

The fear, among blacks is that school choice may lead to re-segregation of schools. The US Supreme Court for now is on their side. But schools are re-segregating already by geography. House buyers are told that certain districts have better schools (meaning all-white).

After an acrimonious two-week conference in Nashville, the Baptist messengers were ready to calm down. Pastor Ed Linton is their new president. For now, there is no resolution on the issues mentioned above.

“The devil has pulled a draw.” A brother saint told me.

No sooner than the Reverend Linton received his gavel from the outgoing president than he was presented with another hot issue. The devil is back into the ring.

During the Donald Trump presidency, 2016-2000, Democrats adopted the critical race theory (CRT). This theory, propagandised by the New York Times seeking to boost its sales, is based on a 1619 theory. The day 19 African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619; the history of North America was steeped in racism. All the talk about freedom of speech, all men are born equal, land of the free and the brave, is Abracadabra designed to hide the real nature of American society, which is racist.

A 71-page document commissioned by Albert Mohler, 2013, president of Southern Baptist Seminary is circulating among Baptist messengers even as I speak. The document brings hitherto hidden skeletons from the seminary’s own archives.

The main reason why the seminary was founded by the Reverend Dr James P Boyce in 1844, serving until 1888, was that northern Baptist Conference had refused to ordain Southern slave holders as missionaries. When Dr Boyce himself came to attend his first board meeting in 1844, his luggage was ferried by a slave.

The theological seminary advertises itself as Trusted For Truth.

“Ha!” Speaketh the devil with a deep laugh. “What is the truth?” The devil quotes Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

God’s messengers are faced with Resolution 2 which affirms their commitment to racial reconciliation and the sufficiency of scripture to address race issues. The resolution is carefully crafted to avoid the contentious issue that Southern Baptists themselves have been the bulwark of racism, and that racism is still embedded in their institutions, including the seminary itself.

Martin Luther King opined that “Sunday is the most segregated day in the South.” There are still white and black churches.

The messengers called on the Holy Spirit to remind the saints that in their 1995 Resolution, they condemned slavery and offered atonement for past sins.

Further, the Southern Baptist Seminary has set up a US$5 million fund to enhance and develop minority studies.

If there are Baptist seminary students in Zimbabwe, I urge them to apply. But the devil here again, seems to have pulled a draw.

“It is all hocus pocus,” the devil is saying. “All this talk of atonement is balder dash. America is a racist country full stop.”

The foundation of the Christian church is that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Conference reiterated their belief that Jesus commandment and grace, “to love ye one another, as I have commanded thee” is sufficient as a foundation for solving the race issue.

But the devil will hear nothing of reconciliation. Critical Race Theory will divide rather than reconcile. It places all the blame on whites.

James Baldwin expressed it this way. “The white man knows what he has done to Negroes.” November 9, 1962. This leaves no room for reconciliation.

Pastor Kevin Apperson of Las Vegas has been quoted widely as advocating taking the devil by the throat. “I am inherently guilty because I am white. I am either, an ignorant oppressor or a conscious oppressor because of my colour of skin. Local schools call it critical race theory. If we do not have the courage to call a skunk a skunk, let’s not say anything.”

Again the devil pulls a draw. For now the saints hold each other’s hands as each and every one utters their own prayers of supplication.