I Was Wrong about Racism

A few years ago, someone who had been reading my blog reached out to me and asked if I would prayerfully consider addressing the issue of racism within the church.

This person had experienced racism first-hand and saw I was willing to address other challenging areas where the church needed to grow. So I guess they thought I would be a good person to address this issue of racism.

To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about racism being an issue in the churches I grew up in. I knew we as Anabaptists had a strong culture and that too often Anabaptist culture got conflated with biblical principles. I also knew that such conflations makes it difficult for people from non-Anabaptist background to “fit in” when they attempted to join. But I didn’t realize how much of what I considered “Anabaptist culture” was white Anabaptist culture. I didn’t realize some of us were, indeed, rather racist.[1]

I didn’t realize I was racist, at times.

Sure, I’d like to think I never was racist. But as I began pressing into this issue by having conversations with people who dealt with racism directly and learning more about how racism works in a culture at large, I realized I lived with a strong racial bias. That bias sometimes came out explicitly, like thinking that people of a certain ethnicity were lazy. Other times, that bias came out implicitly, like thinking that rap music was not as godly as a cappella choral music. Sometimes the attitude this racial bias manifested was nothing less than racist.

Learning this not only disturbed me; it broke me.

I have spent my adult life working cross-culturally. I have sought to make disciples of people who weren’t always the same race as I was. How might my racial bias be wrongly shaping the message I am communicating to those I disciple? How might I be unfairly expecting certain results from people that are simply evidence of my own cultural expressions and not the fruit of the Spirit?

After realizing my own racial bias, I decided to begin talking about the issue of racism publicly on the blog.

Since I am of majority race in America, it seemed best to simply share the stories of those who are of a minority race and deal with racism first-hand. I didn’t think we needed more white people talking about racism. I thought if folks heard first-hand accounts, it would raise awareness to how racism works.

Therefore, I began in 2017. After the Charlottesville rally where a car rammed into a crowd of people killing three and injuring over thirty others, I shared thoughts from some of my friends of color. They talked about how racism is not a social issue, it’s a depravity issue.

In 2019, I started directly having friends of color on my podcast to share their stories for themselves. I began with my aunt, who I had obviously known all my life but had never asked about racism until someone challenged me to address it publicly.

Then 2020 happened. More specifically, Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd were killed. These incidents sparked a time of racial tension like I hadn’t witnessed before.

Now, after spending the better part of the last year addressing racism, I have realized I was wrong about some things concerning this conversation. In this article, I’d like to explain why. Hopefully it can help us all grow in better understanding not only each other, but more importantly, our brothers and sisters of color.

I Assumed Racial Prejudice Was the Result of Ignorance

In January of 2020, before Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor, or George Floyd were killed, I outlined a series of articles addressing racism. I decided to run some interviews in tandem with the series that would have delved into the reality of racism and explored the depth of people’s experience with it not only in America, but in the church.

Even in conservative churches.

I assumed people, like I have been for most of my life, were ignorant of racisms pervasiveness. I thought that as people heard real-life stories of racism in recent America, they would recognize how wrong it is that some people experience this kind of prejudice in our communities. If people were reminded of how the Bible views prejudice as sin and racial oneness as essential to the Gospel (i.e. Acts 10:34-35 and Ephesians 2), I thought they would want to be advocates for racial minority groups.

But Arbery, Taylor, and Floyd all died before I ever got the series published. It appeared as though we no longer needed a series (or interviews). It seemed we just needed to wake up and listen. So that’s what I encouraged people to do.

I thought waking people up to this issue of racism and raising awareness for it all would help people see. What I did not expect, however, was that some people believed being made aware of the issue of racism was a spiritually dangerous thing. Racial prejudice isn’t just the result of ignorance, it is the result of a willful choice not to enter another brother or sister’s world.

(If you would like to learn how to enter another person’s world, I highly recommend this article by friend, Lowell, on the paradigm shift that helped him enter other people’s world.)

I Failed to Consider How Historical Context Helps Us Understand Current Events

The more conversations I had with people who reacted to groups such as Black Lives Matter and movements to take down monuments or “defund police,” the more I realized they were not always aware of the historical background behind the confederate south and police brutality. To them, the concept that black lives matter smells of black supremacy. Taking down monuments seems like an attempt to erase the past. “Defunding police” sounds like social anarchy.

And honestly, that’s how it all sounded to me until l learned about the disparity between how police treated white people and how they treated black people.

If black lives mattered from the beginning, they would not have been slaves. They would not have been considered three fifths of a person at the publishing of the Constitution. Black people would not have been arrested without evidence, and there would not have been so many black men put on death row under false accusations (see the book Just Mercy for details).

If black lives mattered today, they would not be categorically dubbed as “lazy,” viewed as criminals for simply wearing hoods, or have guns drawn because they “acted suspicious.”[2]

Getting a better handle on how black people were treated in America from the beginning—or how any person of color has typically been treated since America’s inception—helps us understand why certain movements exist today.

(My friend, Jewel, has a Facebook page specifically dedicated to grasping the historical context of racial injustice. Follow it if you are genuinely interested in letting history move you to work toward compassion and justice in the future.)

I Underestimated How Politicized Conversations about Racism Had Become

I knew political polarization existed around race, but I didn’t know why that was and I certainly didn’t realize how broad this polarization ran—especially within the church.

After all, I had gotten to know people who face racism first-hand, witnessed privilege for myself, and seen in Scripture God’s heart for the oppressed and for all races. I assumed others had similar experiences and did not consider how many people have been introduced to conversations about race from a politician or political pundit.

Therefore, I was not prepared for how many people thought I was simply puppetting a politically Left narrative when I started addressing the issue of racism on the blog. This made it difficult to have conversations about racism from a biblical perspective without the noise of current cultural/political wars.

(To understand issues of race from a biblical perspective (and from a human perspective, not just political) check out the video below. Also, see my friend Gertrude’s article on how she wrestled with “white privilege.”)

I Didn’t Realize How Much Christian Nationalism Had Seeped into Anabaptist Churches

Christian nationalism is essentially the belief that America was founded on Christian principles and once functioned as a Christian state. Christian nationalists believe the problem with present America is that it somehow lost its Christian foundation. The solution to America’s problems, they say, is for America to return to its original posture in submission to God.

The two biggest problems with this view is that (1) it misappropriates the Kingdom of God and (2) it fails to acknowledge how unchristian much of America was at its founding (and still is today).

First, the Kingdom of God is not a nation-state with earthly/human borders. While citizens of God’s Kingdom long to see earthly entities function justly and according to God’s design, we do not seek to coerce leaders or citizens into righteousness. Second, a return to America’s original posture would not be a return to Christ; it would be a return to extreme white supremacy.

America needs to turn to Jesus, yes. But for America to truly turn to Jesus, it needs to recognize that there is no period of American history where all of its people willfully submitted to Jesus as King.

(My friend Josh created a helpful video on this topic that’s worth viewing if you’d like to understand more of how Christian Nationalism impacts our response to racism.)

I Didn’t Realize How Little Context Christians Had for a Biblical Theology of Justice

Justice is a biblical theme. We can trace it from Genesis through Revelation. Justice is not about conceptual sin being forgiven. Justice about specific sinful behavior being repented of and replaced with righteous behavior that comes from being transformed by the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 58 and Romans 8).

For instance, one of the primary reasons God sent Israel into exile was because they failed to take care of the orphans, widows, and immigrants among them (see Is. 58, Jer. 29, and the book of Amos). Yes, they had turned away from Yahweh as their God and worshiped and followed other gods. But part of the way we know they turned away from Yahweh is that they no longer kept the commands of Yahweh to care for the orphans, widows, and immigrants among them.

They failed to “do justice” (Matt. 23:23).  

Did you know the Bible talks more about justice than women respecting men in marriage? It talks about justice more than modesty, the head covering, or styles of worship music. We’ve all probably heard sermons on each of these other topics yet might have never heard one on justice.

This reality stacked on top of the fact that most of us were introduced to conversations about race from politicians or political pundits leads to many Christians thinking justice is a political movement and not a central doctrine to biblical theology. Now, it has only been in the last three to four years that I, myself, have seen justice as a core result of the Gospel at work in society. So, I should have known many of us would not have any framework for a biblical theology of justice, but I didn’t.

(A different Josh friend wrote an excellent article overviewing the theme of justice in the Bible. If justice as a biblical theme is new to you, I recommend checking it out.)

I Am Surprised by How Many People Actually Want to Learn about the Affects of Racism

Over the last the year as I have posted about racism, I have encountered more criticism and personal attack than ever before in a single period of time as an author. Sadly, it’s but a small taste of what my friends of color have experienced when they attempt to address the issue. In five years of having a Facebook page for my blog, its audience size has only ever grown. However, soon after I began addressing racism, it took a two-month dip. People didn’t just stop subscribing; those already subscribed no longer wanted to read as well.

In the months surrounding George Floyd’s death and the Jacob Blake shooting, nearly a hundred people emailed or sent messages over social media. A surprising amount of them accused me of being a Leftist Marxist, straying from the Bible, drinking the cool aide of political progressives, perpetuating a victim mentality, and so on and so forth. Some of them wrote in ALL CAPS. (I should note, a couple of their authors wrote me later apologizing for getting upset.)

This kind of response from Christians shocked me. I understand debate and disagreement. But this was far beyond that. This was vitriol. It was foul, and it shook me in the core. If I did not have a community of people to process these things with, such as those I work with at Restorative Faith, I would have probably stopped writing publicly, deleted my blog, and crawled into a hole. Actually, I basically did just that for a few months, anyway.

The criticism felt so strong and so heated, it seemed more problematic to continue talking about it all than to simply let it go.

And that’s what several of these critics said: “You’re just stirring up controversy! Stop!”

This is why it surprised me to discover in recent months how many people seem hungry to learn more about the complete history of America. It has equally shocked me to witness some people asking good questions of those of color…and then listening without justifying or demeaning.

Some people really do care about racial justice. Some do care about minority voices being lifted up. And as shocking as it is, I find it hopeful.

(If you are one of those people who would like to learn more, I recommend following Restorative Faith and checking out some of their past Facebook Live events. Also, this year’s Urban Youth Workers Retreat had some excellent sessions dealing with race and justice. You can view those sessions here.)

As I look over the last year, I realize there are a lot of complex issues to work through as we seek justice in relation to various racial groups in our country.

We need to do more work in being better grounded in God’s Word so that we are not led astray by secularism (on the Left or the Right). But I am grateful that there are many who do seem to be listening, learning, and caring about these issues. I am glad there are those willing to seek oneness with their brothers and sisters of color even when it means letting go of certain powers they’ve grown accustomed to having.

What are ways we can continue learning and growing together in oneness with brothers and sisters of other ethnicity groups? You can share your thoughts in the comments below.

[1] Please see my article, Ask Me Anything: What Is Racism? (September 2020), for a definition of “racist.”

[2] Each of these are real-life experiences friends of mine have told me about.

---

Join Unfeigned Christianity to access all our member-only content.

Become a paying member of Unfeigned Christianity for as little as $5/mo and access a full dashboard of resources for Christians wanting follow Jesus faithfully in our current, cultural moment. Try the first 7 days free!

Already a member? Login