- August 3rd, 2021, 11:19 am
#629788
"Love one another" is complete and fully sufficient, as is its Author. It's our interpretation of it that's incomplete.
We're really good at going after the latest bogeyman but horrible at offering hope. We have the best solution in the world to bring about racial reconciliation and redemption for all, but we'd rather raise our voices about what we oppose rather than talking about what is broken and how Jesus can fix it. That's not my opinion, either. The polls taken of believers over the past decade paint a pretty grim picture:
- 69 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe "one of the most effective ways to improve race relations is to stop talking about race" (PRRI, 2012).
- Majorities of white Christians, including 53% of white evangelical Protestants, 52% of white Catholics, and 51% of white mainline Protestants, agree that socioeconomic disparities between black and white Americans are due to lack of effort by black Americans (PRRI, 2018).
- Only two in five white practicing Christians (38%) believe the U.S. has a race problem. This percentage more than doubles, however, among Black practicing Christians (78%) (Barna, 2019).
- Three-quarters of Black practicing Christians (75%) at least somewhat agree that the U.S. has a history of oppressing minorities, while white practicing Christians are less likely to do so (42%) (Barna, 2019).
- Data shows that three in five white practicing Christians (61%) take an individualized approach to matters of race, saying these issues largely stem from one’s own beliefs and prejudices causing them to treat people of other races poorly. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Black practicing Christians (66%) agree that racial discrimination is historically built into our society and institutions (Barna, 2019).
- Seven in 10 Black practicing Christians (70%) report being motivated to address racial injustice. Only about one-third of white practicing Christians (35%) say the same (Barna, 2019).
- Four-in-ten white Americans (42%) say “political topics such as immigration and race relations” should not be discussed in sermons (Pew Research Center, 2020).
This isn't about CRT - it's about IDWHI.
They called the civil rights movement a Marxist plot, too, and now we all love to quote Dr. King, or at least the parts we agree with. Georg Hegel was right: “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” Nature abhors a vacuum, and if we're not considering "others more important than" ourselves and looking out "for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3-4), then somebody else will, even if it's with ulterior motives.
James 1:19-20 says, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." Talking over others and going from zero to sixty on the anger speedometer in one second are core characteristics of our culture, but Jesus was and is counter-cultural, and he's not "owned" by liberals or conservatives. He is the King.
Can it be said of us, as it was of Paul and Silas, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus" (Acts 17:6-7).
I don't embrace CRT, but I don't embrace ignoring the problem, either. Don't like CRT? Do something better, and then promote it.
"Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act. Do not tell your neighbor, 'Come back tomorrow and I will provide'— when you already have the means" (Proverbs 3:27-28)