“Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak.”
My name is Lowell Taylor, and I am a white evangelical. Here, I will comment on how I have seen white evangelicals in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) respond to racism from 2020 to date.
In the spring of 2020, I met Greg Thompson, who co-wrote a book called Reparations with Duke Kwon. Greg helped me understand the theory of reparations. In the summer of 2020, George Floyd died, and eight white evangelical pastors joined either The Christian Community’s Response to Racism – a public conversation between Black and white pastors about racism in the summer of 2020 – or NWA United – a public statement of unity and ten antiracist commitments made by Black and white pastors in the fall of 2020. Of note is that commitment #9 was to invest in people of color. In the fall of 2020, I met Jemar Tisby, who started The Witness Foundation to fund Black Christian leaders. Jemar helped me practice reparations. I started Reparations NOW NWA to fund Black Christian leaders in NWA with The Witness Foundation.
In the spring of 2021, I asked the eight white evangelical pastors who joined either The Christian Community’s Response to Racism or NWA United to join Reparations NOW NWA and give to The Witness Foundation. Of the four white evangelical pastors who joined The Christian Community’s Response to Racism, two joined NWA United, and two did not. Of the eight white evangelical pastors who joined either The Christian Community’s Response to Racism or NWA United, two joined Reparations NOW NWA, and six did not. In other words, many white evangelicals were willing to admit that racism is a problem, fewer were willing to commit to antiracist action, and fewer were willing to submit to accountability for their commitments and practice what they preached relative to antiracism. Why?
White evangelicals are disincentivized by dysfunctional culture
I believe that few white evangelicals in NWA have practiced what we have preached relative to antiracism because we are disincentivized to do so by dysfunctional white evangelical culture. By culture I mean the behaviors, beliefs, and values that people share in the context of systems (such as churches). By dysfunctional I mean that – relative to antiracism – white evangelical culture is disabled by unjust behaviors, false beliefs, and failure to love. By disincentivized I mean that white evangelicals (folks in both the pulpit and the pews) fear punishment from our churches if we practice antiracism. I will explain my belief in five points below.
White evangelicals have behaved unjustly by supporting racist systems
First, white evangelicals have behaved unjustly by supporting racist systems. In Unsettling Truths, Charles and Rah write that white evangelicals have supported racist systems – namely slavery, Jim Crow, and New Jim Crow / mass incarceration – because we have believed racist stories – namely white supremacy. In The End of White Christian America, Jones writes that white evangelicals are highly segregated – 80% of white evangelicals have 100% white social networks. Segregation maintains white evangelical support of racist systems – because racist systems (seem to) work for white evangelicals and almost everyone we know, and because we know almost no one for whom they do not work, we do not oppose racist systems.
White evangelicals have believed falsely about racism
Second, white evangelicals have believed falsely about racism. In Reparations, Kwon and Thompson describe racism as an individual problem that requires reconciliation, an interpersonal problem that requires reconciliation, an institutional problem that requires reform, and a cultural problem that requires reparations. In Divided by Faith, Emerson and Smith compare how Black and white evangelicals understand racism and conclude that white evangelicals misunderstand racism. When asked to explain the Black / white wealth gap (the average Black household has about 10% of the wealth of the average white household), most Black evangelicals blame racist systems; however, most white evangelicals blame Black people. In Kwon and Thompson’s terms, many white evangelicals believe that racism is an individual problem that requires repentance and an interpersonal problem that requires reconciliation; however, few believe it is an institutional problem that requires reform and a cultural problem that requires reparations. False beliefs about racism maintain white evangelical support of racist systems – because we believe racism is only an individual and interpersonal problem, we do not oppose racist systems.
White evangelicals have believed falsely about American history
Third, white evangelicals have believed falsely about American history. In Many Colors, Rah writes that white evangelicals know American history from American history from white perspectives but do not know American history from non-white perspectives. In Reparations, Kwon and Thompson write that American history is romanticized – American history is told from white perspectives and episodes that honor white people are emphasized – and erased – American history is not told from non-white perspectives, and episodes that dishonor white people are de-emphasized. False beliefs about American history maintain white evangelical support of racist systems – because we believe that racial injustice is the exception not the rule of American history, we do not oppose racist systems.
White evangelicals have believed falsely about the gospel
Fourth, white evangelicals have believed falsely about the gospel. In Broken Systems, Broken People, Fikkert writes: “Nobody should better understand the comprehensive effect of the fall on both individuals and systems better than Bible-believing Christians, because the Bible talks about this. Unfortunately, something has gone wrong in American Christianity.” Fikkert writes that white evangelicals believe falsely about the gospel – we believe that Jesus came to earth to renew people not systems (individualism) and that Jesus came to earth to renew souls not bodies (pietism). As with American history, many white evangelicals know the gospel from white perspectives but do not know it from non-white perspectives. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King writes:
In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern,’ and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular.
False beliefs about the gospel maintain white evangelical support of racist systems – because we believe that Jesus came to earth to renew people not systems, we do not oppose racist systems.
White evangelicals have failed to love
Fifth and finally, white evangelicals have failed to love. In The Color of Compromise, Tisby concludes that fear is the primary reason why white evangelicals do not oppose racist systems. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King wrote that many white pastors did not join the civil rights movement because they loved security more than their Black siblings: “I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some have been…opponents…others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the…security of the stained-glass windows.” King contrasted the many white pastors who did not join the civil rights movement to the few who did:
Some have broken loose from the…chains of conformity and joined us…in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets…with us…they have gone to jail with us. Some have been kicked out of their churches, and lost support of their bishops and fellow ministers.
Tisby and King show that under unjust behaviors (support of racist systems) and false beliefs (about racism, American history, and the gospel) is something more shameful – failure to love. In 2023, as in 1963 (when King wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail), white evangelicals do not oppose racist systems because we love security more than our Black siblings, who are oppressed by racist systems. White evangelicals in both the pews and the pulpits are guilty. Many of us have preached antiracism (especially when it was popular to do so, as in the summer of 2020), but few of us have practiced it, because we fear punishment from our churches. Few of us have broken loose from the chains of conformity and joined our Black siblings in the struggle for freedom, at bottom because the chains of conformity are wrapped around our churches collectively such that breaking loose from them individually is costly, and we are unwilling to pay the price.
References
Charles, Mark and Rah, Soong-Chan. Unsettling Truths. InterVarsity Press, 2019.
Emerson, Michael and Smith, Christian. Divided by Faith. Oxford University Press, 2000.
Fikkert, Brian. Broken Systems, Broken People. Retrieved from https://chalmers.org/resources/blog/broken-systems-broken-people/
Jones, Robert. The End of White Christian America. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2016.
Kwon, Duke and Thompson, Greg. Reparations. Brazos Press, 2021.
Rah, Soong-Chan. Many Colors. Moody Publishers, 2010.
Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Beacon Press, 1976.
Tisby, Jemar. The Color of Compromise. Zondervan, 2019.
Washington, James. A Testament of Hope. HarperCollins, 1986.
Reparations NOW NWA 