10 (Free & Internet-based) Resources on Racism & Racial Reconciliation
"Brothers and Sisters" by Dr. Lisa D. Cain
Monergism on Facebook 6/12/20: The World Needs What the Word Has
“For those who have asked for resources to combat racism... read, pray and meditate over your bible. Take it off the shelf, blow off the dust and read it. It is God's very own word. To love your neighbor as yourself includes everyone, no exceptions. Jesus came for people from every tribe, nation, people and language (Rev 5:9).”
BARNA: Black Practicing Christians are twice as Likely as their White Peers to See a Race Problem
Interesting surveys about race in American among black and white Christians.
“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%), As this survey was conducted in late summer 2019, it can’t account for any shift due to the present, heated national discussion discussing racism and white supremacy..
There are polarized views in the pews about whether the root of the nation’s race problems is primarily systemic or individual in nature. 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.”
VIDEO: A Christian Approach to Moving Beyond Racial Gridlock
Justin Taylor: Professor George Yancey (PhD, University of Texas) is professor of sociology at Baylor University, specializing in race/ethnicity, biracial families, and anti-Christian bias. He is the author of Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility (IVP, 2006). The above talk asks whether Christianity can offer a unique approach to the problem of racism and race relations that differs from the dominant secular ideologies of our day. You don’t have to agree with every jot and tittle to benefit from his analysis and prescription.
John Piper: Structural Racism: The Child of Structural Pride (Nov. 15, 2016)
Biblical reasons concerning structural racism from a conservative theologian.
“…if your mind is Bible-saturated, you would consider it absolutely astonishing if structural racism were not pervasive wherever sin is pervasive. In other words, Bible-shaped people should expect to see structural racism almost everywhere in a fallen world.
But beware of thinking that, because structural racism is pervasive, it is the decisive cause of all injustice or all inequalities. The pervasive presence of one type of cancer cell in the body does not make it the cause of every malady. Therefore, it is seldom helpful to wave the flag of structural racism without putting the finger on specific manifestations. The likelihood may be high that it played a part. But a good physician does his tests.”
Monergism on Facebook: Cries for Justice/Morality Demand an Objective Basis in God
“I am delighted to see how many young people are committed to universal justice. But, at the same time, modern society tends to be deeply incoherent. On the one hand our culture demands justice for the oppressed and impartial benevolence toward all. On the other hand it teaches that no one has the right to declare right and wrong to anyone else, as secularism asserts that every person must determine his or her own moral values. This is cognitive dissonance. It demands moral behavior of others and yet insists morality is relative. The idea undermines itself. The promotion of universal justice, human rights, self-sacrifice, a commitment to human dignity and considering the poor can only coherently make sense in a world where morality is objective and whose source is God. Either stop moralizing others or stop pretending to believe morality is relative/subjective. You can't hold to both at the same time and expect people to take you seriously.
If you lie to yourself in this way, you are not helping. It is a type of willful blindness to the real source of the problem. This means if you are fighting for justice with human wisdom alone, with no thought to where human dignity comes from, you are keeping humanity in the very bondage and slavery you claim to be fighting against. We cannot merely judge policies by their "good intentions" but by a consistent commitment to the truth, in a way that corresponds with reality. The real remedy for our problems cannot be based on a lie.”
Cole Brown: Jesus is Not Colorblind
Brown explores 6 reasons for Jesus not being colorblind and concludes: “Let us love the way our barrier-crossing Savior loves us.”
Video: Grace, Justice, & Mercy: An Evening with Bryan Stevenson & Rev. Tim Keller (from 2016)
Tim Keller was the founding pastor of NYC’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Bryan Stevenson is one of this nation’s most influential public interest lawyers and the Founder & Director of the Equal Justice Initiative. For over 30 years, Stevenson has dedicated his life to help release those wrongly condemned on death row. He has also successfully advocated to eliminate the prosecution of children as adults. Leading the charge for a renewed conversation about racism in the US by connecting contemporary injustices with slavery, lynching, and segregation, Stevenson is the bestselling author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.
Shai Linne: George Floyd and Me
Christian hip-hop artist shares about his personal, visceral reaction to George Floyd’s death.
“I am heartbroken and devastated. I feel gutted. I haven’t been able to focus on much at all since I saw the horrific video of George Floyd’s murder. The image of that officer with hand in pocket as he calmly and callously squeezed the life out of that man while he begged for his life is an image that will haunt me until the day I die.”
Tony Evans: America’s racial crisis is a result of the failure of the church to deal with racism
One of America’s foremost evangelical pastors, Tony Evans, writes: “God has four distinct spheres in which life is to be lived, and therefore, there are four areas in which changes need to be made, according to his kingdom agenda. The kingdom agenda is the visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life.”
MLK’s Theological Case for Racial Justice (and Today’s Thin Alternatives)
A scholarly article on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s biblical foundations for racial equality
“In addition to his appeal to natural law and the imago Dei, King frequently used an argument from New Testament ethics. A major aspect of this derived from the command to love your enemies, as propounded by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. In numerous speeches and essays, King develops the idea by distinguishing divine agape love…
…Utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, virtue ethics, and social contractarianism fail to provide this. In contrast, Martin Luther King’s Christian theological ethics—natural law ethics combined with a biblical theology of imago Dei and agape—does provide this crucial philosophical foundation. Arguably, this is a major reason why the Civil Rights Movement was a success.”