Race Matters

The Election, Your Spirituality, & the Soul of our Nation #20

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A question many Americans will argue over is whether race should be “politicized.”  In ways we may not realize, race is and always has been a profoundly political thing – and Christianity does have and always has had an illuminating, true and helpful theological viewpoint on race. Whether it’s gerrymandering (in a liberal or a conservative direction), education or poverty policy, voting rights, immigration, or police and national security challenges, race matters.

And you can’t dismiss it as “liberal.” Race matters to God – who created us humans in precisely this way, evidently delighting in the variety of people on earth, and no doubt dreaming race would provide us with a special way to learn to love one another and see God’s image in everyone. God could have made everybody white, or brown, so we’d all favor one another; but God let creation unfold so we’d have a dizzying spectrum of people – not so we’d dislike or distrust one another, but so we would love.

When I try to think out loud theologically about race, I get pushback. People are tired of the topic, or they feel it’s fixed already – at least in themselves. “I’m not racist.” I can only say “Thanks be to God.” But as a pastor who loves you, and is responsible for the church being a healing power in God’s world, I have to add two urgent reminders.

You may not be racist, but racism is alive and well out there, in your ‘hood, in our city, state, country and world. We keep a watchful eye trained on whatever crushes the spirit of God’s children – and I mean, especially children! – because of simple outward appearance or the ‘hood in which you live. In 2024, there clearly are policies that are detrimental to minority communities, not to mention implicit bias and lingering habits of racial profiling. Christians notice, and they care. As Christians, we can’t say definitively which party or which policy will in fact create a more productive climate for everyone, not just us. But we have to care, and we have to cheer for what lifts up our neighbor – the one we don’t know yet, but hope to.

If you tune your antennae to listen out for subtle racist undertones to what’s said during the election season, you just have to shudder. The way a candidate is perceived, the way a candidate panders to racial bias, analyses of voting blocs: fascinating, humbling, and challenging.

“Black lives matter” has become a controversial slogan. The Bible most definitely would say “All lives matter,” but Scripture always has this bias, this special pleading for the stranger, the outcast, the one who’s been disadvantaged. The Bible’s constant vision is not about me getting stuff I want, but a robust sharing and a radical inclusion of every person in God’s blessing.  Politics wields so much power on the quality of life; Christian political engagement dares us to labor for justice.

And then: race is sneaky, isn’t it? Jesus was a master psychoanalyst, concerned about little attitudes in us that lurk unnoticed, exposing them in love, yearning to liberate us from little sinful shred, that old lingering residue from the way we were raised or subtle (and not-so-subtle!) messages that have seeped into us from the culture.

I remember being personally moved a few years back when I chatted with Dr. Shannon Sullivan on “white privilege.” Christian theology, always and on every issue, helps us realize what we do not realize about ourselves: that we are beneficiaries of God’s goodness in ways we never noticed, and also that we have sins we aren’t aware of that riddle our souls. I know that as a white guy, I have to look hard to perceive the privileges I’ve had just for being white, or for being a guy. I think for me, if I think about racism, my prayer is “Lord, search me, and see if there be anything wayward in me” (Psalm 139:24) – no matter how small or seemingly innocent or even invisible to others.

For American Christians to think faithfully about any political issues related to race, we need to sharpen our listening skills. Our stories matter, and listening to the stories of others matters even more. White people may not be able to fathom the pain or anger in the black community. But we can listen to real people, ask how they feel and why, and refrain from judging. White Christians have good biblical cause to give the benefit of the doubt to the person of color, the one whose history has been far, far tougher than our own.

The Rev. James C. Howell is senior pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C. This post is republished with permission from his blog.