Evangelical Leaders and the Whitewashing of History

We cannot hide from the drumbeat of justice that runs through the scriptures we hold out as true!

There is a very real social justice thread in God’s word. The problem is that many have sought the implementation of this justice apart from the Gospel or to the exclusion of biblical truth. Unfortunately, incomplete justice has led many evangelicals to reject the notion as liberal and leftist ideology sought by secular progressives.  Both of these positions are categorically wrong and altogether unhelpful.

Racial tensions are high in America. Recent shootings of law enforcement officers and the officer involved shootings in the past year have boiled the anger, and it is spilling over into our neighborhoods, our homes, our politics, and our churches. The issue of race is dividing the church right now and sadly most of this is along ethnic lines.

I am an outspoken proponent of racial justice. I deeply believe that real historical antecedents have led us to the cultural and difficult racial realities we live with today. My friend Adam Thomason offered believers a solid understanding of these antecedents at Q Denver this year. Thomason demonstrated the crisis of the black family, propagated since the seventeenth century.

It grieves my heart to see fellow brothers and sisters, attempt to brush aside these realities. Evangelical responses range from outright denial of inequality, shaming the black community as immoral, indicating that gospel belief will solve everything, and most recently whitewashing history. Recently, three prominent evangelicals spoke out about race and their responses tragically reveal a desire to devalue the concept of race, ignore our historical brokenness, and even devalue the contributions of minorities to Western civilization.

I want to make it clear that I do not desire this to be a hit piece as much as a wake-up call to dig deeper for unity by owning our past and seeking to understand truly and bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters. With the exception of Steve King, I will not endorse the idea that these men are racist but rather, their view of race and racial history are not helping us move forward. We can and should have a robust conversation about these important matters without taking it personal and demonizing people. Ideas can and should be challenged and denounced. The goal of this post is to do just that.

We cannot move forward well without a unified body that together seeks the justice God demands.

Dr. Paige Patterson is the President of Southwestern Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, TX. Patterson is a prominent figure in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and once led the SBC as President. Patterson has long been a lightning rod for controversy, but to know him is to know a man deeply committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It can be difficult to disagree with spiritual giants that once owned your complete allegiance. Disagreement can feel like (and often considered to be) disrespect or betrayal of core values. My love for the Gospel and the redemption of all things is the foundation of my sincere disagreement with my brother. I pray I am compelled by nothing more than a love for the redemption and restoration that the Gospel brings to this world. We must strive to let love for the Gospel be the grounding of our critique.

In recent days Patterson expressed his understanding of the importance of black lives. His take on the issue begins by highlighting the failure of President Obama to unify the races and a proclamation that only belief in the gospel can solve our anger and lack of forgiveness. Patterson’s thesis includes a belief that there is only one race, the human race. Ethnicities seem to be underscored in his argument that all life is seen as part of a humanity of image bearers. The difficulty with Patterson’s position is not that he is wrong about common ancestry, the gospel, or the value of all life. The problem lies in a dismissal of God’s creation of race, and a call to forgiveness without any desire to see ongoing historical injustice addressed.

To underscore race is to underscore the creative beauty of God. To recognize the creative beauty of God in the races is not to deny the foundational truth of oneness in Christ and common value as image-bearers.

Patterson seems to believe that all we need is gospel belief, and all will be made right. However, this position fails to recognize that gospel believers have long been part of the race problem in America. In fact, if the Gospel is all that is needed, why then have so many of our brothers and sisters supported and propagated the segregation of races and held to the racist exclusion of minorities, especially black people. You see, Gospel belief does not guarantee that systems change or that institutional racism is eradicated. Gospel action is required by deeply convictional disciples of Christ, committed to seeing God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Patterson and so many evangelicals like him seem to believe that any attempt to change social realities is a break from a commitment to the Gospel. Rather, a commitment to the Gospel requires personal repentance and forgiveness leading to a break from our commitment to push aside and ignore injustice anywhere.

Ironically, many evangelicals have sold their birthright of cultural transformation to politics and politicians to curb the lack of morality in America. To consider those same domains as part of the overall solution concerning racial inequality is considered a leftist, gospel-less correction not worthy of believers. Even more damaging is the implicit belief that racial inequality and injustice do not seem concern many evangelicals as worthy moral issues to address.

Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Dallas, and a leading Trump supporter, recently held out Christians as the real leaders in the civil rights movement and fight for equality. There is truth to Jeffress’ take on the history of equality, but not as he intends it. The truth is many white Christians were part of the civil rights movement, and they lost their lives and reputations for it.

Again Jeffress, like Patterson is not wrong in aspects of his understanding. It is his clear whitewashing of history that is so problematic. Remember, we cannot move forward unless there is ownership of our past and a commitment to change the present realities caused by that past. Tobin Grant of the Religion News Service did a great job at pointing to the problems with Jeffress analysis. He ignores the notable history of racism among Christian pastors during the fight to end slavery and during the civil rights movement. Grant further points out that W.A. Criswell, former pastor of Jeffress church, First Baptist Dallas, was a notable segregationist, often railing against the ills of integration. To be clear, Criswell repented of this sin, but to ignore this and the plethora of examples during the fight to end slavery and the civil rights movement, is to do a disservice to our Black brothers and sisters and does nothing to aid understanding of current realities, allowing us to move forward.

To be clear, Criswell repented of this sin, but to ignore this and the plethora of examples during the fight to end slavery and the civil rights movement, is to do a disservice to our Black brothers and sisters and does nothing to aid understanding of current realities, allowing us to move forward.

This week at the Republican National Convention, Iowa Congressman, Steve King, participated in a segment on MSNBC. In his objection to the accusation of the Angry White voter, King challenged the panel to come up with any examples of other subgroups of people, besides white Europeans, which have ever added or contributed to Western civilization.

I could hardly believe my ears! I pray that Kings dismissal of African and Asian Christianity’s contribution to our world is limited to him, but I fear it is not. King also ignores the multiplicity of beauty in our world’s diverse ethnicity. If racism is the devaluing of worth based on race, then King’s comments are the very definition of racism. At best it is a whitewashing of the reality of history. King is an avowed Christian and we must move to denounce any such understanding of this world proffered by those claiming the name of Jesus (or anyone for that matter).

There it is, an indictment of a wrong understanding of race and racial history in America that is devastating to the church’s relationship with the black community.

The whitewashing of history and the devaluing of race is  adding to the tensions we face. many want to say that pointing these issues out further divides us. Those who object to the statement that black lives matter, fail to love their brothers and sisters well, by refusing to understand that “too” is implied by this statement and points to the reality that in a multiplicity of ways, black lives do not seem to matter. Defensive responses and brushing history under the whitewashed rug of Christian unity do not promote unity andthey are not helpful.