Several weeks ago, I came upon a Christian Post<\/em> article titled \u201cJohn MacArthur Says He Doesn\u2019t Know Any Authentic Evangelical Church Where Racism Is a Problem<\/a>.\u201d I tried not to laugh. MacArthur\u2019s use of the word \u201cauthentic\u201d can\u2019t be accidental\u2014MacArthur is likely clearing the ground to claim that churches that still frown upon interracial marriage, or who operate Christian schools that use textbooks that speak of \u201cdarkest Africa\u201d and are critical of the civil rights movement, are not actually<\/em>\u00a0real evangelical churches.<\/p>\n I grew up in a white evangelical megachurch. I was taught that we are all part of one race\u2014the human race\u2014and that all people are God\u2019s children. I was also taught that \u201cblack culture\u201d is feckless and lazy and the reason black people in America have been held back, and I spent many hours reading books detailing the adventures of white missionaries in \u201csavage\u201d Africa\u2014so many books<\/em>. White supremacism may hide its name in evangelical churches, but it is in no way absent, despite what MacArthur says.<\/p>\n But MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church\u00a0in California, was just getting started. He was thrust into my view again last week when he published a \u201cStatement on Social Justice & the Gospel\u201d\u2014an anti-social justice laundry list that\u00a0was quickly signed by well over 4,000 evangelical pastors<\/a>.<\/p>\n MacArthur\u2019s statement begins as follows:<\/p>\n In view of questionable sociological, psychological, and political theories presently permeating our culture and making inroads into Christ\u2019s church, we wish to clarify certain key Christian doctrines and ethical principles prescribed in God\u2019s Word.<\/strong> Clarity on these issues will fortify believers and churches to withstand an onslaught of dangerous and false teachings that threaten the gospel, misrepresent Scripture, and lead people away from the grace of God in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Specifically, we are deeply concerned that values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n MacArthur\u2019s concern about the influence of secular values on gender and sexuality on the church is unsurprising, given his religious orientation. Conservative evangelicals have long opposed feminism and the LGBTQ rights movement. But race? Why is race included on this list? What is going on here?<\/p>\n In sum, it seems that MacArthur has a problem with progressive evangelicals who view anti-racism activism part of their Christian duty. In outlining his concern, he demonstrates something ugly.<\/p>\n WE AFFIRM<\/span> that the primary role of the church is to worship God through the preaching of his word, teaching sound doctrine, observing baptism and the Lord\u2019s Supper, refuting those who contradict, equipping the saints, and evangelizing the lost.<\/strong> We affirm that when the primacy of the gospel is maintained that this often has a positive effect on the culture in which various societal ills are mollified. We affirm that, under the lordship of Christ, we are to obey the governing authorities established by God and pray for civil leaders.<\/p>\n WE DENY<\/span> that political or social activism should be viewed as integral components of the gospel or primary to the mission of the church.<\/strong> Though believers can and should utilize all lawful means that God has providentially established to have some effect on the laws of a society, we deny that these activities are either evidence of saving faith or constitute a central part of the church\u2019s mission given to her by Jesus Christ, her head. We deny that laws or regulations possess any inherent power to change sinful hearts.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n One wonders, given MacArthur\u2019s last statement, what he would have said about the civil rights movement had he been preaching in the 1950s or 1960s.<\/p>\n Curious, especially given that MacArthur appears somewhat older in pictures, I looked up MacArthur\u2019s bio, wondering what he was doing in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1960s, MacArthur attended Talbot Theological Seminary, a school under the umbrella of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA). Samual Sutherland, president of BIOLA, was the institution\u2019s defining during that decade.<\/p>\n Sutherland was no fan of the civil rights movement. Not in the least.<\/em> Indeed, in July 1965<\/a>, Sutherland published an article titled \u201cRights Run Rampant\u201d:<\/p>\n Mobs demanding their rights are appearing with more and more alarming regularity.<\/strong> It is frightening to realize how these groups are springing up and making their voices heard in every quarter of our land. There seems to be no concerted effort on the part of our politically-minded government officials even to try to stop it. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 Few are those who give any indication whatever of having any sense of real responsibility toward any one else any where; everyone is claiming his own rights. Every march, every demonstration, every petition signed by a group of individuals, every set-in, sit-down, kneel-in, or lie-in, is a proclamation to the fact that, \u2018We are demanding our rights.\u2019<\/strong> Is there no voice to be heard anywhere in the land that emphasizes the individual and collective responsibility under the law?<\/p>\n The modernists of fifty years ago began to minimize the preaching of the cross and the Gospel message as revealed in the Word of God and, instead, began to preach a so-called social gospel. \u2026 Many, who until just a few years ago were preaching a solid soul-searching Gospel message, are now being caught up in this maelstrom of theological vagaries. \u2026 We are unalterably opposed to the so-called \u201csocial gospel.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sure, this was written by Sutherland and not by MacArthur. It\u2019s theoretically possible<\/em> that MacArthur spent his years studying at Sutherland\u2019s institution disagreeing with Sutherland\u2019s position on race and civil rights activism. Given the extent to which MacArthur\u2019s current approach to social justice so clearly mirrors Sutherland\u2019s approach to the civil rights movement during the 1960s, I find that unlikely.<\/p>\n MacArthur\u2019s statement continues:<\/p>\n WE AFFIRM<\/span> God made all people from one man. Though people often can be distinguished by different ethnicities and nationalities, they are ontological equals\u00a0before God in both creation and redemption. \u201cRace\u201d is not a biblical category, but rather a social construct that often has been used to classify groups of people in terms of inferiority and superiority.<\/strong> All that is good, honest, just, and beautiful in various ethnic backgrounds and experiences can be celebrated as the fruit of God\u2019s grace. All sinful actions and their results (including evils perpetrated between and upon ethnic groups by others) are to be confessed as sinful, repented of, and repudiated.<\/p>\n WE DENY<\/span> that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ.<\/strong> We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression.<\/strong> While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person\u2019s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The second paragraph above only gets worse on second reading. In fact it\u2019s so bad<\/em>\u00a0that it\u2019s worth breaking down sentence by sentence.<\/p>\n WE DENY<\/span> that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There are very real historical reasons predominantly black neighborhoods exist that are completely different from the reasons predominantly white neighborhoods exist, and yet the two are treated the same. And it\u2019s worse than that. Black people viewing themselves as African Americans\u2014viewing their radicalized experience and history as an important part of who they are\u2014is treated as though it is in the same category as white people ascribing to white supremacy and joining the Ku Klux Klan. It\u2019s not<\/em>.<\/p>\n We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once again, both sides<\/em> are accused of wrongdoing. As though white supremacism is somehow equivalent to black people resenting centuries of enslavement, disenfranchisement, theft, and murder.<\/em><\/p>\n We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This item no longer focuses on both sides\u2014it is only<\/em> directed at anti-racism activists, and not at all<\/em> at racists or white supremacists. Because it\u2019s anti-racism activism<\/em> that is the problem.<\/p>\n While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person\u2019s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once again, this is not even pointed at both sides<\/em>\u00a0in some sort of false equivalence. We\u2019ve moved beyond that to bashing anti-racism activists while\u00a0ignoring<\/em> the actual and real existence of racism and white supremacy. The priorities evidenced here are galling. And appalling. And horrifying.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder MacArthur doesn\u2019t known any churches that have a problem with racism. He doesn\u2019t recognize it in himself. He\u2019s so steeped in it that evangelical churches\u2019 baseline racism\u2014which often includes the sort of equivalences he\u2019s drawing\u2014looks neutral and normative to him.<\/p>\n Ok, next section:<\/p>\n WE AFFIRM<\/span> that some cultures operate on assumptions that are inherently better than those of other cultures because of the biblical truths that inform those worldviews that have produced these distinct assumptions.<\/strong> Those elements of a given culture that reflect divine revelation should be celebrated and promoted.\u00a0But the various cultures out of which we have been called all have features that are worldly and sinful\u2014and therefore those sinful features should be repudiated for the honor of Christ. We affirm that whatever evil influences to which we have been subjected via our culture can be\u2014and must be\u2014overcome through conversion and the training of both mind and heart through biblical truth.<\/p>\n WE DENY<\/span> that individuals and sub-groups in any culture are unable, by God\u2019s grace, to rise above whatever moral defects or spiritual deficiencies have been engendered or encouraged by their respective cultures.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Full on white supremacism. I see. At least there\u2019s no ambiguity? I mean, he went there<\/em>. MacArthur straight-up writes that some<\/em> cultures\u2014he\u2019s not going to say which, but it\u2019s the ones informed by biblical truths\u2014i.e. the ones historically informed by Christianity\u2014i.e. the ones that started in Europe\u2014but it\u2019s totally<\/em> not a race thing\u2014are better than other cultures<\/em>.<\/p>\n He goes on to say that every culture has its own moral deficits, but come on.<\/em>\u00a0He already said some cultures are inherently better than other cultures. You can\u2019t fix that.<\/p>\n WE AFFIRM<\/span> that racism is a sin rooted in pride and malice which must be condemned and renounced by all who would honor the image of God in all people<\/span>. Such racial sin can subtly or overtly manifest itself as racial animosity or racial vainglory.<\/strong> Such sinful prejudice or partiality falls short of God\u2019s revealed will and violates the royal law of love. We affirm that virtually all cultures, including our own, at times contain laws and systems that foster racist attitudes and policies.<\/p>\n WE DENY<\/span> that treating people with sinful partiality or prejudice is consistent with biblical Christianity. We deny that only those in positions of power are capable of racism, or that individuals of any particular ethnic groups are incapable of racism. We deny that systemic racism is in any way compatible with the core principles of historic evangelical convictions. We deny that the Bible can be legitimately used to foster or justify partiality, prejudice, or contempt toward other ethnicities. We deny that the contemporary evangelical movement has any deliberate agenda to elevate one ethnic group and subjugate another.<\/strong> And we emphatically deny that lectures on social issues (or activism aimed at reshaping the wider culture) are as vital to the life and health of the church as the preaching of the gospel and the exposition of Scripture.<\/strong> Historically, such things tend to become distractions that inevitably lead to departures from the gospel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, we didn\u2019t do it,<\/em> but we\u2019re not going to help fix it<\/em> either.<\/p>\n In fact, fixing racial problems is a distraction<\/em>.<\/p>\n Yes, systemic racism exists and it\u2019s not compatible with \u201cthe core principles of historic evangelical convictions\u201d\u2014but those core principles are also not compatible with efforts to end<\/em> systemic racism.<\/p>\n Because somehow that makes sense.<\/p>\n And remember\u2014MacArthur doesn\u2019t known of a single \u201cauthentic\u201d evangelical church that has a problem with racism. Because this horrifying statement he wrote\u2014this godawful statement that has been signed by thousands of evangelical pastors\u2014somehow does not demonstrate a problem with racism<\/em>.<\/p>\n MacArthur\u2019s statement highlighted the very thing he claims doesn\u2019t exist\u2014the racism of white evangelicalism. We wouldn\u2019t be talking about how very racist white American evangelicalism is<\/em> right now if he hadn\u2019t brought it up and demonstrated it so amply. I mean my god, multiple pastors from my hometown<\/em> alone have signed it. Have a look at the list<\/a>. This is where we are.<\/p>\n I rarely see someone do something that backfires so colossally.<\/p>\n