{"id":49737,"date":"2018-08-27T05:24:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T09:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=49737"},"modified":"2018-08-23T16:11:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T20:11:29","slug":"the-sin-problem-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/08\/the-sin-problem-problem.html","title":{"rendered":"The Sin Problem Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Samantha Field<\/a> shared some insightful, important, and powerful thoughts about the language that conservative Evangelicals use about racism and other social issues as being a \u201csin issue\u201d and a \u201cproblem of the heart.\u201d Here\u2019s a lengthy excerpt:<\/p>\n

Maybe like me you\u2019ve noticed a pattern of influential Christian ministers referring to racism or sexism as a \u201cheart issue,\u201d and found it as frustrating as I do.<\/p>\n

Framing racism or other systemic social problems as a \u201cheart issue\u201d accomplishes a few things. First, it centers Christianity in the conversation. If racism is a \u201cheart issue,\u201d then the solution is conversion or repentance\u2013 all the individually racist person needs to do is repent and allow Jesus to change their heart. If a racist person accepts Jesus into their heart and once they\u2019ve done so, follows the Spirit\u2019s guidance away from prejudice and towards acceptance\u2013 then racism is solved with the Christian religion. Saying racism is a \u201cheart issue\u201d means that we don\u2019t need affirmative action, we need Evangelical Jesus.<\/p>\n

Second, it allows people and their communities to escape any feeling of responsibility or guilt. If racism is truly a single person\u2019s heart issue, and the resolution is for that person to repent, then there\u2019s nothing that Bob or Susie is responsible for when Jim is a racist turd. If Jim is a Christian, then Jesus and the Holy Spirit will handle it. If he\u2019s not, then there\u2019s nothing more for Bob or Susie to do\u2013 they just have to continue being Jim\u2019s friend so they can be a \u201cgood witness\u201d for Christ in his life. What good would it do to tell Jim that he\u2019s being racist, if it\u2019s a heart issue? No, we just need to \u201clove on him\u201d more and \u201cbe the only Bible he\u2019ll ever see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lastly, if racism is an individual\u2019s \u201cheart issue,\u201d then it\u2019s not systemic. An indiviudal\u2019s heart issue does not require a church, as an institution, to change. Heart issues do not ask the Church to examine itself or shift course; in fact, if racism is a heart issue than most Christian churches are doing the exactly right thing by harping on a \u201cpersonal relationship with Christ\u201d and telling its members to repent of private, individual sin.<\/p>\n

If we were to communally acknowledge that racism or sexism or ableism is systemic, then we\u2019d have to commit to a massive undertaking. We\u2019d have to take a hard look at how our seminaries and ordinations and denominations and alliances and conventions operate and be honest with ourselves for the first time in history. We\u2019d have to overhaul power structures, ordination tracks, and hiring processes\u2013 and everyone who currently enjoys all the cultural power, who wield all the political influence, would lose their access and prestige. The leadership would have to admit that it\u2019s not God who brought them to the position they hold, not their commitment to the faith, not their hard work, but systemic, structural practices that marginalize anyone who isn\u2019t a cis, white, heterosexual man.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not coincidence that the people who stand to lose the most power, influence, and money are the ones claiming that sins like racism are an individual problem and the solution is to maintain the status quo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the topic of what Jessica Goldstein calls the \u201cFeel-Good, Feel-Bad\u201d Story, which praises an individual\u2019s inventiveness or tenacity in a way that distracts from the systemic problem that necessitated their action, Libby Ann writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The problem with these stories is that the challenges they show individuals solving\u2014on an individual level, or by coming together as individuals\u2014are systemic problems that shouldn\u2019t have existed in the first place. Furthermore, the solutions these stories tout as heartwarming leave those underlying systemic problems in place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Daniel Camacho wrote along similar lines<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s time for Christian leaders and members to own up to the patriarchal crisis that churches are experiencing. When the book of Genesis describes the fallen, sinful nature of humanity, it names the specific curse of oppressive male domination.<\/p>\n

To simply chalk these instances up to sin in the abstract misses the ways in which sin has become enfleshed in hierarchical church structures led by men with little accountability. It also lets men, and male religious leaders off the hook. If we can understand this, then perhaps we can think about steps for moving forward.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is good to see so many people talking about systemic evil rather than merely individual sin!<\/p>\n

Of related interest:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/friendlyatheist.patheos.com\/2018\/08\/17\/pastor-evangelicals-must-stop-promoting-spiritually-disastrous-social-justice\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/samanthapfield.com\/2018\/08\/06\/sin-is-not-just-a-heart-issue\/<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha Field shared some insightful, important, and powerful thoughts about the language that conservative Evangelicals use about racism and other social issues as being a \u201csin issue\u201d and a \u201cproblem of the heart.\u201d Here\u2019s a lengthy excerpt: Maybe like me you\u2019ve noticed a pattern of influential Christian ministers referring to racism or sexism as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":50190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[11329,11510],"class_list":["post-49737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicals","tag-sin","tag-society"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sin Problem Problem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Samantha Field shared some insightful, important, and powerful thoughts about the language that conservative Evangelicals use about racism and other\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/08\/the-sin-problem-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sin Problem Problem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Samantha Field shared some insightful, important, and powerful thoughts about the language that conservative Evangelicals use about racism and other\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/08\/the-sin-problem-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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