Does the Anti-Racist movement belong in the Church? Let me be perfectly clear: racism is never to be tolerated. Racism is a sin. My question concerns the Anti-Racist movement. This movement professor John McWhorter calls a new religion comes equipped with developed doctrines of sin and attornment. Who can forget the viral YouTube video of people seeking forgiveness for the sin of “whiteness?”
One in Christ Jesus
As I sat in the pew on to celebrate the Eucharist, I looked around me and filled with hope for the people of God. In the pews around me were people, my brothers and sisters in faith, of many diverse ethnic backgrounds. Some had lighter skin, others darker. What united us was something beyond our contingent differences. We gather for a common purpose. We gather to celebrate Christ. In Him we were One.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
Unity in Trinity
Before we partake of the Eucharist, we confess our sin and belief in the Triune God. We acknowledge the Trinity’s divine unity and how this unity reflects in our One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. No matter our exterior appearance, we are one in Christ Jesus. We gather from all corners of the earth to unify in celebration of the One who redeems us. This is what is meant by the word catholic (universal or according to the whole). We rise above all contingent differences to worship the One True God.
Disunity of the Anti-Racist Movement
If one were to summarize Anti-Racism, one would simply invert the message and spirit of Galatians 3:28. This view sees only differences and disunity. To the Anti-Racist, there are ONLY Jews and Greeks. There are ONLY slaves and free. Only victim and oppressed. We are not one but divided along systematically racial lines. Moreover, Anti-racist lumps people into racial groups that then get further lumped into victim and oppressor groups. Anti-Racists like Ibram X. Kendi see others as either racist or anti-racist.
He states:
“One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an anti-racist,” he says. “One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an anti-racist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist.”
By imposing an either…or dynamic to the issue of race, Kendi has endorsed the way of division and further lumps good people as racist if they do not embrace Anti-Racism. This is not the way of Christ. The answer to racism is Christ, not Anti-Racism.
Unity in Holiness
Anti-Racism’s focus on division is antithetical to the message of all Christians as “one in Christ Jesus.” I sat in church and wondered what made this moment in time so special. How could people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds co-exist in one space, especially during such a divisive time? The answer: our desire for holiness. We gather not to highlight our differences but to partake of the medicine of immortality—the Eucharist. We look to something we believe will transform us into a holy people, and this is what unifies us. The risen Christ present in the Eucharist unites us and makes us Holy.
The Anti-Racism movement does not seek holiness but retribution. It seeks to divide and punish those who resemble in appearance those who may have oppressed their ancestors. It looks upon the exterior appearances of a person’s body (a thing an individual person cannot control) and passes racial judgement and condemnation. This message of retribution is counter to the message of forgiveness in Christ.
Dearest Lord, help your people to see through this deception rooted in exterior differences. Help us to see the hearts our neighbors. Heal us and heal our land. May we be unified as a people of faith as you are unified in the Holy Trinity proclaimed by our Apostolic faith. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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