I respond as an evangelical and sociologist to CRT

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This is the first of a series of six video episodes that address issues of race and racism that our society faces currently, but that have been part of our history as a nation since its founding. I began my sociology career as a graduate student at Penn State working with one of the nation's leading scholars of the Black church. Since that time, I have been teaching, writing, preaching and podcasting about the history of race and racism that is unique to the United States, and the racial injustice embedded in every social institution of our nation. I am aware that many white pastors find themselves at very different places than their members regarding social and racial justice issues, something that was also true during the Civil Rights era. I have received my share of criticism for my preaching and writing. At the same time I am sensitive to the fact that there is little awareness and understanding on the part of so many white folks--in our churches and outside our churches--of the story of oppression, violence and injustice experienced by Black Americans. Simply preaching one more sermon isn't likely to change many minds. As a result I am developing an eight session study for congregations and small groups based upon what I've been learning over the last three decades. Each session is accompanied by a video teaching found on my YouTube channel and at www.achurchdismantled.com as well as a one page study guide for discussion following the video. I will also be listing additional resources at the website.

 In this episode I discuss the 18th and 19th century efforts by evangelicals to confront and destroy slavery and the resistance they encountered. And I wonder why evangelicals today as so offended by a movement in which those who have been long oppressed are simply crying out to be seen, embraced, and recognized as equals among all people. Without the systemic racism nurtured in U.S. history, there would be no need for a BLM movement. Can we reconsider how God might be using this movement to help complete the Civil Rights movement, a movement deeply embedded in the Scripture and the faithfulness of a Black Church? 

We live in a nation within which the sin of racism is embedded into our social and cultural fabric just as was the commitment to “all men being equal” and religious freedom. We continue today to reap the blessing of religious freedom and no one would argue that our doing so is unrelated to Thomas Jefferson’s defense of Baptists in Virginia in the 18th century. In other words, evangelicals are quick to point out that what makes this country great is the fact that our founding fathers made a commitment to such freedom and wove it into our national fabric and foundation. But what is puzzling to me is the rejection, on the other hand, that the dehumanization and objectivation of black Americans is woven in a similar way into our national fabric. We accept that the freedoms we value  have historical and cultural and even spiritual origins but reject that the sin of racism has such origins or even exists anymore. I have often said that it is difficult for most evangelicals to identify structural or systemic sins because we understand salvation and sin as a personal thing, and something that can be identified in personal relationships. If I take care of my personal sins and my grudges, bitterness and hatred in personal relationships, then I’ve taken care of all the sin that I am responsible for. Thus we reject and react personally to conversations about sins that are outside of the realm of the personal or relational.