In the wake of Charlottesville and other horrendous racial atrocities, many in the world are asking: “Is Christianity racist?”
Though many believers may like to think racism went away after the Civil Rights Movement, one African-American’s question to Focus on the Family proves otherwise. He asks:
How can a nation that was built on slavery and that’s still full of racial discrimination today possibly have “biblical roots”? I’ve been hurt by racism in so-called “Christian” America, and I just don’t understand why so many conservative evangelicals say this country is based on “Christian values.” As an African-American who has faced racial hatred, I find this perspective unbelievable. If that’s Christianity, then I want nothing to do with it!
He’s not the only one.
Some in the world may argue the Bible itself justifies racism and slavery, but Answers in Genesis’ Ken Ham explains the deception driving these conceptions.
Others may argue, though, that by not openly condemning racism, Christianity is actually condoning it.
To combat that attitude, hundreds of faith-filled believers are speaking out.
More than 400 Christian ethicists and other theologians have signed “A Statement from Christian Ethicists Without Borders on White Supremacy and Racism.” Organized by four ethics professors and dated Aug. 14, the statement rejects “racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi ideology as a sin against God that divides the human family created in God’s image.”
The organizers were particularly concerned—as were those in Nazi Germany—by those involved in white supremacist and other movements who also claim to be Christians. “That’s a warped version of Christianity,” said Tobias Winright, associate professor of health-care ethics at St. Louis University and founder of the “Ethicists without Borders” Facebook group, which organized the statement.
This statement focuses on Christian ethicists “because this is a Christian problem,” Winright said.
The cast of Revelation in the News tackled this hot-button issue head-on in a recent episode.
“Tension in America is at an all-time high,” the video says. ” Amidst all of the tension, racism, shouting, crying, mourning and destruction, who is asking ‘Where is the love?’ More importantly, who is showing love? It is time for the church, for the children of God, and you to wake up and live according to the Word.”
Watch the video to see more.
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