“Why do you talk about racism all the time?” It was a simple enough question from a fellow believer. I had just preached a sermon that past Sunday from the book of Ruth about the threats Ruth may have suffered in the fields as a foreigner (see Ruth 2), and emails and texts were flooding in from friends around the country with questions after watching my sermon via Facebook Live. This particular dialogue was over the phone, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was audibly upset.
Much of our conversation dealt with concerns over whether a pastor should speak on social issues like this from the pulpit. But underlying that fear was a deeper and perhaps darker one: he didn’t think this passage of Scripture actually dealt with issues like migrants, border crossings and cross-cultural relations. “Why can’t you just preach the facts?” he asked at one point. Other questions included, “Why do you have to read race and culture into so many of your sermons?” and “It seems like you’re forcing that in.”
He’s not the only Christian that feels this way. In fact, many believers don’t understand why pastors like me regularly talk about racism (and every other form of prejudice), especially within the walls of the church. There are big confusions over whether the problem of racism is even a gospel issue at all – because, if it’s not, then Christians shouldn’t worry about it, right? Other Christians truly believe that we’ve progressed as a nation, that racism is largely a thing of the past, and that the American church serves as a champion for unity in diversity.
I could talk about why that sort of thinking is just not true. I could give you example after example of racism within the church, of minority leaders being discriminated against and marginalized, of actual dialogues between Christians in which minority accents are made fun of and people at our border are described as nothing more than “criminals,” and of churches being too scared to reach minority neighborhoods because they are “crime-infested.” I could also give examples of minority Christians turning their backs on majority Christians in hurt and anger and of assuming every white Christian is racist. The list goes on. However, instead of just listing examples, I want to go straight to the heart of the matter and talk about the roots of our racism.
Racism Begins with Cain
The roots of racism run deep within the history of God’s people, and we can trace its origins all the way back to the story of Cain and Abel. Perhaps you’ve never thought about racism while reading Genesis 4. But this is the first instance in the Bible and of humanity in general where we see hate, anger and violence. It is also the first occurrence of murder in the Bible. Cain comes to hate his brother, Abel, so much that he kills him. And I want to argue that at the root of this interpersonal hatred – and at the root of every form of interpersonal hatred, including racism – is a distorted view of humanity.
Now, hear me: Having a distorted view of our fellow man and woman fosters hate, and hate itself is a form of racism. Let’s look back to Genesis 1 to see what I mean. In the very beginning, God imbued humanity with the highest form of dignity, value, and worth. He did this by creating humanity in His own image and likeness. In Genesis 1:26-27, we see that every human should be regarded as made in the Imago Dei and, as such, every human should be viewed as equally valuable. No human can claim superiority over another. A person’s physical capacity doesn’t change this. A person’s mental capacity doesn’t change this. A person’s skin color, language, and/or ethnicity doesn’t change this. Every human is made in God’s image, and, as such, every human should be treated with love, dignity, and respect.
But is that how Cain saw Abel? No. Cain did not see Abel in that light. Abel was not an image bearer of God in Cain’s mind. In fact, Abel was viewed as worthless, as dispensable, as if he was nothing more than a passing breath or a vapor. In Hebrew, the word “Abel” means vapor. A vapor is something that is here one moment and gone the next. This is an intentional play on words by the author as it highlights Cain’s view of Abel’s life as momentary and insignificant.
The History of God’s People is Cain’s Story on Repeat
Here is where it gets scary: Cain’s treatment of Abel flowed from his thoughts of him. Since Abel was viewed as lesser, Cain had no problem ending his life. How we view people directly influences how we treat people. It’s true of my life and of your life, and the sad, horrifying fact is that the history of God’s people is a history of Cain’s story on repeat.
Early American Christians did not view Native Americans as made in the image of God. Their lives were not as valuable as those with European descent, and we saw nothing wrong with killing and forcibly removing Native Americans from their own land. Many Anglo Christians justified slavery because they did not view black men and women as human, and the problems of mass incarceration and gentrification today continue to treat African Americans as inferior to God’s image and likeness. The way many Christians talk about immigrants at our border today as criminals and threats to our national security reveals our lack of care for their personhood and humanity. The way we talk about Muslims and people who don’t speak English, of poor communities and the homeless communicates a lot about whether we see these men and women as fellow image bearers or not.
Furthermore, as we see in the story of Cain, if one believes that another people group or person is inferior, they will have no problem treating them in cruel and horrific ways. This what I mean when I say that a distorted view of humanity leads to hatred and racism. It also leads to classism, sexism, and tribalism.
Talking About Racism in Church
If we’re being honest, Christians are good at regarding “the other” as less than us. “The other” could be those of a different socio-economic class, those of a different ethnicity, gender, religion, and even political party. I can’t tell you how often I hear Republicans and Democrats think so little about people of the other party. It’s one thing to disagree on policy; it’s quite another to think of them as inferior to you. In our day and age where politics and morals are so entangled, and being a conservative evangelical equates to being a Republican, there is a lot of unashamed mud-slinging happening both in and outside of the church. Christians, our hands are dirty.
This is why the church needs to talk about racism today and every day after that. As long as sin exists in this world, we will always be tempted to think less of our fellow man and woman. As long as we are human, we will always have the capacity to dislike people, make fun of people, reject people and worse.
We need to take a hard and honest look at the people we look down on. This insidious weed of disdain and disgust for other humans must be rooted out if we are to have any hope of keeping our effectiveness as believers (2 Peter 1:8). If we, as the body of Christ, continue to hold a distorted view of humanity – even if it’s against one person only – we will be nothing more than history on repeat, imitating our forefather Cain and his hatred for his brother.
So, let’s open up the channels of conversation for racism within the church. Let’s spend more time in reflection and confession, praying for God to illuminate any racist tendencies and thoughts in our hearts and minds, and may we hold each other accountable to fighting against the sin of hating and condemning our fellow human.
The church needs to take a hard and honest look at the people we look down on and root out our prejudices like weeds if we want to have any hope of keeping our effectiveness as believers. Click To Tweet
