CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS NOT THE PROBLEM

Benjamin Sebrell: ORIGINALLY POSTED TO FACEBOOK LINK HERE

PLEASE NOTE: The following essay is just over 2,300 words (about 8 minutes of reading for the average reader). I'm thinking about submitting it to blogs/digital publications to increase the reach. Also considering recording an audio version of it for people to listen to. We'll see. I initially did not want to post it on Facebook as this platform tends to not be the best medium for these things, but after some thought, I've concluded that this is the platform I have so this is the platform I will use. Anyways. Thanks for reading.

By way of introduction, I want to state a few things right out of the gate to provide a clear context and/or framework for this essay. Apart from reading this introduction in its entirety, it will be all but impossible for one to truly understand the heart behind what I have written and my intended goal.

To start, the primary audience of this essay is American Christians/evangelicals. Now, I imagine those who do not identify as Christians may read it, and may even benefit from doing so. I'm not against that at all, but this piece is addressed specifically to Christians first and foremost.

Secondly, the primary topic of this essay is racism. More specifically, I'm going to discuss Critical Race Theory, White supremacy, and the response of American Christians to these things.

Third, I am fully aware that what I'm going to say here is very likely going to be grossly misconstrued, taken out of context, deemed offensive, and even heretical by some or even many who choose to read it (or by those who only read the title and jump to erroneous conclusions). So let me be clear in saying that you will not find any malice or ill-will here. My only goal is to help the people of God. I am not writing to attack White people. I am writing to attack White supremacy. That said, I recognize that just as there is pain involved in setting a broken bone or a joint that is out of place there will be those who read what I have written, feel pained by my words, and interpret that pain as an attack rather than an honest and humble attempt to offer assistance. I am at peace with that possibility and prepared to accept whatever consequences come as a result. This matter is simply too important for me to remain silent on. This leads me to the next and most important statement of this introduction.

Beloved, I do not pen these words flippantly. It has taken me at least 2 or 3 years to finish writing this. In that time, I've wrestled with God and Scripture. I've prayed and cried. My heart has been stretched by the tension. My soul has been pressed down under the pressure. My mind has raced to the point of mental and even physical exhaustion. Nonetheless, my conscience is clear before God as I write these words because if I do not write them down, the fire shut up in my bones will burn until I'm reduced to a pile of embers and ashes. I cannot hold inside of me what the Holy Spirit has determined to bring out. I simply can not. "Who am I that I should withstand God?"

I'll now begin on the subject matter of this essay by saying that in recent years, there has been an assertion, popular primarily in conservative Christian spaces, that says Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a threat to the gospel and/or the witness of local New Testament churches. I have even heard it said that CRT is the greatest threat to the gospel today. Let me state plainly and unapologetically that CRT is not the problem. CRT is merely the result of the problem. The problem is racism. Particularly, the racism that has been allowed to not just survive, but in some cases, thrive within local churches and "local churches" so-called. Furthermore, racism, as it exists in the American context, is largely and almost exclusively a Christian problem. That is to say that you would be hard pressed to find an American racist or White supremacist who does not consider themselves to be a Christian (even if only in the cultural sense) or a person of faith.

With that being stated, please know that this essay is in no way, shape, or form a defense or endorsement of Critical Race Theory. Mainly, because I have no interest in defending or endorsing CRT nor do I feel the need to. This essay has been written to help Christian people understand and recognize that if we get serious about truly dealing with the actual problem of racism in American local churches, CRT will effectively become a non-issue altogether. Why? Because CRT is merely the fruit while racism is the root. What sense does it make to complain about the fruit being produced by a tree you refuse to cut down? What do you stand to gain by picking and discarding that fruit if you are going to leave the tree producing said fruit untouched, intact, and for some, even well-kept? You can pluck all the fruit you want, but until you acknowledge and deal with the tree and its roots, the roots will deepen, the tree will continue to grow and continue to yield fruit.

Let's continue with a quote that will likely shock you if you haven't already heard it. “If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s Word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line. The true Negro does not want integration…. He realizes his potential is far better among his own race. [Integration] will destroy our [White Americans] race eventually. In one northern city a pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live next door to his church as man and wife.”[1]

The quote you just read is pulled directly from a sermon entitled "Segregation or Integration: Which?". It was preached in 1958 by Jerry Falwell Sr., the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist church and founder of Liberty University, the largest private and nonprofit university in the country. It was his official position on the ruling of Brown v. Board Of Education in which the Supreme Court declared segregation in American public schools to be unconstitutional.

Now, I want to say something before moving any further. I wholeheartedly believe Jerry Falwell, Sr. later came to reject the things he spoke in that sermon. I met him before he passed while I was a student at Liberty University. I hugged him. I even have an old Polaroid photo with him lying around somewhere. Having met him in the flesh, having heard him preach, having heard him pour out his heart to the student body, I can confidently say that God clearly worked in that man's heart and life in regard to racism, prejudice, and bigotry. He was not a perfect man, but I believe he was a changed man before he died.

Be that as it may, he still said what he said during a time in this country where he was one of the leading voices in the evangelical movement, and his words resonated with White Christians across the nation. There were pastors and churches who were looking to leaders like Jerry (not Jesus) on how to respond to schools being integrated in America, and his words gave them what they were looking for-- an "I love Jesus" bumper sticker to slap on their racism and White supremacy.

The reason Jerry could get up and preach such a sermon and claim that the Word of God and even God Himself supported such a damnable doctrine becomes clear with a thorough and honest look at American history. Since the time the very first Africans were brought across the Atlantic ocean on slave ships, White European Christians held to a demonic doctrine rooted in a gross misinterpretation of Scripture. This devilish doctrine used the "curse of Ham" found in Genesis chapter 9 to claim Black people were cursed by God and created by Him to be slaves.[2] Africans brought to this continent were told and taught that their suffering was a part of God's plan for their redemption. They were given a false gospel that effectively denied the sanctity of Black lives and sacredness Black bodies while simultaneously denying that they were created in the same image of God as White people. They were even given copies of Bibles with almost the entire Old Testament missing. There is a "slave Bible" in the Museum Of The Bible in Washington D.C. that substantiates this reality.[3]  So is it really any great wonder that there are millions of Black people who hold to the view that Christianity is the "White man's religion"? I can't tell you how many times I've seen and heard those words. It frustrates and saddens me each time because the fact is that Christianity was not forced upon Africans brought to the North American continent. White supremacy disguised as Christianity was.

At this point, it is vitally important to note the history of Christianity in Africa. Though there are many resources to look to on this matter, we really need not look any further The Bible. On the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, there were people from northern Africa (Cyrene) who were filled with the Holy Ghost. In Acts chapter 4, the apostle Philip preached to and baptized an Ethiopian man. These facts are well-documented, heavily substantiated, and irrefutable. Historically speaking, Africa has close ties to Christianity and even the first century Christian church.

So the question is now begged: if CRT is not the root problem and racism is, why, then, is there seemingly so much effort being put into combating CRT, and not more effort being put into combating actual racism? Here is my answer: the theology espoused by most American evangelicals is woefully insufficient to mount a full scale offensive against the sin and plague of racism because that theology finds its true foundations in the Constitution of the United States and not the Word of God.

That is to say that mainstream conservative evangelical theology is far more concerned with Making America Great Again than it is with knowing Christ and making Him known (and no, that's not a shot at Donald Trump. He wasn't even the first President to use that slogan. But that's another essay for another time and probably another person to write). That is why any time there is a person, movement, or ideology that seems to challenge the popular conservative, capitalist, evangelical school of thought, there is a rush to link that person, movement, or ideology to communism, Marxism, socialism, or any combination of the three. The best evidence of this is the way evangelicals occupying predominantly White/segregated spaces viewed and treated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was alive. To quote Jerry Falwell again, "I do question the sincerity and nonviolent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations".[4] Jerry Falwell even went on record in 1983 stating that he did not believe Dr. King should be honored with a national holiday.[5] Fast forward to today, and evangelicals can't wait to quote Dr. King (more often than not out of context) during Black History Month, or whenever someone wants to make a superficial call for unity in America. But how? How is it that in just one generation, Dr. King went from being viewed as the "bad guy" to being viewed as a patron saint of unity in the evangelical world? It's because the theology used to denigrate Dr. King was and is shallow and void of any serious biblical substance. When White evangelicals thought King was bad for America, they attacked him. Now that they know he was good for America, they applaud him, but even still, it seems to have more to do with achieving some version of the American dream than it does with having a Kingdom vision.

I often wonder how different things in America and American local churches would be had the White moderate Dr. King addressed in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail had received him as a concerned friend, brother, and co-laborer rather than reject and vilify him. I wonder what could have been if men with as much influence as Jerry Falwell, Sr. had been willing to work with Dr. King.

Today, conservative evangelicals (White, Black, and otherwise) are very vocal in speaking out against Critical Race Theory because it lets them feel like they are involved in the conversation about race in America without actually having to address the sin of racism within American church culture and the atrocities committed thereby. It allows them to address a topic that they are probably uncomfortable with without actually leaving their comfort zones. But trying to appropriately deal with the consequences of a thing without really honing in on the cause of that thing will only prove to be an exercise in futility. And for some, the fight against CRT is so paramount because whether you completely agree with CRT, it exposes and draws attention to the racism and White supremacy that has been allowed to thrive in local churches in America. It brings things that are supposed to be kept in the darkness into the light where the ugliness, depravity, and sinfulness of those things can be seen plainly.

Critical Race Theory is the result of racism. Not the cause. CRT will never be more of a threat to the gospel than racism itself will. Never. Until this is widely understood, especially in predominantly White conservative evangelical spaces, we will always and inevitably end up right where we are now-- with evangelical people trying to debate and explain away the fruit of racism in our country, churches, and schools without addressing its roots.

SOURCES:

[1] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133

[2] https://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/

[3] https://www.museumofthebible.org/exhibits/slave-bible

[4] https://medium.com/@theotherSeanD/mlk-and-jerry-falwell-18536fe804bd

[5] https://youtu.be/lcQbzZMW2Vo