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MacArthur also published a blog post about this on his own site (on September 8). He warns us that "Today, critical race theory, feminism, intersectional theory, LGBT advocacy, progressive immigration policies, animal rights, and other left-wing political causes are all actively vying for evangelical acceptance under the rubric of 'social justice.'" Isn't it terrible, he says, that Christians are being influenced by these worldly justice movements. It's getting in the way of "the gospel."
This "statement on social justice" is white supremacy.
What's striking to me is that I have always had a sense that the ideas in this "statement" are "what Christians believe", even though nobody in church ever explicitly said it. I grew up in an all-white church... now you might be saying "hey wait, not 'all-white', I know for a fact there was this one black guy at our church, and also there was a family that adopted some black children" and that proves my point. If you can easily list all the people of color who attend your church, then it counts as an "all-white" church.
Race was never talked about in my church. Or, rather, we believed racism was a sin, but we thought of racism solely as an individual sin, an internal attitude of hating people specifically because of their race. Under this definition, it made sense to believe that people of color could be "racist against white people" in exactly the same way that white people might be racist- as if it was the exact same thing. Just hatred in one individual person's heart. I had never heard of systemic racism- not until I started reading feminist blogs.
Here are a few of my tweets from several years ago, which basically sum up what evangelical Christianity taught me about racism:
so yeah, white christians would say racism is a sin, but not like one of those culture-war-we-need-to-take-a-stand kind of sins— Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2016年11月8日
White church talked more abt the evils of Harry Potter than the evils of racism/ white supremacy— Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2017年8月16日
And that's exactly the teaching on "racism" we see in the Statement on Social Justice. It clearly says that yes, everyone is made in the image of God and everyone is equal regardless of race. But at the same time:
We deny that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ. We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression. While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice.Yep, they don't think we should care about racial identity, privilege, and oppression. As Christians, we don't believe in that stuff, apparently. Just don't feel any racist feelings in your heart, and that's good enough.
I had never heard of systemic racism before, but somehow when I encountered the concept for the first time, I had a *feeling* of "no, Christians don't believe this." Probably because it felt "liberal" and we know that anything liberal is by definition evil (that's what Christians believe, right?).
It's just FASCINATING to me that neither the Statement on Social Justice nor MacArthur's blog post give any real reasons why Christians don't buy those concepts. Just that those things are "the world's" idea of justice. And I remember my own thought process, when I first heard about #BlackLivesMatter, and I was reading what they said ... feeling like "I know I'm not supposed to believe this" but I just could not find any other explanation for the facts I was reading. I had to conclude yes, it is true that anti-black systemic injustice exists in the United States, and police kill black people and get away with it, and it's a huge problem.
Somehow, I always had the sense "this isn't what Christians believe" but I had no idea of the reasons why. And MacArthur doesn't give any reasons either. Apparently, he expects his readers to believe that anything "the world" is into is inherently suspect, and we should avoid those things and just follow "the gospel." (His understanding of "the gospel" is quite effed-up, because he thinks it's completely unrelated to ending oppression and injustice on earth. Apparently he doesn't believe in "your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.")
So. I said the Statement on Social Justice is white-supremacist, so let me just lay out a few of the reasons why. Because systemic racism IS real, and white people in the United States benefit from it, and if we pretend it doesn't exist and just try not to have racist *feelings* in our hearts, we are complicit. Because it's extremely racist to not believe all the people of color who talk about their experiences with discrimination. Because it presents a "gospel" which sees nothing wrong with allowing oppression to continue. Because it holds up theology done by white men as "correct" and "biblical" and dismisses theology done by people of color as "worldly."
In a sense, the Statement on Social Justice is shocking by how blatant it is in denying the existence of systemic racism and claiming this is what Christians should believe. But at the same time, I grew up in a white evangelical church and somehow these ideas feel familiar to me. Even though nobody ever said them to me out loud, somehow I knew that Christians were supposed to be suspicious of anything that seemed "liberal."
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Oh, and one more thing: Everybody, especially white American Christians, should read James Cone.
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Follow-up post: "On earth as it is in heaven"
Related:
My Racist Personal Relationship with God
They Prayed About It (a post about the #NashvilleStatement)
Zootopia, an Adorable Disney Cartoon about Systemic Racism
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