Friday, March 03, 2006

Racial Relations


I recently attended a discussion on racial relations with Dr. Jeff Jue Professor of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. He spoke particularly on issues surrounding the Asian-American church and also responded a bit to a book by David Wells (not that David Wells) a professor at another seminary, who had come to speak at the school. In responding to Wells' book Jue criticized the 'melting pot' analogy Wells used to describe the American racial/religious climate prior to 1965 changes to immigration laws. This melting pot model is based on the premise that there was a melting together of racial distinctions and with that religions during this time. Jue's critique was that such an approach diminished the significance of those Americans who may not have fit into the mainstream of American culture in that time period, namely such individuals as Jue's own grandmother or African-Americans of that time. Instead Jue seemed to posit an analogy more along the lines of a rainbow, where multiple ethnic groups together formed a whole. As the discussion progressed it turned more to issues of racial injustice and insensitivity that existed both during that time and on through to the present and the reconciliation that is still needed.

The discussion was helpful and insightful for me as a Caucasian. Often as a majority you operate from a position that tends to be very centered around your own culture and traditions as paramount. This tends to go unchallenged. As I considered the issue of racial relations and the church in the United States it got me thinking. I was unable for time reasons to voice everything I had in mind that night, so I thought I'd post something here to that effect.

There's a fine line between 'diversity' and 'division'. Humanity, being fallen, is all too good at taking whatever the Lord has set before us and turning into something that it ought not be. The temptation set before Adam in the garden is very much alive and well today, the temptation of autonomy or being your own god. This is at work in the heart of all of us regardless of our ethnicity or race. We tend to exalt ourselves in everything we do. If something is wrong it's usually not our fault. We're ever concerned with our way, with our plans, with our thoughts, and with our dreams. This tendency certainly carries over to race, or ethnicity, or tribe, whatever the case may be. We exalt ourselves to the throne of our lives and we seek to exalt everything we associate as our own along with us. We all, regardless of our race, tend to exalt our race or our tradition above others on account of our sin natures. Often as the majority culture within a blending of cultures this tendency goes unchecked and typically unnoticed by that majority. If we are anything we are self-deceivers. We buy into our own plausible lies on a daily basis, including the lie of our superiority.

It is precisely this sin nature that causes us to twist the diversity that God has given us into a cause for division. We are sinfully self-absorbed. If anything characterizes the history of race relations in the United States it is this self-absorbed division.

Where does the church come into the picture and what do we as the church have to add? God has set us here for a reason. We are to be a light of truth and justice to the darkness of this world. We are to be ministers of reconciliation. Part of the church's role as light in this world is exposing injustice for what it is. We ought to call injustice injustice. We shouldn't ignore the issue but expose it. Sin has brought depravity which has spread to every facet of our lives, and particular to our inter-personal and racial relations. We can easily call out such things as slavery or racially prejudiced laws of the past. Virtually no one today would defend such policies as good, but does it stop there? Are there other forms of racial injustice in practice today that we go about our lives unaware of? Considering the nature of the problem, namely our sin nature, the answer would most certainly be yes.

But where do we go from there and why? During the discussion I asked Dr. Jue how someone such as myself, a majority in this society, ought to go about pursuing reconciliation with minorities. He mentioned that taking an active interest in hearing the concerns of the minority are a great start. The question was also posed to 'why take that interest?'. I mentioned that the friendships I had been able to develop with minorities over the years played a big role in my own life. When there's a face behind that minority concern it tends to matter more. I feel there is however a more foundational reason or basis on which to pursue racial reconciliation, this being the gospel. Any reconciliation that is to be effective and lasting must address the heart of the matter, man's sinful nature. Changing the laws of the land or the actions of man are good and necessary steps to be taken, steps which this country has been taking for over 100 years. But unless the sinful nature is addressed this change or reconciliation will remain largely superficial.

This is where the church serves as a light. When I consider the concerns of my brother Dr. Jue I see those concerns through a new lens, the lens of the gospel. The gospel doesn't approach him any different than it approaches me. So why should I? There is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ. The reconciliation we have in Christ knows no racial boundaries. I see Dr. Jue's concerns as my own on account of the unity we have in Christ. He is the foundation. The one thing there's no room for at the center of our hearts is ourselves, for the King is in residence there. The gospel transforms the self-exalting nature within us into one that exalts Him. Instead of exalting myself, my concerns, or my race I ought to exalt Christ and bring into subjection any thought that might exalt itself against Him. The story of the gospel is written all over the pages of American history. We are a people fallen, sinful, self-centered and in need of a Saviour, in need of His reconciliation. As we are humbled to our rightful place as servants of the Most High and He is exalted, we are reconciled to Him and consequently to each other.

1 Comments:

Blogger goodnight moon said...

amen! and they didn't mention that we'd learn this stuff in the wts brochure!

8:18 PM  

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