When radical leftist cry, “Racism!” it’s often hard for me to take them serious. They see racism in everything. Since the inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1969, leftist have accused Republicans as being racist and fascist. The way the leftist define racism is selective. Racism is a political term that speaks only to those with privilege and power. There is one other element to racism – white. When one reads the literature of the radical left white-ism is a synonym for racism. The original sin of this political narrative is being white. It goes something like this:
The Lord God planted a garden and placed the man and woman of color in the garden. The Lord God gave to them trees and fruit of every kind. In the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of Oppression. There was a white man in the garden who was sly as a serpent. The white man deceived the man and woman of color; the white man enslaved the man of color and raped the woman of color. The white man exiled the man and woman of color and destroyed their garden paradise. The white man is the devil.
Now, let’s be honest. There is some truth to this narrative. The history of the Western world is Eurocentric. White Europeans did indeed invade and enslave Africans and Native Americans. White Europeans enriched themselves on the treasures, sweat, and blood of the conquered people of color. White Europeans did all of this in the name of God – Christendom. If white Europeans refuse to acknowledge the truth of this narrative, they are self-deceived. Racism is a real evil. The David Duke types are out there and some of them attend Evangelical churches.
Many people of color have reacted to the election of Donald Trump with fear. Van Jones has referred to the election as “white-lash.” There are verified reports of minority school children in fear as their fellow students mock and taunt them. As many white Americans celebrate Trump’s election, many Americans of color are terrified. Why? Because Trump is white, his supporters are white, and the white man is the devil. This fear is generated on two fronts. First, racism is real. Racism is systemic throughout our culture. On the night of the election I posted, “The Democrats will say the deplorables won. It will be up to the Republican victors to prove that they are not deplorable.” Racism must be rejected.
The second front of fear is generated by the radical left, by their narrative that the white man is the devil. In this narrative, evil is not personified by the racist white man, but by all white men. The white man is the devil and as such the white man cannot be redeemed. Because the white man is the devil he is to be feared, rebuked, resisted, alienated, dehumanized, and cast into the lake of fire. There is no place for mercy, no place for forgiveness, no place for grace.
In this political context there can be only restitution. An African-American friend once posted that “Europe/America has a moral check to write for those abominations.” I replied,
The check that you request is to too great to bear. We cannot make reparations for so great a crime. There are some sins so grievous that they cannot be repaired, nor simply forgiven. They must be atoned for. But again, who is qualified to offer atonement? Only God can make that judgment and God did. In Christ, God has assumed all human sinfulness. In Christ, God has atoned for the sins of all humanity. The price that only God could pay, God has paid. In Christ, the walls of separation are torn down. In Christ, all humanity is reconciled to God and to each other. In Christ, old things have passed away – the horrors of the past must give way to New Creation, new hope, new possibilities. So I daily pray, “Forgive my debts as I forgive my debtors.” I bear the sins of my forefathers. I cannot pay their debts. All that is left is for me to ask you to forgive my debts. God have mercy!
Christians of all tribes have an obligation to live the Faith. We have an obligation to seek justice, to extend mercy, to love our enemies, to make friends with our opponents, to care for the stranger. We have an obligation to move out of our cultural and political bubbles. That means that Christians white and black, left and right, must be willing to sit at the Table of the Lord to have a sincere conversation without throwing verbal stones at each other. We can’t be ministers of reconciliation by calling each other names. The vision of the people of God in Revelation is one of all tribes and tongues. In heaven we will not all look alike, nor will we speak the same language. But we will be one in Christ. Somehow, we must find a way to tell that story. We must move beyond our established political narratives and write a new story that faithfully reflects the mission of God.
