As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“This article features recent data from Beyond Diversity, a study conducted in partnership with Dr. Michael O. Emerson and the Racial Justice and Unity Center, exploring whether or not practicing Christians from various racial backgrounds think their race offers them an advantage in life, as well as how they feel when the term “white privilege” is mentioned.” - Barna
“Is responsibility for sin individual or is it corporate? It’s both, argues pastor and author Timothy Keller in his article, ‘Justice in the Bible.’ This means, therefore, that we must address racism as an individual and a systemic problem.” - C.Leaders
“How can we wash our hands of the rotten fruit still being harvested while we enjoy the gain and spoils accumulated via the efforts of a program of dehumanization that is generational in its span? Time has ontological weight and events in our nation’s time hang guiltily around our collective neck.” - John Ellis
“Hypersensitivity about ‘systemic racism’ has many people, of every race, hesitating about being honest about what they think. But honesty and forthright argument are the only antidotes to the fear many people feel, and the only road ahead to racial justice. I expect ad hominem responses to the essay that follows, or willful misunderstandings of its argument….But only good arguments—not silent cowering—can defeat bad ones.
“…as practiced, it quite often creates a virtual irrebuttable starting presumption that ‘existing power structures’ can be accurately analyzed primarily (or sometimes exclusively) through the prism of race. The end result, ironically enough, is both reductive and complex.” - The Dispatch
We might have every reason to expect, given the extraordinary attention directed to this issue, that race relations would be improving in America. But instead, they seem to be getting worse. Why are race relations not improving?
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
As #BlackLivesMatter, White-Fragility, and White-Privilege become flash points in our society, and as entire organizations have grown up around the concept of “racial reconciliation” it is critical to remember that Christians should think differently than the world on the topic of race.
“I have had quite a number of people ask my opinion about this book [Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism] … I am going to provide a kind of summary of its contents and then, in a second article, discuss whether it is a helpful resource for Christians. I primarily want to consider the ‘story’ DiAngelo is telling.” - Challies
“Race-based discrimination has multiple sources, many of which preceded Darwin, but evolutionary theory gave ‘a powerful push to a scientific version of racism that still impacts us today,’ said John West, vice president and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute.” - WORLD
Barna “surveyed 400 pastors on June 4-15 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.9%. Of those surveyed, 76% said they believed churches should support the protests, while 15% disagreed and 8% did not have an opinion.
Discussion