Evangelicals

I think that the United States government is becoming more and more dominated by the influence of religion. I also realized that I knew little about these religious influences and have decided to study the matter further. This little essay is what I have discovered ‘Evangelical’ to mean.

While conservative evangelical Christians is unequivocal in their support for racial equality, the very structures of their faith serve to perpetuate inequality. Evangelicals believe that religion cannot make a great impact on our racialized society but religion can serve as a moral force freeing people from bias.

The primary task of evangelization is not social reform. In fact they believe that any such effort ‘rocks the boat’ socially and politically and thus impedes evangelistic efforts. They usually fail to challenge the American system but to support it and to enjoy its fruits. They share the Protestant work ethic, laissez-faire and sometimes fail to evaluate if the social system is consistent with their Christianity.

Similar concerns motivate white evangelical Christians today, but there are also far deeper issues which help keep them on the side of racial separation: freewill individualism, relationalism, and antistructuralism.

Taken together, they prevent white evangelicals from even perceiving that there is a race problem in America in the first place — and insofar as they do, they typically attribute it to fabrications or people causing trouble when they shouldn’t be. Black evangelicals, however, are acutely aware of just how much of an issue race really is. Quite simply, whites are completely unaware of what is going on: “Race is not a focal point of their day-to-day lived experience.” Taken together, they prevent white evangelicals from even perceiving that there is a race problem in America

This brings us to the doctrine of relationalism: the idea that human nature is sinful and that only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can one be made a better person. This is a “bedrock, nonnegotiable belief.”

Evangelicals’ antistructuralism: this corollary to their freewill individualism prevents them from attributing any harm, problems, or malice to the nature or structure of institutions themselves. Institutions do not discriminate except insofar as individuals within them discriminate; institutions do not segregate except insofar as individuals within them segregate.

Evangelicals may go so far as to argue that efforts to attribute problems to institutions are a symptom of individuals attempting to deny responsibility for their sins: “Because systems and programs are viewed as obviating personal responsibility and not changing the hearts of individuals, they are ultimately destructive.”

"It is a necessity for evangelicals to interpret the problem at the individual level. To do otherwise would challenge the very basis of their world, both their faith and the American way of life. …[A]nyone, any group, or any program that challenges their accountable freewill individualist perspective comes itself to be seen as a cause of the race problem. …[M]ost white Americans honestly desire a color-blind society, and often oppose the color-conscious for that reason.”

Chuck

You are a racist.

How is he a racist? There is a race problem in America.

(Though don’t ask me about the rest of the post, I didn’t read the whole thing…)

You shouldn’t have to read his entire article, the portion I quoted was plenty enough. I’ll quote it again.

White people are completely unaware of the race situation in America, apparently. This is racism, pure and simple. I could append this with “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” but that wouldn’t be exactly true- for, it’s a matter of hypocrisy, what with him blustering about the racism.