I have a suspicion that the churches have been compromised by racism, more than any other issue. For centuries the dissenting Christian traditions were movements of the people and politically situated towards what we might nowadays call the left.
The change probably started in the American south where after the abolition of the slave trade, many churches continued to segregate black congregations, well into the twentieth century. Where churches in the north developed critical stances on social issues, the southern churches were compromised. They took refuge in pietism and a fundamentalist approach to scripture, claiming their defensive interpretation was not just their own reading but the only true reading.
Paradoxically, these movements have spread around the world, adapting to new contexts. The lure of inerrancy seems to have a great attraction to people, whatever their race. Perhaps today, this theology is proving to be too limiting for many of these new churches and the fundamentalist grip is relaxing a little.
I found this paragraph in a recent mailing from Ecclesia:
These days another problem obtains. Christians have lost their shyness when it comes to acting politically, but all-too-often engage in a way that looks more like they are protecting their tribe or trying to force others into their mould, rather than demonstrating a different or better way of living. In a world crying out for less selfishness, they have now become too worldly to be any earthly use!
This should alert us to the possibility that our churches are institutionally racist. Fundamentalist theology is well known and permeates all the churches. Much of it will have adapted to multi-cultural contexts but its lack of engagement with the economic and political conditions of the day are a serious problem.
A couple of years ago, the media celebrated the Windrush and Churches Together in England commemorated the first wave of post-war immigration to England through a year of events called Set All Free. The new immigrants were Christians and left wing; they expected to welcomed into the churches and Trade Unions. The reason we have Black Minority Churches in Britain is because of the racism of white congregations in the 50s and 60s. Occasionally, you find an exceptional church where black Christians were accepted and stayed but overall the churches' did not respond to the Gospel invitation to radical hospitality.
The Trade Unions? I will never forget a story told by Gus John, at the time a community worker in London at a Church Community Work Alliance conference in 1985, a few months after the miners strike. The Caribbean immigrants were left wing and expected to be welcomed into the Trade Unions. They were rejected. Years later, watching the miners picket lines on TV, with the police lined in front of them, they saw the miners pushing the police. They knew from terrible experience the truth. The police had metal heels on their boots, by kicking backwards, they caused the miners to fall forwards. On TV it looked as if the miners' lines were attacking the police from behind.
If only we could have found the space in our hearts to welcome the stranger to our land. Instead, we added another reason for our churches to be divided.
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