We’ve already discussed how American slavery had an influence on America developing an American brand of theology.  In this essay we’ll look at how the evangelical movement took this flawed theology a step further, perpetuating rather than dismantling a racialized society.

​

In The Myth of Colorblind Christians, Jesse Curtis asserts that in “the decades after the civil rights movement, black evangelicals made unprecedented demands for inclusion and reform in evangelical institutions.  In response to these demands and the upheavals of the civil rights movement, white evangelicals discarded theologies of white supremacy and embraced a new theology of colorblindness.  Personal kindness, not systemic reform, was the proposed way to solve racial problems.”  Jesse Curtis shows how “white evangelicals efforts to grow their own institutions created an evangelical form of whiteness, infusing the politics of colorblindness with sacred fervor.”

​

Prioritizing Church Growth Over Racial Discipleship

​

In the 1970s, the principles of the Church Growth Movement (CGM) gained widespread popularity within the evangelical movement to revitalize evangelism.  Jesse Curtis asserts that Donald McGavran, a prominent missionary, originally believed that segregated churches were a “satanic condition” that undercut the authenticity of the gospel.  But by the early 1970s Protestantism’s emphasis on social justice led him to see evangelism and social justice as competitors rather than complementary.  McGavran began to pitch CGM within the evangelical movement.  This meant embracing monoethnic churches to spread the Gospel faster, using the racial fears and bigotry of white Americans to make evangelism and church growth more efficient.  Mega churches were planted in the suburbs targeting white Christians that wanted to segregate themselves from black people.  The evangelical movement experienced rapid growth, in large part, because it avoided tackling discipleship issues related to racial equality, knowing that addressing those issues would make their congregants uncomfortable and slow church growth.  To protect church growth, racial justice in the community and racial equality within evangelical institutions were ignored. 

​

Jessie Curtis asserts that the church growth theorists mistakenly believed it was possible to capitalize on white identity apart from racial hierarchy.  But in the resulting evangelicalism, whiteness was often associated with doctrinal purity and theological authority.  Many white evangelicals were skeptical of African American Christians exercising spiritual authority over white Christians.  They were much more comfortable ministering to African Americans or training them for separate black ministry.  And these homogenous churches and institutions became echo chambers that never challenged racial biases and thus entrenched racism.

​

At Lausanne ’74, C. René Padilla, an Ecuadorian evangelical theologian and missiologist, issued a blistering attack on American evangelicalism’s reliance on CGM to promote monoethnic churches.  He saw the Homogeneous Unit Principle (HUP) as just another name for segregation.  In his view, the American church had formed an unholy alliance with American practices.  Instead of providing a comprehensive alternative to the problems of American society, American “Culture-Christianity” was so captured by the American way of life that it was blind to its evils.

​

Sacralizing a Theology of Colorblindness

​

In the first half of the twentieth century, racial liberals sometimes used metaphors of colorblindness to protest Jim Crow.  White evangelicals repurposed the same terminology, claiming that the Apostle Paul preached against racial consciousness.  This opposition to racial consciousness, rooted in a colorblind  interpretation of the Bible, became the primary defense of the American racial hierarchy rather than a challenge to it.  While black evangelicals pressed for practical changes, white evangelicals found that colorblind theology enabled their movement to thrive and become nominally multiethnic without making substantial changes to power relations. 

​

While black evangelicals often advocated unity in Christ as the foundation of social equality, white evangelicals often described unity in Christ as a substitute for equality.  Jessie summarizes this in an interview: “black evangelicals really challenged white evangelicals over segregation and racism.  Because we are one in Christ, they said, you must include us.  It is a theological scandal that we are being discriminated against.”  White evangelicals completely turned the tables and argued that “God is colorblind, and so Christians should not concern themselves with racial consciousness, racial injustice, etc.  If we are one in Christ, they said, why are you talking about race?  If you were a mature Christian, you would recognize that race doesn’t matter.”  

​

The Impact of White Flight

​

According to Michael Emerson and Christian Smith’s book, Divided by Faith, the root cause of racial disparities – the wealth gap, the health gap, the lifespan gap, the education gap and the marriage rate gap – is that black and white Americans live separate lives in segregated communities.  While government actions played a significant role in segregation, evangelicalism also played a leading role.  Jessie Curtis asserts that the “Great Migration changed the landscape of African American religion and presented a challenge to the segregated white churches of northern cities.  White evangelical churches actively contributed to the dislocations of white flight, exacerbating an era of disinvestment from center cities.”  Jessie summarizes that the “OGM catalyzed white evangelicalism’s suburbanization.”

​

Where are We Today?

​

A 2019 Barna study found that only 40% of white self-identified Christians believed our country has a race problem compared to 46% of white adults.  At the same time, 75% of black self-identified Christians said that our country has a race problem compared to 72% of black adults.  Our perspective on whether systemic racism exists is wider in the church than in society, and even wider among practicing Christians than self-identified Christians.  And our views on race are moving further apart within the church.  In 2020, after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, those saying our country has a race problem dropped from 40% to 33% for white self-identified Christians and increased from 75% to 81% for black self-identified Christians.

​

If we are going to dismantle racial hierarchies in the American church, and put things right in our communities, we need to first get our theology aligned with the Bible.  Let’s look at the primary tenants of colorblind Christianity and how each aligns with what the Bible teaches.

​

The Tenets of Colorblind Christianity

​

Colorblind Christianity says that being race conscious destroys church unity.  This is based on a misconception of Biblical unity that equates the comfort of white congregants with Biblical unity; if the dominant culture feels unified then we are unified.

​

Colorblind Christianity claims that Paul preached against being race/ethnicity conscious when he said there is neither Jew nor Greek.  The Apostle Paul was certainly conscious of race and ethnicity.  He behaved like the Jews to win the Jews.  And he intentionally built cultural intelligence among the Greeks, proved by the cultural relevance of his message in his sermon to the Athenians on Mars Hill.  Jesus intentionally inserted a man of a different race/ethnicity into the Parable of the Good Samaritan to convict his listeners of their racism/ethnocentrism.

​

Colorblind Christianity seeks to treat everyone the same.  In my About Video, I share how I invited five elders and deacons of color over for lunch and asked them how they were experiencing our church.  This was a race conscious action that violated the principle of treating everyone the same; I did not do the same exercise with our white elders and deacons.  There is nothing in Scripture that precludes us from customizing our response to disadvantaged groups to ensure that they are being treated fairly. 

​

Colorblind Christianity prioritizes personal preference over Biblical discipleship.  I often ask others if they know how the American church became segregated and why the church remains segregated today.  I ask that question because there is much to be learned by having that discussion.  The common response is, “I think it is merely personal preference, not racism”.  When pursuing our personal preferences results in segregation, racial disparities and entrenching our racial biases, it is not discipleship.  Living in Christian community with people who are from different racial, political and socio-economic tribes is not comfortable.  It is hard work.  Jesus told his followers to take up your cross and follow me.  That admonition to discipleship includes racial discipleship.  The common follow-on response is, “well I live in a homogenous community.”  I suggest that we not let the conversation end there but instead ask, why is my community homogenous?  Our communities and churches don’t necessarily lack diversity by chance.  Take the time to investigate why your community remains homogenous and then pray that God would make your relationships, your church, and your community look more like heaven.