Racial stereotyping and the church of Jesus Christ

I know that we all have our crosses to bear, but can I ask for prayer on behalf of me and so many others involved in public ministry.

Even for lay members of the church, St Paul established a high bar of unimpeachable integrity when he wrote: ‘Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed’ (2 Cor. 6:3). Therefore, how much higher are the moral standards required of ministers of the gospel.

For those of you who are lay members of the church, I can only ask you to consider how unimaginably difficult and overwhelming that the following situation can be for those involved in public ministry.

Divisive and polarising

I’m talking about racism. While it is surely one of the most divisive and polarising issues that churches have had to confront, I’m still trying to grapple with how, even among Christian ministers, this subject provokes such heated discussions and ungracious exchanges on social media.

Far from commending the gospel, it brings our message into disrepute. And, sadly, we’re all susceptible to take things too far.

I find it unbelievable that a white church minister could say about Martin Luther King: ‘The cult of Martin Luther King is a cult of black separatism. May his kind and generous soul rest in peace, but I’m not joining in the hero-worship of Martin Luther King Day’ (18 January).

It’s equally unbelievable that a retired bishop of a black majority church would say, when asked about the dearth of white leaders: ‘Having worked very closely with native white British people in my past, I think there are cultural differences in the way that some of them communicate, and actually handle issues of truth and clarity.’

Just ponder both of those statements for a minute.

For the first statement, is decrying the cult (i.e. undue adulation) of MLK and associating it with black separatism the same thing as castigating MLK himself? Is it an insult to his memory to say such a thing? Importantly, is it racist?

I mean, should any right-thinking Christian have any reservations about supporting the public celebration of a great man, whose efforts did so much the advance justice and freedom throughout the world?

Also, should the offence caused by the white minister’s statement result in the church handing down a rebuke? Or is suspension more appropriate, pending the outcome of unconscious bias training? Or does this require something more severe, like lifelong prohibition from church office?

For the second statement, do you find it just as racist, reprehensible, and indefensible? That to suggest that there are ‘cultural differences’ that beset native white British people in relation to how they ‘communicate, and actually handle issues of truth and clarity’ is similarly detestable in invoking a racial stereotype that has no place in the church of Jesus Christ.

I’ll ask similar questions. Should the offence caused by the black bishop’s statement result in the church handing down a rebuke? Or is suspension more appropriate, pending the outcome of unconscious bias training? Or does this require something more severe, like lifelong prohibition from church office?

You might even suggest (based on Luke 12:48), that the bishop’s offence is far more egregious than that of the minister and therefore deserves a greater disciplinary sanction.

It’s about time that I revealed the dramatic irony in this piece. Earlier on, I said I found the statements ‘unbelievable’. Well, that was because they were never made. Or more accurately, the first statement was in fact made by a black church minister and the second statement was made by a white retired bishop.

Circumstances surrounding those statements are in the public domain. So I won’t rehearse them here. However, it probes our integrity when discussing race to wonder out loud about whether this mere difference of race would lead to an incongruous change in your or my answers to those previous questions.

That’s something we all need to ponder.