Branding racism “a severe and current sin,” a group of black and white evangelicals has produced a statement that its signers hope will turn the attention of the evangelical community at large to the resurgent problem of racial prejudice.
“The church’s credible witness and perhaps the deliverance of the nation as a whole depend upon the joint evangelical community effort to dismantle the structure of racism and prejudice,” reads the conclusion of the statement issued by the Consultation on Racism, jointly sponsored by the social action commissions of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the National Black Evangelical Association (NBEA).
The three-page paper emerged from two meetings, held in October and in late January. The gatherings brought together the two evangelical associations for the first time since 1971, said Aaron Hamlin, NBEA executive director.
After hammering out the wording of the statement, about 30 people present at the January session gave it their unanimous approval. The next step, said Richard Blackburn, director of NAE’s Social Action Commission, will be to present the statement to the leadership of NAE and NBEA, in hopes that it will be adopted by each organization.
While those at the session applauded the result of their work, many also expressed concern that the statement might not receive the NAE’s full support, noting the absence of NAE executives from the consultation. NBEA executives were present at both meetings, which were attended predominantly by blacks.
NAE executive director Billy Melvin, who addressed the group at the October session, said scheduling conflicts prevented his and other leaders’ further participation. He added that the NAE supported fully the work of the consultation.
After the paper’s acceptance, theologian William Bentley called it “the most powerful statement I have heard any evangelical group make” on the subject of racism. The paper, which is not yet in final form for widespread distribution, focuses on the history and present state of black/white relations in the U.S. “Although prejudice is a universal sin infecting all peoples, racism in America is basically a white problem,” it says, noting the “practices, systems, and laws which entrenched racism, and … perpetuate it.”
The statement calls upon the white evangelical church to “repent of its sin of racism” and “remove the institutional barriers” that hinder people of color throughout society. The statement also calls upon the black church to “commit itself to constructive protest of racism,” combined with “a readiness to forgive past wrongs.”
