Religious leaders are divided about whether or not to embrace discussions about systemic racism as protests following the death of George Floyd bring the issue into churches.
The idea of systemic racism, that many public and private institutions are inherently and historically racist, is typically rejected by orthodox Christian churches, which instead condemn individual instances of racism. But the Floyd protests, which have drawn outcry in all quarters of society, have challenged that belief for many Christians.
The growing disagreements often arise as leaders grapple with the best way to present their positions on racism to church members. In a notable instance in Spokane, Washington, Robert McCann, the CEO of the regional Catholic Charities chapter posted on YouTube a video in mid-June in which he said that the Catholic Church is racist because it “is built on the premise that a baby, born in a manger, in the Middle East, was a white baby.”
McCann said that the Church’s “long, terrible history of owning slaves, staying silent about others who did the same” made it inextricably tied to the “institutionalization of racism” in the United States.
“I am a racist. That’s the hard truth. I am a racist. How could I not be? As a white person living in America, where every institution is geared to the advantage of people who look like me, it’s seemingly impossible for me to be anything other than a racist,” McCann said.
After an internal uproar, McCann apologized for his comments in a blog piece late Sunday, after meeting with Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly. While disavowing his more flagrant statements, McCann maintained that he had wanted to encourage people of faith to reflect on their roles in “systemic racism.” McCann also clarified that while he supports the ideas of the Black Lives Matter movement, he does not endorse any part of it that breaks with church teachings.
That apology was not enough for Daly, who released his own statement hours after McCann. Daly emphasized that Catholics should not endorse the Black Lives Matter movement in any way.
“BLM is in conflict with Church teaching regarding marriage, family and the sanctity of life,” Daly said. “Moreover, it is disturbing that BLM has not vocally condemned the recent violence that has torn apart so many cities. Its silence has not gone unheard. One need not stand with BLM to stand for Black lives.”
The debate over the video fed into a large argument among other faith communities about whether or not depictions of a white Jesus or of Eurocentric depictions of Christianity are inherently racist. In a notable tweet that drew responses from all quarters of the internet, Shaun King, a racial activist and Black Lives Matter promoter, declared that depictions of Jesus as white are a form of “white supremacy.”
In California, protesters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento have torn down statues of the Catholic saint Junipero Serra, whom many have alleged is representative of the violent colonialism perpetrated by Spanish conquistadors. During a July 4 protest in which a crowd toppled and jumped on a statue of Serra, the Sacramento Bee reported that many people at the event held signs demanding city leaders “decolonize the streets.”
Every Catholic bishop in California has condemned attacks on statues of Serra, with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at a public prayer service calling the topplings “horrendous acts of blasphemy disparaging the memory of Serra, who was such a great hero, such a great defender of the indigenous people of this land.”
The pressure to speak about racism as a systemic issue has not been specific to the Catholic Church. In late June, protesters outside the White House spoke loudly through megaphones, declaring that Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians are historically the most responsible for racism in America.
Later that week, an open letter from the black Southern Baptist pastor Rick Armstrong stirred debate over systemic racism within the convention, which is one of the largest Protestant denominations in the country. Armstrong wrote that SBC President J.D. Greear’s statement that “black lives matter,” was not enough: The convention needs to develop a “racial diversity plan” to promote black people in church leadership.
“Racism is much more than an individual sin,” Armstrong wrote. “Rather, Southern Baptists must embrace the reality of structural, systemic, and institutional areas of racism.”
Armstrong noted that the church, which is majority white, exists alongside “so much systemic racism that our white siblings cannot see, and some don’t want to see,” adding that church leaders should use the Floyd protests to change that situation.
Churches’ internal disagreements over systemic racism have become a political tool, especially for the Trump administration, which pitched itself to conservative Christians by maintaining that institutions such as the police and American religions are not inherently racist.
During a patriotic service at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, in late June, Vice President Mike Pence told a congregation headed by Robert Jeffress, one of President Trump’s evangelical advisers, that while the death of Floyd was wrong, tearing down institutions was not the answer.
“Burning churches is not protest,” Pence told the crowd. “Tearing down statues is not free speech.”
Pence’s comments came after he has repeatedly emphasized in interviews that “all life matters, born and unborn,” a pitch to the anti-abortion movement that doubles as a repudiation of the Black Lives Matter slogan.
Trump has also taken up the issue, most recently in a Friday speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, where he stressed the importance of individual equality over systemic oppression in his discussion of race.
“We believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion, and creed,” Trump said. “Every child, of every color — born and unborn — is made in the holy image of God.”
