Usually, Lenten penance involves repenting, renouncing sin, and relinquishing worldly pleasures in favor of fasting and prayer. It is a commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, culminating with the celebration of his crucifixion and resurrection.
But not at the First United Church of Oak Park, where a toxic and divisive crusade against white people is apparently replacing real Lenten observances. The Rev. John Edgerton has declared a “fast from Whiteness,” which is to say that he is banning music and liturgies composed or arranged by white people.
“In our worship services throughout Lent, we will not be using any music or liturgy written or composed by white people,” the church states on its website. “Our music will be drawn from the African American spiritual tradition, from South African freedom songs, from Native American traditions, and many, many more.”
There’s certainly nothing wrong with South African freedom songs or Native American traditional songs — maybe they are even substantially better than this church’s usual fare. But there’s nothing Lenten, or Christian, about flatly panning and banning an entire race’s contributions to Christian worship.
Most liberal Christian churches like to talk about “inclusion” as if it were a virtue in itself. So why the sudden push to exclude, as if there were something inherently bad about being white or having European ancestors? Discrimination against groups of people solely based on the color of their skin is both illiberal and anti-Christian. The many Christian heroes of abolitionism and civil rights would attest to this, ranging from Dr. Martin Luther King to William Lloyd Garrison to John Brown.
Besides, who even knows the names of writers or composers of church hymns, let alone their races or ethnicities? This isn’t Broadway. It’s not as if churchgoers attend to hear Stephen Sondheim’s greatest hits. But they also probably don’t attend to hear that their own ethnic background or that of their neighbor is a bad thing. Despite whatever some holier-than-thou preacher might say, this kind of race-based animosity does not right any societal wrong. Rather, it encourages prejudgments against one’s neighbors based on superficial characteristics they were born with and cannot change.
The purpose of the civil rights movement was to create a shared prosperity to which people of all races would have access. This has not been fully achieved, but racial division and demonization of an entire race will not bring this goal any closer. It is immoral to teach others that prejudices and bigotries are morally justified so long as they are aimed at the right people.
