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.