Peacebuilding in White Evangelicalism Pt. 1

[A preliminary note about my religious background for anyone who’s not familiar: I grew up in West Michigan, in a mostly Christian community. I was a missionary kid for a solid portion of my childhood, putting me in a wide variety of Christian/evangelical settings. I have been steeped in evangelical books, media and culture for much of my life - mostly from the perspective of white folks. I went to a well-known evangelical college and have been a regular attendee at churches of at least five different denominations. The observations below are drawn from all of that.]

I started writing this post a few weeks ago and was originally going to write about peacebuilding in the church more generally to start breaking down and recognizing the presence of white culture and white supremacy in American evangelicalism. However, after the recent murder of George Floyd, Amy Cooper’s actions in Central Park, and all the protests and responses to them, I need to talk specifically about how all of that is connected to this. Because statistically, many of the “nice,” “not racist,” white people in the United States identify as Christians. So we’ve got white supremacy deeply present in the church. Obviously outside of it too, but I want to talk to the white church in particular here. Some things I’ll discuss might seem small or irrelevant, but they have the same roots as the murders of Black people by police officers/white men as well as “innocent” white women weaponizing our default of assumed innocence against Black people.

White supremacy is evil and violent no matter where it shows up. Even if it’s subtle. Even if it’s well intentioned. Even if it’s in the Church. Even if we don’t recognize it. Perhaps especially in all those instances. So I want to start here with things that might seem benign, but that are in fact rooted in systems and patterns and subtle, repeated destructiveness and are carried out by white people on a daily basis. Addressing racism and destroying white supremacy starts with me and you (see Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad). We have to fight white supremacy on all levels including the cultures of our churches. So much white supremacy, colonization, saviorism, spiritual bypassing, control, and conflict avoidance is baked into the white American church. Allowing these things to go unchallenged leads to perpetuating the white supremacy that leads to murders like Floyd’s.

We need peacebuilding for many reasons, both within the church and outside of it. But I believe inside of it is essential because we need to work for transformation in ourselves if we want to be part of facilitating opportunities for transformation more broadly. Otherwise peacebuilding will just become another approach of colonization and the perpetuation of white supremacy.

One important element of peacebuilding is being aware of your own positionality--understanding where you’re coming from and what you’re bringing from the various facets of your identity and how those facets fit into larger structures of society. So I want to first look at some elements of white culture in white evangelicalism. Here’s a definition of white culture from an article by Gita Gulati-Partee and Maggie Potapchuk: 

“By ‘white culture,’ we mean the dominant, unquestioned standards of behavior and ways of functioning embodied by the vast majority of institutions in the United States. Because it is so normalized it can be hard to see, which only adds to its powerful hold.”

I’m still working on increasing my own understanding of whiteness, white culture and how it exists and shows up in ways I’m not always aware of. White culture is especially dangerous when unexamined, and its remaining unexamined is a prime characteristic of whiteness. As a white person you exist inside of it and it’s seen as “the default” or just “normal.” Anything that isn’t that is seen as “strange” or “wrong” or “inferior.” Whiteness gets to exist as the norm and thus is (consciously or unconsciously) seen as superior/preferable/more right than other cultures or ways of understanding or acting. This has led to everything from genocidal violence (the Crusades, US colonization, lynchings of Black people in the US, to name a few) to “benevolent”/ less blatantly supremacist actions (mission trips, charity and niceness without justice) and everything in between. 

Those of us who are white and Christian need to learn where white culture and white supremacy exists in our understanding of Christianity so that we can learn to recognize and stop the ways we oppress and silence anyone or anything that doesn’t conform to whiteness. We need to keep listening to people of color who point these things out and to believe and take people’s experiences and criticisms seriously. We need to make radical change and work for internal and external transformation in response. These posts will obviously be an incomplete picture, but they’re a start and will hopefully address important elements. 

So. Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun in “Dismantling Racism” present the following characteristics of white supremacist culture:

• Perfectionism

• Sense of Urgency

• Defensiveness

• Quantity over Quality

• Worship of the Written Word

• Paternalism

• Either/Or Thinking

• Power Hoarding

• Fear of Open Conflict

• Individualism

• Progress is Bigger, More

• Objectivity

• Right to Comfort

Take some time to read the link above to understand these more in detail. When combined with power, imposing them as right and/or when using them to control/dominate, they are deeply oppressive. 

How do these show up in white evangelicalism? I’ll start with looking at the ways I’ve observed “fear of open conflict” and “right to comfort” and address other characteristics in subsequent posts. Obviously Christianity in the United States (even white evangelicalism) isn’t monolithic, but these elements of white culture are broadly present to varying degrees, so it is important to recognize them as part of white culture and not as an intrinsic part of Christian faith:

• Fear of Open Conflict: Fear of (and thus avoidance and suppression of) open conflict is an extensively utilized tool of white supremacy and white evangelicalism. We’re seeing this now with white people’s criticisms of recent protests and police forces’ violent efforts to repress them around the country.

  In the white church, conflict is often seen as a failure. A failure of love, of unity, of care, of community. It is also used as an excuse to avoid self-awareness and acknowledging/ taking responsibility for your own wrongs. As I’ve increasingly come to recognize conflict avoidance in myself, I think it’s a combination of both the discomfort of being in conflict--the dislike of having an unsettled relationship with someone--and also not wanting to have to look inside yourself and evaluate your actions and assumptions. 

  Avoiding open conflict is also an elevation of negative peace at the expense of positive peace. Negative peace is an oppressive peace that might be calm and “orderly” on the surface, but exists without justice, true reconciliation, genuine relationships, justpeace, or shalom. Positive peace is the presence of all of these. “No Justice, No Peace” is understood as both a promise and a truth. There can be no genuine peace without justice.

This fear of open conflict is directly connected with “Right to Comfort”:

• Right to Comfort: One common “churchy” answer regarding comfort that I’ve heard a lot is that you should be uncomfortable in church because if not, it means you’re not truly “facing your sin and the truth of the gospel.” However, there are very specific and limited areas that the church is comfortable being uncomfortable with. Acceptable discomfort includes things like “truth-in-love” confrontations, evangelism, reminding people about hell, being “counter-cultural,” being reminded of your sin (but again, only certain types of sin). Any discussion that veers beyond your basic acceptable talking points is generally not considered acceptable discomfort.

  Examples of discomfort that aren’t typically welcome in white evangelicalism:

  • How to include/celebrate/understand, much less talk about, the LGBTQ+ community and sexuality more broadly besides just “don’t have sex unless you’re in a heterosexual marriage.” 

  • Engaging with other faiths or divergent interpretations of Christianity. In my experience, many Christians don’t tend to accept or seek to understand differing beliefs outside of a context of evangelism or apologetics. 

  • Ambiguity. Uncertainty and complexity and still being in process are seen as problems to be fixed. Even while doubt is sometimes recognized as a common, normal part of the Christian experience, it is still primarily seen as a step on the path to certainty. 

  • Challenging authority. There’s not much space or openness in the church for people to say, ‘I don’t agree’ or ‘I don’t believe this’ or ‘This is harmful to me or someone else.’

  • Things that are deemed as “bad” or unacceptable or undesirable states. For example, people might express, ‘I’m angry’ or ‘I’m depressed’ or ‘hopeless’ or ‘suicidal.’ I’ve witnessed fellow Christians spiritually bypassing others’ anger or depression or doubt, thereby discounting the validity of people’s experiences and not providing, or perhaps even being able to provide, genuine support when it is most needed. Anytime that we as white Christians condemn Black people’s anger about racism and white supremacy as “divisive” or think of it as “not Christ-like” we are violently imposing our perceived right to comfort. 

    And currently most importantly:

  • Learning about your own white supremacy and acknowledging white supremacy in the church. It’s deeply uncomfortable for a long time. It’s not any kind of quick fix, do the thing, graduate and move on. It’s life-long self examination and learning and listening and action and growth. You have to accept an ongoing state of discomfort in anti-racism work.

    When we as white people feel the inevitable discomfort in addressing racism, whiteness is like, alert! I’m uncomfortable! Something’s wrong here, and my right to comfort is being infringed upon, therefore let me exit the conversation. True confession, I have literally dashed out of a building after a talk on race because I was trying to avoid talking to exhibitors outside the hall. But exiting and ignoring the conversation keeps white supremacy hidden and thus keeps it flourishing undisturbed. If you don’t acknowledge or look at your racism internally and externally (and really any issue), how can you change it and heal from it and get rid of it?

For people in the church, I think these often covert forms of racism are the most insidious. So we need to understand that elevating the right to comfort, and fear of open conflict comes at the expense of people. And at the expense of people’s lives, especially Black people. Your own or your church's understanding as white Christians isn’t objectively right or superior. It’s uncomfortable to learn and address the harm you’ve perpetrated against someone. Conflict ignored cannot bring reconciliation or justice. And without justice, there is no peace. And forcing elements of white culture and white supremacy on people of color and implying that not agreeing to them is wrong or less-than, that is violence.

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Works cited and some people/books I have learned from and am continuing to learn from on white supremacy, racism and how these show up in the church:

https://www.dismantlingracism.org/

Paying Attention to White Culture and Privilege: A Missing Link to Advancing Racial Equity

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Instagram: 

Layla F. Saad (@laylafsaad), 

Rachel Cargle (@rachel.cargle), 

Andre Henry (@theandrehenry), 

Kaitlin Curtice (@kaitlincurtice), 

Jo Luehmann (@joluehmann), 

No White Saviors (@nowhitesaviors) 

(NOTE: If you choose to follow, make sure you’re respectful of the stated boundaries of each of these people on their account.)

On my list:

Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God Talk by Delores S. Williams

A Black Theology of Liberation by James H. Cone

The Black Trans Prayer Book co-edited by J Mase III and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys by Richard Twiss