How Should White Christians Engage With Race?
I mostly avoid commenting on current events or issues
related to politics. I do that because I’m committed to only speaking to my own
areas of expertise, because I think the “of-the-moment-ness” of many such
debates destroy true dialogue, and because I believe that “telling the truth but
telling it slant,” to use Emily Dickinson’s memorable expression, is much more
likely to persuade than the virtue signaling that often passes for argument in
our day. That said, thanks to several tragic events connected to race
in America that have happened in the last few weeks, I want to spend a few
minutes engaging with how white evangelical Christians think about racial issues.Two notes up front. One: I am intentionally not discussing
the specific events. They are new enough that there are things we don’t know,
and more generally, while attaching ethics to specific human stories is emotionally
impactful, it can also easily distract us.Two: it is not my intention to comment on questions of
political…
