Is Critical Race Theory Compatible with Christianity?
by David K. Bernard
August 9, 2021 · Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: James 2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--is-critical-race-theory-compatible-with-christianity
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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It's like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It seems that when you read different sources, critical race theory means whatever the person wants it to mean. In fact, I've actually seen interviews where people refuse to define it. So let me take a stab at it and let me just give you two different perspectives. If by critical race theory, you mean an honest discussion of American history, the fact that we had slavery, that it was a great evil, that we fought a civil war over it, we abolished slavery. But even after that, there was Jim Crow laws segregation for 100 years that suppressed African Americans. And then to discuss today, we have freedom, slavery is abolished, segregation is abolished, Jim Crow laws are abolished. But there can still be racist attitudes in the hearts of some people and there can still be hurting or affecting people today. So an honest discussion of that, I think, is acceptable and even desirable and necessary.

However, critical race theory, that term seems to have gone even to a much more extreme to say that America is fundamentally evil, that America was founded on racism and slavery, that our whole history has to be viewed under this rubric of evil and racism. And therefore, America as a nation today and American society is fundamentally racist and all white people are racist and whether they realize they're not consciously, unconsciously, if you're a white person, you're a racist. If you're a black person by definition, you could not ever be a racist. Anything you feel, you're only expressing oppression. So it's evil to discriminate against black people, but it's good to discriminate against white people because they deserve it and the only way to overcome their evil is to treat them the same way, et cetera, et cetera. So that's how critical race theory has been applied in some cases. And in that case, I would say it's wrong and it's anti-biblical because the Bible

clearly teaches us there's only one race, the human race. We're all the same people created by God with one father and mother and that there is no, in Christ, there is no distinction of Jew or Gentile or bond or free or barbarian or Scythian. You know, we're all one in Christ. So we cannot discriminate or segregate on the basis of race or ethnicity. But we must treat every human being and every Christian as a child of God and deserving of value and prejudice is simply a sin. The book of James chapter two tells us that. So the Bible is very clear that we cannot tolerate racist attitudes and for whatever source. So I think from a biblical point of view, then we must foster unity of races, not division of races. And the truth is, according to the Bible, all have sin, not just one race. And you can certainly say in certain times and places, a certain group of people, certain race

of people bear the responsibility. So white people bear the responsibility for slavery in America as a whole. But of course, many white people never did own slaves. They fought against slavery. In fact, the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers plus 50,000 civilians were killed over slavery. And two thirds of those were Unionists who were fighting against slavery. So something like 420,000 Union soldiers died to deliver the slaves. And if you look at it, the statistics are also amazing. 100,000 soldiers from the South, from the slave owning South and 150,000 soldiers from the slave owning border states actually crossed over to the North and joined the Union Army. So you had a significant number of white people from slave owning cultures who went against their own culture to fight for the freedom of the slaves. So if you're going to tell the story of the evil of slavery, then you need to tell the whole story. You can't just blame one people on race if you

go back and, well, look, how did the slaves get here? Well, to a great extent, if you stay the history of slavery, you'll find, and all of this is documented in a book, a very well-known book. I think the author's David Davis called Inhuman Bondage. And he obviously says slavery was very evil and it was evil in the United States of America, but it was, slavery, of course, comes from ancient times, Greek and Rome and all that. Slavery was the common culture throughout most of human history. So the Bible is really true. All have sinned and come short of the worry about it. Every culture is guilty of perpetrating massive evil and genocide and warfare and slavery. We're all guilty. But if you look at the history, it was Arab slave traders. Probably brought as many Africans to the Middle East as came to the Americas, but most of them died through harsh labor. And then almost all the African slaves were captured

by Africans in Africa who didn't consider themselves the same ethnicity or race. They consider themselves different nations, different tribes, their enemies. So it was Africans who captured other Africans, sold them to white Europeans, who then transported them to Americas. So obviously the slave trade by the white traders is very evil and racism was used as a tool for evil. But you have to be honest and say, well, the Middle Easter's perpetrated slavery. The Africans who, and at one point in history, there are as many slaves within Africa as that were transported to the Americas. And then, you know, you can tell other horrible stories like the tragic history of Native Americans and how they were displaced in America and how that was sad. But you should also point out that 90% of the Native Americans of the two continents died because of diseases imported from Africa and Europe that they weren't immune to. And nobody even really understood how diseases were transmitted. So

it wasn't really like a strategy. So, you know, when you hear the story, so many 90% of Africans died and you think, well, maybe they're all murdered. 90% of them were killed by diseases. So that doesn't mitigate the evil of massacres or killing or stealing people's property or making people slaves. But my point is, if you're going to tell the story of history, you have to tell the whole story. And if you're going to tell the story, theologically, you have to say all his sin and come short of the glory of God. And the solution is not to try to blame past generations or past races. Even when there is blame. That's not your main function. Your main function has to be how do we move forward from here? And it's not going to be by hatred or discrimination or strife or making people, little children in school, feeling like they're bad people and they're guilty of their ancestor sins. What you're going

to have to do is say, what's the path forward? Let's treat everybody with dignity. Let's have laws that treat everyone fairly. Let's let's teach justice and mercy in our culture. Yes, America is not a perfect society. Even today it has flaws, but I would say it was fundamentally built on the right principle of freedom and democracy. I don't have time to go into that. It was not fundamentally flawed. Yes, there was the original sin of slavery and there are other sins, but America was a new nation on a new concept. It's America has the oldest living constitution. America was the first major nation to embrace democracy, freedom, individual votes as its reason for existing as a nation. And we forget that, that every other nation in the world that America was facing was ruled by dictators or monarchs. America was the first major nation to actually be ruled by the people. So to say it's, it's fundamentally evil or fundamentally on a wrong

foundation, I think is a distortion, but it also doesn't help us move forward. I think the better path is to say it had major flaws. But if we go back to the founding principles, that will give us guidance for doing things right. We don't have to destroy our foundation. We have to go back to what's best in our foundation and try to fulfill it more perfectly. And so I think instead of critical race theory in our schools, we need an honest portrayal of American history, but showing the good founding principles and how to implement them and how we have done a better job. And talking about the civil rights movement, the civil war and the civil rights movement and even what we need to do today to improve. And then, of course, from a spiritual point of view, we need to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and that will reconcile all races. That will deliver from all sin. That will help us

overcome racism and prejudice, but that will also help us overcome bitterness and wounds and even legitimate grievances. If you live in grievance, you're going to be a victim and you're going to suffer. But the gospel helps us to overcome the wounds of past generations or even of our generation to rise above it, not to ignore sin, not to condone sin, but to find a solution to sin that brings us in the fullness of God's plan for for the human race and for the church.