Resisting Racism in the Beloved Community
Supporting racism is incompatible with Christian faith, it is to position oneself in opposition to the grace we all share. Prophetic denunciation is a spiritual activity that is feared by most persons. How do we denounce a stronghold and renounce those who perpetuate it? We must renounce because failing to reject those who align with racist ideology is to participate through silence. To renounce them for their racism is to remain positioned in Christ. We can do like Moses and fall on our face, humbling ourselves in the presence of God before those who resist God’s goodness. It is unwise and spiritually damaging to resist when God is present.
We bring God into the world by speaking truth not by compromising with evil. The demonic fears that which is good. A world void of racism is good. It is a world without white privilege. Those who in secret, hold onto this fear (the loss of white privilege) invite the demonic into their thoughts and life. Denouncing racism is not enough, we must renounce those who claim to be Christian and feed the demonic stronghold of racism.
The weapons of our warfare are discovered by undressing a soldier (Ephesians 6) and in redressing, the naked Christian soldier is equipped with invisible armaments and dress. We cannot renounce others unless we have stripped ourselves of this intolerable stronghold. We fight naked and exposed, but we fight. To renounce is to say, you are not on our side. It is an act of love to enlighten another of their blindness. It may require an exorcism. An exorcism is when the presence of goodness overpowers the demonic and provides clarity of thought in a moment of healing. It’s hard to kick against the goads.
If the people of God repent of the racism that they have left to simmer into an explosion, this act (repentance and correcting the damage) will bring God (God’s Spirit) into the world. Repentance requires the reconciliatory work of listening to the oppressed and countering the oppression in both word and deed. We do not hate those we renounce; we just cannot accept the stronghold they cherish.
