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Toward Constructing a Christian Solution to the Problem of Racism

Why have all the secular answers fallen short of solving our racial

problems? More important, is there a Christian solution that can over-

come the shortcomings of the non-Christian approaches? Does racial

conflict have a spiritual dimension that compels us to look to our faith

for remedies?

Secular approaches are adequate for some social problems. Learning

how to organize the layout of a city does not require any special spiritual

training. However, in other issues it is important that Christians contrib-

ute our unique perspective. For example, I believe that issues involving

human joy require Christian insight. Through our faith we can find the

eternal purpose and security that provides us with the foundation for joy.1

I believe that racism is a problem that requires specifically Christian

insight. In this chapter I will begin to move from failed answers toward

authentic solutions for our racial ills.

Human depravity, or sin nature, is a vital Christian concept which can

help us deal with racial conflict. Most of us do not like to think or talk

about it, but it is central to Christian belief. By understanding human de-

pravity and how it affects racial issues, we can begin to understand why

racial problems persist.

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78 B E Y O N D R A C I A L G R I D L O C K

The problem of racism originated from human depravity. Human de-

pravity makes us protective of our racial group’s material interests, and

it blinds us to other people’s points of view. Human depravity is the spir-

itual dimension that keeps us racially separated.

In my attempt to find a Christian solution for racism, I am developing

what I call a mutual responsibility model for racial reconciliation. It is a

concept that takes seriously the Christian teaching of human depravity.

Unlike the colorblindness and Anglo-conformity models, the mutual re-

sponsibility model does not ignore the historic and contemporary dam-

age done to people of color by the majority. Unlike the multiculturalist

and white responsibility models, it does not absolve minorities of re-

sponsibility.

With the mutual responsibility model, we look to Christian faith to

overcome the effects of human depravity in race relations. We work to

develop racial relationships based on our reconciliation with God.

THE FAILURE OF THE SECULAR MODELS

Before we can consider what a Christian solution looks like, we should

consider why all the secular models have failed. On the surface the four

secular models seem to have no similarity except that they do not rest

on a biblical foundation. Yet there is a significant parallel between them.

All four focus on a single explanation for why racism is a problem in

our society.

In the colorblindness model, the source of the problem is our failure

to recognize that race is unimportant. For Anglo-conformity propo-

nents, the source of the problem is the inability of racial minorities to ad-

just to the majority economic and social system. Multiculturalism holds

that the problem comes from the dominance of Eurocentric culture. For

white responsibility advocates, the majority group is the problem.

Each of the four secular models identifies one source of racial conflict

and proposes solutions to deal with that source. Certainly each source is

Yancey, G. (2006). Beyond racial gridlock : Embracing mutual responsibility. InterVarsity Press. Created from amridge on 2023-06-06 04:20:58.

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at least partially responsible for racial alienation. The strength of these

models lies in their recognition of a particular cause of racial tension and

in their effort to solve it. Their weakness lies in their refusal to identify

other sources of the problem. At best, these incomplete models can help

us correct certain aspects of racial tension, but they will never eradicate

the problem.

When I listen to the proponents of the four secular models, I always

feel that I am getting an incomplete answer, even though I may agree

with certain points. I generally go away feeling that the speaker is right

in some ways but has not provided a sufficient solution. The sources of

conflict they identify are real, but they are ultimately superficial. None

of the models gets at the core of the problem.

The Bible teaches us that those who look at issues only through nat-

ural eyes will be unable to understand the spiritual dimensions of this

world (1 Corinthians 2:14). If racial conflict has a spiritual foundation,

then secular models are unable to identify the true source of the conflict.

It remains for Christians to identify the foundation of all the sources of

racial tension. If we fail to find this underlying source, we are doomed

to limited and insufficient solutions for racism.

A competent medical doctor is not content to treat only symptoms.

The doctor knows that the symptoms will return unless the cause of the

symptoms is found and dealt with. When I have a fever, it is important

that I get a lot of bed rest and apply cold cloths to my head. Doing so

relieves some of the painful symptoms. But those measures by them-

selves do not heal me. I also need antibiotics to deal with the source of

my illness. Likewise each of the secular models treats a symptom of ra-

cial estrangement. But all of them fail to locate the primary cause of our

racial illness. Racism is a spiritual and moral problem. Only if we see

how our sin nature is the primary source for all other sources of racial

tension will we be able to stop treating symptoms and tear this disease

out by its awful roots.

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80 B E Y O N D R A C I A L G R I D L O C K

The mutual responsibility model takes our sin nature into account

and puts obligations on both majority and minority group members, be-

cause the sins of both the majority and the minority contribute to racial

tension. I do not mean that the obligations of both groups are identical.

They are not. However, unless both the minority and the majority live

by Christian principles, we are doomed to live alienated from each other.

HOW OUR SIN NATURE CAUSES RACIAL PROBLEMS

A core principle of Christian faith is the concept of the sin nature.2 It is

one of the defining ways in which Christianity differs from the other re-

ligions.3 Our sin nature drives majority group members to look for both

overt and subtle ways to maintain the advantages of their racial status.

Our sin nature motivates people of color to use their victim status to gain

whatever they can.4 Our sin nature blinds us to the ways in which we

protect the interests of our own racial group.5 Our sin nature also influ-

ences us to blame others for the problems we cause ourselves.

The sin nature drives us to remake our images of God and society into

what we want, blinding us to an accurate perception of society and God.

Cornelius Plantinga contends that revised versions of God arise depending

on who we want God to be.6 Accordingly, many majority group members

latch on to an individualistic definition of racism that relieves them of any

responsibility for institutional and historic problems. They also focus on

the shortcomings of people of color and overlook the ways the majority

continues to benefit from the racial status quo. Plantinga argues that sin

can be a masquerade by which we justify our self-deception. Furthermore,

the sin nature creates selfishness which makes people of color expand

their definition of racism to the point that they make inflated economic

and social claims on the majority. They can then ignore their own respon-

sibility and focus only on the responsibility of the majority group. Plant-

inga points out that those who perceive themselves as victims often fail to

regulate themselves because of their sense of entitlement. How Christians

Yancey, G. (2006). Beyond racial gridlock : Embracing mutual responsibility. InterVarsity Press. Created from amridge on 2023-06-06 04:20:58.

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define sin will determine how we try to solve social problems.7

The Christian doctrine of the sin nature rises from the belief that we

are born in sin.8 It does not mean we are unrelentingly evil creatures, but

we are creatures who fail to obtain the moral heights that God wants for

us. Our self-serving attitude is a part of us. We should not be surprised

that the apostle Paul lamented his inability to escape the clutches of his

own sin (Romans 7:14-25).

Charles Colson beautifully illustrates how our sin is part of who we

are.9 He quotes R. C. Sproul when he says that that we are not sinners

because we sin, but rather we sin because we are sinners.10 It is natural

for us to be selfish and to look at how we can benefit from a given situ-

ation.11 The doctrine of human depravity does not absolve us of respon-

sibility to grow beyond our shortcomings, but it does confirm the reality

of our shortcomings.

Plantinga maintains that the saddest aspect of sin is that it prevents

what he calls shalom. Shalom is, in his words, the way things ought to be.

Because of sin, the world is radically different from what God wants. Ra-

cial alienation is not what God wants; it is the natural consequence of

our sin nature. The root of racial strife is not overemphasis on race, ma-

terial inequity, the dominance of European American culture or the rac-

ism of majority group members. Those factors are significant, but ulti-

mately our racial problems come from the sin nature that has invaded

our souls.

The spiritual dimension provides a more complete and accurate def-

inition of racism than either the individualist or structuralist concepts.

Racism is a natural outflow of the racial divisions in our society as they

are affected by our state of moral depravity. Clearly there are individual-

istic and structural elements, but at its heart, racism is spiritual. With

this definition we see that only when we deal with our own moral de-

pravity will we have any chance of ending the evil of racism.12

Once we accept that we are morally depraved, then we can find

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Christ’s gift of salvation. This truth is the central message of Christianity.

Try as we may, we cannot even live up to our own standards.13 I think

that I am generally an honest person, yet I know that I am not 100-

percent honest all the time. Even without the Bible, I would know that

lying is wrong; yet I find myself lying anyway. I think of my lies as small

lies that do not hurt anyone. I lie to make myself look good or to avoid

a troublesome situation. The sin nature within me has morally trapped

me into a lifestyle that I know is wrong. Only by coming to the perfec-

tion of Christ can I find the strength to begin to defeat the old self and

to put on the new self (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colos-

sians 3:9-10). No wonder Christian theology teaches us that we are in

slavery to sin.14 Even when we know we should act better, we often fail

to do what is right. If a person understands the depth of his or her de-

pravity and comes to Christ to overcome the sin nature, then that person

understands the most vital truth of Christianity.

Salvation is the message which gives us the hope that we are not

trapped in a life of sin. It teaches us the matchless love of Christ, who,

being God, gave up all that deity had to offer to come and suffer so that

we have access to the power that will ultimately free us from our sin

nature (Philippians 2:6-11). Too often we do not consider any impli-

cations of salvation beyond our own spiritual well-being. We find in-

dividual freedom, but we do not recognize how our sin nature is the

source of many social ills. We must consider how we can bring salva-

tion to the social ills that plague us. The message of the Bible is not just

that we are fallen but that God has made a way for us to recover from

our fallen state.

OUR SIN NATURE AND RACIAL MISTRUST

Without an acknowledgment of our sin nature, we put too much faith

in our own abilities. When we examine the secular models, another

important similarity they all share is their overreliance on human abil-

Yancey, G. (2006). Beyond racial gridlock : Embracing mutual responsibility. InterVarsity Press. Created from amridge on 2023-06-06 04:20:58.

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ity and their underestimate of our fallen nature.

The colorblindness and Anglo-conformity models place great faith in

the willingness of European Americans to either give up all their advan-

tages for a truly egalitarian society (colorblindness) or help people of

color gain an equal place in society (Anglo-conformity). It is reasonable

for majority group members to prefer models which show trust in Euro-

pean Americans and call on racial minorities to solve their own problems.

Since European Americans have had power for so long, and the record of

how they have used their power is questionable at best and horrendous

at worst, it is not surprising that people of color are not eager to trust

them. European Americans, like all other humans, are trapped within

their own sin nature, so racial minorities should not necessarily trust

European Americans who are poisoned by their own human depravity.

Likewise the models of multiculturalism and white responsibility ask

whites either to allow people of color nearly complete freedom to chal-

lenge all aspects of European culture (multiculturalism) or to allow peo-

ple of color to set new power rules in society (white responsibility). Nat-

urally racial minorities favor such models since they place the blame for

racism solely on the majority. People of color may not have a history of

abusing whites, but there is plenty of evidence that they are just as prone

to abuse other humans when they have the chance. To appreciate this

point we do not have to look only at black on black or Hispanic on His-

panic crime. When not painted over with a politically correct brush, the

history of different racial groups reveals atrocities committed against

other groups.15 Furthermore, people of color have shown themselves

willing to use their victim status to escape their own responsibilities.

Whites do not trust people of color to unilaterally set up the new racial

order. They should not trust us because we too possess the sin nature

that makes us look out after our own interests, not the interests of others

(Philippians 2:4).

Of course there are whites sensitive to the plight of racial minorities,

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84 B E Y O N D R A C I A L G R I D L O C K

and there are people of color who are careful not to dump unnecessary

racial garbage on whites. There are always those exceptional individuals

who bless us in this struggle with their ability to look beyond the inter-

ests of their own race. But our sin nature means that it is generally going

to be hard for whites to understand the concerns of racial minorities as

well as vice versa. Only by looking to the Christian concept of our sin

nature and by embracing the concept of mutual responsibility can we

tackle the core spiritual issue behind racism and hope to one day eradi-

cate this social sin from our churches and society.

DEALING WITH OUR SIN NATURE

Human depravity means both good and bad news for racial conflict. The

bad news is that all of us are sinners. If we are going to rely on our own

human wisdom, we are doomed to make the same mistakes we made in

the past. We are always going to have a strong affinity for solutions

which help our racial group at the expense of other races. But there is

also good news. By recognizing our sin nature, we can comprehend the

spiritual dimension of our problems. Furthermore, Christianity has not

only diagnosed the problem; it has offered the solution. The core of

Christianity is about solving the fatal illness brought about by sin.16 Our

faith promises a day when God will empower us to free us from the sla-

very of our sin nature. By looking to our faith we can offer solutions with

unique power to solve racial conflict.

Our faith has short-term and long-term implications for racism. In

the long term we hope for the New Jerusalem, where old racial alienation

will disappear forever. Only at that point will our restoration be com-

plete. Then the sin of racism will be eradicated. Only at that point will

we reach shalom.17

I know that I will not be sinless this side of the grave. Yet my faith can

help me overcome my sin nature and grow closer to Christ. Likewise, we

will probably never be able to completely eliminate racism from our so-

Yancey, G. (2006). Beyond racial gridlock : Embracing mutual responsibility. InterVarsity Press. Created from amridge on 2023-06-06 04:20:58.

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ciety. Just as my sin nature will not totally disappear in my present phys-

ical life, the sin nature that is the source of our racial struggles is not go-

ing to completely go away.18 But we can move closer to the moral

perfection God wants. As Christians we are called to bring restoration

where there was none before. It is our task as Christians to do all we can

to heal our society while we wait for Christ’s return, when we will see the

end of all alienation and misunderstandings.19

I want to start what I hope will be an ongoing Christian dialogue

about how our faith can help us deal with the sin nature that gives rise

to our racial problems. I do not claim that I have arrived at the ultimate

solution. Like everyone else, I too am infected with the sickness of my

sin nature. I too have a bias to support my group over other racial

groups. What I term the mutual responsibility model is not the final

word, but I hope it is the beginning.

Mark McMinn writes that only by understanding sin can we hope to

understand grace.20 When we recognize the depth of our sin, we feel de-

pressed over how depraved we are. We want to be free of the weight of

our sins. McMinn points out how we attempt to erase our sense of sin

through self-justification and explaining away our failures. Such at-

tempts merely further the lies created by our sin nature and lead us no-

where. Only if we can be honest about our sin nature can we ever hope

to overcome its corrosive effects.

But there is a risk that comes with acknowledging our sin. If we rec-

ognize that we sin or that we benefit from the sins of others, we give the

victims of our sins tools to use against us.21 They can use our confession

to make demands on us. They can also choose to ignore their own re-

sponsibilities in our conflict. So instead of admitting our sins, we try to

hide them from God and from others.

Here is precisely where the Christian concept of grace gives us the an-

swers we need. We rely on grace when we confess our sins to God. We

have confidence that God will not misuse our confession because he has

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86 B E Y O N D R A C I A L G R I D L O C K

proven through his matchless character that his love will not go away af-

ter we confess. But when we think of confessing to fallible humans, we

cannot be certain that we will receive grace.22 Our natural reluctance to

confess is intensified by the possibility that those to whom we confess

may make us pay.23 So we lose the opportunity for grace to heal us.

If only we could be sure that others will offer us grace when we need it.

Yet we have to look at grace from the point of view of the victim. Offering

others grace is not without cost. We may fear that if we give grace too eas-

ily, we will forfeit our ability to make righteous demands against those who

harmed us. Forgiveness becomes something we are hesitant to give.24 We

want those who sinned against us to acknowledge their sins and promise

to provide true justice for us. Without their confession we are unwilling to

mend our broken relationship with the majority group. We withhold our

forgiveness so we can maintain our power over those who have wronged

us, avoiding any admission of wrongs we have done to them. Yet without

forgiveness, the sin that weighs us down will never be lifted.

The wonder of Christ is that he offers grace with such freedom that it

astounds us. His offering of grace helps us come to him with our sins and

seek his face. We can be confident in repentance because we know that

forgiveness is certain through him. However, the other side of grace is

our willingness to extend that grace to those who have sinned against us.

Christ calls us to forgive others as we have been forgiven (Matthew

6:12). When Christians incorporate the pattern of recognizing sin and

extending grace to each other, we will go a long way toward addressing

our society’s racial issues. We then take the spiritual principles on which

we base our faith and bring them into our solutions for racism.

Many Christians who seriously deal with racial issues have developed

concepts of corporate repentance and corporate forgiveness as a biblical

response to racial tension.25 Corporate repentance and corporate forgive-

ness instill a Christian understanding of sin and grace into racial issues

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