Racial Prejudice and what can the church do in bringing about a change?

marcia chalkley

My deepest desire is to please the Lord, because of His sacrificial love for us. He has placed me in a church family where we love and care for each other, despite our different skin colours.  

I was born in Jamaica in 1957.  Jamaica is one of the Islands in the Caribbean that were populated by slaves brought from Africa by Europeans starting in the 17th Century.  I will leave it for you, the reader, to imagine what the conditions were like for those men, women and children in the brutal conditions aboard slave ships on the long voyage to Jamaica.  It hurts me to think that the slaves, my ancestors, were considered less than human.  However, I know that the Bible tells me “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28.)  Our God is a God of love, justice and mercy.  Ps 56:8 says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book.”  The Bible also says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  (Rom 12:19) 

As a descendant of these slaves, and now 400 years later, it’s painful to imagine my ancestors in chains, being treated as less than human.  Equally, as a black British woman in 2020, it hurts to see the wicked, evil murder of George Floyd (a black man) in the US by a white police officer who showed no concern, and ignored the protests of onlookers.  He kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes, until he died on the pavement in broad daylight.  It is encouraging that many people around the world have demonstrated the appropriate response, which is to say “Enough is enough” to this and other cruel acts of racism.  This appalling act of brutality is a serious sin against God, and it commands our response.  For us, as the church, to remain silent is to make us complicit.  I believe that we as The Church, are best placed to lead the journey towards justice, equality and unity, because we are rooted in Truth, led by Christ, and helped by the Holy Spirit. 

I didn’t always think like this, however.  In the 1980s, my cousin, Eugenie, from Jamaica visited us in London.  She was a Christian, and she told me about Jesus and about God’s love for all people.  My response was, “If there is a God, why has He let the black race suffer so much.”  I cannot remember her reply, but I now know the answer to that question!  God did not take Africans across the Atlantic to be slaves in the Caribbean or in America, and God did not put His knee on George Floyd’s neck and kill him.  Like all sin, it was evil in the heart of man.  The Bible says the devil (the deceiver) comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came to give life, and life in all its fullness.  

Racial prejudice can be aggressive (eg shouting racial abuse at someone) and racial prejudice can be subtle (eg bias in media reporting).  Subtle racial prejudice could be via negative stereotyping without even being conscious of it.  For example, we might say, “All black people are this thing.  All Muslims are that thing.  All white people are another thing.”  Generalisations that aren’t really true.  Racism is a sin problem, not a skin problem.  We feel more comfortable with people like us and we fear the unknown, but we need to learn to see people as God sees them.  We need to ask God to help us to do this. 

In the Bible, in the book of Acts 10:28, we see that Peter (a Jew) was racially prejudiced against the Gentiles and God showed him in a dream that he should not think of the Gentiles as impure or unclean.  In Acts 10:34, Peter says, “I see very clearly that God shows no favouritism.”  Like Peter, we have to ask God to help us to see people without bias. 

The Church (God’s people) should be the answer to all prejudice, because we have the Holy Spirit living in us.  We are Christ’s ambassadors on earth.  We have been given a new heart full of God’s love.  The gospel (the good news) tells us that God loves the whole world (every race, every colour).  God paid for our sins with the life of His Son.  The highest price He could pay.  Our lives are gifts from God.  God gave us the colour we are.  The Bible says, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Really, there is only one race, ie the Human Race.  God made every person on this planet in His own image and He loves all people.  To hate someone because of the colour of the skin that God has given him is a sin.  It is an affront to God.  A true Christian with a new heart, full of God’s spirit of love, will feel the pain and suffering, and speak out against this evil.  John 13:35 says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  James 2:8-9 says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  We must treat all people as we would like to be treated.  Don’t favour anyone over the other.  “If someone says, ‘I love God’, but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar.  If we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God whom we have not seen.”  (1 John 4:20) 

The church is a good barometer of where we are racially.  We can choose to go to church and mix with people of a different race, socioeconomic status, age and background.  In this respect, the church can be a unique organisation.  The church is the body of Christ.  We are called to be united as one body.  This is a picture of heaven, where people of all races gather together as one.  

So where do we begin? 

1.  Prayer--- We can all pray and ask the Lord to search our hearts and reveal any prejudice or bias against people of a different race.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in us which is not pleasing to Him.  This is no different than how we are called to respond to all sin.  "Search me, God, and know my heart;  test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  (Psalm 139:23-24)  We are to repent and turn to God. 

2.  Education ---- Encourage our Department of Education to include more black history in the school curriculum.  I have learnt more about black history since George Floyd’s death than I ever learned at school.  Support policies that promote zero tolerance of racism in schools.  A recent Runnymede Trust Report concluded that “Much clearer antiracism policies are needed to institutionally embed a culture of antiracism in schools.”  We could learn about other cultures and so relate better to people who are different from us.  

3.  Write to the Bishop, our MP, newspapers and TV channels when you see instances of subtle or overt racism.  Can they do more to promote racial equality, in the light of the more visible racial injustice recently seen in the US? The unconscious racial bias we see every day necessarily informs the decisions of business leaders, government, churches and other organisations, resulting in systemic racism and the existing inherent injustice that needs to be addressed. 

4.  Support integration within our churches by actively engaging with those outside your own racial group.  We need to see more black people and people from other minority groups in church leadership.  It should not be assumed that they won’t fit in.  This requires active encouragement and leadership training of black and other minority potential leaders.  A lack of experience might simply be the result of a lack of opportunity.  We need to recognise potential, and value cultural diversity.  

5.  Talk to the people who are affected by racial injustice.  Engage, and try to empathise.  Listen to those who suffer.  They often live in the daily expectation of prejudice, suspicion and disadvantage.  Some of their stories might be difficult to hear, but don’t turn away.  

6.  Love people.  God is love.  “Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).  We have to learn to love, love, and love a little bit more.  Jesus showed us how to love.  He died for us, to show us how much He loves us.  As I heard someone say the other day, “Love wins.” 

7.  Your black brothers and sisters in Christ desperately need to see that you care.  In the story of The Good Samaritan, it was the religious people who walked by on the other side, and left the injured man to his fate.  Jesus wants us to care for each other.  We cannot ignore injustice, and we cannot tolerate the status quo. 

8.  In the past, the church was instrumental in bringing about change.  Let us use this moment to act.  God is in this.  He is stirring us to fast and pray, to unite, to love, to forgive, to bring His light into this dark world.  The church must lead the fight against this sin.  The world needs to see that we are Christ’s followers by our actions.  Please pray for a revival (a spiritual awakening) in the world.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move in power and transform lives, changing hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, and taking people out of spiritual darkness and into His marvelous light, where there is love, peace and unity in Christ Jesus. 

Many churches are now speaking out against racial injustice. Let’s make sure we keep the momentum.  We need to take action. Please keep this issue an ongoing prayer.    

-Marcia Chalkley