Racism: Why Whites Have Trouble “Getting It”
by Greg Boyd
Greg is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist, and author. He has been featured in the New York Times and on The Charlie Rose Show, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC, and numerous other television and radio venues. This article was originally published on the ReKnew website in January, 2007.
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I’m a member of a special task group on racial reconciliation that consists of a dozen or so pastors from around the Twin Cities. We’ve been meeting periodically for the past year or so in order to strategize how to help the Church of the Twin Cities as a whole move forward in racial reconciliation. The other day we were discussing what we thought was the main obstacle(s) to the Church becoming a reconciled, diverse, community—one that manifests the truth that Jesus died to “tear down the walls of hostility” between people groups (Eph 2:14-15). I shared with the group my conviction, which is that the main obstacle to reconciliation in the Church in America is that the majority of white people don’t “get it.” What’s worse, the majority of what people don’t know that they don’t “get it.”
Worst of all, the majority of white people don’t really know that there’s anything to “get.”
Most white people I know sincerely believe they live in a country that is, for the most part, a land of… Read More
