Peter writes:
I have no tolerance for racism when I see it, but also no tolerance for the assumption that racism is there when I don’t see it.
I comment:
I dare suggest, Peter, that you step back from defining and limiting what you think racism is and listen to those who experience it. Then when they have told their stories and what certain experiences have meant to them, you can dispassionately tell them that they are wrong.
The issue of tolerance for racism came up as a special emphasis in Micah Glenn's talk linked in another thread. What he said was that open racism rarely if ever was met with church discipline. That is, when a man flat out told Pr. Glenn that he was a racist who hated black people, Glenn sadly knew that that man would not be forbidden from communion until he repented the way people engaged in other sins, like openly having an affair, would face discipline. That was a major problem.
I think it an excellent point for several reasons. First, it shows that one man's "err on the side of grace" is another man's "err on the side of evil." More importantly to me, it illustrates exactly what I was saying when I said that I do not tolerate racism. When black people ask me, as they have, whether they would be welcome in the congregation, I always say that if they encounter racism they can count on me not to put up with it. But they should bear in mind it is congregation full of sinners, and while most of the members aren't racists and would be glad to have them, I can't guarantee there is no chance they would encounter racism. We teach against it and don't tolerate it, but it in a group of sinners every kind of sin is likely to rear its head from time to time. The promise is that it won't be tolerated when it happens, not that it will never happen.
Which makes it so important that we know what constitutes a sign of unrepentant racism. The day after the election in 2016, we had an incident in which two eighth grade boys (one black, one white) came into school laughing and chanting "Build that wall! Build that wall!" Some of the Hispanic parents dropping kids off were not amused. We talked about it. All was well in short order. But if, as Pr. Glenn rightfully expects, a fellow pastor like me is going to withhold communion from unrepentant racism, where shall I look for it? Is a MAGA hat racist? In some eyes, yes. Given that I know a few people who have them and none of them are racist, could I take the accusation from a black person-- "That man is racist! Look at what he is wearing!" and use it to discipline the person as though support for Trump is an overt sign of racism? If not, am I guilty of ignoring the voices of those who see it that way? So it is critical that false accusations of racism, suspicion that everything is a dog whistle, teaching kids that every little thing is racist or even to assume that failure to sign on with progressive causes is tantamount to collusion with racism. It is especially important for progressive voices to police themselves when it comes to bogus charges of racism, because such policing from conservatives is likely to be seen as just more racism.
Per Pr. Glenn, racism stems from and is hatred to which Christians must be called to repent. As his fellow pastor I will do so when I see it anywhere in my flock. But I won't do so whenever anyone tells me they see it and if I can't see it I'm blind. Because just as the old Soviet saying was "Show me the man and I'll find you the crime of which he is guilty," so today, show me the person/event/phenomenon and there is a passionate progressive out there who can show you how it is evidence of racism (or as a plan B sexism or transphobia). And I'm not going to declare people hateful and barred from communion for being part of "whiteness," or in some intangible way having benefited from European colonialism, voting to close Selma, or whatever else might be evidence of racism in some people's eyes. If you're accusing someone of being a racist, you're asking me to withhold communion from them until they repent. That's my promise to Pr. Glenn, one he wants and is disappointed not to have found very often in the LCMS.