Wokeness and Racial Justice Will Not Save the American Church

David Brooks recently wrote an article in The New York Times about “The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism from Itself.” Surprise, surprise. One of the issues that have profoundly “divided” the church is the embrace of former President Donald Trump. The piece notes that “roughly 80 percent of white evangelical voters supported Trump in 2020. But it is often a minority of this group who spark bitter conflicts and want their church to be on war footing all the time.”

It's on-brand to talk about “white evangelicals” as if their race drives their political decisions or bears a significant weight to their relationship with God. Interestingly enough, these critics rarely (if ever) mention the militant lockstep nature of black churches.

Black voters, regardless of how often they attend church, overwhelmingly support Democrats. I recall once visiting a church in my hometown when my father was a guest speaker. For some reason, the pastor mentioned my father was a Republican during the introduction. It was like pouring a bucket of ice water on the congregation.

I’ve visited black churches, asking for political support. They liked me as a person, were blessed by my testimony, believed I had sound doctrine, and a decent plan. But when I told them I was a Republican, their hard bias transformed their faces into Picasso paintings.

Brooks pointed out Christian rap artist Lecrae stopped getting church invites the more he spoke out on “racial injustice.” He didn’t mention the backlash Bishop Wayne T. Jackson had after hosting Donald Trump in his church during 2016, which included hate mail, threats, and protests.

It doesn’t matter if Hillary Clinton worked to suppress and defame her husband’s accusers; she can still show up in a church in Flint with a suspicious twang in her voice. It doesn’t matter how many Christian candidates Senator Cory Booker grills in confirmation hearings about “gay sex” and whether they think it’s a perversion; he’s still expects to walk into a black church and receive overwhelming support.

According to Pew Research, white evangelicals have more diverse voting patterns. The more white evangelicals attended church, the more they supported Trump in 2020 over Biden. Does it stand to reason, the more dedicated white voters were to their religion, the more likely they were to vote according to their faith?

Biden is not only openly pro-choice; he’s advocating against the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal dollars from funding abortion. Abortion can’t be a private matter between a woman and her doctor if he expects Christian taxpayers to subsidize it. Biden is also promoting gender theorists who want to erase the distinct lines between men and women, and even criticized a Florida bill that would bar activist teachers from indoctrinating grade school students. Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Secretary of Health, (who is a transwoman) wouldn’t deny supporting hormones for sex changes in children without parental consent. If you’re upset about transwomen like Lia Thomas beating female swim competitors by forty seconds and showing his junk without repercussions in the locker room, those are the fruits of a Biden presidency.

And while many Americans—including Trump’s supporters—find many aspects of his character as off-putting, it can’t be reasonably debated that Biden would preserve religious liberty more than Trump. Biden was painted as a kind grandfather who will offer empathy and restore unity in the country, but the veil of his kindness was ripped off, for many Americans, during the Afghanistan exit. He’s also caused division by implying everyone who doesn’t stand with his policies is racist, and Biden discriminated against Americans due to their medical decisions.

Brooks also said the church is divided on racial issues, and that’s true. But if your church mirrors Black Lives Matter talking points, you’re not preaching the gospel. You’re empowering an organization that preaches ideology that is antithetical to the bible. You’re spreading falsehoods that have led to an excess of crime and black lives lost. They’ve even bailed out attempted murderers. I understand empathy, but where is the discernment?

Brooks said, “Many of these dissenters have put racial justice and reconciliation activities at the center of what needs to be done.” The center of any Christian movement should be spreading the message that Jesus loved you so much, he died so you can be saved from your sin. Social justice activists look at racism as a system and purposely avoid the personal individual responsibility of it. They outright deny that everyone from any race is capable of it. Racism is a choice to hate, and it is sin. It’s not greater than fornicating, lying, stealing, or coveting and it needs to be addressed as something individuals need to reject. Racism is also not greater than unforgiveness, but social justice doesn’t encourage “forgive and forget.” They embrace hurts and trauma they didn’t personally experience, caused by aggressors long dead.

Activists have a hard time addressing individual actions and frame consequences—especially if they have disproportionate racial stats—as systemic racism. If a black single mother raises a young man in a low-income area, and he turns to a life of crime, an activist will look to the system. They may question the resources the mother had, the school-to-prison pipeline, claim the community is overpoliced, question his sentencing, and why more black men are locked up. Those are all fine questions to ask, but where does the conversation of individual choices and consequences come into play? It started with a man and a woman fornicating; the family structure that God positioned was ignored. There’s wisdom and love in the commandments of God; it’s no coincidence that children from fatherless homes are more likely to live in poverty, commit a crime, go to prison, etc. As Denzel Washington pointed out in an interview, “It starts in the home. You know, if the father’s not in the home, the boy will find the father in the streets.” What about the young man’s sin of covetousness and theft? And as Mr. Washington said in another interview, “By the time the system comes into play, the damage is done.”

Americans have to keep in mind that much of this racial ideology is being driven by Marxism. The founders of BLM proudly claim to be trained Marxists, and critical race theory has roots in it as well. When the African American History Museum released a traits of “whiteness” graphic, Christianity “being the norm” and the refusal to break away from the “single-god concept,” made the list. And “whiteness” has been deemed as bad. At the same time “whiteness” is being attacked, “blackness” is being defined by leftist activists. Nikole Hannah-Jones said there’s a difference between being ethnically black and racially black. If you don’t fit their mold, you’re not authentically black. You’re a traitor. And unlike “white Americans,” a majority of black Americans see their race as being central to their identity.

If churches cozy up to social justice activists, they will dilute the gospel until it is ineffective. And if your church is determined to not dilute the gospel, the tyrants will seek to control and shut you down. Ask Richard Wurmbrand, who told his testimony in Tortured for Christ. The left doesn’t mind “pro-choice pastors” like Raphael Warnock, but conservative pastors like my dad have been told, “You’re more dangerous than a white supremacist.”

The left is trying to make it impossible for black Americans, including Christians, to step outside of their permissible way of thinking. If they think about not voting democrat, they lose their blackness. And over the past few years, many white Americans have been guilted into hating themselves and apologizing for their “whiteness.” This ideology is leaking into the church, and it will pollute the church’s message.

We must reject this ideology and preach that God is no respecter of persons. He obviously made you black or white, and you are a unique individual who was fearfully and wonderfully made, knitted in your mother’s womb. However, your identity should be rooted in Christ. And regardless of whatever persecution you may face, you’re the head and not the tail. Above only, and not beneath. With God, all things are possible, and so on. If you are a Christian, you should not believe racism can stop you.

After Trevone Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, my pastor told our congregation that Satan was going to use these shootings and race to divide our nation. It seems like most churches missed that memo, but it’s not too late to wake up.