The recent controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention over the idea of systemic racism in the law—critical race theory— only just scratches the surface of the shortcomings of the Christian church today, especially in its evangelical wing.
While church people claim otherwise, the controversy suggests that churches are partisan communities only slightly behind political parties in their particular prejudices and proclivities.
The Christian church has always been divided along political lines, even from the beginning when the issue was whether or not to fellowship with heathens.
Later, the issue was how to embrace becoming the established church for the Roman people. By the time of Pope Gregory VII, the issue had become whether God’s vicar on earth ought to be a strident, temporal emperor over many lands, riches, armies and nations, in addition to his traditional role as the gentle spiritual leader of the voluntary faithful. By the time of Martin Luther, the church had been on a 1,500-year tear to take over the world.
Though the power of the church was clipped during the Reformation, church men and women today still believe they are special beyond anything other citizens and organizations are capable of. After all, they are directly in touch with the God and creator of all things, by several means unavailable to others.
They can thus be counted on to be right most, if not all, of the time.
Church leaders, whether priests, pastors, or lay people, believe they have a virtual monopoly on the science of goodness. They walk about with a conscious glow of sanctity and easiness.
Church living, once arduous and humble, today has been streamlined to fit the quick-fix needs of post-World War II industrialized living. Salvation, diverse and substantial early on, rests mainly now on sacraments and tithings. There is plenty of room and time for other things when repentance is not so pressing.
The church believes it holds the key to the success of families, the eradication of crime and punishment, and the construction of holy and happy cities, if non-church folk would only listen. However, as is clear to see, the Christian vision for family solidarity, clean and safe homes, and egalitarian cities has made little progress.
Part of the problem is that the church sees the larger society almost as an enemy, and so it is a latecomer, if it arrives at all, to most social improvement movements. The civil rights movement is now some 70 years old, but the Baptists are just now showing up in force.
The Achilles’ heel of Christianity is that leaders and followers alike have not made much effort to come to know the author of their faith by studying history. Most are interested almost exclusively in the peculiar circumstances of his death, clearly outlined in the gospels. The great complexity of his life before that auspicious event is largely set aside.
The scripture, as well, has become a morality play promoting chastity, forgiveness, and proper church government. This leaves the non-church society to struggle with very large and very difficult realities in their own civil governments.
Meanwhile, the church smugly awaits the return of Jesus. It would appear that only then can substantial progress be made on intractable issues surrounding the world outside the church.
One wonders if and when the church will come to understand that Jesus set the example of diving into problems and solutions throughout all sectors of society in the here and now, and was not just concerned about church missionary work today and life in the hereafter tomorrow. The Jesus of antiquity was a great supporter of individual civic involvement in a democratic kingdom of God that emphatically included both secular and sacred realms.
Kimball Shinkoskey is a retired state government worker who writes about history, politics and religion.
