The Religious Question — and the Human Question

Column by Brian McLaren on 21 April 2022 2 Comments

If Jesus was right when he said, in his inaugural address (as found in Luke 4), that the Spirit of God’s agenda is to help the oppressed, the weak, the broken-hearted, those with (in Thurman’s words) their backs against the wall, then no wonder many people are struggling with their religious identity.

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Question

I find it so confusing trying to understand not only racism, but bias against any human who is considered "different".  Elitism, the belief that I am better than you, continues with frightening repercussions. Do you see a world/time when that will end - what will it take? 

Answer

Dear Thomas,
 
I’ve heard the basis for prejudice explained as a fear reflex, an attempt for people to protect themselves from the unknown that strangers seem to embody. It feels like a reasonable sociological, and psychological reason for the existence of bias. And yet, I think your question is about the more nuanced workings of systemic racism, capitalism, etc., that seem to function at high speed efficiency.

In my opinion, the work of creating a world free of bias starts with examining yourself. I mean really truly examining and reexamining yourself; changing your environment to support the habits you wish to nourish - truly creating a world in, and immediately outside of yourself that supports the racist/bias free world you desire. In my own personal experience, the work of undoing racism within myself has needed to be a constant, daily practice. Every day I’m fed images or recycled stories and symbols that keep the framework of racism active and well. We all are fed these images, we hear the recycled narratives in news stories, we have the thoughts arise without awareness when we pass by someone in the grocery store. The attack is consistent, so our efforts to mitigate it have to be just as consistent.

The work of undoing racism within myself requires that I use my spiritual life, mental health resources, the medicine of community, and other tools, to keep from being swallowed up by this ill you ask about. Honestly, I don’t think most people are doing this type of active work to uproot the racism that we have been and continue to be force fed.

For most folks, racism is the burning of crosses, or the use certain old timey words, the most egregious acts. The danger with this limited view is that it facilitates denial. The more you distance yourself from the potential to behave in biased/racist ways, the easier it gets for the force-fed messages to take root in your shadow and start spilling out in moments when you least expect it. Racism is not just “that thing that those people do, but not something I am capable of.” Each of us has the capacity to employ, to keep alive, these monstrous things. Accepting that fact, I think, is the surest way to hampering the success of these programs.

If we are to see a world free of, or at the very least with a milder version of, racism, eradicating this denial inside of ourselves feels like step one in a multi-step process. I don’t know all that it might take, but I do think starting with ourselves is the most radical step.
 
Yours on the road to Liberation,

~ Toni Anne Reynolds

 

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