Application for America - Part 2 (The Bible’s Answer for Racism, Part 16)
Written by Ben Quine
“Doesn’t the inequity we see in America prove that America is systemically racist?”
The short answer is No.
“But if that is true, then why is there inequity in America today?”
In America today, the greatest ongoing injustices and inequities we currently face stem primarily from unbiblical ideas and policies that have been allowed to take root in our land. These policies have done great damage and brought incalculable pain, especially to the weakest of society. What are these ideas and policies? The following is a list of areas where inequity is flourishing in America as a direct result of not embracing God’s principles and wisdom which bring life in abundance:
Sin and Individual Responsibility
Sadly, our culture misunderstands the human condition and the destructive nature of sin. It says, “people are basically good deep down; they are just victims of their life circumstances.” Unfortunately that philosophy is incongruous with biblical teaching. Scripture tells us:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Racism, like any other sin, can only be defeated by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence — by His transformation of sinful human hearts into virtuous, loving hearts, Romans 12:2. Any unequal treatment, harassment, discrimination, or putting others down because of their skin color is sin. So first we need spiritual revival in our land. We need personal conviction of sin and repentance among all communities of all colors. Only then, through the love of Christ, will the hate and division of racism be defeated.
Radio commentator Paul Harvey regularly paraphrased Proverbs 14:34 (“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”) by stating, “Self-government won’t work without self-discipline.” America’s founders recognized the absolute requirement of a virtuous citizenry. John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
If we as a people choose to reject sin and embrace morality and holiness we will experience peace and unity. But if we embrace violence and folly there will be chaos, incarceration, mistrust, division, and death. Lawless people ought to be punished according to the law, which in America’s legal system may require incarceration. That is the healthy fulfillment of government’s God-given charge:
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:1-4)
Sin and lawlessness will destroy our country. That is why all believers must be law-abiding citizens (to the extent our law aligns with God’s law, Acts 4:19), and the Church must lead the way in reducing criminal acts by sharing the Gospel and teaching everyone to “be subject to the governing authorities.”
There is inequity in America today because of a false view of sin and its consequences. This has brought pain and suffering to our culture, and hurts the weakest of society the most.
Spiritual Formation
For too long, pastors and Christian leaders have been afraid to speak out on controversial or so-called “political issues.” It’s little wonder, since the government from 1954 to 2017 had essentially gagged churches by threatening to remove their tax-exempt status if they spoke out in favor of a godly political candidate.
But these are not political issues: they are spiritual, moral, and cultural issues. Churches must once again become a force for good by teaching and preaching on the deep-seated virtue that comes from faith in God, the need for nuclear families, Biblical Worldview education, and charity. The Body of Christ must partner with parents, teaching children God’s principles of economics, government, justice, gender, education — every topic being wrestled with in our culture. This means more than vaguely calling for “Justice!” Believers must really dig into Scripture to find and teach what biblical justice means. (See Answers for Difficult Days: Justice)
Believers must stand up for biblical virtue and oppose any source of immorality; our culture is being led astray by music with violent or degrading lyrics, violent video games, movies and television that glamorize sexual immorality, and entertainment or news outlets that promote unbiblical ideologies. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). Churches must redeem the culture by sending godly people into entertainment, law enforcement, education, and government. Pastors need to regularly exhort their congregations to create wholesome entertainment and to be a force for good by joining the school board, the police force, or running for higher office.
The Church must also lead the way in national reconciliation and must teach against racism from the foundation of Scripture, partnering across skin-color barriers as individuals, churches, and communities. The Church must lead the way in extending hospitality, befriending others, and showing unconditional love (I Peter 4:8-10).
There is inequity because the church has allowed itself to be blackmailed by the government. Its silence, individually and collectively, has brought pain and suffering to our culture, and this hurts the weakest of society the most.
Need for Whole Families
Lack of fathers is likely the greatest social problem facing our society today. Not having a father present in the home undermines God’s design (Proverbs 3:11-12, Ephesians 6:4). It leaves children with a void in family authority, undermines their education and discipline, veers them towards greater poverty, and encourages less respect for all forms of authority (including for God, their mother, law enforcement, and the government). Since the father is the spiritual head of the family (Psalm 78:5-7), growing up without a father puts the spiritual wellbeing of the child in great danger and increases the likelihood that they will seek affirmation from gangs, cults, or other harmful groups. In 2017 44.2% of Black family households did not have a father present:
You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single- parent households, a number that has doubled — doubled — since we were children. We know the statistics — that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it. (Barack Obama, 2008)
There is inequity in our culture because families without fathers bring pain and suffering, and this hurts the weakest of society the most. (Coming soon – Answers for Difficult Days: Family & Education)
Education
Any system of education… which limits instruction to the arts and sciences and rejects the aids of religion in forming the characters of citizens, is essentially defective… In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed… No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. (Noah Webster, Father of American Education)
In the 1960s the American public education system removed God from schools and replaced Him with Secular Humanism and Moral Relativism, philosophies that promote self-realization through human reasoning, and reject the concept of humans being accountable to a Sovereign and Almighty God. As Noah Webster predicted, discarding Scripture has had disastrous consequences: it has removed the very foundations of absolute truth, right and wrong, and virtue and morality.
Teaching Charles Darwin’s theories of Evolution, Natural Selection, and The Preservation of Favoured Races as scientific fact is directly responsible for much of our violence and racism today. Darwin’s philosophy holds that there is no God and that all life is the result of mere chance. If this were true, then people would be merely animals, and survival of the fittest would be the way of all nature. Violence and oppression of the “inferior” are the logical conclusions. Tragically, this false worldview, which is entirely consistent with racism and which has been embraced by those who practice eugenics-based genocide, such as Adolf Hitler and Margaret Sanger, has been taught in our public schools for almost 60 years.
America will not advance in our struggle against racism until we remove Darwinism from our educational systems.
NOTE: These anti-biblical philosophies taught in schools have direct consequences on society, especially in the realm of law enforcement. How do we propose to find virtuous, upright young men and women to police our streets and fill our law enforcement agencies if we teach that the course of nature is “the survival of the fittest”?
American public schools have also established many other detrimental polices: removing discipline of both students and teachers; making it difficult or impossible to fire ineffective or harmful teachers; removing high academic and behavioral standards (Proverbs 13:24, Hebrews 12:5-11); not teaching children to think critically or solve problems; and not preparing students to have a job or start a business. In a series of misguided attempts to “be nice,” we have created institutions that deny a quality education to the most needy in our society.
NOTE: Injecting money into the system will not solve these problems. In 2016 America spent over $700 billion on public elementary and secondary schools. In 2017 the city of Baltimore spent nearly $16,000 per high school student. Out of America’s one hundred largest school districts, “Baltimore’s spending on education is the fourth highest of any municipality in the country. Despite this massive commitment of resources, Baltimore schools have some of the lowest educational proficiency levels in the country.” A 2017 Baltimore Project investigation found that “of Baltimore City’s 39 High Schools, 13 had zero students proficient in math.” The problems we are facing in education do not stem solely from a lack of financial resources.
Sadly, many families who want to get out of these failing schools cannot, since they are not permitted to choose better or safer alternatives for their children. Impoverished families can send their children to the one taxpayer-funded public school option in their neighborhood, and they may have no other affordable educational options. These dear children are therefore trapped in a system incapable of preparing them to get or keep a job, and they are thus sentenced to a life of poverty and welfare dependence. Applying the free market and biblical principle of accountability to education would provide a powerful incentive to improve schools and raise academic standards for students and teachers alike (2 Corinthians 5:10).
We must return to the biblical model for education: parents are the authority in charge of where and what their children are taught (Deuteronomy 6:7). The foundation of any curriculum must be the Biblical Worldview, establishing critical thinking, teaching right and wrong, promoting virtue, and preparing for a vocation.
In the 1850s when he ran the Tuskegee Institute, Black former slave Booker T. Washington did not consider a student’s education complete until they had mastered at least two trades. Like Booker T. Washington, we should require that all students are prepared to succeed in a vocation before allowing them to graduate. Anything less is a gross malpractice and an oppression of the students themselves. (Coming soon – Answers for Difficult Days: Family & Education)
There is inequity in America because of our failed public school system, and this hurts the weakest of society the most.
Poverty
One often hears the refrain that “the large wealth gap between White and minority families proves our systemic racism.” Why is it that Black children are born into families that have on average $17,000 of wealth, while White families have on average $171,000 of wealth?
The wealth disparities in America arise from many sources, including circumstances out of our control (natural disasters), individual sin (such as theft of money or property), personal vocational choices (what type of job, level of education, or licensing am I going to pursue?), work-ethic (“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” Proverbs 10:4), or the previously-discussed failing public school systems.
All of these factors have played a role, but by far the biggest contributing cause of the minority wealth gap is the governmental welfare state. In the 1960s we saw the American government implement the War on Poverty, taking the responsibility of caring for the poor away from the Church. Since that time our inner city problems have become exponentially worse.
When God established an economy for His people in the Torah, He designed a system that would insure “there will be no poor among you” (Deuteronomy 15:4). God has given us the prescription to fight poverty! Instead of the government, God charges individuals and churches to care for the poor (James 1:27, 1 Timothy 5:3-16, See Answers for Difficult Days: Economics). He wants a loving, personal approach (like His gleaning system in Ruth chapter 2). Those in need are personally, individually guided out of poverty and directed towards a self-sufficient life where they can then help others.
This is not a light commission — the balance of personal responsibility and charity is delicate, and if the Church were unable or unwilling to help those in need, or if individuals refused to accept responsibility, then restoring the care for the poor to churches could have deadly results. Yet this is the biblical answer, and the only ultimate solution.
God’s design is that individuals should work to provide for their families first, and then share generously with those around them (II Thessalonians 3:10, Ephesians 4:28, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7). Millions of families would gladly escape the welfare state, but are unable to do so because of a lack of employment opportunities.
Removing basic vocational work removes a sense of purpose, and even the sense of meaning to one’s life. Living a life of dependence is dehumanizing, and often propels a downward spiral of depression and addiction. Believers should show compassion for the millions who have fallen victim to drug abuse, and bring biblical justice to the situation: severe punishment for illegal drug dealers, who destroy the lives of the innocent, and removal of punishment for those using drugs who are victims in need of medical and psychological help (Matthew 18:6).
By filling people’s lives with a self-identity found in Jesus Christ and the Gospel, and by giving them purpose and work, we can defeat the underlying cause of the drug-addiction plaguing our poorest communities.
Believers must therefore bring both the Gospel and jobs to the poor communities, and the government must remove any obstacles to creating those jobs (crime, high taxes, unnecessary regulations, etc.).
Several other unbiblical economic principles are in place in America that greatly harm minorities. Scripture says businesses should treat their employees fairly and not take advantage of anyone, but God never endorsed minimum wage controls. Jesus indicated worker salaries should be freely negotiated by businesses and workers (Matthew 20).
Minimum wage laws have caused many employers to remove the lowest level of jobs, reducing the number of available positions, and making the task of finding employment far more difficult, especially for low-skilled or low-educated workers. Illegal immigration has also drastically reduced the number of available jobs for hurting American citizens.
God says a godly inheritance is a blessing from the Lord (Proverbs 8:12-21, 13:22), but the Social Security system guarantees that many parents will have nothing to leave for their children. High taxes and tax brackets based on wealth go directly against the low-tax, flat-rate system established in Scripture (Exodus 30:11-16, Numbers 18:21-24, Deuteronomy 14:22-29, 26:12-13) and make it more difficult for families to save, invest, or augment their children’s education.
It is important to note that true justice and equality does not mean that everyone will have the same outcome. But by returning the responsibility for charity to the churches, believers, and private charitable organizations, and by removing the unbiblical policies which are entrenched in our government, we can end the economic injustice that has plagued our land.
There is inequity in our land because of our economic and welfare policies – these policies hurt the weakest of society the most.
Law Enforcement
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (I Peter 2:13-14)
From its first words, the U. S. Constitution establishes “We the People” as the foundation and guides for our government. The people of the United States have been bequeathed the responsibility to pray for our leaders, to vote, to direct our elected officials and hold them accountable, and to run for office in order “to keep the government pure and the governors honest” (Thomas Jefferson), and to keep the nation “guided towards the common good” (John Adams).
This is a solemn charge, and one Christians should not take lightly: where we have unjust laws we must change them to reflect God’s justice. When we have laws that are not implemented fairly, then we have a moral crisis within law enforcement: the corrupt agents must be removed and replaced with righteous people who will apply the law equally (with no favoritism).
Law enforcement has been established by God and specifically tasked with protecting the people and administering justice. We are forever grateful for those officers who serve our country with integrity, putting their own lives at risk to protect those they serve. Without their service, our society would collapse. We must therefore support them and show them the highest honor for their self-sacrifice on our behalf. We must also be diligent to vote for godly leaders at all levels of government, from the school board to the Oval Office, since they will directly impact our law enforcement agencies! (Exodus 18:21)
At the same time, a government that does not fulfill its God-mandated role of bringing justice will lead to widespread misery for its people (Proverbs 11:10-11, 29:2). God requires that all crimes be punished justly, with no exceptions (Leviticus 19:15). God expressly forbids bias toward or against groups of people based on skin color or wealth status (Deuteronomy 16:18-20, Numbers 15:15-16), and any judge, policeman, or prosecutor who mistreats anyone, shows favoritism, perverts justice, or withholds justice from anyone must be punished or removed. Individual acts of police brutality and harassment are sinful and they should receive appropriate discipline or punishment.
There is inequity whenever law enforcement doesn’t fulfill its God-given role, which hurts the weakest of society the most.
The biblical solution to America’s racial problem is multidimensional: we must restore families through the Gospel, teach children biblical truth, teach the skills needed for jobs, teach righteousness and obedience to the governing authorities, practice charity, create just laws and a virtuous police force, and vote for godly leaders. This is God’s prescription to bring peace to our land.
But unfortunately in America our government has taken on too large of a role, taking control over education, charity, and the Church, while also giving the false impression that creating virtue is as simple as passing laws to make people virtuous or to make police and prosecutors moral.
Virtue and morality only come from spiritual rebirth. Believers, do not look to the government to solve the spiritual and moral problems of our land!
Remember, God loathes and condemns all injustice and oppressive abuses of power, and even if we never see justice on this side of Heaven, there will be complete justice one day. As believers it should break our hearts to see all of the pain these harmful policies have caused! I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict your heart and that you will rise up and take action to end these unbiblical policies.