October 21, 2005
By Daphne Mack

"Most Christians do not think that white supremacy is a serious challenge to the integrity of the Gospel of Jesus," said the Rev. Dr. James H. Cone. "They just continue preaching and singing about God and Jesus as if things are OK on the racial front."

Cone, who is the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, delivered the second of a three-part series themed "A Theological Reflection on Race" for the 2005 Paddock Lectures at General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York on October 19. The topic of his lecture was "The Challenge of Race."

"The problem of race in America and the world is not a popular topic of discussion and debate among American churches, especially white denominations," Cone said. "The churches are busy saving souls and building humongous structures to house mega-congregations as a testimony to their successful ministry."

Cone said that the only time that churches initiated a sustained focus on the problem of race as an urgent moral problem was during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

"The pressure of the events of the time forced this focus upon them," he said.

"From the middle of the 1950s, to the end of the 6os and beginning of the 1970s, black and white churches were compelled to respond to the political and the theological challenges of the black struggle for justice in the society and in religious institutions," Cone said. "For the first time in U.S. history, America and its churches were preoccupied with the race question because they had no other choice."

Black resistance in the streets and the "powerful prophetic voice of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X forced whites to face head on the great contradiction between racial segregation and America's tradition of freedom and the religious claim that God created everyone with dignity and equality," said Cone.

He said embarrassment caused white people to "gradually began to realize that racism should be eliminated in religious institutions and also in the society."

"The civil rights, black power and black theology movement of the 1960s forced America to talk about race openly and honestly. They gave voice not only to blacks in their struggle for justice, but to other racial groups as well as people of color [who] began to speak of red power, brown power and yellow power," he said.

Cone said that racial minorities from all walks of life forced the nation's white majority to recognize their right to cultural integrity and political and economic development. But he added that, since the 60s, racial dialogue seems to be moving backward.

"There is more segregation in America and more acceptance of it than ever before. Especially in public schools, in residential communities, and in the social and religious life of America," Cone said.

Education

According to Cone, a recent study by the Harvard University Civil Rights Project found that America's public schools became more segregated in the 1990s, despite the growing diversity of the general population and support for integration in public opinion survey. The report "showed a return to segregation in America's K-12 grades."

"What is most revealing is that the study found schools in New York State to be the most segregated in the nation, followed by those in Michigan, Illinois, and California, the so-called progressive states," he said. "Minorities were most likely to attend school with whites in the south, though the south is learning quickly from the north how to institute defacto segregation once again."

He said the principal author of the study said that quality coincided with race. The poorer schools had a more transient student body, fewer qualified teachers, parents lacking political power, more health problems and lower test scores. "Self segregation is pervasive," Cone observed.

"Whites and people of color may be in the same school, but they seldom or do not talk much to each other…there are black and white students at Union Seminary who have never had a serious social conversation across the racial divide," he said. "Is that not strange for a Christian seminary which claims justice and love central to its ministry?

"Why are we so content with living separate black, brown, yellow and white lives?"

Role of theology

Cone said that the failure of the civil rights movement to sustain dialogue was in part due to the "failure of black and white churches to engage racism theologically and at the deepest and most sustained level."

"Theological engagement focusing on God's creation, of one humanity, leads to deep dialogue about how we can overcome centuries of racial separatism," he said. "When we start to understand each other through profound dialogue, we also discover the need for radical social change for the establishment of justice."

"Without love and understanding, no solidarity can develop across the racial divide, but with love and understanding all things are possible, even racial reconciliation," Cone said. "Do not the religions of Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad demand that we reach out to each other, especially to the stranger to the other who is different? By accepting segregation in our community, are we not saying that God created us separately and to live here and to marry only our racial kind?"

Cone shared nine suggestions for beginning a dialogue to "expose and depose white supremacy":

• Begin with repentance.

• Form small multi-cultural conscience raising groups of 10-12 people who have repented, want to share stories of resistance and want to learn from each other.

• There must be empathy for without it there is no real understanding.

• Study each other's history.

• Bear witness to white supremacy.

• Reparations must be acknowledged.

• Find time for humor and play.

• Be prepared for a difficult time. Multi-racial dialogue is hard work.

• Don't lose hope.

"Without hope and struggle we die," Cone said. "…If we can keep hope alive, with our walk together against white supremacy, we will have achieved a lot," he concluded.

Cone's other topics were "The Vocation of a Theologian" and "The Cross and the Christian Faith." All three lectures are available on CD through GTS communications department 212.243.5150 ext. 285.

Two resolutions passed at the October Executive Council meeting call on General Convention to look squarely at the role of slavery in the life and history of the Episcopal Church. The first asks the Convention to declare slavery a sin and acknowledge its history and the injury that the institution inflicted on society and on the church. The second directs the Committee on Anti-Racism to collect information on the church's complicity in slavery, segregation and discrimination; the economic benefits derived from it; and how the church can share those benefits with African American Episcopalians.

The Paddock Lectures were founded in 1880 by GTS benefactor George A. Jarvis and named in honor of the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Henry Paddock, class of 1852. Past lecturers include theologians Francis J. Hall, William Temple, Diogenes Allen and, in 2004 Dr. Larry Hurtado.

Episcopal News Service
Daphe Mack is a staff writer for the Episcopal News Service.