Divided by Faith

So I finally finished reading Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. I started it in June during CCO NST, and for various reasons including busy-ness, or other readings, (or laziness) I didn't finish it until a week and a half ago. Now a good chunk of the book is publishings on findings of the authors' 2,000 phone interviews and 200 face-to-face interviews with American Evangelicals, so that fact alone makes it a little hard to read at times. That having been said, I think every single White American who claims to be Evangelical should read this book! Yeah, seriously...Emerson's and Smith's findings are extraordinary and convicting.

By and large they've found that -- although there is but one Jesus Christ -- because of our places in life, Americans are literally divided by faith. The stronger one's faith is, instead of seeing things the same way, it turns out that the further on one side of the spectrum or the other their view of the race problem in America based on the color of their skin. It's fascinating and amazingly sad, especially since as The Church we're supposed to be united. At any rate, they've done extensive work documenting how/why we aren't united particularly along the lines of race, which are arbitrary physical characteristics, according to most definitions.

Kelly read an article while working on her Master's in Social Work entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack. I believe it was in there that I heard the metaphor of walking along a moving sidewalk -- you know, the ones that they use in airports -- and you're heading towards a bad place (i.e. reinforcing racialization). You can stand still because it doesn't seem to be affecting you, but still in fact move towards it; you can actually walk towards it, speeding up the process; or you can take on the arduous task of actually walking against that sidewalk. I want to be walking against the grain, but because this is something that does not confront me daily like it would if my skin was a different tone, it's hard to notice that I'm moving in the wrong direction.

This book convicts me, and the sad fact that it took me so long to read it, despite it being rife with statistics, is another indication that I'm not working hard enough at walking against the sidewalk--in the right direction.