Ridding the American Church of Racism

The church must lead the way in healing racism and embracing unity this Black History Month.

Each year, we commemorate Black History Month to reflect on the sufferings, struggles, and successes of Black Americans—i.e., African descendants of American slaves. Some question why we need Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Black fraternities and sororities, Black churches, and Black History Month. They argue that it promotes division when we should be colorblind, upholding the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

In a perfect world, we would not need “Black” institutions. However, the opponents of such classifications fail to acknowledge that Black organizations were the result of White racism and discrimination. For example, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed after two Black Methodists, Absolom Jones and Richard Allen, were denied the privilege of praying to God because they accidentally sat in the White section of the church. Black hotels, such as those found in the historic “Black Wallstreet” of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were established because Blacks were denied lodging at White hotels. Furthermore, those who demand a “color-blind” society forget the “White” and “Black” water fountains of the 1960s. So, we must be honest with ourselves if we’re going to work toward forging a more perfect union.

The End of Affirmative Action

Black History Month couldn’t come at a better time in 2025 when we consider that President Donald Trump began his first hours as the 47th president of the United States issuing sweeping executive orders. One order called for “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”[1]

NBC Chicago says, “The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients.”[2]

The revoking of governmental initiatives that ensure qualified Blacks and other underrepresented groups were given equal opportunity to acquire jobs, promotions, and contracts comes on the heels of last summer’s Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action programs designed to prevent educational institutions from denying admission to qualified Black applicants.[3]

Racism in the American Church

But my aim is not to give a history lesson on America’s racist past with its Black citizens, going back to the start of slavery in 1619 through the Jim Crow era to where we are today. There are plenty of resources that you can read and watch online. I am more concerned about how we eradicate this disease from the American church, where Dr. King called 11 am on Sunday mornings “the most segregated hour in this nation.” It is there where it is most entrenched, and it raises its ugly head each time there is a questionable death of a Black person at the hands of a White person, or during our political elections, or when there are calls by Black pastors for social reforms.

The covert racism often takes the form of arguing, “You should just preach the gospel,” as if Jesus did not preach the gospel, address people’s social needs, and speak out against the injustices taking place from Judea to Galilee (Luke 4:18–19). Sometimes, covert racism takes the form of asking, “How can you vote for someone who supports abortion and gay marriage?” while ignoring the harmful policies and rhetoric of their preferred candidates toward Blacks. My point is that while these issues involve Blacks and Whites, the issues are not black and white. They are far more complex than we care to acknowledge or even consider.

Christ Commands Love, Not Hate

My prayer is that we will heed the words of the Apostle John, who wrote: “If anyone says ‘I love God’ and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too” (1 John 4:20–21 NET).

John teaches us two important principles about love that are critical for the American church as our nation teeters toward racial unrest.

1. Our Love for God Should Be Without Contradiction. To hate someone is “to have a strong aversion” toward him or her.[4] Racism is hate, and embedded in the American ethos is racism, rooted in European exceptionalism (i.e., White superiority) and colonialism (its outworking). It bred a strong aversion toward other ethnicities, which were redefined as races because racism is a race of the races for dominance, reflected in the accumulation of territory and wealth.

This hatred is reinforced when historically subjugated groups demand redress for the past evils that denied them the ability to benefit as full citizens from the economic success of the country, built primarily on the backs of their forced free labor. It is also reinforced when they demand full and fair participation in every sector of the commonwealth that they were previously denied. At the same time, this hatred is buttressed when it remains stuck on the harm inflicted and refuses to forgive the sins of the past and allow for understanding and racial sensitivity to occur.

However, to love someone is “to have a warm regard for and interest in another.”[5] It acknowledges the wrongs done in the past and seeks to right them because it is interested in the well-being of the oppressed. It empathizes with someone else’s plight and puts itself in their shoes. It doesn’t look at what might be lost by including those previously denied access and opportunity; rather, it envisions how much better the country will be when we can benefit from the synergy of full participation. It also recognizes that people have been socially conditioned from birth to think and feel a particular way about race, so it does not seek to demonize or diminish the quality of life of others as it looks to repair the damage. Love ultimately desires reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16–19). How much more so when the other person is a Christian?

Thus, John challenges Christians to examine our claim to love God while showing hate toward another believer. He uses very strong language, which he associates with the devil, whom he calls the father of lies (John 8:44). John’s critique of such a contradiction could not be more blunt. If we demonstrate hate toward fellow Christians, we are acting like the devil and not like God. In other words, we are disobeying Christ’s commandment.

2. Our Love for Each Other Is a Commandment. Sin is a virus, and it has subconsciously affected both the victim and the victimizer. No one is born a racist, whether that racism is hatred for others because they are viewed as inferior or because they have caused injury through prejudice and discrimination. Hate is a byproduct of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam and the sinful environment that resulted from his disobedience.

The good news is that our sinful nature has been crucified with Christ, and we have been born again through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Although we are going through the process of sanctification—being conformed to the image of Christ—we are no longer obligated to obey the sinful impulses that remain in our mortal bodies. Consequently, we are free to obey God’s commandment to love one another. We have the freedom to love those we were previously taught to hate. We have the freedom to love those who have sinned against us in the past. We have the freedom to love because Jesus freed us from the power of hate and commanded us to love each other as He has loved us (John 13:34–35).

Our obedience to Christ’s commandment to love each other demonstrates our obedience to Him. This means our relationship with Christ is not unidirectional but multidirectional. It is cruciform—vertical and horizontal. We love Christ by loving each other, talking and listening to each other, asking for forgiveness from and forgiving each other, forcefully pushing back against the hatred on both sides, and promoting reconciliation through His cross.

The American Church Must Set the Example

We live in a fallen world, and the race problem will not be eradicated until Christ inaugurates the eternal kingdom. Yet, the church is to be “a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the reign of God.”[6] Thus, Christians of all stripes and colors have a duty to be an example to the rest of America for what "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" looks like.

Like the Passover for Israel, Black History Month marks the time that God freed Black Americans from slavery. It is not intended to castigate one group but to praise God for how Blacks and Whites, many of whom, if not most, were Christian, were able to work together to end that evil institution and continued to work together through the civil rights era.

When we look back at how far we have come as a country, it reminds us that the American church may not be able to establish the eternal kingdom, but we can do our part to manifest as much of the kingdom as humanly possible because that’s what we are here to do.

Dr. Isaac Hayes is an Assistant Pastor at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, and author of Men After God’s Heart: 10 Principles of Brotherly Love. He also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Follow Dr. Hayes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @RevIsaacHayes.

[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.

[2] https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/what-is-a-dei-program-and-what-did-trump-change-heres-an-explainer/3653396/.

[3] https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-affirmative-action-programs-in-college-admissions/.

[4] BDAG, 652.

[5] BDAG, 5.

[6] Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 110.