A short thread on racism, and the response of the white majority church:

The world loves a good continuum. We are prone to thinking that the various positions on an issue form a linear spectrum, from one extreme to the other, and that we are in the (sane, balanced, wise) middle.

So on race, we imagine a spectrum from far left (Antifa) to far right (KKK), with ourselves in the middle: not personally racist, but not trying to implement wholesale change either. Talk of structural/systemic racism, even from Christians, feels like moving too far to the left.

If the subject is seen as a spectrum, then everyone who says that racism remains a massive, society-wide problem that requires root-and-branch surgery will get lumped together (by some) as Marxist loonies, no matter how loudly they say that the solution is found in Jesus Christ.

But complex issues have two (or more) axes, not one. They form a 2x2 matrix, not a spectrum. On one axis, we have the scale and extent of the problem: from "racism is simply the personal animus of a small, marginal minority" (-) to "racism has infected our entire society" (+).

On the other axis, we have the possible solution: from "keep fragmenting into smaller and fiercer identitarian factions until our group has power" (÷), to "repent, forgive, speak truth, and find healing and unity through the cross of Jesus" (x).

If we see things as a matrix rather than a spectrum, we don't have to sit in the middle, let alone decry efforts to address structural racism as Marxist, anarchist, or whatever. Instead, we can aim squarely at the top right hand corner: the problem is great, and Jesus is greater.