Cultural Racism & The Multicultural Church

Response 1

Rev. Valerie L. Balling

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

Barndt uses Paul’s appeal to the church in Galatia as the basis of his argument of how to overcome “cultural racism” through the radical unity and inclusion offered to us through Jesus Christ.  Earlier in the chapter, he warns again the dangers of the “melting pot” mentality that has dominated our American secular culture through the 1980s. (As a Gen Xer, I clearly remember a School House Rock episode about “The Great American Melting Pot.”)  There is an unspoken similarity between these two positions since they both appeal to the ideal of unity, through either discounting or ignoring differences or subjugating them with the more dominant culture.

While obviously Paul’s argument is more appealing, the rub is that I experience life as a white American woman, which is something I cannot change. In fact, it is beneficially for all of us to understand how we experience the incarnation rather than deny it.  It is how we live and move and have our being, and it allows us the opportunity to recognize when there is injustice based on such factors AND TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

There is nothing wrong with me being a white American woman.  Nor is there anything wrong with my counterpart being a black Caribbean woman.  Both of our experiences are authentic and should be valued equally.  However, we are part of a church organization that was (and for the most part still is) shaped by its ethnically white, English roots.  So how do function within an inherently racist system and honor cultural diversity with integrity?

First, I think we need to accept that we cannot be something we are not.  As much as I love gospel spirituals, I will never be an African American whose ancestors were slaves.  I will never be able to sing those hymns with the same depth of feeling and authenticity, but I rejoice when we use them in our liturgy, allowing the Spirit to move us to a place beyond guilt to reconciliation.

Second, I use my authentic experience as a white woman to recognize the privileges that I have and use it to the benefit of others to express their authentic selves.  I do not believe that we are called to adopt practices that are inauthentic to our experience. That can have the tragic effect of making the practice a mockery.  I can, however, get out of the way and experience an authentic practice, such as presenting the offering in a celebration of dance or even having someone shout “Amen” during a sermon (wouldn’t that be awesome!).

Perhaps I do not have enough imagination to picture what Barndt’s “Multicultural Church” will look like.  I love the Episcopal Church, and I love it so much that I don’t want it to get in its own way of becoming obsolete in a diverse world.  However, cultural diversity needs to be authentic and not an assumed a mantel of practices because it is the “right” thing to do.   That does not mean holding on to tradition just for the sake of tradition, nor does it mean getting rid of a practice just because it is from the dominant culture.  With integrity, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, dedication and time, we can and should develop a tradition that bears witness to all of our diversity and unity within Jesus Christ.