A while back I heard about a movement among Bob Jones University alumni to confront the institution about its racist roots. At please-reconcile.org, various proofs of racist policies and actions in the history of the school were brought forth. Always the goal was to get the college to own up to their mistake, admit that they have made an about face on this issue and to apologize.
That actually happened. BJU has put forth a statement on race in which they apologize for following their Southern culture more closely than the tenets of Scripture. I applaud them for “caving in”. The truth is, it’s sometimes harder to admit wrong when someone else points it out to you, than if you yourself see the problem. Wisely, BJU realized this wasn’t some attack on their institution’s name, but represented a real concern for the reputation of Christ.
I don’t think everyone has to apologize for all grievances, especially those of a long time ago. In this case I think it was appropriate, however (as some of the racial bias persisted even in the last 10 years). I’m glad BJU is doing what is right and setting an example. Here is an excerpt from the university’s statement:
Bob Jones University has existed since 1927 as a private Christian institution of higher learning for the purpose of helping young men and women cultivate a biblical worldview, represent Christ and His Gospel to others, and glorify God in every dimension of life.
BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.
In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.
On national television in March 2000, Bob Jones III, who was the university’s president until 2005, stated that BJU was wrong in not admitting African-American students before 1971, which sadly was a common practice of both public and private universities in the years prior to that time. On the same program, he announced the lifting of the University’s policy against interracial dating.
Our sincere desire is to exhibit a truly Christlike spirit and biblical position in these areas. Today, Bob Jones University enrolls students from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, representing various ethnicities and cultures. The University solicits financial support for two scholarship funds for minority applicants, and the administration is committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
Everybody knows Mike Huckabee is a Christian. Most know he was a former pastor. And since he is a Southern Baptist and he is white, the assumption might be he doesn’t care about racial issues.
However, what most people don’t know, is that Mike Huckabee won 48% of the black vote in his bid for governor in Arkansas (a highly democratic state) in 1998. While some dispute that number, they agree that Huckabee still had at least 20% or more of the black vote in his state.
Mike Huckabee is actually one of the few Republican candidates for president who really is seeking the black vote. When Guliani, Romney, Thompson & McCain found excuses to miss a nationally televised Republican candidates forum on black issues this September, Huckabee shined. Many pundits legitimately questioned the Republican front-runners absence in the debate. Newt Gingrich said, “I think it is a terrible mistake….I did everything I could to convince them it was the right thing to do, [but] we are in this cycle where Republicans don’t talk to minority groups”. The Boston Globe article linked above went on to say “Gingrich added Republicans cannot afford to ignore black voters during the primaries because the GOP will need their support if they hope to win the general election.”
Now, Huckabee’s presence in the debate aimed at black voters certainly helped him politically. He was the only top-tier candidate in the debate. BlackRepublican at RedState even wonders if that debate was the next step (after his 2nd place finish in the Ames Straw Poll) up in his surge to the front of the polls.
So the charge could certainly be made that Huckabee is just playing politics in pandering to the black vote, and earning some union endorsements as he has done. But is it just politics? Or do Huckabee’s Christian values impact his view of racial issues?
The charge can legitimately be made, unfortunately, that conservative Christians were instrumental in hindering the civil rights movement. But don’t let our sad history influence your view of the Bible and this issue. In Christ, there is to be no class or racial distinctions. We are all one in Christ. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. These truths very practically intersect with the racial debate in this country. Indeed, these truths convinced William Wilberforce, a thoroughly evangelical Christian and member of England’s parliament, to dedicate his life to the abolition of the slave trade in England (see this post for more on this wonderful story). Today, more and more, conservative Christians are beginning to promote racial harmony in their churches and communities.
Huckabee reflects this evangelical movement. Listen to his words in the recent Hispanic presidential debate broadcast on Univision.
MODERATOR: Governor Huckabee, is there a risk standing up here (inaudible)?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think the great risk is not so much that we would come. The far greater risk is if we didn’t. And it’s not just that we would offend or perhaps insult the Hispanic audience of this country. I think it would insult our own party. It would insult every voter in this country.
To act like that somehow we’ve become so arrogant that there’s any segment of our population that we’re either afraid to speak to, hear their questions, or somehow that we don’t think that they’re as important as another group. And it’s why I think whether it’s an African American audience, a Hispanic audience, a union audience, as Republicans, we ought to be more than willing to sit down, even with people with whom we might know there are disagreements. And I think, frankly, it’s important for us to be here. It’s important that you gave us this opportunity. And I want to say thanks for letting us have this audience on Univision.
(APPLAUSE)
He basically is saying it would be wrong if Republicans didn’t interact with Hispanics and other minority groups.
Consider also the following quotes from “A Pastor’s True Calling“, one of the articles on Huckabee in this week’s Newsweek.
Alone among the GOP candidates, he speaks emotionally about the legacy of Jim Crow and the dangers of ignoring lingering racism. It is wrong, he says, that inner-city blacks routinely receive harsher sentences than affluent whites arrested for the same crime. [page 2, online]
The Immanuel Baptist Church was an all-white congregation when Huckabee took over the pulpit. One day he announced that a young black man, who heard his sermon on the radio, had asked to worship with them. Huckabee welcomed him to their pews. Some church elders were furious and refused to let the man sit with them. Huckabee threatened to quit unless his guest was greeted warmly. A few members quit in protest, but the rest of the congregation went along. (The church is now integrated.) [page 4, online]
As a boy in segregated Arkansas, Huckabee says he was deeply ashamed of Jim Crow laws. Caldwell, his friend from Boys State, recalls his friend “cringing” whenever someone told a racist joke. As a pastor, Huckabee sermonized about the failure of Christians to speak out forcefully against racism. In 1997, President Clinton and Governor Huckabee both gave emotional speeches in Little Rock at an event marking the 40th anniversary of Central High School’s desegregation. Clinton, slipping into a preacherly cadence, moved the audience. But Huckabee moved many to tears: “Today we come to renounce … the fact that in many parts of the South, it was the white churches that helped not only ignore the problem of racism, but in many cases actually fostered those feelings and sentiments.” He called on people of all faiths “to say never, never, never, never again will we be silent when people’s rights are at stake.” [page 5, online]
Democrats expected the worst of their new evangelical, Republican governor, who welcomed anti-abortion activists to the mansion and tried to pass a law outlawing gays and lesbians from adopting children. But they discovered that Huckabee’s “do unto others” world view also led him to push for more money for schools and a health-care program for poor children that became a model for other states. When he took office, he found that the state’s roadways were falling apart. Huckabee supported controversial legislation that would raise gas taxes to fix them. Some of his fellow Republicans were furious, but voters went along. Huckabee served out his first term and was re-elected twice by wide margins. Even as a Republican in fractious Democratic Arkansas, he maintained approval ratings in the high 50s. [page 5, online]
I found these quotes helpful and exciting. It is wonderful that Huckabee shares a Scriptural approach to racial issues. For those interested, my church promotes racial harmony, and here is a list of online sermons, articles and resources on that topic addressed from a Biblical perspective.
Oh, and click here for links to all the Huckabee articles in this week’s Newsweek, where he’s on the front cover.
Keep up on the latest Huckabee news by checking out my tumble blog: Go Huckabee!
Many Christians, especially strongly conservative Christians, begrudge the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I know I did (at one time). I, along with others, lamented that President’s Day or the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington were not given as much press and esteem as MLK Day. And I bought into rumors concerning the underhanded tactics of King, as a way to discount any reflection on his life. And I learned little of his life or his cause in the Christian education I received growing up.
My freshman year at college, however, when we had two freshman black male students (which was much more than normal for our fundamentalist institution), the typical disdain for MLK Day did not go over very well. They were alarmed and incensed that us “white boys” could not or would not esteem MLK. Of course none of us white boys owned up to any degree of racist tendencies in ourselves either. We treated everyone the same, we thought, and since we were white, we never felt the truth to be otherwise.
Since leaving fundamentalist circles, I have come to appreciate the issue of racial harmony and racial justice much more. This is in large part to our church which takes a stand for racial harmony, and our pastor (John Piper) who preaches one or two messages on the topic each year around MLK day. You see, it is easy for me, a “white boy”, to go through many days without thinking of the issue at all. But for blacks, in countless though often subtle ways, they are reminded of the issue day in and day out.
This post is not going to explore the issue any more than this. If you’d like to do so, check out the list of sermons and articles on the topic available at Desiring God. Instead this post wants to highlight a less well known hero in the matter of racial justice: William Wilberforce.
William Wilberforce was the man most responsible for stopping slavery in Great Britain. As a member of Parliament, he fought 20 years to end the slave trade, and then another 26 years to make slavery itself illegal. This year, we are coming up on the 200th anniversary of the ending of the slave trade in Britain. Feb. 24th 2007 it will be 200 years. In honor of this milestone, a movie will be released in February entitled “Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story”. I have heard that it will be quite good and historically accurate. You can check out the movie’s website and trailer here.
John Newton, as you know, wrote that most famous of songs: “Amazing Grace”. But you may not know that at one time he was himself a captain of a slave trading ship. In fact he ended up becoming a white slave himself for a time. Newton was a friend of Wilberforce, and truly the outlawing of slavery is an act of amazing grace: hence the title for the movie.
With the day off today, I have been reading through a new book by John Piper on this very subject. It is entitled Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce. It was timed to be available in conjunction with the movie’s release, and you can order a copy (or copies) here. You can even read it online here.
The book highlights the amazing life of Wilberforce. William was a truly evangelical Christian and he endured despite tremendous opposition for decades in his fight to end slavery precisely because he was Christian. In today’s world where Christianity is so despised, it is good to remember that the end of slavery is one of Christianity’s gifts to the world! Piper highlights what made Wilberforce tick, and the answer will surprise you. Wilberforce thought the “peculiar doctrines” of Christianity were essential for proper morals and public morality. He despised the divorcing of doctrine from Christian ethics which in his day was already becoming popular. And Wilberforce, as Piper would term it, was a Christian Hedonist. He prized the importance of a deep joy in God.
So on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, stop and ponder the issues of racial harmony in your own life. And pause and reflect on God’s wonderful grace in Wilberforce’s life. Again, the book is available online for free (as a pdf file). So when you have some time this week give it a read (it is short, only about 75 pages).
A while back I heard about a movement among Bob Jones University alumni to confront the institution about its racist roots. At please-reconcile.org, various proofs of racist policies and actions in the history of the school were brought forth. Always the goal was to get the college to own up to their mistake, admit that they have made an about face on this issue and to apologize.
Everybody knows Mike Huckabee is a Christian. Most know he was a former pastor. And since he is a Southern Baptist and he is white, the assumption might be he doesn’t care about racial issues.