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Reading the News Through the Lens of Faith- 4

By Dan | May 2, 2008

This article on race in America really caught my attention, maybe because it had so many facets to it. It’s focus is on the growing number of people in America who identify themselves as multiracial, as coming from a number of racial backgrounds- black, Caucasian, Hispanic, Native-American, Asian, etc.

But it was about so much more than that. It talked about how the Obama candidacy is drawing more attention to the issue of race- because he has a white mom and black father, because of the questions being raised about who will or will not vote for him because of his race. It spoke about the issues of racial marginalization, and the confusion experienced by many people about race today. It finished with a quote by a man named Louie Gong, “Mixed race isn’t post race. It’s not less race. It’s more race,” Gong said. “In order to dialog about mixed race, we need more understanding. It’s not a dialog to forget about issues of race.”

So why do I bring this story up as an item to be read through the lens of faith?

Well, I think race is an issue many church members feel like we’ve moved beyond. Sometimes it feels like race was an issue that the churches of the 60s and 70s debated. Now we’re all for equality, so why should the church pay attention? But as Gong said, even in an age with increasing diversity and mixed race, we aren’t moving past race.

Why else might we be concerned? Well, when the LCMS is well over 90% white, maybe we should pay attention. Look at your communities. I know some of them are pretty white, but everywhere around us there are growing populations of people from other ethnic backgrounds. Yes, we’re making some steps to reach out to other populations, but there are many factors holding us back. Do we want to be part of the landscape of an America that is growing in diversity? Do we want to be reflective of the Church as God envisions it? Then we need to come up with answers faster than we have been.

That’s a challenge to me too. What do you think? Does it ever distrub you to notice growing diversity in our country, but not in our church? How do you think we should respond?