Steve Monsma: A Heartfelt Call for Racial Reconciliation

Senator Barack Obama's March 18 address was the most moving call for racial reconciliation and justice since the days of Martin Luther King Jr. I personally was profoundly moved by it.  He gave full and proper weight to the dark evil of slavery and racism with which this country has never fully come to terms, the progress our nation has made since the 1950s and 1960s, and remaining issues that need to be addressed. He spoke to crucial issues that too often persons in public life feel are too sensitive to be discussed publicly. I appreciated his acknowledgment of the anger that is still present in the African-American community over past and continuing failures of our nation to live up to its professed beliefs. He clearly separated himself from the assertions of his now former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that have been widely replayed.

And yet...And yet...Even given the understandable anger among many African Americans, and especially those who grew up in the pre-civil rights days when discrimination was more blatant and the opportunities more limited than they are today, I still came away troubled. I have struggled to identify the source of those troubled feelings, even in the face of Obama's deeply moving and heartfelt call for racial understanding and reconciliation. I think the problem is the depth of hatred evidenced by Rev. Wright in some of the statements, and that by a minister of the gospel--in particular, the sermon in which Rev. Wright said we should not ask God to bless America, but to damn America. As an evangelical Christian who believes in the reality of both God's blessings and his damnation, to call upon God to damn any person or nation is a fearsome thing to do. This was more than a colorful, powerful, and angry way of saying our nation has been and still is infected by the sin of racism.

But I also must recognize these were the words not of Sen. Obama, but of someone else. On balance, I personally believe that years ago Senator Obama ought to have separated himself from this church or in some other way registered objections to the angry, hateful comments of his pastor now under scrutiny. But I am not Senator Obama, and I have made enough decisions in my own life I now see as less than wise that I hardly feel qualified to condemn the senator for what from my perspective was an unwise course of action (or, more accurately, a lack of action). I do not see the mere fact of his membership in Rev. Wright's church as a sufficient basis to doubt the genuineness of his commitment to racial reconciliation and justice. Between now and when the Democratic nomination is decided, or if things go Obama's way, next November, there will be ample opportunity to test and try to see if this indeed is the case.

--Steve Monsma is a senior research fellow at the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College and professor emeritus of political science at Pepperdine University. His most recent book is HEALING FOR A BROKEN WORLD: CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC POLICY (Crossway Books).