A Spiritual Approach: Racism and Christianity

Just as Christianity is implicated in the creation and expansion of racism, alternative readings of the same tradition may provide ways to challenge this history and reimagine our ways of seeing each other. Both Catholic social thought and the Protestant social gospel provide theological and spiritual insights that correct the assumptions of racist ideology. The deconstruction of “whiteness” and the elevation of “blackness” as a counterweight are two of the first choices to be made. A consistent listening to and understanding of Afro-American writers, who connect the Christian idea of suffering under the regime of “whiteness” to the situation of those under the oppression of racism, is another choice that is required. Developing a renewed understanding of human dignity, rooted in our common creation as human beings, is an essential element in the removal of the power of racist ideology from our minds, organizations, and institutions.