For many Christians, the idea that the sin of racism could be evident within the structures or outcomes within our society is a step too far. Unless it is evident in the concrete actions of individuals, or laws that are explicitly prejudicial, it is said that we must not continue to raise the charge of racism. As I will argue below, this position highly underestimates the pernicious and adaptive reality of sin in society. While trying to defend Scripture and attack the influence of a secular culture, this position undermines Scripture and preserves secular influence in the church.
This position is similar to the charge that Christians just need to “stick to the gospel.” Any continued emphasis on racism and the church’s response is evidence of a liberal drift that will eventually abandon the gospel. “Woke,” once vocabulary used by the Black community to describe a sense of racial and social awareness, has now been stolen by the political and religious Right to attack those who continue addressing the reality of racism in our churches, cities, and country.
The Reformed doctrines of common grace and sin address these concerns while strengthening our commitment to racial justice. On the one hand, common grace explains how God is constantly at work to restrain the force of sin in both individuals and our society. At the same time, the doctrine of common grace takes the reality of sin seriously and sees its pernicious, adaptive nature at work within generations, cultures, and societies. As a result, Reformed Christians should expect the adaptive realities of racism and ought to be the first to confront racial injustice.