I think you are rightly identifying why we have not made more progress on racial issues within evangelicalism. Evangelicals are happy (generally) to allow special events or for "others" to share. But when white people are forced to articulate why (theologically and culturally) their history has been relatively okay with racial hierarchy, that is harder.
I spent quite a while trying to work on racial issues within my predominately white church. There was verbal affirmation as long as there wasn't anything difficult required. But that is exactly the problem. It is difficult to grapple with the history of white supremacy. Understanding that history creates obligation and people do not like obligation to change.
Daniel Hill in his White Awake book has a short section on why a church interested in becoming more diverse should not just hire a minority staff person but should spend time preparing so that the church was ready to be more diverse. Otherwise, the inevitable harm to that minority staff person will not be a long term benefit to the organization and be very damaging to the staff person, and it will have perpetuated white racial hierarchy whether it intended to or not.
I am working through an advance copy of Scott Coley's Minister of Propaganda and the chapter I just finished was about they ways that white evangelical racial attitudes can oppose individual racial animus but not grapple with the ways that "logical implications" of their rhetoric and actions continue to uphold white supremacy.
I think you are rightly identifying why we have not made more progress on racial issues within evangelicalism. Evangelicals are happy (generally) to allow special events or for "others" to share. But when white people are forced to articulate why (theologically and culturally) their history has been relatively okay with racial hierarchy, that is harder.
I spent quite a while trying to work on racial issues within my predominately white church. There was verbal affirmation as long as there wasn't anything difficult required. But that is exactly the problem. It is difficult to grapple with the history of white supremacy. Understanding that history creates obligation and people do not like obligation to change.
Daniel Hill in his White Awake book has a short section on why a church interested in becoming more diverse should not just hire a minority staff person but should spend time preparing so that the church was ready to be more diverse. Otherwise, the inevitable harm to that minority staff person will not be a long term benefit to the organization and be very damaging to the staff person, and it will have perpetuated white racial hierarchy whether it intended to or not.
I am working through an advance copy of Scott Coley's Minister of Propaganda and the chapter I just finished was about they ways that white evangelical racial attitudes can oppose individual racial animus but not grapple with the ways that "logical implications" of their rhetoric and actions continue to uphold white supremacy.