Racial reconciliation has been “a thing” in the church over the course of the last several decades following the Civil Rights Movement. The Promise Keepers took a shot at it more than 25 years ago and made racial reconciliation its top priority.  

“Racism is an insidious monster,” said the organization’s founder Bill McCartney. “You can’t say you love God and not love your brother.”

During the 150^th Southern Baptist Convention, a resolution was passed apologizing for their denomination’s historical defense of slavery and the embracing of Jim Crow segregation. They also acknowledged the nation’s continuation of racism.  

Various predominantly “white” congregations have also attempted to bridge the racial gap in Christendom. And yet 11 am on a Sunday morning remains, as Dr. King noted back in 1960, “one of the most segregated hours in Christian America.”

While some church congregations have made strides toward greater racial diversity, others continue to find comfort in the familiar with little to no attempt to change their demographics. It doesn’t help that in this current era of political conflict, many of these previous divisions have only widened, as many “white” evangelical churches have not been shy about their outspoken support of Donald Trump.  

To build the wall of division even higher, many of the seemingly well-intended diversity outreach churches stop short of fulfilling the Biblical formula for restorative justice, which involves not only seeking forgiveness by acknowledging one’s sin but also repentance (a change in behavior). And in cases of righting wrongs, restitution, also known as reparations, is part of the formula. 

There is no doubt that many predominately “white” churches and their congregates have benefited in one way or another from America’s original sin of slavery. Many have gained from generational wealth and have used some of that wealth to support churches in their communities. Others have benefitted more directly from the ripple effects of slavery, not to mention the various components wrapped in the Jim Crow era of a segregated America.

While the topic of reparations has been turned into a controversial subject in many, often right-wing leaning circles, it is indeed a Biblical principle that is frequently ignored. Christ does not merely call us to comfortable sacrifices, but rather transformable sacrifices. Christianity is not like a buffet where you get to pick and choose only that in which you find comfort.

Reparations are not limited to slavery but extend far beyond at an institutionalized level. While the Promise Keepers and the Southern Baptist acknowledge ongoing racism, the accompanying issue of reparations and restitution is conveniently left off the table. This begs the question, without this major component, which completes the circle of true repentance, can racial reconciliation ever be realized? 

Not without Christlike sacrifice. Christlike sacrifice brought the Savior to the cross as a loving atonement, i.e. reparation for our sins, paying the price for a debt WE owed.  In order to show Christlike love for our brothers and sisters, we must be willing to embrace Christlike sacrifice.

In the words of the old Christian hymn, “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there is a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me.”          

When the proposed bill H.R. 40 (the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act) was brought before the 117th Congress in 2021, it was quickly shut down following testimonies from such people as actor Danny Glover and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell aggressively dismissed the idea by stating that slavery was a long time ago and no one living today shares any responsibility for it and consequently reparations were a bad idea. He feels that America made up for its wrongs against African Americans by electing Barack Obama and passing civil rights legislation.  

However, San Francisco revived the issue by examining the idea of giving a one-time payment of $5 million to the descendants of slaves.

Reparations are not new and have been given to former slave owners for the loss of “property” following the Emancipation Proclamation. Under the District of Columbia Compensation Emancipation Act signed by Lincoln, over 900 former slave owners were paid approximately $300 for each slave (equivalent to $8,000 today).

Those who didn’t receive reparations were the slaves who were approved as part of the Special Field Orders No. 15 to receive 40 acres of land and a mule as proposed by Union General William T. Sherman and supported by President Lincoln and Congress. Following the assassination of Lincoln that promise was withdrawn by Lincoln’s successor Andrew Johnson.

American Japanese have also received $1.6 billion in reparations for being unjustly incarcerated in Concentration Camps on U.S. soil following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 1946 The Indian Claims Commission set aside $1.3 billion as compensation for 176 tribes and organizations averaging to about $1,000 for each individual, a fraction of the 574 “recognized” tribes in the U.S.

Reparations don’t just have to be monetary. There can be various creative options. For instance, in 2019 Georgetown University, which acknowledges its profit from the sale of 272 slaves to keep the institution open 200 years ago, has offered administrative advantages to the descendants of those slaves to the tune of $400,000 per year. Over 95 other universities are currently considering similar programs.

The strategy is to help alleviate the economic disparity between Blacks and whites due to institutionalized racism/white supremacy. The only other way to right this historical injustice is for those who benefited from these various injustices, which led to generational wealth both directly and indirectly, to forfeit and return all benefits and advantages. This would be even more complex, and we would certainly find few if any takers.

If the church believes that it should be an example to an unbelieving world and a light set on a hill, then should it not lead the way in being a Christ-like example in this arena as well?

Simply put: Restoration/Reconciliation = Acknowledgement of sin + Repentance (Restitution/Reparations).

By Tobias Houpe