What must we do? Anyone who has received God’s grace, been born of the Spirit, and who loves Jesus Christ must take seriously his command to love our neighbors. And to do so not only “in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). In other words, through concrete actions. When the world sees believers living in relationships of love that surmount the barriers that divide the nonbelieving world, it will witness striking evidence of God’s supernatural power in action. As a result Jesus will be glorified, the gospel will gain fresh credibility and the great commission can progress. On the other hand, if our walk is not consistent with our talk, we forfeit our credibility. People are not stupid; they will not believe the message unless they trust the messenger. The recovery of trust is one of the great challenges facing the worldwide church today.
Billy Graham, though not perfect, was ahead of his time on the issue of race. His eyes began to be opened as early as 1952, when he determined that he would never again preach to a segregated audience and personally took down the ropes separating blacks and whites at one of his crusades. Graham highlighted this problem forcefully, and his observation about it is important to read in its entirety:
Racial and ethnic hostility is the foremost social problem facing our world today. . . . Racism—in the world and in the church—is one of the greatest barriers to world evangelization. . . .
Racial and ethnic hatred is a sin, and we need to label it as such. Jesus told his disciples to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39); and in reply to the question “Who is my neighbor?” he responded with a pointed parable about a good Samaritan, a member of a despised race (Luke 10:25–37).
Racism is a sin precisely because it keeps us from obeying God’s command to love our neighbor, and because it has its roots in pride and arrogance. Christians who harbor racism in their attitudes or actions are not following Jesus at this point, for Christ came to bring reconciliation—reconciliation between us and God, and reconciliation between each other. He came to accept us as we are, whoever we are, “from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9).”6
Any racial or ethnic prejudice in our lives indicates that we are compromising the teachings of Christ, which can undermine the credibility of the gospel itself. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The church can and should take moral leadership in society by embracing biblical principles and resources on race. Even if it doesn’t, individual believers like you and me can. We have the power to overcome our prejudices and love people who are different from us “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). All we need is the desire and a willing heart. And if we lack this, we should ask God to give it to us. If we are serious, he will.
Given all of this, what are some concrete steps we can take to move forward in love?
Just as children must crawl before they can walk, and walk before they can run, we must start with the basics. What follows are baby steps, because that is where I believe many people are on these issues. First, do a prayerful self-examination (Ps. 139:23–24). Ask God to open your eyes to your sins, especially sinful attitudes toward people of other races and backgrounds. Such attitudes are found all over the world, so we should not be surprised if we discover them in ourselves. To root out these attitudes and their negative baggage, it is essential to begin by confessing and repenting of them before God. John Stott’s words are helpful to ponder:
I dare say that no man is altogether free from some taint of racial pride, because no man is free from sin. A sense of racial superiority is natural to us all, even if it is secret and undiscovered. Further, there is a black racism and well as a white. Everyone assumes that his race and colour are the norm, and that others are the abnorm, the deviation. This is simply the self-centredness of sin. But there is no norm in the colour of human skin, any more than there is in the colour of bird plumage. The norm is humanity: the races are variants of this. This means that all forms of racism are wrong. They are an offence against God, the God of creation and history, of religion, nature and judgment.7
Next, explore race-related themes and get some perspective by reading a book or two or other resources that foster in-depth thinking.8 Doing so can provide a clearer understanding of the issues, giving us truth and reality about the effects of race and ethnicity on people who are different from us. It is also important to reflect on some of the longstanding attitudes and values toward minorities that are still embedded in our culture, as well as the way various social systems impact those who are outside of the dominant culture. As you do, ask God to show you what he wants you to see and to do next. Acting on the truth we learn is essential for spiritual growth. Failure to do so leads us into self-deception (James 1:22–25).
Then, pray for God to give you at least one friend of another race and help you build an open, honest relationship with no agenda other than love and the friendship it produces. Building friendships of any kind in our highly individualistic, isolating culture is a challenge and takes commitment. But it is well worth the effort and can open your eyes and enrich your life in ways that nothing else can. Such friendship can produce surprising fruit, as Billy Graham discovered. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend, Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.”9
Let the relationship grow at its own pace. As it does, seek to learn and to build trust. Learn about your new friend’s life—what has shaped him, his joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams, his past and present challenges. Then share your story with him, doing so in a natural way, not a forced or artificial way.
Race will come up at some point as the relationship unfolds. When it does, discuss your respective experiences. If you have built trust, the conversation can take you into places you may know little about. Learning what it is like to walk in the other person’s shoes will open up new vistas of understanding you’ve never considered before.
Friendships were the key for me and opened my eyes to many things of which I was completely unaware. I was surprised at how clueless I was about things that were very basic. Like most white people in America, I didn’t have much understanding of other races. One of the main reasons for this is actually quite simple: white people have been the majority and dominant race in America since its founding. We have lived in our own culture and have not needed to learn much, if anything, about people from minority cultures. We have also made the rules and they make sense to us, even if they don’t to others. Thus, the white culture tends to be unaware of many important things in the respective cultures of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and others. Even if our intentions are good, we don’t know what we don’t know. And this blindness—willful or not—produces false assumptions about people, faulty perceptions of problems and issues, and damaging blunders in relationships. At the same time, people from minority cultures in America have had to live in two cultures: their own plus the dominant white culture, so they see and understand a lot that is not obvious to whites. If we whites will take the posture of learners, we can learn a lot from others and potentially make progress in developing friendly, harmonious relationships with people of different races and ethnic groups.
Pastors should, of course, lead the way in this, setting an example for their congregations. Jesus led by example and so must his followers. But whether pastors take the initiative or not, every follower of Jesus should prayerfully step out in faith, trusting God to lead and direct and give the wisdom needed. Even a casual reading of the Bible shows that God has done this for centuries; he is still doing it today and wants to use us as conduits of his healing power.
Anti-Semitism
As with racism, conduct a prayerful self-examination to discover and deal with any anti-Semitic ideas, attitudes, or stereotypes you may have picked up. It is obvious that Christians should have an appreciation for and love of the Jewish people and seek their good. We are greatly indebt
ed to them for the Scriptures, and from them came Jesus the Messiah and the apostles. We also need to realize that God has good plans for them that are yet to be fulfilled (Rom. 11:1–36). If you find any traces of anti-Semitism in your heart, confession and repentance are the starting point and should be followed by working through whatever issues you need to address.
In addition, do some reading about anti-Semitism and its history, which is very well-known to Jewish people but apart from the Holocaust is little known by most non-Jews.10 Among the discoveries Christians will make is the fact that those who I call “pseudo-Christians” have been responsible for much persecution of the Jews and in some cases terrible slaughters of Jewish people in Europe over the centuries. Perhaps more shocking are deeply troubling anti-Semitic comments by those we regard as true Christians—leaders like Augustine and John Chrysostom. Even worse are Martin Luther’s anti-Semitic diatribes against the Jews, which were used by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust. This history reveals something of the complexity of how Christians have related to Jewish people.
Again, relationships are crucial, so look for friends of Jewish descent. Friendships with Jewish people have been helpful to me, especially those who have found Jesus as their Messiah. Let the relationship grow at its own pace. Learn about your friend’s life—what has shaped him, his joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams, and his current challenges. Ask about his religious beliefs—what he believes about God and the Bible. Some Jews believe in the God of the Hebrew Bible, others are agnostics, and still others are atheists.
Also ask what it has been like to be Jewish in a Gentile world. Part of the history of Gentile anti-Semitism is the forced conversion of Jews by the church on pain of death or expulsion, which began as early as the 400s in the Middle East and continued up to the nineteenth century in Europe. Every Jewish person is painfully aware of this. If you have built trust, it will open the door into a place you know little, if anything, about. Just listen and learn. Where appropriate, express your sorrow at what he has experienced, because there will likely be plenty of hurt.
Feel free to share the story of how Christ’s life, death, and resurrection have affected you. If your friend asks questions, feel free to answer him. But do not push. That will only raise barriers. Make sure to communicate that your friendship does not depend on him coming to share your faith, but that you share it out of love. Also bear in mind that with Jews, as with all people, professions of friendship and love mean little unless they are accompanied by concrete acts of love. In one of our conversations, Al Binder, the Jewish lawyer who encouraged my release from prison, said to me, “try to do something to help the Jews, if you can.” This book and the earlier ones I wrote, as well as frequent warnings to Christians about the dangers of anti-Semitism, have been part of my response.
If you will take the very basic relational steps described above—seeking to please God and trusting in him—he will empower, guide, direct, and teach you. And he will give you further light when you are ready for it.
Political Polarization
Seeking the common good and loving people across political divides can seem intimidating in this highly contentious period. Why should we even make the effort? Because God calls us to love our neighbor and seek his or her good (even when our neighbor is an enemy, Matt.5:43–48). How can we engage with people whose political views and values are very different from our own? Three things are essential: the desire for a relationship, a serious effort to build bridges, and an attitude of graciousness. We must relate to others in a Christlike way—with love, humility, gentleness, patience, and respect. If we lack any of these, we can ask God to give them to us.
For a Christian, it is not an option to dismiss people with whom we disagree as beyond hope, a threat to the public good, or even simply not worth our time and attention. If the person is a fellow Christian, we are called to seek peace and unity as much as possible. If the person is not a Christian, we must remember that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and grace. If God can save people on the Far Right like I once was, he can save people on the Far Left and anywhere else on the political spectrum! If we are Christians, we must take seriously Jesus’ call to love not only our neighbors but also our enemies. Jesus explicitly rejected the commonly held idea that we should hate our enemies (Matt. 5:43–48). No matter how much we may disagree with someone, we must treat that person with courtesy and seek to reason with them, building a respectful relationship and finding common ground where possible.
There are things about which reasonable people can agree and things about which reasonable people can disagree. Or, to put it slightly differently, we can disagree agreeably. There is no justification for hating those who think differently from us. And hating doesn’t just mean violent dislike. It is just as frequently expressed as ostracism, ridicule, rejection, and malice. To be clear, building respectful relationships does not require compromising one’s convictions. It just requires good will, civility, and obedience to God, who calls his people to “turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34:14). And obedience to God includes faithfully following Jesus, who sends us out to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9) in the church and the world—and not people who foment strife and division.
Discussing politics is perfectly appropriate, as are efforts to convince others of our point of view. But we must keep in mind that the highest priority for a Christian is not to change a person’s political views but to help change their eternal destiny if they don’t know Christ. Getting into contentious arguments about their politics will only hinder your efforts. When you discuss politics with anyone, whether a believer or nonbeliever, it should not be with an underlying anger and hostility, but in friendly dialog and with a humble, irenic spirit. And also with an ability to state their positions in a way that they agree is accurate. Without such clarity about the other person’s views, little, if any, progress can be made. Regardless of differences, seek to become a friend—get to know the other person as a person. Seek to understand something of their life, what has influenced them, what is important to them, and why they think as they do. And be patient. Love is patient and kind and can open the doors of friendship like nothing else can, but it takes time.
Obviously, the suggestions I have offered above are not hardball politics. Some people will think that such an approach is hopelessly naive or compromising and is doomed to failure. But that line of thinking does not recognize that our current crisis is ultimately a spiritual problem, not just a social or political one. Yes, we must address the social and political dimensions; that is certainly necessary. But it is not sufficient. Ultimately, we must look to God and his supernatural power to change people, to revive the church, and to bring moral and social reform—something which he has done again and again over the centuries.11 Zerubbael was told that victory would come “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).
Let us then not give in to fear, anger, or hopelessness but go forward in faith, hope, and love, trusting our sovereign, all-powerful God. And let us live as faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, loving our neighbors, sharing the gospel and seeking to be grace-filled peacemakers, and remembering that Jesus is with us every step of the way.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to express my deep appreciation to the board of the C. S. Lewis Institute for granting me a sabbatical leave to work on this book. I also want to thank the colleagues and friends who supported me in this work through prayer, finances, and helpful comments on the manuscript at various stages. To the friend who helped me first put this story into print, profound thanks. And thanks to the wonderful editors who helped me bring it up-to-date!
NOTES
Chapter 4: Seeds of Fear and Anger
1.George Wallace, inaugural address, Montgomery, Alabama, January 14, 1963, online at http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/2952.
2.Douglas Martin, “Nicholas Katzenbach, 90, Dies; Policy Maker at ’60s Turnin
g Points,” New York Times, May 9, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/nicholas-katzenbach-1960s-political-shaper-dies-at-90.html.
Chapter 5: Descending into Darkness
1.Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chap. 6, online at http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch06.html.
2.Tom Stafford, “How Liars Create the ‘Illusion of Truth,’” BBC Future, October 26, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161026-how-liars-create-the-illusion-of-truth.
3.Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (New York: Harper & Row, 1951).
4.John White, The Cost of Commitment (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 43.
Chapter 6: Opening Skirmishes
1.C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Touchstone Editions, 1996), 87.
Chapter 9: Prison Life
1.Mariel Alper, Matthew R. Durose, and Joshua Markman, “2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-Up Period (2005–2014),” Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 23, 2018, https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6266.
Chapter 12: Maximum Security—Again
1.Rev. John Henry Hanson, “Saint Monica and the Child of Her Tears,” St. Josemaria Institute, August 23, 2016, https://stjosemaria.org/saint-monica-child-of-her-tears/.
Chapter 13: Encounter with Truth and Light
1.George Charles Roche, Legacy of Freedom (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1969), 20–21.
2.James Burnham, Suicide of the West (New York: Encounter Books, 1964), 100–101.
3.Burnham, 103–4.
4.Burnham, 103.
5.Charles Wesley (1707–1788), “And Can It Be That I Should Gain.”
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