Church Has Its Congregants Pledge Themselves To End Fictitious White Privilege When They Should Be Taking A Pledge To Preach The Gospel Of Salvation In Christ Who Is Able To Eliminate Racism And Prejudice From The Mind And Heart Through The Forgiveness Of Sins And The Transforming Of The Inner Person

 

The church of St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit led parish located in New York City, asked parishioners to take a pledge that affirming the fictious white privilege must end.  The pledge stated:
 
 
 
DO YOU  SUPPORT justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

DO YOU AFFIRM that white privilege is unfair and harmful to those who have it and to those who do not.

DO YOU AFFIRM that white privilege and the culture of white supremacy must be dismantled wherever it is present?

DO YOU  SUPPORT racial equity, justice, and liberation for every person.

DO YOU AFFIRM the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
 
Therefore, from this day forward . . .
 
WILL YOU strive to understand more deeply the injustice and suffering white privilege and white supremacy cause?

WILL YOU COMMIT to help transform our church culture to one that is actively engaged in seeking racial justice and equity for everyone.

WILL YOU make a greater effort to treat all people with the same respect you expect to receive.

WILL YOU COMMIT to developing the courage to live your beliefs and values of racial justice and equality.

WILL YOU strive daily to eliminate racial prejudice from your thoughts and actions so that you can better promote the racial justice efforts of our church.

WILL YOU renew and honor this pledge daily, knowing that our church, our community, our nation, and our world will be better places because of my efforts. [1, 2]

 
 
The church also admitted that the pledge was a copy of a so-called anti-racism pledge that it had obtained from a Unitarian church located in Dallas Texas and then revised. [3, 4]

It has also been conducting a workshop called “Dismantling Racism” partly for the purpose of helping white people to understand what so-called “white privilege” is. [5]

The pastoral council of St. Francis Xavier parish stated:
 
 
 
 
It is uncomfortable and often distressing for white people to recognize that simply being white confers a presumptive superiority at the expense of people of color. Initial reactions can be defensive: “Slavery ended in 1865.” “My family never benefited from black or brown labor.” “I’ve worked hard for everything I have.” These reactions seek to end the conversation. They seek to sidestep personal complicity in perpetuating the systems and institutions that support racial inequity. However, these reactions also confirm the speaker’s recognition that racial inequity exists – in housing, health care, education, the enjoyment of personal rights, and income, to name a few contexts. [6]
 

 
 
In our Constitution, we have amendments to ensure that non-whites enjoy the same rights and privileges as whites which has been the desire and vision of the authors and signers of our Declaration Of Independence and our Constitution.  The 1964 Civil Rights Act, along with other legislation designed to enforce equal rights, prevent discriminatory acts on the basis of skin color, ethnicity, religion, or gender, and to enforce the Constitutional rights of all people have already been passed.
 
If anyone suspects that they have been unfairly discriminated against by an employer, academic establishment, or even by a governing agency or that their Constitutional rights have been violated, there are law and amendments to which they can appeal for justice.
 
That being said, how are white people continuing to be complicit in perpetuating racial inequity?  How are they preventing non-whites from enjoying the housing, health care, education, enjoyment of personal rights, and income that they have?  Because of the abolition of slavery and the elimination of the Jim Crow laws and segregation, non-whites are now found working in every occupation that white people have ever worked in and are still working in.  They also enjoy the same educational privileges as white people.  They have also been able to work their way up the economic latter just like white people have done.  They have been able to integrate themselves among white people in every sector of society; in places of worship, academia, media, business, the workforce, every civic occupation, and the political arena.
 
In fact, there are non-whites who are more well-to-do than a lot of white people.
So then begs the following questions:  

What more can possibly be done to rectify the past racial injustices that has not already been done?  

And what about the racial hatred harbored by non-whites towards whites?  

Why isn’t anyone talking about that when the issue of racism is brought up?  

Do those who claim systemic racism, racial inequality, and racial injustice not believe that racism and bigotry can go both ways?  

Do they not believe that hatred and prejudice can just as easily come from non-whites as it can from whites?

And what about the racial hatred that takes place between different non-white factions?  

Why is no one talking about that or attempting to bring racial reconciliation amongst those groups?
 
Has anyone ever asked the question why black people might harbor racism towards Latinos and vice versa or why Asians may also harbor prejudiced or racist attitude towards other non-white factions?

Another important question that needs to be asked is this:  Why has the burden of eliminating racism been placed more upon whites than on non-whites?  Why has that burden of eliminating racism not been more evenly placed on every people?
 
If we really want equality and if we really want to end racial injustice, racism has to be eliminated not just from white people but also from everyone and ever people in whom it is found and that requires a spiritual transformation that eliminates such attitudes from the heart and mind and that spiritual transformation can only take place when sincere repentance of these attitudes and all other forms of evil and sin take place. 
 
Racism, like all other evils, is the result not just merely of hatred or a people exalting themselves above all others, but is the result of a much greater problem which is moral and spiritual.  It is one of many results that arise out of a fallen condition that resides in each and everyone of us called sin.  And it is this sinful condition to which we are all born that result in racist and prejudicial attitudes and from which we must be redeemed.
 
Man was never created to hate.  He was created to love and to be loved, but when Adam fell through disobedience by the eating of fruit from one tree that he was told not to eat from (Gen. 2:16-17, chapter 3) sin entered into him and with sin came death (Rom. 6:23) and alienation from our Creator, and along with death, came the curse upon all creation (Gen. 3, Rom. 8:19-22) which has brought forth all the suffering, death, decay, pain, grief, sorrow, and evil that we presently see in the world and because we all have descended from Adam, we have inherited in us the sin that brings death (Rom. 5:12) which is why all are born strangers to their Creator and why all die.
 
Sin not only is in our actions and the words that we speak, but also corrupting our very thoughts and motives which is why no matter how upright of a life we try to live or how good we try to be, we, because sin is in us, fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) which is moral perfection thus keeping us out of the presence of our Maker and placing us in danger of eternal punishment if we should die in our sins for all sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant is subject to punishment for it cannot be allowed to dwell in the Kingdom of God, but has nothing to look forward to but a terrifying everlasting judgment, yet God in His love for us all has provided us redemption in Christ Jesus who, by His death and resurrection satisfied the punishment demanded for sin on our behalf thereby bringing redemption to all willing to turn away from their sins and receive His forgiveness thus satisfying the demand for divine justice against sin and the need for mercy.
 
In Christ we are forgiven of our sins, rescued from eternal damnation and reconciled to our Maker so that when we die, we will be in the Lord’s presence and with the cleansing of our souls from sin will also come the liberation of our bodies from sin and death (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) and lastly, the redemption of the entire creation from the curse that came upon it because of sin (Rom. 8:19-22, Rev. 21-22)

But upon the redemption of our souls, we receive in us a new nature that was not present before; a nature not carnal but a nature that is spiritual and seeks after the things of the spirit and which makes us not want to pursue those things that are contrary to the will of God or are displeasing in His eyes but to honor Him in everything we do out of appreciation and gratitude for the forgiveness that we have received in Christ and out of the love we ought to have for Him and it is this transformation in Christ by which we no longer wish to harbor ill-will towards our fellow man or hold prejudice against anyone on the basis of their skin color, gender, economic or social status, or even their past, but to measure and examine each other by our actions and character.
 
And it is this very transformational born-again experience that will eliminate racism and prejudice from the heart for when these things are eliminated from the heart, so will the world be free of them and the day is coming that the racism and prejudice against which we cry will be done away with but along with them, they who persist in them for those who persist in these thing have not the love of God in them for if they claim to love God yet hate their fellow man, the scripture says that they are liars, walking not in the light but in darkness. (1 Jn. 2:9-11)
 
Instead of a pledge against so-called white privilege, this is the pledge to which we ought to commit ourselves to:
 
 
 
Do you believe that the heavens and the earth were created by God and not by chance?
Do you believe that God created all men in His image? (Gen. 1:26-27)
Do you believe that all people are descended from one blood? (Acts 17:26)
Do you believe that God has given one law to all people (Num. 15:16) and will judge all people accordingly?
And that He is no respecter of persons? (Acts 10:34)
Do you believe that all since Adam are guilty of sin? (Rom. 5:12)
Do you believe that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? (Rom. 3:23)
Do you believe that all are subject to death because of sin? (Rom. 6:23)
Do you believe that because of sin that all of creation is presently under a curse? (Rom. 8:19-22)
Do you believe that God has provided redemption for all people in Christ Jesus? (Jn. 3:16)
Do you believe that Christ was born of a virgin?  (Mt. 1:18, Lk. 1:35)
That He knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15) thereby qualifying Him to be that perfect and unblemished sacrifice needed to take away our sins?
Do you believe that Jesus is God as He has claimed? (Jn. 1, 10:30, 14:9, 8:58)
That through Him and by Him all things were made and without Him nothing was made that was made (Jn. 1)
That He died on the cross for our sins and was raised again from the grave for our justification?
That by Him alone salvation is received? (Jn. 14:6, Rom. 10:12)
That salvation is given to us by Him because of His grace through our faith in Him and not by our own efforts? (Eph. 2:8-9)
That in Him all are made equal? (Gal. 3:28, Col. 3:11)
That all scripture is divinely inspired and thereby made authoritative? (2 Tim. 3:16)
That in Christ we are given one faith, one doctrine, one baptism? (Eph. 4:5)
That Christ ascended into Heaven and is returning again? (Acts 1:11, Rev. 19)
That our bodies will eventually be redeemed from death (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) just as our souls have been redeemed from damnation?
That this present earth will pass away and in its place will be a new heavens and a new earth in which there is no sin, no death, no evil, or any pain, grief, sadness, or suffering of any kind? (Rev. 21-22)
Do you pledge to call as many as you can to repentance according to whatever capacity God has given you? (Mt. 28:19-20, Mk. 16:15-17)
Do you pledge to seek the things of Heaven above the things of this world? (Mt. 6:19-20, 33)
Do you pledge to love the Lord your God above all else? (Mt. 10:37-38)
Do you pledge to fear God above all things? (Mt. 10:28)
Do you pledge to honor God in all things? (Rom. 6:11-13)
Do you pledge to make whatever sacrifices required of you, no matter what they might be, on behalf of the Kingdom, trusting that the reward you receive will be greater than the sacrifices required of you? (Mk. 10:30)
Do you pledge to be conformed to the mind of Christ and refuse to conform to the ways of this present world? (Rom. 12:1)
Do you commit yourself to the regular study of God’s Word? (2 Tim. 2:15)
Do you commit yourself to being made ready give a defense for the faith if so required according to the capacity given to you by God? (1 Pet. 3:15)
Do you commit yourself to exposing the works of darkness as shown to you and as required? (Eph. 5:11)
Do you pledge to love your fellow man as yourself? (Mt. 22:39, Mk. 12:31)
Do you pledge to love one another so as show the world that you belong to Christ? (Jn. 13:34)
Do you pledge to cast no judgment upon anyone apart from their words and actions? (Mt. 7:16)
Do you commit yourself in doing your part in holding fellow members of the body of Christ accountable so as to prevent the name of Christ from being disgraced? (Mt. 18:15-17)
Do you pledge to do what part is given to you to help preserve the purity of the faith and the credibility of the Gospel within the ranks of the Church? (Jude 3)
 
 
 
 
Do you realize that if we all committed ourselves to such a pledge instead of some social justice pledge that we would see racism and prejudice immensely diminished and more effectively so than by any other means?  We would see every form of evil and injustice that there could be immensely diminished.  We would see many souls saved from eternal damnation; that’s for sure.  That is the power of the Gospel when it is preached and received.  It redeems and transforms.  It turns that which was once evil into that which is good and that which was once in sin into that which is holy.
 
But a Gospel that does not preach repentance lacks this power.  It is only the Gospel which preaches repentance and brings those who receive it under one law, one doctrine, and one identity that has the ability to transform lives for the better and instill in each other a love for one another that would not otherwise be present.
 
 
 
End Notes:
 
 
 
1.  Dr. Susan Berry, “Jesuit-Led Parish Asks Parishioners to Take Pledge Affirming ‘White Privilege’ Must End,” Breitbart, September 5, 2020
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/05/jesuit-led-parish-asks-parishioners-to-take-pledge-affirming-white-privilege-must-end/
 
2.  “A Pledge For Racial Justice,” The Church of St. Francis Xavier
https://sfxavier.org/news/a-pledge-for-racial-justice
 
3.  Berry, Ibid.
 
4.  Xavier, Ibid.
 
5. Berry, Ibid.
 
6.  Ibid.
 
 
 
Scripture references:
 
 
 
1.  Genesis 2:16-17
 
2.  Genesis 3
 
3.  Romans 6:23
 
4.  Romans 8:19-22
 
5.  Romans 5:12
 
6.  Romans 3:23
 
7.  1 Corinthians 15:51-55
 
8.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
 
9.  Revelation 21-22
 
10.  1 John 2:9-11
 
11.  Genesis 1:26-27
 
12.  Acts 17:26
 
13.  Num. 15:16
 
14.  Acts 10:34
 
15.  John 3:16
 
16.  Matthew 1:18
 
17.  Luke 1:35
 
18.  2 Corinthians 5:21
 
19.  Hebrews 4:15
 
20.  John 1
 
22.  John 10:30
 
23.  John 8:58
 
24.  John 14:9
 
25.  John 14:6
 
26.  Romans 10:12
 
27.  Ephesians 2:8-9
 
28.  Galatians 3:28
 
29.  Colossians 3:11
 
30.  2 Timothy 3:16
 
31.  Ephesians 4:5
 
32.  Acts 1:11
 
33.  Revelation 19
 
34.  Matthew 28:19-20
 
35.  Mark 16:15-17
 
36.  Matthew 6:19-20, 33
 
37.  Matthew 10:37-38
 
38.  Matthew 10:28
 
39.  Romans 6:11-13
 
40.  Mark 10:30
 
41.  Romans 12:1
 
42.  2 Timothy 2:15
 
43.  1 Peter 3:14
 
44.  Jude 3
 
45.  Ephesians 5:11
 
46.  Matthew 22:39
 
47.  Mark 12:31
 
48.  Matthew 18:51-17
 
49.  John 13:34
 
50.  Matthew 7:16