Catholicism and Racism: The Failure of the Individual (and Yeah Kamala Harris!!!)

My last post ended with the hope that the road to equity in American society has finally begun in earnest. Yesterday, there was a sign. Kamala Harris was selected as the first Black, Asian American as the vice-presidential nominee for a major political party. Her selection marked also a step forward for women and women of color in particular.

It’s one step. There must be another, and another, and another. They will be difficult, especially with individuals like Donny who has no empathy for anyone who’s not White or male. He feeds the fear and racism of Christians across the country. Theologian James Cone, the founder of Black theology, asked, “What is it about the Catholic definition of justice that makes many persons of that faith progressive in their attitude toward the poor in Central America but reactionary in their views toward the poor in black America?”

It played out in the Catholic Church during the Sixties. A friend recently wrote about a priest, a relative. The priest was assigned to an inner city parish. The school, gym, and theater were closed. The community, primarily Latino and African American, asked for access. The priest went to the pastor who responded: "This place was built by whites and it is for whites only!"

We find it easy to point out the injustice of others. During the Sixties, Northerners pointed at Southern injustice inflicted on African Americans, but they never saw or dealt with the systemic racism in their own backyard.

It’s true of all Christians.

Recently in the New York Times, Elizabeth Bruenig noted “about one in five Americans identify as Catholic, and as of 2018, roughly six in 10 white Catholics felt police killings of Black men [1]were isolated incidents rather than evidence of a profound and lethal bias. Prominent Catholic commentators, including Bill O’Reilly and Father Dwight Longenecker, fear and reject the Black Lives Matter movement."

Let's start with O'Reilly and Longenecker. Neither are prominent as far as Catholics are concerned. Neither are spokespeople for the Catholic Church. Neither are promoting the Christianity of Pope Francis.[1]

Unfortunately, both are Catholic. Unfortunately, Bill O’Reilly is Irish.

Facts and fear feed their solipsistic pomposity. For example, in an interview five years ago, Patrisse Cullors said she studied Marxism and activism while working with the Bus Riders Union as a teenager. Additionally, she and the Black Lives Movement endorsed the LGBT movement. Marxism is an O’Reilly hot button, and he makes it sound as if Cullors and BLM have a direct pipeline to Putin. And Longenecker is sexually challenged.

Let’s forget Longenecker as out of touch, out of date, and maybe out of something else. O’Reilly builds an argument on a fact. The Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc., has a dogmatic communistic bent. So, did Jesus at times. So what? The movement in America’s streets was not about Marxism. (Most people do not know there's a Black Lives Matter Foundation.) It was about the sanctity of human life. It was called Black Lives Matter not out of respect for the foundation but out of a demand for equitable treatment by police

And America is not as Christian as many of its citizens profess.

Catholics lag in racial justice, as do all other Christian groups, according to a PRRI report. The nonpartisan group found that about 50% of all Christians agree ”socioeconomic disparities between black and white Americans are due to lack of effort by black Americans.” There wasn’t much difference between Catholics and other Christians.

Yes, 63% of White Catholics said the killings of Black men by police were isolated incidents, but White mainline Protestants were only four points lower while White evangelicals were eight points higher. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of Americans say African Americans face “a lot” of discrimination, and nearly 60% of White Americans believe their “white” skin color gives them advantages over Black Americans. There are some 40% of White Americans who claim Black Americans just don’t work hard enough even though half of White Americans agree that slavery and decades of subsequent discrimination make it difficult for Blacks to make economic gains.

Essentially, 50% of White Christians are racist. Heck, or maybe I should have written hell, they’re not even Christian.

As depressing as that is, I don’t think America’s racism has anything to do with religion. They share identical heritages—western European culture, a human creation. In that culture, as in most, there’s hubris, and that hubris shaped an artifice. Clinging to the notion of the continent’s grandeur and failing to recognize the grandeur on any other continent, they designated themselves as the heirs to the grandeur they saw as Rome. They modeled their buildings and art and literature on those of Romans (who stole it from the Greeks).

The Renaissance with its arts, literature, politics, military, and science constructed the jumping board for Modern Europe. With the success of a relatively small class of people, hubris expanded.[2] It swallowed humanity. It birthed sun kings, rulers by divine right. The European elite set themselves as greater than others, and their subjects followed suit declaring themselves greater than others. They created a world of us and them, and the them were always inferior. It’s the heritage of Europeans and, therefore, the heritage of White Americans.

That always present element ties the bind. The prejudice of the West blinds White Americans to their own bigotry, frequently a subconscious (not unconscious) sense of superiority. Why, for example, was Africa called the Dark Continent? It certainly was not dark to Africans. Europeans saw darkness even when there was light. The flora, fauna, cultures, religions, languages, and arts were unknown to them. They did not think themselves strangers invading another world. They were bringing their light, but it wasn’t so Africans needed to see. It was so Europeans would not have to adjust to an entirely different way of living. They saw no need for theirs was the superior culture.

It remains today, now, in 2020 America, and it denies African Americans the dignity guaranteed to all citizens. More accurately to all human beings.

We bowed to the pressures of the civil rights movements. Our bow to change, for those willing to change, is ironic. We, meaning White Americans, don’t understand why we must change. We don’t see ourselves as the problem. Yet, White America is the problem. Not African Americans. Not Catholicism, mainstream Protestantism, or evangelicalism. The sooner we—meaning White people—recognize that we are the problem, the sooner we will find a solution. We need fixing, not our religions, nor African Americans. Us. Our leaders and our followers. I include myself as well.

[1] On June 10^th, called George Floyd’s name twice. He backed an American Bishop who knelt in prayer during a BLM protest. Observers claim the Vatican was encouraging anti-racism protesters and pointing to where Catholics should stand on the issue.

[2] Hubris isn’t unique to Europe. Even today, it exists on every continent. It exploits on every continent. It enslaves on every continent. There’s one major difference. European philosophical and political traditions, at least since the late 18^th century, have enshrined the liberty and dignity of all citizens. Rulers have called it the state’s sacred trust, but they have rarely fulfilled their obligations to it.