The claim that Black churches focus on politics and elevate race over Christ spreads a dangerous and false narrative. This lie not only distorts reality but also deflects blame from the real source of racialized Christianity: the white church. Here’s the truth.
Europeans Invented Race to Justify Oppression
European leaders in the 15th century created the concept of race to justify enslaving Africans. They weaponized Christianity, claiming they acted in God’s name by “civilizing” Black people. In reality, they sought power and profit.
Europeans used this distorted theology to colonize nearly all of Sub-Saharan Africa, enriching themselves in the process. Britain, for example, became one of the wealthiest nations by exploiting this strategy. They carried their doctrine of racial superiority to the Americas, where they committed genocide against Indigenous peoples. Europeans used religious ideas like Manifest Destiny and the Discovery Doctrine to murder millions of Native Americans while cloaking their atrocities in the language of faith.
After seizing the land, they forcibly transported tens of millions of Africans to work it for free. They built a brutal system of slavery, reducing Africans to property under the law. This dehumanization gave them license to rape, mutilate, torture, and kill with impunity. They fought to preserve this system until a bloody Civil War claimed nearly a million lives.
The White Church Actively Supported Slavery and Jim Crow
White churches didn’t merely tolerate slavery; they actively endorsed it. Leaders of every major denomination owned slaves. Seminaries trained pastors to preach that slavery was ordained by God. Even after slavery ended, white Christians reestablished racial oppression through the Jim Crow system. For nearly a century, they enforced segregation, terror, and economic exploitation.
Plantation owners twisted Scripture to justify slavery, arguing that because slavery existed in biblical times, God approved of it. This argument ignored a critical truth: God allows sin but does not condone it. He permits murder, rape, and other evils because of humanity’s fallen nature, but He does not endorse these acts.
Slaveholders also censored the Bible, removing passages they feared would inspire enslaved Africans to resist. Despite these efforts, Black people found hope in the Bible’s liberating message. They embraced stories like the Exodus, where God freed the Israelites from slavery and punished Pharaoh for his cruelty. Black preachers, such as Nat Turner, used these teachings to inspire resistance.
The Black Church Used Scripture to Fight Injustice
The Black church never put race above Christ. Instead, it embraced Scripture’s clear call to fight injustice and oppression. The Bible repeatedly highlights God’s hatred of oppression and His demand for justice:
- “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).
- “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).
- “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people” (Isaiah 10:1-2).
Black churches built their mission on these teachings, using faith as a foundation for resistance. They recognized God as a liberator who calls His people to fight against injustice. Far from racializing Christianity, the Black church faithfully applied the Gospel’s teachings to their circumstances.
Black Churches Became Liberation Centers
After emancipation, Black Christians built churches that became centers of both spiritual and social freedom. These churches established schools, colleges, hospitals, and businesses, creating opportunities where none had existed. They also served as hubs for civil rights activism.
Black Christians saw no division between their faith and their fight for justice. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. emerged from these churches, drawing on the Bible’s message of liberation and hope. Black churches didn’t “politicize” the Gospel; they lived it.
The White Church Chose to Oppress
While Black churches fought for justice, white churches became hubs of racial oppression. White supremacist leaders often held positions of power in white Christian institutions. These churches preached segregation, violence, and hate, using religion as a shield for their actions.
White Christians accused Black churches of “racializing” the Gospel while ignoring their own history of putting whiteness above Christ. This hypocrisy fueled acts of terror. White supremacists bombed Black churches, including the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where four little girls died in 1963. In 2015, a white supremacist attended Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston before murdering nine Black worshippers, including the pastor. These attacks reveal how white supremacy views Black churches as threats to their ideology.
Conclusion: The Real Truth About Race and Christ
History makes the truth clear: Black churches have never put race above Christ. They have used Scripture to fight injustice, living out the Bible’s teachings on justice and liberation. In contrast, white churches twisted Scripture to oppress, enslave, and kill, placing whiteness above Christ for centuries.
The lie that Black churches prioritize race puts a dangerous target on Black clergy and congregations. This falsehood emboldens those who seek to commit violence against these institutions.
We must reject this narrative and confront the reality of racialized Christianity. Satan uses these lies to attack Black churches and their leaders, but the truth calls us to stand firm. The Black church has stood as a beacon of hope, faith, and justice for generations, faithfully applying God’s Word to fight for what is right. Its legacy of justice honors Christ—not race—and reminds us all of the Bible’s powerful call to defend the oppressed.
