The global church must atone for its promotion of racism and sexism in favor of the radical forgiveness and self-sacrifice of its founders, Mimi Haddad said during a recent anti-racism conference at Baylor University.
“Today, we level a critique of the church for its failures to use the very tools and values it taught us — the love of justice, the love of humankind created in God’s image,” said Haddad, president of CBE International, during her Feb. 16 keynote address at “Time to Wake Up: Racism in the World Church,” a three-day symposium hosted by Baylor’s George W. Truett Seminary in Waco, Texas.
The exploitation and killing of children, women, the elderly and other defenseless people continues without a consistent or compelling response from the church, she said. “Why are we silent as minors are unjustly imprisoned? Where’s the support from those with power from countries with influence and resources to make a difference? As the church, those who claim the mind and power of Christ, do we draw close to victims in prayer, lament and action on their behalf?”
And it is hard to identify a patriarchal system more damaging than the one spawned by the U.S. economy, which was built on the foundation of slavery and the rape of slaves by plantation owners, she said. “This is our legacy, the part we don’t talk about. It courses silently through the veins of the body politic. Patriarchies breed male dominance and the groans of women marginalized by race, tribe, and ethnicity.”
That reality proclaims itself with every Amber Alert for a missing Black girl, Haddad said. “The oppression of women marginalized by race definitely continues today and we find comfort and power knowing that Jesus challenged patriarchy centuries ago.”
The teachings of Jesus can help Christians reduce their complicity in the continuing marginalization of targeted social groups, she countered. “The life of Christ — appropriated through the spiritual disciplines of confession, prayer and opportunities for lament — form a long-standing frontal attack on patriarchy and the two-headed monster of racism and sexism.”
“The oppression of women marginalized by race definitely continues today and we find comfort and power knowing that Jesus challenged patriarchy centuries ago.”
But the tendency to shirk Christ’s revolutionary love and compassion can be traced to the pages of the New Testament, she added, saying Scripture is replete with examples of the disciples grumbling at his acceptance of the unclean, the outcast and women.
Christ’s long conversation with the woman at the well in Samaria was “a frontal challenge to Greek and Roman assumptions that gender, class and ethnicity determine value, belonging and vocation,” Haddad said.
Jesus’ entourage didn’t like it very much, either. “Their inward groaning marks the beginning of a new creation. The disciples’ response exposes deeply held values of ethnic and gender superiority. And they are surprised that Christ’s intentional welcome of this outsider, this woman hated by the Jews, an encounter that shifts their moral compass as she too joins the beloved community.”
The encounters with the Syrophoenician woman and the bleeding woman had similar impacts, as did the moment when, to the consternation of the disciples, a woman anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, Haddad said.
“They believed the oil, so costly, should have been sold and the money given to the poor. But what the woman understood that the 12 did not was that this anointing prepared Christ for the greatest work of all, his death on a Roman cross. Like a priest in the Old Testament, she has a priestly anointing and calling to prepare the greatest king in Israel’s history for a death that marked the crowning achievement of all kings. And while Peter could not accept that Christ would die on a cross, this woman did.”
There are many other examples from Scripture, she said. “We find women marginalized by illness and ethnicity use their own initiative to demand that they be included, healed and empowered. And Jesus welcomes their faith and initiative even as it exceeds that of the 12.”
The Apostle Paul continued Jesus’ practice of radical inclusion, she said. “In fact, the vast majority of individuals cited at the end of his letter to the Romans were largely women, slaves and people considered ‘dogs’ outside Israel. Paul actively identifies those gifted to serve, regardless of their social status and social locations.”
“The early Christians lived in contradiction to Rome’s values, forgiving enemies, rescuing the despised, those deemed useless to Rome.”
The new church drew believers by employing the same approach, Haddad said. “The early Christians lived in contradiction to Rome’s values, forgiving enemies, rescuing the despised, those deemed useless to Rome. They built hospitals and schools and communities with vocations devoted to the care of the outsider. They lived in close proximity to those on the margins, breaking down barriers of class, gender and race.”
Haddad pointed to 19th and early 20th century women who used those models of discipleship to oppose slavery and the human trafficking that populated American brothels.
“Their traffickers underestimated the power of Christ in them. These women were proximal to the horrific sufferings of girls and women and were themselves both victim and rescuer. Like Harriet Tubman and so many others arising victorious in slave communities and brothels, the power of God within them was unstoppable. And while many Christian leaders turned a blind eye to the network of trafficking, as we do today, and members of parliament and the police were complicit, these slaves and women proved victorious.”
#MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke is a contemporary example of that tradition, Haddad said. “Burke’s goal was and is to empower Black girls and women to confront their abusers and defend themselves through their own self-empowerment. She has devoted her life to addressing the systemic abuses of women of color.”
The road to repentance and renewal begins with spiritual grieving, she said. “Without collective lament we speak truth and peace when there is none. Lament reserves a place for the groanings of Christ to be heard not only in our present circumstances, but as inspired by previous generations who groaned so faithfully on our behalf.”
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