Читать книгу The Craft of Innovative Theology. Argument and Process онлайн

112 страница из 123

While SBC official statements after the mid-1960s have been part of a consistent pattern of symbolic change that should not be minimized, evidence of change in actual policies and institutional practices also is important. For example, the SBC should be credited for its resolution to repudiate the Confederate Flag during its June 2016 convention. The resolution read in part, “We call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters.”⁵⁷ Such statements on Christian unity and the inclusion of African Americans continue to signal the SBC’s change of heart on racial matters.

When writing history, a careful examination of the problem of race, stigmatization, and its complex consequences changes how we understand the intersection of religion, race, and oppression and helps elucidate how major religious institutions, in this case the SBC, can damage their own reputations among oppressed communities. Religious institutions that have harmed whole segments of society are not left undamaged, and that damage might be long term and may require a great deal of rehabilitation. Thus, when writing history, it is important not only to tell narratives as completely as possible, but also to assess the complex consequences of institutional activities as realistically as possible. We should not settle for conventional descriptions of how certain white religious institutions supported their constituents’ identities that were driven by notions of “purity,” “whiteness,” or “theological racism” without also showing the complex consequences. It is not only important to understand the support of racism and white supremacy by major religious institutions, it is equally important to understand how racist stigmas attach to religious institutions like the SBC and how they create mistrust and skepticism among African Americans, even as whites apologize, atone for their policies, and ask for forgiveness and reconciliation.