Anti-Racism Task Force

The General Commission on Religion & Race (GCORR) explains that anti-racism is the interrupting and/or dismantling of racism. The interruption and/or dismantling must be tangible, meaningful, and powerful according to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as they are the direct targets of oppression and know what works and what does not.

Presently, the Christian Church does not have a common theological and biblical understanding of the term anti-racism. Throughout the centuries – especially during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in the United States – Christian Churches have implicitly understood anti-racism through the simple assertions that, “We are all God’s children,” and that “God is the God of all nations and races.” Methodists have interpreted these statements to imply that our faith must include “resisting, rejecting, and renouncing” racism as actions of anti-racism. These exact words are included in the Baptismal Covenant of the United Methodist Church.

However, these actions have not been and are not enough. Deliberate actions, not just rhetoric, are required for Christians to engage in anti-racism and please our God. The writer of James reminds us, “You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ James 2:8-9, NRSV.