privilege and the evangelical church

you may or may not have heard how in the last week some of our asian-american brothers and sisters were offended by the marketing theme and materials regarding an evangelical book. i don't want to call attention to the controversy for the sake of airing someone else's dirty laundry. rather, i want to call attention to how it is so easy for the evangelical church at large to overlook minority and female voices. manytimes, this is done without any malicious intention but merely because one is not aware of their own privilege and cultural insensitivities. just recently, i've started learning about privilege. it's not a simple concept but basically is to help us see the areas where society has conferred privilege upon us because of our social, racial or gendered status and how we see that as normal. when you have privilege you are able to:

• assume that most of the people you or your children study in history classes and textbooks will be of the same race or gender as you are

• assume that your failures will not be attributed to your race, or your gender

• assume that if you work hard and follow the rules, you will get what you deserve

• succeed without other people being surprised; and without being held to a higher standard

• go out in public without fear of being harassed or constantly worried about physical safety

• not have to think about your race, or your gender, or disabilities, on a daily basis...

it's too easy not to even realize how those of us with majority status unintentionally marginalize people of other races or genders because we are not aware of our own privilege. all too often it doesn't even occur to us to ask them to the table to share their voices and all of us are the poorer for it. sadly, this is rampant in the evangelical church. please hear me, it is not about political correctness. this is about respecting and valuing all God's children. it is about thinking missionally in our own backyards. i have so very much to learn about all this and have probably not even described it accurately, but i do invite you to learn along with me. one place to start is prof soong-chan rah's blog. he is author of the next evangelicalism: freeing the church from western cultural captivity and a professor at north park theological seminary in chicago. i haven't yet read prof rah's book and i hear it is somewhat controversial, but i think it is important to at least hear his voice even if one doesn't agree with all he says. of course you can also visit christian feminism. julie clawson has written a post there this week on encounters with sexism. seeing people of color and women treated as second-class citizens is not ok, and we all need to raise our voices and speak out about these injustices and work to see them eradicated.