Obama, Race, Christianity, and Black Liberation Theology Part 2 - James Cone

As I noted in part 1, when Obama rose to national prominence the media dug into his background and discovered the kind of church Obama had been attending for 20 years. Because of his name some people tried to make Obama out as Muslim but came to found out that his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and his church advocate the empowerment and liberation of black people. And they dug up footage of Wright condemning the act of against non-white people. The media has used all of this to paint Wright as a racist cult leader and by extension, suggesting that Obama shares the same views, The white media has also suggested that all black churches think and teach the same thing that Wright does. All of this I chronicled in some detail in part 1.

What I want to do in Part 2 is discuss what exactly Wright is saying that he teaches. I noticed besides trying to make Wright look as bad as possible the media never made any move to address his message and whether or not it lines up with the Bible. The media stayed away from this because it would also shine a light on the depravity of American Society and glorify God. Wright said himself that in order to understand his theology you must be familiar with the works of James Cone. One of my favorite apologists is James White. On his web cast on May 6, 2008 he said he heard Wright make that statement about Cone decide to really look at Cone's seminal work: Black Theology and Black Power. He was horrified. I was too. I thought I understood what Black Liberation theology is and I was wrong. So I decided to read his book too on my Pastor's recommendation so that I don't go on just what others have said. Therefore I will respond to White's comments as well as Cone's work and how it affects the I want to deal with if this theology is racist? Is it Christian?

I think the aims of Black Liberation Theology are noble: end racism and inspire black people to stop looking at themselves as nothing but sub white people. Black people have been beaten up and oppressed by American society so much that some black people don't realize that they are every bit as human and loved by God as White people. The problem is that James Cone wrote that God has chosen oppressed people (black) and has turned against white people. He said that it was okay for black people to hate white people because of the evil black people have suffered. Cone said that we should look to ourselves and not to the White understanding of Christianity. He wants us to stop looking at Jesus as White.

My problem with all of this is that, Cone believes that the worse thing in this world…the thing that that Jesus came to address…is racism. Racism is the result of a larger, more fundamental flaw in the hearts of every man, woman, and child on earth: sin. Sin is anything that God hates and displeases him. Be sure I tend think that racism is on God’s list of No-No’s but we need to look at the Bible to understand how God is addressing these things. Cone is right God addressed this problem by send Jesus to die for our sins, but not just our sins but the sins of those who are racist against us. He came to reconcile us not to ourselves but to God. If we put God first then all those other things fall into place. The problem with the Black Power movement is that many in it thought that if we turn away from the white people’s conception of God (Christianity) we can take control of our destiny. True Christianity repudiates the evil that has been perpetrated in Christ’s name…an understanding of the Bible bears this out. Cone almost seems to thjink that because Black people suffer they are closer to God’s heart than white people. The thing is all people suffer under the crushing weight of sin – in various ways to varying degrees. No matter your color, all our sinner deserving to go to Hell. This is what Jesus saves us from – ourselves. Left to us, we will destroy ourselves, individually and a species, if he did not intervene.

In Black Theology, the black man is glorified not God. White man, his opinions and good intentions are devalued for no other reason that he is white. Women too are also devalued. These ideas make Black theology no different than the errors we claim white people make in dealing with us.

Concerning Jesus we make the same mistake in Black Liberation Theology that the Jews of the First century made. They thought that messiah’s mission was to restore the greatness of Israel and destroy Rome. We make the same mistake today. We think Jesus came to give us material wealth and happiness on earth, or racial and economic equality. Jesus came to give us eternal life and save us from our sins so we can become more like him and please God. This gets into what the Gospel really is.

There are several theological problems with Cone’s theology. For starters he denies the inerrancy of the Bible. This I think is a major flaw. Without the Bible, what guidebook do you use? What standard is there? How do we know what God has really said? Should the guidebook be me? You? Cone? Personally, I’d rather believe what it is God has said. I will cover at another time how to know the Bible is inerrant and how we know it is reliable. It’s not blind faith.