I'm sure most of you have heard the story about the "Increase Diversity Bake Sale" at the University of California at Berkeley. The bake sale was created by the Berkeley College Republicans, an on campus student club, to raise awareness about issues of Affirmative Action in College Admissions. According to Shawn Lewis, the President of the Berkeley College Republicans, "This event is in response to SB 185, a bill passed by the California legislature an on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. It would allow the UC and CSU systems to consider race and other factors in college admissions decisions, in direct defiance of the will of the voters with proposition 209. After UC Berkeley student government endorsed the bill, we decided a response was needed. Thus this bake sale was formulated. Participants will be offered a discount based on their race and gender. If preferences based on skin color are ok for college admissions, they should be ok for other aspects of life. We agree that the event is inherently racist, but that is the point. It is no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race and gender."
Shawn raises awareness about a discussion that has been going on ever since Affirmative Action policies were issued in the 1960's by President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. The idea behind Affirmative Action is to level the playing field so that underrepresented ethnic groups have an opportunity to gain access into the same schools and businesses as the majority white culture. Is this fair? Should ethnic groups gain access to institutions because of their ethnicity? How should the church respond to this issue, especially when a majority white denomination like the PCA is asked to reach out to different ethnic groups.
I spoke with someone in a predominantly white PCA church and asked if they have a desire to reach out to African Americans in their community, if there are any (some churches don't have any African Americans in their community). The person responded by saying that their church isn't reaching out to African Americans and aren't trying to. Now, that's fine if that particular church doesn't have any African Americans in their community, but is it ok if that community does have a significant amount of African Americans? First of all, not many churches equally represent their community's demographics anyway; and this person's church should not feel guilty because there are no black people in the pews ( and the same can go for other ethnic groups as well). I believe the underlining issue is that of the role of the church in a community.
The church should not adopt political policies because they are convenient. The UC Berkeley Bake Sale proves that the practice of Affirmative Action has been abused, but I totally disagree with the way that this point was carried out. Inciting controversy is not a good way to start any debate about issues of race and gender. The real issue in this whole talk about Affirmative Action in College Admissions today (I say today because the cultural issues in the 50's and 60's where issues of racial discrimination when it came to accepting underrepresented ethnic groups in higher education) is the poor condition of public school education in this country. Minority ethnic groups are well represented in public schools, however since many of these schools fail to properly educate these children, many kids don't have an opportunity to attend a good college. And so the government enacts educational Affirmative Action policies to help answer the problem.
Now let's take this issue to the church. I believe that churches should make an effort to reach out to their communities, no matter what condition it is in or no matter who lives in them, in order that the kingdom of Jesus Christ might have the dominion over every nook and cranny. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." Our goal in the church is not racial reconciliation or racial equality, although they can be used as a means to an end; yet our goal to spread the truth of Christ. Jesus answers Pilate's question about his kingship in John 18:38 by saying, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
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