Across the country, masses of people from different ethnic, social, economic, political and religious groupings, gathered in Ferguson, Staten Island, Cleveland, Madison, Charleston, Baltimore, Tulsa, and Miami to protest the killing of unarmed black men in the custody of police. These voices clamored for justice given the perceived abuse of power and authority on the part of several police officers apparent in these instances. The ensuing legal proceedings, in the opinion of many, made instead a mockery of justice by repeatedly returning “not guilty” verdicts against the police officers. Yet, in the midst of such pain, anger, fear, trauma, and distrust, honest dialogue occurred in the public square about how to organize for systemic change in the criminal justice system, hold police officers accountable for their misconduct, and eradicate racism.

What role, if any, could religion play in this deep yearning for social transformation? Against the backdrop of widespread unrest, people of faith asked: What do the Bible, Quran, and Torah say about the sacredness of human life, police militarism and misconduct, white privilege and white power, race and racism, racial profiling, mass incarceration, and human enslavement? Is there a relevant message from the religious tradition that addresses the historic systemic issues that have oppressed persons of color for centuries? What is the biblical understanding of justice; where do we find prophetic traditions that speak truth to power? If the “city is in the Bible,” how do the scriptures of all religious traditions relate to our cities today?

Studying the Scriptures Together

With these questions in mind, a communal movement began in February 2015 with a seven-week interfaith and ecumenical series of studies on sacred texts held at Union Baptist Church, Montclair, New Jersey. Designed to focus on issues of race, justice, and liberation, we invited Christian clergy, an Imam, and a Rabbi to lead local residents from the diverse Montclair Township and beyond into a study of their respective texts in order to exegete, or “read out,” its meaning in ways that confronted the erroneous belief that any one group has racial superiority and entitlement over the other.

Participants in this study learned that a German physician, Johann Blumenbach, argued for a belief in racial superiority in 1775, during the time of worldwide colonization.1 He used science and anthropology to provide a rationale to classify people using a range from superior to inferior, and from beautiful to evil. This specious classification placed white people as a model of humanity and at the height of human achievement for the purpose of establishing and maintaining their privilege, and power in perpetuity.2 America, as an emerging nation, adopted the social construct of race to define arrangements that exclusively benefited whites while using the Bible as a tool to subjugate non-whites.3

In an effort to undo such intrinsic racism, we grappled with issues of human equality and freedom. In these inductive and topic-driven studies, we examined the concepts and words of the texts, reflected on their meaning and multivalent interpretations in small groups, and discerned how we could self-examine our own prejudices while challenging the systems and institutions that oppress people.

This was, undoubtedly, risky, conscious–raising work predicated on the understanding that God did not intend for our communities to be fractured by the misnomer of race and its divisive ideology. God’s reconciling love is at work in each of us, urging us to break down barriers between varying groups, and practice peace and justice for all.

Our coming together for fruitful study was an effort to be good neighbors who band together to heal the hurt among us, address the lack of understanding between communities and strengthen bonds of unity within pluralism. As we dared to embrace the tensions that arise when such sensitive conversations occur, delegations from different churches, synagogues, mosques, and anti-racism organizations streamed into Union Baptist Church’s DC Rice Hall to cultivate mutual trust and respect while getting at the heart of attitudes and behaviors that promote and preserve racism and white supremacy.

We came already divided by the way we observed our sacred days of assembly – Muslims on Friday, Jews on Saturday, and Christians on Sunday. Within the Christian community, we were further separated by ethnic groupings. In a township of more than 37,000 people, blacks worshipped in churches mainly populated by blacks, whites communed in churches where they were the majority, and the same was true for other ethnic groups. Yet, in all this coming and going, there was no vehicle to disrupt our comfort zones, to jolt us out of our lethargic separateness, and guide us into a place of togetherness. This sustained study of sacred texts was that unifying activity.

In most houses of worship, prayer meetings and Scripture study are the least attended services. People across the religious landscape are not motivated to study their Scriptures amid competing demands and alternatives. Consequently, there is great indifference and illiteracy around what sacred texts say and mean. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center, between 2007 and 2014, cites that the Christian share of the U.S. population is declining while the number of U.S. adults who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular” – is growing.4 Furthermore, while the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages, ethnicities – whites, blacks and Latinos – and among both college graduates and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well as men.5

It was in this context of religious apathy, skepticism, public outrage, hostility toward blackness, and ethnic apartheid, that we crossed boundaries and gathered to study sacred texts in conversation with racism. To our delight, each week’s attendance ranged from 48 to 103. While it was not a large percentage of the township, it was a place of humble beginnings that exceeded what most clergy experienced in their respective houses of worship.

Why Gather?

What motivated this group, which included members of the press, to be marked present, consistently? Perhaps their response may provide clues as to how we can increase attendance in our respective studies of sacred texts. A poll6 among the participants revealed the following motivating factors: Relevancy of conversation; trusted and proven presenters; opportunity to fellowship; a desire to do something about racism; hunger to learn; word of mouth; group participation in exercises; it was free; a schedule of topics within a conceptual framework; ample space and convenience of location. This mix of incentives kept participants in attendance enthusiastically for seven weeks, sharing in the 90-minute presentations and yearning for more at its conclusion.

What Did We Learn?

The presenters offered many salient points, such as: The breath of God is in all of us and we were not born inferior; all lives are sacred and created equal; the depiction of Jesus as white is a product of European image management made popular during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine; Jesus was crucified during a time when there were more than 500 crucifixions a day; human slavery denies people freedom, uses bodies and human labor for economic gain and permits oppression of one group over another; there are different types of liberation in the Torah and Talmud stories; the Quran teaches nothing is greater than worshipping God; the U.S. prison industrial complex is a multi-billion dollar industry in a country that incarcerates 20% of its people, most of whom are black men; injustice is a breach in the community that occurs when people are not given full participation; justice is the means by which we bring everyone back into community; prophets realign us with what is valuable to God and use their moral imagination to see what can be and move us in that direction.

In response to this learning, participants shared: God answered our prayers because seeing issues on the news called for us to come together to talk and demonstrate that we care about each other; I would not know who my neighbors were unless we had this event; institutional “racism” damages the lives of people; I will seek out more Bible study and fellowship opportunities to know my neighbors better.

This Bible study series has broken down some barriers for a segment of the population in the urban context of Montclair Township. It has the potential to unify others in the next series. It has set afoot a movement of people having fellowship with each other. Coalitions are being formed to design curriculum for sensitivity training for the Montclair police on issues of race and community policing. Anti-racism organizations have since held training sessions and more are being scheduled.

Our vision to cultivate a caring, sensitive, and conscious community through interfaith scripture study goes far beyond the reaches of Montclair. We believe that God calls us to be our brothers’ and our sisters’ keeper everywhere. As we heed the command to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and as we dialogue to dispel ignorance and distrust and build understanding, we expect to see the walls of racism, injustice, and inequality crumble beneath God’s reconciling love.

Notes

1. Whether or not Dr. Johann Blumenbach ever recanted his original assertion about white superiority remains uncertain, but more importantly, and tragic, is that the social arrangements he advocated, those that exclusively benefits white folk, is still at play in America centuries later. I mention Dr. Blumenbach’s work because it reflects the circular rationalizations that sought to legitimate what was irrational.

2. People’s Institute Undoing Racism Workshop, Anti-Racist Alliance of North Jersey, Montclair, New Jersey, March 22, 2015.

3. In our studies, I argued that it is a myth that America was founded solely on Christian principles. America was founded upon exploitation, domination, oppression, emasculation, and violence couched in religious language. All of this is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and yet very much a part of America’s evolvement into nationhood. In its nascent stage, the Bible was used as a tool to justify an economic system rooted in black people’s enslavement, degradation and misery. Slavery was meant to be permanent. In this sacred series of studies in Montclair, the Bible and other Sacred Scriptures were used, instead, to undo white superiority, white privilege, white power and the misnomer of race while also healing and bringing people together for life-changing discourse and prophetic action.

4. www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape 23 May 2015.

5. Ibid.

6. Interviews, evaluations and individuals responses in a pot luck dinner were gathered to “poll” the participants (All interviews were confidential; the names of the interviewees are withheld by mutual agreement), February – April, 2015

About the author

Campbell Singleton wrote one article for this publication.

Rev. Dr. Campbell B. Singleton, III, is the Senior Pastor of the historic Union Baptist Church, Montclair, New Jersey. Prior to accepting this call, Dr. Singleton served on ministerial staff at Trinity Baptist Church, Bronx New York. Dr. Singleton also serves on the program staff of ABC Metropolitan New York. Dr. Singleton’s academic credentials include a Doctor of Ministry degree from Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut (June, 2011); a Masters of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (May, 1994); and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut (May, 1990).

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