Senses of Sin in American Protestantism

White evangelical and mainline Protestants understand sin differently. Perhaps I am generalizing too freely, but this difference reveals a great deal about the cultural and religious divide in this society. It also demonstrates that both groups need to pursue a more adequate theology of sin.

Earlier this month the noteworthy pastor Eugene Peterson came out in favor of same-sex marriage, only to retract his statement the day after his comments drew public attention. Interviewed by Jonathan Merritt of the Religion News Service, Peterson described homosexuality as "not a right or a wrong thing as far as I'm concerned." Asked if he would perform a same-sex wedding, he simply replied, "yes."

Immediately the evangelical censorship machine kicked into high gear. The Southern Baptist bookseller LifeWay vowed to pull Peterson's work from its shelves, claiming it carries resources only by authors who "hold to the biblical view of marriage." Whatever that means.

Peterson is best known for his paraphrase of the Bible into colloquial English, The Message. Faced with evangelical outrage, Peterson publicly retracted his comments from the Merritt interview. His excuse sounds weak: after the interview he reconsidered his comments. "On further reflection and prayer," he backed down.

Whether book sales had anything to do with Peterson's retraction, I do not know. I do know that LifeWay accepted Peterson's retraction . The Message remains on the shelves.

Those frisky Southern Baptists have a lot to teach us about sin. Quick to jump in the face of supposed sexual sins, their feet seem stuck in molasses over social ones. This year's Southern Baptist Convention generated controversy over, of all things, racism. Now, the Southern Baptist Convention came into being precisely because Baptists in the South supported slaveholders as missionaries, while Northern Baptists (today's American Baptists) prohibited the commissioning of slaveholders. In 1995 Southern Baptists repented of their racist history. But the denominational rift remains.

When a black pastor introduced a motion to condemn the alt-right and white nationalism at this year's annual gathering of Southern Baptists, the Convention initially balked . Consisting largely of white Trump supporters, the denomination's leadership dismissed the motion. An outcry from convention attendees and others, accompanied by a swell of negative media attention, led to formal consideration of an edited resolution, which passed by an overwhelming margin.

Despite the edited resolution's success, a deep wound re-opened. Lawrence Ware, an African American pastor who also teaches philosophy at Oklahoma State University, has determined to leave the Convention. In a New York Times op-ed, Ware recalls first being called the N-word at a Southern Baptist retreat -- and being advised to pray for strength to turn the other cheek. "As a black scholar of race and a minister who is committed to social justice," Ware judges that Southern Baptists are complicit with Trumpism and, by extension, white supremacy.

Ware's appeal to "social justice" is telling. Like most persons of color, Ware identifies racism not with individual prejudice and pettiness but with systemic injustice, white supremacy. Many white people, not least evangelicals, take a much more individualistic view of sin. They see racism as an attitude that dwells in individuals. Racism is sinful, yes, and its remedy is individual repentance.

I cannot speak for Ware, but I imagine he understands racism far more broadly. Racism shows itself in hard social realities like access to healthcare, education, and opportunity. It also manifests itself throughout the criminal justice system. "Black lives matter to me," affirms Ware.

Ware spotlights this inconsistency: Southern Baptists excluded pro-LGBT activists from their convention, but they could not speak authoritatively to white supremacy.

Evangelicals tend to regard sin as an individual matter. That's why they fixate on sexuality, with lesser emphases on drinking and drugs. Meanwhile, mainline Christians major on social sins: economic injustice, abuse of the environment, militarism, and discrimination in all its forms. North Carolina's impressive Moral Mondays movement offers a splendid case study of progressive religion in action.

If it looks like I'm being hard on evangelicals, we mainliners have a lot to learn. Our churches have spent decades fighting over sexuality, a struggle that has been necessary. But our fixation upon "homosexuality" we cost us the ability to speak meaningfully concerning sexuality in general. Apart from domestic violence and sexual assault, not once have I heard a mainline minister speak to sexual sin as we understand it: manipulation, abuse, and dishonesty in intimate relationships; the distinction between healthy and unhealthy sexuality; and the reality of "bad sex" beyond sex that isn't much fun. Distancing ourselves from evangelicals, we have forfeited our moral voice.

The truth is, evangelicals have strong historical reasons to care about sexuality, family, alcohol, and drugs. During the nineteenth century all of these issues constituted progressive politics, with evangelicals on the front lines.

Southern Baptists don't serve wine at wedding receptions, while Lutherans serve beer with pretty much any excuse. But every congregation of every stripe includes families and individuals ravaged by alcoholism and addiction.

Lawrence Ware's perspective is instructive. It is not mine to speak as an authority on black churches, but I believe white Christians have much to learn from the black church tradition. In my experience, the broader black church tradition hosts a robust understanding of sin. Black preachers know their congregations experience injustice at countless levels, so they encourage, they comfort -- and they organize. But they also know that the harm done by social injustice multiplies when families fall apart, when sex goes wrong, and when substance abuse takes hold. Not limited by white Christian divisions, at its best the black church speaks to the whole of human life. Sin matters. All kinds.