This article examines the limited range of responses by white Christian churches to critiques of their complicity in racial inequality. Existing efforts, such as anti-racism trainings, diversity workshops, and short-term partnerships with communities of color, are often superficial, short-lived, or centered on kindness rather than systemic change. Drawing on historical and theological analysis, the study highlights the insufficiency of crisis-driven or nostalgic approaches modeled after the civil rights era. Instead, it proposes a framework attentive to the how and when of white Christian identity. Through the example of Florence Spearing Randolph’s 1941 sermon, the article underscores the need for white churches to resist racism outside of crisis moments and to support Black-led justice movements like Black Lives Matter. The analysis challenges white congregations to develop programs that move beyond interpersonal kindness toward sustained, accountable engagement with structural injustice, thereby reimagining Christian whiteness in more transformative ways.
Tobin Miller Shearer (Thu,) studied this question.