A humble proposal for believers for a way through the current racial standoff…

/in /by

One of the areas where my true inner self is most on display (sadly) is in my driving. While I am not a “road rager” I am a “road mutterer,” by which I mean that I talk to people (mostly under my breath) who are driving in ways that I find offensive.

For instance, on occasion a car will rush past me at high speed in the right lane.  For you traffic geeks out there you know that the law says we shouldn’t pass in the right lane, nor should we exceed the speed limit (except perhaps to pass a slower vehicle in the right lane if needed).

My immediate assumption regarding the car that has passed me at high speed in the right lane is that they are a selfish, dangerous and law-disregarding person.  And they may be.

But I do recall a time when I passed many people at high speed in the right lane when I was trying to get my wife to the hospital to deliver our third child.  As I sped past other drivers I felt fully justified because of my unique circumstance.

But this makes me wonder–what if I was passing me?  What would I think then?  Would I assume that the individual passing me on the right at high speed may have had good reason to go so fast or would I conclude that the person was a reckless daredevil?

In social psychology the tendency to explain away our own actions through mitigating circumstances while impugning the actions of others is called the fundamental attribution error.

More technically the fundamental attribution error is defined as the tendency for people to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics of the agent (character or intention), rather than external factors, in explaining another person’s behavior in a given situation. This contrasts with interpreting one’s own behavior, where situational factors are more easily recognized and can be taken into account. (Wikipedia)

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as our nation goes through a very grievous season of racial tension in which both whites and blacks seem to have unwittingly slipped into this way of thinking. Let me illustrate.

Ask your average white person…

Do you believe all black people are violent and threatening?  Surely the answer of the vast majority would be a clear “no.”

Now ask: Do you believe all black people shot by police were acting in a violent and threatening manner? The answer here might be something like “probably” or, at least “maybe.”

As a result of this reasoning many white people jump to the conclusion that every time a police officer shoots a black man, it must be justified because that black man was probably acting in a threatening way.

Now before all of my white friends get too worked up, let’s reverse the equation.

Ask your average black person…

Do you believe all white cops are racists? Any reasonable black person is going to say, “no.”

Now ask: Do you believe all cops that shoot black people are racists who believe that black lives don’t matter? The answer you get here will be something like “probably” or “maybe.”

As a result of this reasoning many black people jump to the conclusion that every time a police officer shoots a black man, it must be an unjustified racial attack.

Voila!  The fundamental attribution error strikes again.

So what should Christian people (of all colors) do with this?

We all need to go back to the Bible. You see, long before there was the fundamental attribution error there was something called “the golden rule.”  It occurs in two places in the New Testament.

Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Luke 6:31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Here Jesus is telling his followers that their job is to give the other person the same benefit of the doubt that he/she is willing to give himself and, simultaneously, to hold the other person to the same standard of love and forgiveness that he wants to be held to when he sins.

The great tragedy in our current cultural moment of racial tension is that too many godly white and black folks have slipped into the fundamental attribution error and forgotten the golden rule.

Here’s the truth.

  • Not all cops are racists…but some may be.
  • Not all black men pulled over by police are threatening police…but some may be.

Whenever one of these tragic situations occurs, we Christians (black and white) have the fundamental duty/opportunity to stand on the Golden Rule and be patient and restrain ourselves from making snap judgments against one another that we are quick to post on facebook or our blog.

And even more poignantly than the Golden Rule we encounter the great principle of grace in scripture which calls us to be people of extraordinary forgiveness even when we are sinned against.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  Col. 3:12-13

I don’t post this verse to say that working for societal change in the area of race isn’t necessary or acceptable.  I simply post it to say that if we are going to engage this incredibly difficult topic of race, we have to do so with hearts of mercy and forgiveness and not hearts of rage and protest.