Racism, Antisemitism & Eugenics in the Pews
A few notes for evangelists on shifting cultural tides.
We’re staying non-political here, so bear with me. First, a story:
Back in the spring of 1990 I was just finishing up a year studying abroad in Strasbourg, France, and needed to pick up gifts to bring home. I went down to a shop near the cathedral and looked around.
Now, important detail, at this point in my stay, I passed for European 100% of the time, until confirmed otherwise. Strangers wouldn’t necessarily think I was French (though that did sometimes happen), but they’d invariably guess I was some kind of European. No one, ever, guessed American.
So I’m in this gift shop silently wandering around, haven’t spoken a word of English to anyone, and an elderly American woman turns to me, holds up an item, and loudly asks, I kid you not: “50 francs. How much is that real money?”
Well ma’am, francs are real money.
That was my confirmation that the Ugly American tourist stereotype was a real thing.
Not even a polite Excuse me, do you speak English?
Just launched right in, and not pleasantly.
—> I assure you, at that time in France “everybody” did not speak English. The language was about as well-known as non-Hispanic Americans today are likely to know Spanish — most of us know a few words, many have taken classes, but even conversational fluency is a distinct skill, not something you expect of any random shopper or store clerk, even in a tourist zone.
Needless to say, I was appalled.
I tell this story to lay out a few realities:
Different people groups have tendencies towards varying strengths and weaknesses, faults and virtues. Community life involves learning from our neighbors.
Both natives and outsiders can be rightly aggravated by venial faults and incensed by serious sins.
And yet . . . oh sheesh.
Again, although I keep this newsletter non-political, it is well known that in other venues I am not, at all, blind to the immoral policies and behaviors of many in leadership (regardless of party or profession) here at home. That’s what the oh sheesh is about.
That’s a long prelude, but it’s going to become important in just a moment.
Now for the message, and don’t read any subtext into it, because there is none:
Lately I have observed a new rise in racist, antisemitic, and eugenic thinking among ordinary Catholics.
By “ordinary” Catholics I mean just regular people who go to Mass on Sunday and get involved in parish life, but who aren’t clergy, staff, leadership, authors, speakers, online personalities, or anything like that. These are people who take an interest in current events, and who thus end up swayed by attention-hungry reporters and commentators (some religious, most secular) who do not have holiness in mind.
I say new because while there is often a convergence or additive effect from dredging up pre-Civil Rights era prejudices, I think there’s strong evidence that quite a lot of this sinful anger, fear, and bias is its own fresh evil, not merely a re-warming of an almost-dead generation’s inherited idiocy.
You may disagree on any of these points, and will I leave these assertions of mine undefended, because I’m not doing politics here. What I am going to talk about is the implications for Christian evangelists.
First note: There’s nothing good to be gained from stereotyping the stereotypers.
Of course people who circulate a bit know that xyz prejudice tends to more commonly infect this or that clique among the Catholic faithful — but in any given encounter, those observations or generalizations will get you nowhere.
Furthermore, often enough we turn out to be wrong when we assume guilt by association.
Second note: Careful and precise thinking is necessary.
The fetid, life-sucking tendrils of racist, antisemitic, or eugenic conclusions get their initial grip by latching onto a shadow of truth. Sometimes that shadow is our own avarice, but sometimes the shadow is the darkness cast by light shed on a valid concern.
==> To keep only to our trivial anecdote: You can admit that obnoxious American tourists plaguing gift shops is a problem — a problem that deserves to be addressed using any number of moral means — without therefore being guilty of sinful hatred.
An environment of forced silence, where no one may ever speak of their fears or concerns, is fuel for those who profit from bigotry.
That’s not an invitation to start a gripe-fest, but rather this: Take time to carefully listen when someone expresses an opinion verging on evil, and find out exactly what they do and don’t mean.
Sometimes just stating their point in clear, unloaded terms can help them see where they’ve gone off the rails.
Likewise, sometimes our friend has only failed to communicate effectively. We thought we were hearing something we were not.
Third note: Just preach the truth.
I’m writing today because I’m seeing this creeping popularity of some horrible sins that the Catholic Church has been openly and explicitly teaching against for ages, often quite effectively.
I think that many of us evangelists operate in a fairly joyful bubble, and it’s near to astonishing to discover that someone we regularly see at church might be harboring prejudices we thought had largely died out a generation ago.
This is a good way to live.
I’m not convinced that working ourselves into a frenzy over the online outrage machine is a good idea. But I think being informed that this is a thing empowers us to recall some of the lessons we were taught as children, and recognize we need to teach them again.
Every truth of the Catholic faith is a challenge.
Every generation and every individual struggles to live out that faith.
We’re all prone to being blinded by our pet sins — sins that are often egregious to those who are not infected and invisible to those who are.
But here we are, Christians trying to help each other grow in holiness. When someone you know is struggling with a serious sin, say the opposite thing that is true, beautiful, and good.
Photo: View along a side street near the Strasbourg Cathedral, July 2016. Everyone thought the kids and I were German, a reasonable guess on the face of it, but one with tragicomic results at times.