The Desire To Hate Is Not The Problem With Dr Walker-Barnes's Prayer

Part of the religiously conservative white Christian world is a buzz about a particular prayer that was published in a book compiled by Sarah Betsy called A Rhythm Of Prayer.  The prayer in question was written by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes (click here for a bio). In her contribution to the book, Dr. Walker-Barnes prayed to God for the ability to hate white people (click here for the prayer). And for many people, effective reading of Walker-Barnes's contribution to the book ended there.

One could tell that, for many people, the jury was sent into delibertion after reading that one line when those who reacted negatively to it asked no clarifying questions. Nor did they seek to read anything else that Dr. Walker-Barnes wrote about the prayer or race. BTW, Dr. Walker-Barnes wrote a blog article that discussed the immediate context of her prayer (click here for that article). 

Nor did they ask any probing questions such as, would the ability to hate white people be an end or a means to an end. If it were the latter, then that would even more require one to search for the context of the prayer. And if they searched the context for the prayer, they would find admissions of love by Dr. Walker-Barnes for the people whom she prays to be able to hate. 

Nor did some critics point out that Dr. Walker-Barnes was not praying to hate all white people. She was only praying to hate 2 specific groups of white people. She prayed to hate the conservative colorblind crowd who believed that their approach protected them from being racists. She also prayed to hate those progressives who believed that they too had avoided being racists, but their racism eventually comes out in what they say. But again, some religiously conservative Christian critics didn't read that far (click here and there with reports of some criticisms).

One critic of her prayer blamed it on Critical Race Theory (CRT). And one only needs to check with Jemar Tisby about the war that some religiously conservative Christians have waged against CRT. Here we should note that many critics of CRT fail to ask if CRT describes the kind of racism that many, but not all, black Americans face right now. For religiously conservative Christian critics of CRT either try to totally discredit it by mentioning  CRT's ties to Marxism--here, Marxism is used more as a pejorative rather than anything else. In addition, some religiously conservative Christian critics claim that CRT can't be right because it promotes racism and a hatred for America. While CRT is trying to point out the systemic racism that still exists, rejecting it because it promotes a hatred of America is a Post Modern admission of guilt. It is Post Modern because Post Modernism employs an outcome-based approach to truth. That is that a belief, theory, or practice cannot be regarded as true or valid if it has been thought to contribute to an unwanted result. And it is an admission to guilt because if CRT is correct in its analysis of racism today, then it is understandable for blacks to hate America.

But like the white moderates about whom Martin Luther King Jr. complained, who were more interested in order than the conditions that caused people like King to protest and practice civil disobedience, critics of Walker-Barnes's prayer are more offended by her understandable prayer to hate than in the conditions that caused her to write that prayer.

Finally, is being able to hate some whites and end in itself, or is it a means to an end for Dr. Walker-Barnes? Perhaps, taking a literalist approach to a couple of direct quotes from the prayer would answer that question.  Note that she wrote the following:

Free me from this burden of calling them to confession and repentance...

 

And you have not allowed me to languish alone

With her previous admission that she loves the same whites whom she prays to hate, her request to be able to hate means that she looks at hatred as a liberator from the distress she feels when whites, both progressives and colorblind conservatives, seem to pretend to be against racism and thus disillusion hits her time and time again. Here we should remember what King attributed to the white moderates of his day. According to King, white moderates were the biggest obstacles to blacks gaining freedom in this country (click here for the source). Dr. Walker-Barnes's love for those whom she desires to hate has caused her to be overly optimistic about them just as King had been overly optimistic about the white moderates of his day. So part of Dr. Walker-Barnes's burden and anguish is the consistent disappointment and disillusionment that comes when the racism from those conservative and progressive whites comes to the surface. And her own family history and the racism she sees around her amplifies her distress that comes from her disillusionment and disappointment.

And so is Dr Walker-Barnes praying to hate some whites or is she really just praying to be relieved from a burden that often seems too heavy to bear?

I don't see her prayer to hate some whites to be the flaw in her prayer. Rather,  if we note that her prayer consists of self-affirmation and judgement on some others, her prayer starts to become too similar to the prayer of the Pharisee from the parable of the two men praying (click here for the parable). And what is also useful here is James 2 , especially the latter part of it (click here for James 2). That is because of our own lawbreaking, we should prefer to show mercy over judgment. And we will receive what we give out whether it is mercy or judgment.

For the source of Christian love for all people, especially our enemies, isn't found in and of ourselves or in emulating our heroes. Rather, it is found in our showing the love that God has shown us. And what is this love that God has shown us? Isn't it the forgiveness of sins because, in Jesus's name we approached God for forgiveness as the Tax Collector begged for mercy in the previously mentioned parable of the two men praying? And so Dr. Walker-Barnes has escaped the sin of racism. According to the latter part of James 2, when we violate a different commandment than than the one we are judging people for violating, we put ourselves into the same boat as those whom we judged because breaking one part of God's law makes us into lawbreakers just as the people we judge are lawbreakers.

And as for the constant an hurtful disappointment and disillusionment that Dr. Walker-Barnes rightfully feels when those pretending to be allies show their true colors, how Jesus responded to Peter when he asked how many times must I forgive someone who sins against me. Jesus responded with a non literal 7 X 70 (click here for the source). In reality, Jesus went on to give a parable of a man who despite was forgiven and huge debt, he would not forgive a fellow servant whose debt was small in comparison to what he had been forgive (click here for the source).

Though the subject for us may not be race, many of us are in the same boat that Dr. Walker-Barnes has found herself. We struggle with the burden, sometimes an overwhelming burden, of caring for or constantly needing to forgive those who stab us by constantly disappointing or disillusioning us. And our job is not to show how strong or righteous our human spirit is; our job is to constantly forgive these people because of how God constantly forgives us only in Christ. For as James wrote, 'We all stumble in many ways,' (click here for the source).