I love the OPC with all my heart, and was deeply disappointed when the denominational organ ran a profoundly unjust article this September on the murder of George Floyd – “unjust” not in some fancy, newfangled meaning of the term but “unjust” in the plain old-fashioned sense of failing to get basic facts right, to treat people fairly, or to manifest a fitting response (to “do justice to” the issues).

“There has been no actual evidence offered to prove that George Floyd’s death was racially motivated.”

For the love of all that’s holy.

In October, the organ ran a letter to the editor praising the article, and nothing else.

I didn’t see the article in time for my own letter to be printed in October, so I thought I’d wait. The November issue just came out, and they have finally printed some mild criticism – along with another letter, this one very intemperate and out of touch with reality, defending the original article.

I don’t exactly blame them for not running my own letter, but I thought I would post it here for the record. May the Lord speed the recovery of the OPC from this shameful failure of stewardship.

Dear Editor:

I take a back seat to no one in opposing riots and moral disorder. I live only five miles from the area of Kenosha, Wi. that was recently devastated by criminal violence, and I have seen the pain and destruction it caused – disproportionately to people of color. However, when an image-bearing human being and a brother in Christ has been killed – especially when the act is on video and we can all see just how cruel and unnecessary his death was, if we have the stomach to watch it – we fall far short of the appropriate Christian response if we cannot rouse ourselves to forthrightly condemn and passionately lament that act, alongside our condemnation of other evil agendas that have been opportunistically connected to it in the public eye. If the church cannot exhibit an appropriate and Christlike outrage and grief when speaking of the killing of our beloved brother in Christ George Floyd, then perhaps it would be better for the church to say nothing at all, rather than speak in a way that leaves an unmistakable impression that the church is effectively indifferent to the wonton killing of God’s image-bearers and children in Christ by agents of the state. This has nothing to do with the color of our Christian brother George Floyd’s skin, or any political ideology, or any transformative theological agenda to “change the world.” It is essential to the personal and corporate sanctification of God’s people as a church marked by God’s holiness and love. 

Separately, there is also the question of how the church should respond to the well-documented problem of continuing racism. In 2017, when torch-bearing bigots marched in Charlottesville chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” and, “Whose streets? Our streets!” my pastor played the video of that spectacle during Sunday services, and summoned us to live up to our identity in Christ and be people marked by love, who are prepared to take self-sacrificial stands against all forms of hatred wherever we encounter it. Certainly no one will deny that any pastor has the right to offer his thoughts on what are better and worse ways to deal with the problem of racism, if he has consistently demonstrated in the pulpit that kind of proactive and forthright commitment to keep opposition to bigotry at the heart of the Christian walk, where Jesus (Luke 10:30-37, John 8:39-59), Paul (Galatians 3:28-29, Ephesians 2:11-16) Peter (Acts 10:34-35) and John (I John 4:20) say it belongs.

Greg Forster

Pleasant Prairie, Wi.