We of Berkeley Friends Church oppose white supremacy. White supremacy has damaged our country and kept it from becoming a fully democratic republic. As Christians, we reject white supremacy because it fragments the Church — the body of Christ; and it undermines the teachings of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
Our nation began with a self-inflicted wound, the sin of slavery. For many Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous peoples, this wound infects every aspect of life: fear of police violence, economic injustice in housing and work, low-wealth and poverty, high rates of incarceration, limited access to health care and voting rights, and high rates of water and air pollution around homes and workplaces. Many white Christians have not acknowledged much less repented of these horrible wounds. White supremacy has corrupted the Church in the United States. The Church is corrupt whenever one group of Christians refuses to acknowledge the full humanity of another racial group.
Our wound, the sin of racism, can only begin to heal by first listening and responding to the voices of those oppressed, as Christ commands. Jesus Christ calls all people to repent complicity in systemic racism, most especially those who hold white privilege. Those who have felt the full force of these evils have been overlooked, marginalized and abused. As a Church, we resolve to take steps to dismantle systemic racism:
We support Black Lives Matter.
We support the Poor People’s Campaign, a Call to Moral Revival.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgment, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you decide evil against another in your heart.” Zechariah 7:9-10
Approved September 20, 2020