The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

The central topic of Jemar Tisby’s historical survey is the ways in which the American church has practiced complicity about racism and reinforced racist attitudes and belief systems among Christians. Either by passivity, ignorance, and indifference to racial violence or through the appropriation of biblical ideas, Christian leaders compromised with racism at crucial historical moments.

A significant testament of complicity in Tisby’s analysis is the way Christians developed theological interpretations to sustain the institution of enslavement. Colonizers and European missionaries during America’s colonial era hesitated to proselytize enslaved Black people, fearing that Bible teachings of “human equality” and salvation would inspire demands for freedom among them. After the Christianization of Black people, evangelists “compromised the message of Christianity to accommodate slavery” (35). White preachers conformed the religion to Eurocentric standards, reinforcing the emergent white supremacist hierarchy. Claiming that the Bible did not prohibit enslavement, Christians spread a “corrupt message,” sustaining an exploitative economic system hinged on the subordination of Black people.

For Tisby, the compromise with enslavement reveals the contradictions inherent in American Christianity and the country’s foundational ideals. As America claimed its independence and freedom, the religious revivals around the country still did not promote liberty for enslaved Africans.