Standing with Asian Americans against Racism, Hate, and Xenophobia

I recently learned from a former mentor of mine, who happens to be Chinese American, about this new “Statement on Anti-Asian Racism in the Time of COVID-19.”

I confess that I am not terribly familiar with the sponsoring group, the Asian American Christian Collaborative. A quick glance through the bio links of its various taskforce members suggests that this organization is largely a project of individuals from evangelical churches and evangelical institutions of higher learning.

In any case, this is a public statement by Asian American followers of Jesus Christ noting with alarm over 1,000 incidents of anti-Asian racism only in the latter half of March, an FBI warning of expected increases in anti-Asian hate crimes, and some key wider contexts of American history.

They strongly decry “xenophobic rhetoric, hate crimes, and violence against our people and communities,” call for pro-active steps in stopping racism in churches, schools, politics, society, and individual interactions, and ask us to be careful in our communication choices.

The statement notes, “In this Lenten season, we remember that the Lord Jesus took on flesh to embody God’s healing and bind the wounds of the brokenhearted.” It concludes by lifting up “the redemptive power of the gospel as the only way for true reconciliation to fully occur, between God and humanity and across racial and social lines” and calling for “the name of Jesus be glorified as we, his collective body, pursue truth, justice, restoration, and unity.”

It is profoundly tragic that many Americans across the political spectrum reflexively tend to see anti-racism as “a lefty issue.” I have rather solid conservative credentials. Probably not many people who know me would describe me as “politically correct.”

However, as an evangelical Christian, I must be especially interested in being biblically correct, and obedient. And Scripture teaches that “all people are made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), “loving God by loving neighbor is a hallmark of the Christian faith” (Mark 12:31; 1 John 4:21), and those who faithfully serve the triune God should “seek the flourishing of every human being, paying particular attention to those who are marginalized, oppressed, and suffering” (Isaiah 1:17; Ps. 82:3-4; Zechariah 7:9-10). All of these quotes and citations are taken from the statement.

To this list I would add the Pauline teaching that when one member of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer together with it (1 Corinithians 12:26). In my formative college and graduate school years, my own primary connection to the body of Christ was through evangelical student fellowships. As at other major private, secular American universities, these evangelical fellowships included an extremely high portion of, and were sometimes numerically dominated by, fellow students of Asian descent. My own faith was greatly enriched by my frequent attendance at a Chinese church for a time. The body of Christ in America is becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, with immigration from non-Western countries having become a major force for revitalizing the church in the USA as well as parts of Western Europe.

Now many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering. Some by verbal harassment, threats, or even physical violence. And many others now live with significant fear that they may be the next victim of such violence targeting “people who look like them.”

The Bible is clear. Even if this does not directly personally impact those of us with no Asian heritage, we have no right to dismiss the suffering of our brothers and sisters, or to refuse to carry it as our own. And part of “loving our neighbors as ourselves,” regardless of whether or not they share our faith, means standing with all our neighbors against such hatred and xenophobia.

Rather than further summarizing and quoting from this “Statement on Anti-Asian Racism,” I invite you to listen directly to our Asian American brothers and sisters by reading the statement for yourself.

Then I invite you to join me in adding your name to the public signers of this important message. There is a place to indicate if you are yourself a believer of Asian descent (so that some of the language and framing about “us Asian American Christians” would directly include your voice) or someone, like me, of different heritage who wishes to stand in solidarity.

In confronting racism, the Asian American Christian Collaborative “now ask[s] that you join us in this gospel driven work.”

Let there be no doubt about where Bible-believing, conservative evangelical Christians stand.