Division by "Reconciliation"

Polarization in the world should not mean polarization in the church is running rampant, but the enemy has a strategy - keep us divided so that we are less effective in our love for each other and our witness
to the world. 1st Corinthians 1 states:
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

The Lord has not created to be robots, but any means, and has not called us to think and act exactly alike - we are molded with a specific DNA and our experiences help to determine who we are and how we see the world.  But, as believers, we can find common points about which we can agree, and hopefully realize that despite our differences, we can find there is much, much more that unites us that what we allow to divide us. That is how we can live as one in Him.

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In Romans 12, a chapter that begins with Paul exhorting us to not be conformed to the world but transformed by mind renewal, we read these verses a bit later:
16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

We are in an age when those that sell themselves as being "anti-racist" have embraced a subtle form of racism that does not contribute to racial reconciliation or unity and creates more division between those of different races.

Ryan Bomberger of The Radiance Foundation writes at The Christian Post:

Boston University Professor and everything-is-racist author, Ibram X. Kendi, decided to attack Judge Amy Coney Barrett because she committed a cardinal sin against the self-proclaimed “antiracist.” She selflessly engaged in one of the most powerful acts of racial reconciliation — bringing children of a different “race” into her heart and home and loving them because they deserve to be loved.

Ryan is African-American; he is not only an adoptee, after he was conceived in a rape, but he is also an adoptive father - he took exception to a tweet by Kendi, which said:

“Some White colonizers ‘adopted’ Black children. They ‘civilized’ these ‘savage’ children in the ‘superior’ ways of White people, while using them as props in their lifelong pictures of denial, while cutting the biological parents of these children out of the picture of humanity.”

Bomberger was adopted into a white family - in response to Kendi's contention that whites have a "savior complex," he writes: "They didn’t have a savior complex. They had a love reflex."

Kendi is preaching a gospel of "anti-racism," which could be described as "another gospel."  Derryck Green, writing at the Institute on Religion and Democracy's Juicy Ecumenism website, states:

Antiracism teaches that white people who claim to be “not racist” are essentially racist. According to antiracism, being “not racist” is a passive position in the face of racial discrimination. Additionally, it absolves white people from actively acknowledging their participation in – and preservation of – structural racism through a framework of white supremacy and privilege.

Green recounts a seminar he attended that was sponsored by an agency of a large Protestant denomination. He described some of the material being taught, including this morsel: “church language can be used by white people to ignore race and racism.” He says:

White Christians suggesting we focus on our common humanity – being created in God’s image – to overcome racism is inadequate. Although everyone is created in God’s image, this language overlooks the real-life consequences of racism. Therefore, imago Dei language doesn’t qualify as antiracist. Biblical anthropology must be subsumed into antiracist rhetoric that adopts action toward reducing racism to be sufficient.

And, as Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation writes, this anti-racist rhetoric produces big bucks: 

Highly paid consultants spouting toxic racist concepts meant to transform society, and ignobly masking them as “anti-racism” training, are to be shown the door of the federal workforce, and hopefully out of corporate America one day, too. And all courtesy of Donald Trump and his Office of Management and Budget director.

He goes on to say: 

The consultants making a mint out of this racket label it “anti-racism” or “diversity” training. They are nothing of the sort. In fact, they push racist concepts that all Americans should spurn. That they are making use of the present crisis following the death of George Floyd to ram their reeducation camps down Americans’ throats is disgraceful.

Rod Dreher at The American Conservative related a reader's letter in response to a Wall Street Journal story about the action of a school leader in a Midwestern city.  The reader wrote:

The school superintendent in Evanston Illinois has stated that black, brown and LGBTQ students will be able to access in person learning during the pandemic (returning to the school campus) but no other students! So if your child is white, or Asian cisgendered and straight, they will be denied access.

Dreher quotes from the Journal article:

“When you challenge policies and protocols established to ensure an equitable experience for Black and brown students,” the board said in its letter, “you are part of a continuum of resistance to equity and desire to maintain white supremacy.”

And, teachers will be required to take "anti-racism" training.

So, where does it all lead?  More division in an already polarized society.  We have a dangerous trend of stigmatization, to the extent that, even in the Church, there are those who are finding our approach to dealing with race issues insufficient because we have such a problem with "white supremacy" - it seems to be the new insult, especially to those who want to find answers to race dilemmas without buying into popular worldly philosophies.  And, those pushing that theory seem unable to really give any examples. It's a straw man in search of an identity, and rather than bring us together, charging others with it runs the risk of tearing us apart as believers. This line of thinking builds distrust with one another and does not lead to unity.

As if we needed any more polarization.  We certainly should not allow politics to divide us, and inflammatory language toward fellow believers who do not share our political views is counterproductive and becomes another wedge, another weapon, that the enemy will use to get us off track.  Now, we can speak truth and express opinion rooted in truth, but we should never cross the line to degrade other parts of our own body.  Participation in the process is important, but we should never put politics above our devotion to Christ and our love for fellow believers and the world around us.