I grew up in very religious family. Even today when I have dinner at home, my family regularly prays and thanks God for the "blessings that He has provided us." I'm not writing this to dispute the idea of being grateful and praising God for things that we have every right to be thankful for, and especially those things for which we do nothing to deserve. But as I've grown up and become immersed in the world of feminist philosophy, I have, in my own life, begun to recognize my "privilege" much more often than I recognize God's "blessings." And it's not that I think that the two concepts are in direct contrast or competition with each other, but I do believe that talking only about blessings can lead to a form of apathy and even smug indifference to the plight of those around us that is exceedingly dangerous.
Talking about and acknowledging privilege, in the feminist and progressive movements, is an active process. It's about recognizing those things that we have simply by nature of our economic, social, political, racial, or gendered place in life that those who are oppressed in those same areas do not have. It's also (and this is, in my opinion, a far more difficult and important process) recognizing and combatting those systems that allow the privilege to remain.
Talking about blessings, specifically in a religious or spiritual context, doesn't ever call the acknowledger to action. I can acknowledge the great blessing that I have because I was born in and now live in two countries which both, respectively, allow me to practice my religion without condemnation or any real constraint. This is a frequent refrain in both Canadian and American church prayers. But this acknowledgement is passive. I can acknowledge this religious freedom, thank my God for it, and then move on with my life. But if, instead, I acknowledge that this religious freedom is a privilege that originates in my socio-economic, national, and racial status, I must then also realize that there are oppressive systems (whether political, social, or cultural) at play in countries across the world that deny other people this same privilege. When I acknowledge this hard truth, I must also commit myself to changing these oppressive systems in any way that I can.
This same thought process is true for countless other hard truths. And I think this difference between passively acknowledging and being grateful for undeserved blessings and actively recognizing, checking, and committing to changing systems of privilege and oppression is one of the major reasons why churches in the Western world are plagued by apathy.
I think we Christians do ourselves and our God a disservice when we acknowledge these same truths using the language of blessing and gratitude.
How can I thank God for my whiteness? Or my wealth? Not only did I not do anything for these attributes, but God didn't give them to me as a positive thing to be grateful for. To think that way is to place the different races and socio-economic statuses on a scale of good to bad, blessing to curse. If I were to thank God for my whiteness, then doesn't that mean that being black would somehow be a negative? A non-blessing? A burden? A curse?
How could I think this way? How could anyone (or at least anyone who doesn't openly and joyfully embrace racist ideology)? But if I call my place in this country, my freedom from the tensions embroiling Ferguson a "God-given blessing," isn't that exactly what I'm doing?
I think churches and religious people across the Western world need to move beyond this passive gratitude. There's nothing wrong with thanking God, but I think we need to critically analyzing the thing which we thank God for. We need to ask ourselves, is this really something to be grateful for? Is it a blessing? Or is it just me enjoying the benefits of being on the winning side of an injustice? And if that's what it is, then I will not be grateful. And neither should you. We should all commit ourselves to analyzing and acknowledging when we are on the winning side of such an injustice, and instead of thanking our Deity for the win, we should commit ourselves to fighting to end the injustice that allows for someone else to be on the losing end of the equation.
I am not grateful for my whiteness. Instead, I recognize it, acknowledge it, and commit myself to the lifelong process of checking my privilege at the door, seeking out the voices of those who are not white, so I can come to know the best, the most effective ways for me to engage in the struggle to end the racial injustice that allows the colour of my skin to be a privilege at all.
I know a lot of people who strive to view themselves and to be what they label "colour-blind." I know my Dad will always answer the question of what race he is with the answer, "human." And while for a long time I loved this response, and even used it a few times myself, we can't whitewash the systems of racial injustice away simply by pretending that we don't see them. We can't pretend that I would've faced the same treatment walking down the street in my Naperville, IL next to a cop car that Michael Brown faced in Ferguson, MO. Calling yourself colour-blind or labeling yourself human instead of white doesn't change the vastly different treatment that Michael Brown and young black men across this country face every time they encounter a member of law enforcement.
If I went to any number of local churches this coming Sunday, I could no doubt hear many a pastor include in a prayer a message of gratitude for the supposedly God-given blessing of living in an area that is not plagued by the racial violence and unrest that is facing Ferguson, Missouri right now. But what good does such an acknowledgment of supposed blessing actually do? It allows for and even enables our own innate inclinations towards apathy. I can easily sit idly by and simply acknowledge that I am blessed to live in a majority upper middle class, white area of the county. But if, instead, I recognize and proclaim the hard truth that I am not faced with the violence and unrest here in DuPage County precisely because of the privilege I have because of the systems of privilege I enjoy due to my skin colour and my socio-economic status, I must then also recognize that other people, through just the same non-existent effort as my own, do not have this same privilege. Instead these people are oppressed by these same systems because they live in poorer areas and/or were born with brown or black skin.
And this isn't just about race. There are so many other hard truths in the world, so many injustices that can just as easily be viewed as "God-given blessings." We have got to stop being passive. Stop being grateful. We have got to "ready our heart's teeth. Chew through the etiquette leash," to begin fighting injustice everywhere we see it, every time we contribute to it or benefit from it.
