Jim Wallis’ America’s Original Sin (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016) is an excellent resource for any Christian grappling with the history of race in America. Wallis’ assertions about our country are based on careful and detailed research. For example, the post-WWII GI Bill failed to offer opportunities equally to Black veterans as it offered to other veterans: less than 100 of the 67,000 mortgages secured by the GI Bill went to non-white families (89). Some will resist and reject Wallis’ conclusions from the facts, but as John Adams told us, “Facts are stubborn things.”
Wallis’ concrete action steps, which he lived out, embody the best attributes of progressive Protestantism. After clearly laying out that the lack of proximity between people of different races in the U.S., he identifies three areas where this lack of interaction can be addressed: schools, congregations, and children’s sports. He moved to a largely Black neighborhood, his children went to school with children of many races, and he coached integrated teams. The weakness of his solution is simple. He underestimates the difference between his actions in these areas and the imagination and ability of many, or most white Americas. He walked where most of us fail to even talk.
Unfortunately, this book also carries the fatal weaknesses of progressive Christianity. He accepts systems of social criticism that reject critique of itself (50, 96) which neglects his own very good explanation of Sin in chapter 3. Even more deadly, he accepts a fatal contradiction, namely that people of color are to create solutions for which white people are responsible (49-50). Just as we must share the problems of America, the solutions must belong to us all. In the end, though I found Wallis’ book of great value to me, I did not recommend it for reading in the congregation I serve. On the other hand, it might serve as a useful shared book for conversation with black and white congregations.