Prairie State Wire

It’s time for all depictions of  “white European” Christ figures to be torn down. At least that’s the contention of Shaun King, a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been. In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them down.” King shared in a tweet.

Never one to let an opportunity to grandstand go to waste, President Donald Trump jumped right on it last week by somehow linking the statues of Confederate leaders to images of Jesus.

“I think many of the people that are knocking down these statues don't even have any idea what the statue is... Now they're looking at Jesus Christ,” the president said.

While there is much to admire in the demands for police reform within the Black Lives Matter Movement, I don’t support tearing down statues of Jesus. Confederate generals on the other hand were the political Judases of their day. They are long overdue for coming down.

The Confederate statues are on public property and  maintained with taxpayer dollars. Their purpose is to honor white supremacists who betrayed the republic.

As a citizen, I have a voice in what is displayed on public properties. The Jesus statues and paintings, on the other hand, are in churches and other non-governmental sites.

That said, I have to admit that I’m perplexed by how much passion surrounds the issue of the color of Jesus’ skin.

When I was a kid in in Sunday School at First United Methodist Church in Galesburg we received our workbooks one Sunday morning and on the cover was a Nativity scene where Mary, Joseph and Jesus were black. And Balthasar was nowhere to be seen.

Our white Sunday school teacher wouldn’t comment on the depiction and the students, who also were all white, seemed perplexed.

After all, the Jesus that had been presented to us before in church had been fair complected. He was about as Middle Eastern as, well, Robert Redford.

Of course, we read in our Bibles that Jesus was Jewish. But Galesburg didn’t have many Jewish faces for us to compare.  

Years ago, I was a member of a Moline church founded by Swedish immigrants. A  Nordic Christ towered over a stairwell.

No wonder he surrounded himself with fishermen. He wanted lutefisk.

In all seriousness, when I heard about the latest controversy, I called up two old friends: Don Johnson, an African-American pastor in Rock Island, and Shaun Lewis, a white pastor in the Peoria area.

“I believe Jesus was non-white,” Johnson said. “You go into some Black churches and you’ll see Jesus with an afro. That’s probably as inaccurate as the blond-haired, blue- eyed depictions.

“The thing is they didn’t have Kodak cameras back then so we really don’t know what he looked like. But when I get to heaven, I’m not going to be looking at the color of his skin, I’m going to be looking at the nail marks in his hands and feet. It’s the sacrifice he made that’s important.”

I agree with the Rev. Johnson on that point.

Dr. Shaun Lewis, recalled a trip to Israel he made years ago where he visited a park with statues of Christ from around the world. Some depicted an Asian Jesus, others an African one and still others a European one.

“I’m really not a fan of statues or paintings of Jesus because it shifts the focus from who he is to what he looks like,” he said.

So, why after 2,000 years are folks still arguing about the racial identity of Jesus?

“There is pride in our hearts and we want to say Jesus is more like us than other people,” Lewis said.

But beyond pride, some contend Christ images have been used to depict one race as superior to another.

“The white Jesus is part of American Christianity. It’s an image that has been used from the days of slavery onward to oppress and suppress Black people,” the Rev. Johnson said. “But I don’t think we should tear those statues and paintings down. When I walk by them, I’m not offended. I just know they aren’t accurate.”

– Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist and a freelance reporter. ScottReeder1965@gmail.com.