The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

The Color of Compromise is a non-fiction book by African American author, public historian, and national speaker Jemar Tisby, originally published in 2019. Tisby provides a survey on how the American church has historically compromised with racism and thwarted racial justice. The book examines the contradictions of white Christian theology and church practices from the colonial era to the present day. Tisby urges Black and white Christians to take action against racism and work for an inclusive, united, and equalitarian Christian church.

Jemar Tisby is a historian and an advocate of racial justice. As a speaker, he is devoted to conveying to the public the reality of the Black experience in America and upholding the humanity of all people.

This guide refers to the 2019 e-book edition by Zondervan.

Content Warning: The source material discusses racism, sexual violence, racial violence, and the history of enslavement in America.

Summary

Through a historical survey that traces race relations form the colonial era to the present, Tisby advocates for an understanding of history that can lead to justice and liberation.

In Chapter 1, Tisby introduces the book, referring to the limitations of a historical survey and stressing that such a survey provides a long-term exploration of how social and cultural trends transform over time. He notes that the church has historically failed to oppose racism on all levels of American society, contributing to the perpetuation of oppression. Tisby deliberately focuses on negative aspects of the American church to present a nuanced understanding of racial history and counter triumphalist narratives about American Christianity. He outlines possible opposition to his arguments but defends the necessity for action.

Chapter 2 examines the development of racial stratification during the colonial era through the history of enslavement. European colonizers displayed early ideas of white supremacy and made strategic choices to ensure the subordination of people of color. They compromised the message of Christianity to defend the institutionalization of enslavement and establish an exploitative economic system. Because race was socially constructed, Tisby argues, racism can still be dismantled.

In Chapter 3, Tisby explores how enslavement persisted in the Revolutionary Era. Americans claimed their right to independence and freedom while forcing Black people into unpaid labor. During the period, religious revivals through the Great Awakening initiated the first significant number of Black people’s conversions to Christianity. Although the revolutionary ideals were limited as white Christians defended enslavement, emerging Black theology connected salvation to liberation.

Chapter 4 examines the ongoing complicity of Christians on race-based enslavement during the antebellum era. Christians ignored the violence and generational trauma of enslaved people, appropriating the Bible to sustain enslavement and white supremacy. They developed a paternalistic approach of Christianity to ensure control over the enslaved and reinforce the established racial hierarchy. American evangelicals also insisted on individual conversion without a focus on the transformation of larger social structures and practices.

In Chapter 5 Tisby explores how the Civil War caused divisions within the church over the issue of enslavement. Northern and Southern Christian denominations split, unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether to condemn or support enslavement. Southern Christians supported church leaders who were enslavers and developed complex theologies to advance the idea that there were positive aspects of enslavement. They argued that the Bible does not condemn enslavement and reinforced dualities between the social and the spiritual.

Chapter 6 focuses on the Jim Crow era in the South, a period that reversed the achievements of Reconstruction and led to a renewed disenfranchisement for African Americans. The development of the Lost Cause myth, a narrative that blended the memory of the Civil War with Christian dogma, romanticized the antebellum South, obscuring the dark past of enslavement and helping the establishment of racial segregation. Southerners used Christian terminology and symbolism to reinstate white supremacy. Extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan also appropriated religious themes to promote racial hatred. The Jim Crow period was filled with racial terror and violence to which the church adopted a passive and indifferent stance.

In Chapter 7, Tisby counters the popular narrative of a racist South and a progressive North, highlighting the national dimensions of racism. By the early 20th century, segregation was established in the American church, marginalizing Black Christians. Christian leaders insisted on individualistic approaches on race relations and did not support Black civil rights. The church contributed to residential segregation in Northern communities, relocating to predominantly white neighborhoods. Tisby demonstrates that racism pervaded all places in the country and the church became complicit in racist practices.

Chapter 8 explores how the church compromised with racism during the civil rights movement. Christian moderates during the period, while not supporting racism, refused to actively participate in the Black freedom struggle. Church leaders criticized Martin Luther King Jr., who as a Black minister directly connected activism for racial justice to his Christian faith. They opposed direct-action protests on the grounds that they could potentially incite violence, while simultaneously failing to condemn racial violence against Black people and remaining skeptical over radical social reforms like the Civil Rights Act. Christians believed that the solution to racial unrest was trust in the system, and thus they failed to oppose institutional inequalities. Everyday Christians continued to resist integration, unable to discern the contradictions between racism and their Christian faith. The church compromised with racism during a period of radical change in American society.

Chapter 9 highlights the persistence of racism in the contemporary era with the rise of conservative Christianity in the late 20th century. Tisby argues that, despite the absence of racial terminology in political discourse and the politics of colorblindness, racism remains. Conservative politicians in the post–civil rights era emphasized the idea of law and order to reverse the achievements of the civil rights movement. Religious institutions continued to resist integration, claiming a right to separate people based on race. Christian voters aligned with conservative politicians, eventually supporting policies that undermined racial progress.

In Chapter 10, Tisby focuses on the present state of race relations and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. As police brutality and violence against African Americans persist, Black Lives Matter as a concept and an activist organization seeks to claim the long-unrecognized humanity of Black people. On Tisby’s analysis, the church remains skeptical toward the movement, failing to acknowledge the covert ways racism operates in the present. Hence, it chooses inaction and remains complicit in institutional racism, refraining from the modern-day civil rights movement.

In Chapter 11, Tisby stresses the urgency for antiracist action focusing on structural and institutional methods to battle inequality. He emphasizes the necessity for awareness through historical knowledge and understanding of race relations in America, and he promotes interracial relationships and lifelong commitment to racial justice. Tisby also argues that reparations as a form of spiritual remorse and policies to reserve the historical economic oppression of Black people are key in racial progress. The church must learn from the distinct contributions of Black Christianity and practically pursue antiracism.

In his Conclusion, Tisby urges American Christians to abandon complicit Christianity that reinforces racism and instead practice courageous Christianity that embraces racial diversity and the truth of Jesus Christ’s teachings.