For well over a year, the Synod of the Southwest (with presbyteries in Arizona and New Mexico) has been seeking ways to address the issues of privilege, classism and racism. To this end, last August Maribeth Culpepper, the synod moderator, and myself, the synod executive and stated clerk, convened a meeting of the elected staff leadership of the four presbyteries that comprise our synod (de Cristo, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe and Sierra Blanca) to seek ways we might encourage conversations and actions around these issues. Though no clear direction resulted from that meeting, it did underscore the need to educate our sisters and brothers throughout the synod on these matters.
The moderator and I concluded that education is only the first – though a very significant – step toward actively addressing these issues. We also recognized that when we engage in discussions on these issues and seek to become “enlightened” on the subjects, we all too often forget about our Native American sisters and brothers who have suffered at the hands of the privileged dominant culture since the Europeans (including the Hispanos) came to this part of God’s world in the 15th century.
So, at the synod’s annual meeting in October, we took up the issue by seeking to learn about the Doctrine of Discovery and its impact on the life of society in the U.S. and throughout the Americas. The Doctrine of Discovery (also referred to as the Doctrine of Christian Discovery or the Doctrine of Christian Domination) is and remains an underlying base of our judicial system as it relates to “property,” the mistreatment of non-Christians and the mistreatment of our sisters and brothers who are considered to be outside of the dominant culture.
We watched “The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking The Domination Code,” a documentary on the issue and came away deeply moved, shocked and almost paralyzed by the enormity of the impact of this doctrine on our lives – and particularly, on the lives of our Native American brothers and sisters. We broke for the evening and took up discussion of what we had experienced the following day.In the depths of our sadness of our complicity as Christians in a doctrine that minimalized, if not dehumanized, non-Christians, we took heart that the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had taken an action to repudiate the doctrine and to encourage the study of the doctrine by all our congregations.
To follow up on these initial steps of education, the synod authorized funding for a conference to be held the next month: “Serving the Marginalized … In a World of Privilege & Power, Classism, Racism and Violence.”
Carolyn Helsel, associate professor of homiletics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, served as the lead presenter for that conference in November. She moved us through a conversation that helped us understand and acknowledge the different ways we hold privilege; review the history of racism; understand our racial identity and how to accept ourselves; look at the recent history of the Black Lives Matter movement; and appreciate how learning from one another and joining the struggles of others makes us grateful for the grace we have received from God in Christ. It is that grace that empowers us to work with and for those who have been marginalized.
The conference opened with worship and a sermon enjoining all to “defend the oppressed, correct the oppressor and take up the cause, and plead the case of the marginalized,” a paraphrase of Isaiah 1:10-20. An offering was taken to send to our sisters and brothers at Standing Rock in support of the Water Protectors.
Following worship, participants engaged in an exercise to identify our different forms of privilege: nationality, sexuality, religious practice, class/wealth, race, ability, gender/sex and ordination. It was an interesting exercise in that many of those who would normally consider themselves non-privileged discovered that they hold more privilege than they would otherwise admit. Through recognition of our own privilege, we can then seek ways to use that to serve those even less privileged than ourselves.
Attendees watched the documentary on the Doctrine of Discovery the first evening, and used the remainder of the evening to digest what they had seen and experienced. The following day, at the close of the conference, the attendees discussed the doctrine and conceived a wide variety of next steps, which included prevailing upon each presbytery to view the documentary and seeking ways to actively support the marginalized.
We anticipate that the synod’s executive committee will take up these suggestions and seek ways to proceed into the future. We know that it is a long struggle – one that began centuries ago, and one that may take decades to resolve. Nonetheless, we are all resolved to make every effort to move forward, to address the issues that affect the lives of our marginalized sisters and brothers and, together, to recognize that there can be justice for all when we all seek to do justice.
Conrad M. Rocha is a ruling elder and the stated clerk/executive of the Synod of the Southwest. An accountant and licensed attorney, he is also the executive director of Law Access New Mexico, a nonprofit corporation that provides free civil legal services to residents of New Mexico living at or below the federal poverty guidelines.
