America is not color-blind and likely will never be. Race is ever-present, like a birth defect that you learn to live with but can never cure.

Because Scripture speaks powerfully about equality and how to treat one another, I and a number of other black PCA ministers approached byFaith magazine and asked to begin a series of articles to address this. We approach the thorny issue of race not to champion a side, advance a cause, or even placate our own conscience. We do it because society has proven repeatedly that it is lost in this area, and we need to address it.

In her new book Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family, Dr. Condeleeza Rice, former Secretary of State and national security advisor under former President George W. Bush, makes the following statement about race in America:

“The fact is, race is a constant factor in American life, yet reacting to every incident, real or imagined, is crippling, tiring, and ultimately counterproductive. I’d grown up in a family that believed you might not control your circumstances, but you could control your reaction to them. Despite the gross inequities my ancestors faced, there has been progress and race is today no longer determinative of how far one can go. That said, America is not color-blind and likely will never be. Race is ever-present, like a birth defect that you learn to live with but can never cure.”

To my dismay, I agree with her perspective. Although unpleasant, I find Rice’s analogy sobering and accurate.

Read more: http://byfaithonline.com/page/in-the-church/race-in-the-pca-redeeming-racial-tension

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

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Rev. Lance Lewis is the pastor of Christ Liberation Fellowship, a plant of Tenth Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Philadelphia, Pa.