Davidson College Spends $1 Million Telling White Churches How Not to Be Racist

Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina will spend $1 million teaching “white dominant” churches how to strive for racial equity.

According to Davidson’s official news service, the college received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., a private philanthropic foundation that donates to race and faith-related charitable projects.

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Paula Dempsey, director of partnership relations for the Alliance of Baptists — a group that split from the Southern Baptist Convention three decades ago — will serve on the project’s leadership team.

She explains that “having defined the denomination early as welcoming women into full partnership in ministry and engaging in ecumenical and interfaith partnerships, the Alliance evolved to affirm and embrace the LGBTQ community.” Today, “the denomination is committing to finding a way to repair the damage done by white dominance within itself, church and society in order to nurture community.”

The project will use the “lens of the Alliance’s commitment to racial justice” in order to “examine the white-dominant congregational life and vitality” of between 15 and 25 North American churches.

These churches will “dislodge white-biased structures” in their practices, which includes “enacting racially aware practices in their liturgies,” according to the press release.

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